A New Year, A New You

As we begin this year in the house of the Lord and in this year December 31st in the house of the Lord It's an opportunity for us to focus once again on the Lord God of Israel as we do that We're looking at what God can do in your life and in my life throughout this year So I'm going to give you seven principles Seven principles that will help you throughout this new year to live to the honor and glory of our God and each of them has an Emphasis upon our God, of course So here's principle number one Never compromise the truth of God That's principle number one

You want to have a great year? never compromise the truth of God's Word Compromise comes very easy for us It's not compromising in the big areas

It's compromising in the little areas that are the problem And the Bible says in Proverbs 23 23 by truth do not sell it get wisdom and instruction and Understanding Solomon says that we are to do all we can to obtain the truth and never Sell out the truth You know You never sell that which is valuable you hold on to that which is precious That which means the most to you in my prayer is that the truth of God's Word would be more to you than anything else That you never want to sell it out That you do all you can to obtain it to live in line with it and never Compromise it Sometimes people throughout a year will choose a verse that will mark their year I would challenge you to choose the verse Exodus 20 23 okay easy to remember because it's year 2023 see how simple that is Exodus 2023 reads this way You should not make other gods besides me gods of silver or gods of gold You shall not make for yourselves God wants us to know that we are never to compromise him his word Now, I know that you don't go around Carving out other gods out of gold and silver. I know that But that's not what the emphasis is The emphasis is is on the fact that there are things that steal our devotion our adoration our affection our And anything that steals your affection away from God, that's more adoring to you than God is Has become an idol in your heart and the idols of our hearts are the things that we have to watch out for Things that become more important to us throughout the year throughout the week throughout each day That we're willing to put above God That should never be The truth of God's Word is Supreme it's authoritative It's supernatural

It's infallible and therefore we should always want to follow God's Word and do what it says and never Compromise never sell out God's Word Think about it in your relationships in your family at work Are there times where you're willing to compromise? the truth of God's Word to gain acceptance with others to gain a promotion To look better in the eyes of other people So many times that can happen. I Would challenge you to realize the treasure of God's Holy Word Remember the parable of Matthew chapter 13 the parable about the hidden treasure Where the man would sell? Everything that he had that he would obtain the field with the hidden treasure He'd sell all that he had to obtain the the fine pearl the pearl of great price Because he realized the value of the gospel He realized the value of the truth of God's Word that he would do all he could to obtain it That should be us every single day The Bible tells us in the book of Deuteronomy in the sixth chapter 24th verse So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes To fear the Lord our God For our good always and for our survival as it is today Moses says that God gave us his word as you embark on this promised land

He tells the Israelites You realize that as you go into this land God has given you his word that you might survive That you might live That you might not die if you hold to the commandments of God God will see to it that you prolong your days and you will survive in the land of promise later in the book of Deuteronomy Moses would say these words Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today Which shall which you shall command your sons to observe carefully even all the words of this law For it's not an idle word for you Indeed, it is your life and by this word you will prolong your days in the land Which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess the words that God has given to you are not just mere words on a page or Etched in stone These words truly are your life They're everything They're not vain

They're not futile They're everything you ever dream of the word of the Living God You want to have a great year never compromise the truth of God Can't afford to do that It will send you down a down a down a path that will lead only to disaster Stay true to the Word of God No matter what it says Obey the Word of the Lord So principle number one is this never? compromise the truth of God Principle number two is this Encourage one another in the family of God Encourage one another in the family of God Verse for this is book of Hebrews 10 chapter 24 and 25 which says these words Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds Not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some But encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching Would it be that we would use this year to encourage one another in the family of God? Now you can't You can't necessarily plan this out

All right encouragement Consolation Blessing is not something that can be planned How do we know that? remember the parable of Matthew chapter 25 about the sheep and the goats and The Lord which when he comes again is gonna set the sheep on his right and the goats on his left He's gonna tell them These words when I was hungry You fed me When I was thirsty you gave me something to drink when I was in prison you visited me when I was naked you clothed me And the sheep will say to him Lord

