Things We Need For The New Year (2 Of 2)

A New Year is also exciting because the past year brought many difficult times into people’s lives. It was a year when:

• Some suffered a divorce

• Some suffered a financial setback

• Some suffered some serious health problems

So a New Year is a time when people can put all these bad things behind them and pray that the New Year will bring happiness into their lives.

But as we enter this New Year, there are some things that we are going to need.

I mentioned this morning that if this is going to be a great year for us, WE ARE GOING TO NEED CONTENTMENT!

There are PEOPLE and THINGS in our life that can bring a lot of misery into our life.

• The devil will do everything he can do to get us to believe that HAPPINESS and PEACE within come from wanting everything that everyone else has.

• He will try to cause us to believe that if we can acquire these things for ourselves we will find the SATISFACTION that we all desire to have.

But not so! There is ample proof that people are like Solomon in many ways. That is, Solomon had everything a man can imagine having. On top of that he was the smartest man on earth.

Illus: Did you hear the modern day version of “the wisdom of Solomon?”

Two women came before wise King Solomon, dragging a young lawyer in a three-piece suit between them.

• The first woman said: "This young lawyer agreed to marry my daughter."

• The second woman said: "No! He agreed to marry MY daughter."

Finally Solomon said, "Bring me my biggest sword, and I shall hew the young attorney in half. Each of you shall receive a half."

• The first woman said, "Sounds good to me."

• The second woman said, "Oh Sire, do not spill innocent blood. Let the other woman's daughter marry him."

The wise king did not hesitate a moment. "The attorney must marry the first lady's daughter!"

Someone said, “King Solomon, she was willing to hew him in two!"

"Indeed," said wise King Solomon. "That shows she is the TRUE mother-in-law."

Solomon was a man that had everything, yet with it all he was miserable.

Look at what he says in Ecclesiastes 1:14 “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”

The Word of God teaches us that to find SATISFACTION we must learn that contentment DOES NOT COME FROM WITHOUT, but WITHIN!

In the coming year, WE ARE GOING TO NEED CONTENTMENT.

But also:

II. WE ARE GOING TO NEED COMPANIONSHIP

Have you noticed that HUMAN COMPANIONSHIP is not enough?

That is, in this life-

(1) WE FIND COMPANIONSHIP IN A FRIEND

We all have friends, but we all have fewer than we think. We all have a lot of acquaintances, but we have few friends.

Illus: One man said, “Most of us can count all of our friends on one hand and most likely have a few fingers left over.”

Illus: True friends are like Diamonds... they are real and rare. False friends are like leaves... they are scattered everywhere.

One of the joys of life is to know that we have some FRIENDS in this life that truly love and care for us. While it is great to have good friends in this life, it takes more than this to have TRUE CONTENTMENT.

(2) WE FIND COMPANIONSHIP IN CHURCH FAMILY

Some attend a wonderful Bible-believing, Bible-preaching, soul winning church but they are miserable!

Illus: Did you hear about the two church members who were going soul winning? They knocked on the door of a woman who clearly was not happy to see them. She told them in no uncertain terms she did not want to hear their message and then slammed the door in their faces.

• To her surprise, the door did not close. In fact, it bounced back open.

• She tried again, really put her back into the job, and slammed the door again. But again, the door bounced back like it was made of Silly Putty.

• Convinced one of these rude church members was sticking a foot in the door, she reared back to give the door a slam that would teach them a lesson.

Just then, one of the church members said, "Ma'am, before you do that again, you might want to move your cat."

Did you know you could find the best Bible-believing, Bible-preaching, soul winning church in town and still not find TRUE CONTENTMENT?

(3) WE FIND COMPANIONSHIP IN A MATE

Some believe to be truly happy and have TRUE CONTENTMENT in life they must find the PERFECT MATE.

Illus: At a local coffee shop, a young woman was expounding on her idea of the perfect mate to some of her friends.