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. And 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 20:23 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 empty. 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 Onesiphorus. Great guy, great name. I wish it's someone in the in the church would name their kid Onesiphorus. 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 Phygelus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus 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. Onesiphorus, 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 asks 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 4 verse number 2: "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.