When did we see you naked? When did we see you in prison? When did we see you hungry and thirsty and the Lord says when you did it to the least of these my brethren You did it as unto me the context is Gentiles doing it For Jewish people the least of these my brethren But the unique thing about that if it was all spontaneous the sheep didn't plan to clothe or to feed or to visit They just did because it was innate to their character Because the goats said the same thing Well Lord, we didn't see you hungry

We didn't see you thirsty We didn't see you in need because of course not Of course, you didn't see me that way because it's not a part of your character But a part of the character of the believer is to do for others before they do for themselves And when you encourage someone you're instilling courage in them You're looking for a way to serve them not to be served And of course the right of Hebrews says look you can't forsake the assembly of yourselves together In other words, you got to show up to encourage people, right? You got to be here you got to be a part of of the the working environment of the church and Would it be that every one of us would seek to encourage others that when we come to worship the Lord? We come to serve the Lord We come to honor the Lord and we come to honor others above ourselves We live in a consumer mentality in our society We want people to give to us and do for us But you see the Christians not that way The Christian wants to do for others

He wants to serve others The Christian is not looking to be served The Christian is looking to serve

That's what our Lord said, right? I did not come to be to be Served but to serve and to give my life a ransom for many And so if we want to be like the Lord and we want to encourage other people and minister to them We go to church to serve others we're involved in the ministry to serve others and Maybe the one of the ways you're going to do that is that you're going to say look I'm gonna work in a in a In an environment maybe in the nursery and I'm gonna take care of babies so other young couples can go to church and worship together or the young couples can go to the young family class and and be there and learn about principles for young families, so I'll hold their babies so they can do that and Then I'll worship at another service Or maybe I'll teach children's ministry so I can be of service to the different children that come to our church Or maybe I'll I'll be a greeter or an usher or maybe maybe I'll be the the bagel monitor And I'll stand over the bagel bagel table and make sure that no kids go on and stick their finger in the in the cream cheese And and all the parents will love me for that and I'll I'll be the bagel monitor Everybody would love you for that, right? But you see are you going to church looking for an opportunity to encourage others to motivate them to stimulate them to love of good deeds Every one of us should be that way Whatever your gift in an area is I don't know what yours is But I would trust that you would exercise it Because as you do the whole body is built up the whole body is encouraged But if you're sitting on the sidelines not doing anything expecting people to minister to you How are you encouraging others? How you motivated others to love a good deeds, especially as you see the day approaching the day of the coming Christ So we should be looking for ways to encourage others for the sake of the gospel Remember the man by the name of oh, no syphilis Great guy great name. I wish it's someone in the in the church would name their kid

Oh, no syphilis But he's found in in the book of 2nd Timothy 2nd Timothy chapter 1 And it says this You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me among whom were Fudgilius and Hermogenes the Lord grant mercy to the house of oh no syphilis For he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains But when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me The Lord grant to him and to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day And you know very well what services he rendered in Ephesus Paul tells Timothy there was a man who came looking for me Who went from prison to prison looking for me? His name means bringer of profit

Oh No syphilis bringer of profit and he was determined to bring profit to Paul He was going to bring refreshment to the Apostles soul And the Lord was was and he asked the Lord to grant mercy to his household And he says, you know, how well he served you in Ephesus In other words, this man was characterized by his service by his ministry He wasn't looking to be known by anyone, but he wanted to instill courage in the Apostle Paul and to others in Ephesus He wanted to bring profit to others ask yourself this question To whom do you bring profit every day? When you come to church, are you profiting others? Are you helping others out? I love the people Who bring those to church who can't drive themselves Those are great people and you don't even know who they are But they come and they pick up people and they bring them to church on Sunday they bring them on Wednesdays They bring them to Bible studies throughout the week because that's their ministry

That's their service They're bringing profit to that person Talk about encouraging one another in the family of God They bring great encouragement to that individual And those kind of people They're looking for their name on a plaque the name of the bulletin for anybody to recognize them they just do what they do because It's innate to their character They're Christians

They want to serve they want to help others and so they instill courage in them by bringing profit to their lives Would it be that in the new year that we never compromise the truth of God? And that we encourage one another in the family of God How can you better be an encouragement to people in the church today? It's not the entire year principle number three walk according to the Word of God Walk according to the Word of God first John 2 verse number 6 he who says he abides in me ought himself to walk even as he himself Walked in other words we walk as Christ walked and How did Christ walk always? obediently always following his father That's what he did

He came to do the will of his father, right? And so we are to walk according to the Word of God Psalm 84 11 the Lord God is a son and a shield and no good thing Does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly? Think about that

That should be a good verse for the year No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk in an upright manner? So we seek to walk according to the Word of God The Bible tells us in the book of Ephesians Ephesians chapter 4 Therefore I the prisoner of the Lord implore you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling How are we called? Well, the Bible tells us we're called with a holy calling We're called with a high calling and we're called with a heavenly calling So Paul says I want you to walk in a manner worthy of that high heavenly holy call With Which you have been called with all humility and gentleness with patience showing tolerance for one another in love Being diligent to preserve the unity the spirit in the bond of peace You know when you're walking with the Lord you are diligently preserving the unity of the body Unity is not something that you develop in the body We're already unified

We're unified by the by the blood of Christ We're all part of the same body

We're already unified so you can't develop unity, but you can't destroy unity, right? So Paul says be diligent to preserve that which you already have be diligent to preserve the unity Of the spirit and the bond of peace and so we walk in a manner worthy of our calling for some of us Ephesians 4 17 works so this I say and Affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer Just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind being darkened in their understanding excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart and They have become callous Have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness But you did not learn Christ in this way Paul says don't walk that way Walk a distinctly separate life than the world Why because that life has no end except death It's a hard life

It's the callous life

It's not the new life in Christ And because you learn Christ differently you walk in a manner that's uniquely different than everybody else He says over in chapter 5 verse number 1 these words therefore be impure of God as below children and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave up for us an Offering himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice as a fragrant aroma walk in love Walk in a in a way that that demonstrates love to others He says in verse number 8 of chapter 5 walk as children of the light Then in verse 15 says walk in wisdom walk wisely Redeem the time buy back every moment for the sake of eternity, but walk in light of eternity If we are going to have a great year You can't compromise the truth

You just can't Never compromise the truth of God but encourage One another in the family of God and walk according to the Word of God The psalmist said in Psalm 128 verse number 1 Blessed are those Who walk in his ways? You want this year to be a blessing? Then walk in the ways of God number four yearn For the return of God Yearn for the return of God if you walk according to the Word of God listen you will yearn for the return of God Because those who are walking with God can't wait to be with God That's just a byproduct of walking with God you can't wait to see him You know he's prepared a place for you above and you can't wait for him to return again And so we should be yearning for the return of God Think about this year

What are you look anticipating most this year? What are you anticipating the most? Maybe you're anticipating getting married Having your first child Graduating from college or from grad school

What are you looking forward to this year? It should pale in comparison To your yearning for the return of God If it doesn't You have erected an idol in your heart That is still stolen your adoration for God That takes you back to point number one never compromise the truth of God We should always be yearning for the return of God Looking for his returning Paul Simeon and Anna in the Christmas story right Simeon was was looking for the consolation of Israel and Anna was looking for the redemption of Jerusalem There's a longing and a looking involved in the yearning and Both of them were anticipating the coming of Messiah They had no idea that he was going to come again They just knew he was going to come and they lived in anticipation of that That's the way our lives should be Paul talks about in 2nd Timothy 4 verse number 8 That there's a crown of righteousness for all those who who? love his appearing We should be looking for his appearing longing for his appearing in loving his appearing We want the Lord to come back

So we pray thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven You see if you really want to pray the way God taught his disciples to pray, right? You are praying for the coming of God's kingdom You're anticipating that That's what you want to see happen Now it doesn't mean that we had desires and aspirations to do other things

We should have all those things But they should never take precedence over Over Anticipating and yearning for the coming of the Lord, how about you? What are you longing for? this year More than last year, you know so often We spend our time in Such trivial things They take our mind off of the Christ And it's coming again If you want to have a great year never compromise the truth of God right encourage one another in the family of God walk according to the the word and the ways of God and yearn for the return of God number five Explain to others the gospel of God Explain to others the gospel of God. I Was You know that they were beaten Yet they they were so excited that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ that they kept right on preaching and teaching Jesus the messiah In acts chapter 8 philip Would come across this ethiopian eunuch who was reading the book of isaiah isaiah chapter 53 particularly And he wanted to know who this was And so philip began to preach jesus to him Preach jesus to them So he would know who isaiah 53 spoke of We talked to you about the shepherds a couple of weeks ago When they went in haste to bethlehem Because they wanted to speak about this reality or this word that was given to them about the christ child We talked to you about the simplicity of the message and the singularity of the message The message is all about the christ all about the messiah all about jesus a savior a man And we should be looking for opportunities to explain to others the gospel of christ paul says in secondly four verse number two Preach the word in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all along suffering and patience How about you? Are you looking for ways to explain the gospel to those you go to school with? Those you work with Those that you have conversations with Are you looking for the opportunity to explain to them? about the christ How important is that? Next if you want this year to be a great year never compromise The truth of god Encourage one another in the family of god walk according to the ways in word of god yearn for the return of god Explain the gospel of god and number six acknowledge your dependence upon god Acknowledge your dependence upon god This is hard for for a lot of us Because we're very independent and we don't want to be dependent upon anyone or anything else But it's important that we learn to trust and to wait upon the lord And in this new year It would do you well to acknowledge your dependence upon god

Remember the story of Of jacob when he wrestled with the angel of the lord The bible says in genesis 32 he wrestled all night it's a long wrestling match And he would not let the angel of the lord go Until the angel blessed him and so what did the angel of the lord do as a pre-incarnate christ touched his thigh And Jacob would limp for the rest of his life But it's at that time that god changed the name of jacob to israel And in essence god is saying to jacob you have lived your life Supplanting others because the name jacob means supplanter You have deceived others

You have supplanted others You have tried to live your own life, but now i'm going to change your name jacob to israel meaning god strives for you And i'm going to touch your thigh so you have to limp every single day so you never forget That you need to depend upon me That i'm going to strive for you And the history of israel is all about a people learning to let god strive for them They need to learn dependence upon the true and living god Well same is true for you and me We need to lean All of our efforts all of our strength upon the lord god of israel And here's the funny thing In the area you think you don't need the lord Is where you need him the most Remember when Peter james and john and jesus came down at the mount transfiguration of mark chapter 9 And the man comes up to them and says lord I I gave my boy to your to your disciples to cast the demon out and They could not And christ responded with oh Unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? And he goes to the boy he casts a demon out And the boy was set in his right mind and they went to a house And the disciples called jesus over and said lord, how come we couldn't do this? We we've already been doing this we've already cast out demons before but why is it on this time We couldn't do it and christ said to them simply these things only come out by prayer You see the minute you think you can do your ministry without me you fail Nothing will happen You need me and the way, you know, you need me is you depend upon me you go to me in prayer That's why he said To the men in the garden pray lest you enter into temptation They couldn't stay with them awake for an hour And they fell into temptation Because they did not pray You see we need to acknowledge our dependence upon the lord in the areas that we think we're really good at Because without the lord john 15 5 without me you can do nothing The problem is we think we can do something We're educated we're smart we're intelligent Physically we're fit we're good to go And so in areas that I don't think I need the lord my job my family Whatever arena I might be in

Oh, that's what you needed the most For unless the lord builds the house they labor in vain and build it something 127 and one, right? Do you think you can actually build your family without the lord? Do you actually think your marriage is going to be better without the lord Without dependent upon the lord trusting the lord Do you actually think you can raise your children without trusting the lord to work in and through you? You can't The lord says you need me remember luke chapter 5 when when um, uh The disciples have been out fishing early in the morning and christ was on on the banks of the sea And they were coming back and they were putting their nets away and and christ says launch out into the deep And peter says Why? Why we're out all morning caught nothing and you can't catch fish in the middle of the day and christ says Launch out into the deep And peter says Wait a second lord You know preaching we don't we know fishing you don't Stay in your lane jesus because this is not your expertise But nevertheless At your bidding we will go out just to show you that we know fishing and you don't so christ has cast your Your nets on the other side And they caught so many fish they could not even begin to lift the nets To the boat And what did peter do? He fell down Before his god And said depart from me for i'm a sinful man Well, I recognize i'm a sinner in your presence And I recognize that I can't do anything without you And I thought I was an expert in doing my job, but in all reality i'm not Would it be that all of us realize that you're not an expert parent You're not an expert ceo You're not an expert coach You're not expert anything without god Just can't do it So in the new year acknowledge your dependence upon the lord god of israel I love what it says over in in psalm Psalm 33 Psalm 33 verse 16 the king is not saved by a mighty army A warrior is not delivered by great strength A horse is a false hope for victory Nor does it deliver anyone By its great strength behold The eye of the lord is on those who fear him on those who hope for his loving kindness To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine Our soul waits for the lord He is our help and our shield For our heart rejoices in him Because we trust in his holy name Let your loving kindness

Oh lord be upon us According as we have hoped In you a man's army does not save him A man doesn't gain victory because of his horses Horses and armies were symbols of strength and might and power It's god that delivers a man God does that And we need to acknowledge that and we need to acknowledge that we are dependent upon you for everything And that's where where we are men and women of prayer, right? We're on our knees before the throne of god Begging god asking god pleading with god to save our family To help me lead in my family To help me raise my children To help me be the testimony at work. I need to be to operate in a way that brings glory and honor to god Dependent upon god for everything Because we are so never compromise the truth of god Encourage one another in the family of god walk according to the word and ways of god Yearn for the return of god explain to others the gospel of god acknowledge your dependence upon god And lastly rejoice in the providence of god Rejoice in the providence of god none of us knows What this year is going to bring And that's a good thing Better you don't know what's going to happen this week than to know what's going to happen this week Because you have to live a life of trusting obedience But you must rejoice in the providence of god I'm, not a prophet But there's a good chance That everybody in the room Some of you are not going to make it to december 31st I'm, not trying to prophesy that Every year we have people die in our church I've been the pastor for 28 years There has not been one year that's gone by where somebody in the church hasn't died Good chance

It's going to happen this year as well

We're not getting any younger folks right So we need to learn to rejoice in the providence of god And god's providence is is god's working out all the details Of his sovereign will The providence deals with the workings of god Paul said this way philippians 1 6 being confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of christ being confident That the one who began a good work in you and the work he began was a great work But It's a good work because it's a good god who who's doing the work He's going to bring it to completion until the day of christ In other words all that happens this year Is for your maturity? For your growth for your development And the the last thing we need to do is is is to lash out at god and get angry at god But to learn to rejoice in the providence of god almighty That god is at work in everything Let me pray with you father, we thank you lord for today and the opportunity you give us to To spend a brief moment in the word of the lord To remind us once again that as we partake at the lord's table It was all a sovereign act of the living god We thank you for that lord Lord We thank you that this was your plan all along that you were delivered up by the Predetermined plan and foreknowledge of god Well, we are thankful for that We are thankful that lord we can partake of the lord's table even this day Realizing lord that as we do We proclaim your death until you come again as you most surely will in jesus name Amen