New Year's Eve (2023)

Good morning, CHURCH!

Welcome to FFM where we are here to connect people to the love of God through biblical teaching, loving community, and relational small groups.

(Church joke of the day)

Seeing that today is the last day of 2023, and we will be ushering in a new year, I thought I’d give y’all some insight into how I move from one year to another.

I had planned on quitting all my bad habits

But for real, don’t you just hate it when people start the year with New Year’s resolutions

That’s why I don’t call mines New Year’s resolutions.

I prefer the term casual promises to myself

that I’m under no legal obligation to fulfill.

I asked a group of men how they planned on bringing in the new year.

dropping of the ball in Times Square

it reminded them of what they did all last year. (drop the ball)

I know a lot of people like to make a New Year’s resolutions to lose weight.

Okay, I’m finished.

But on a more serious note.

a friend of mines got caught shoplifting new calendars on New Year’s eve last year?

He got 12 months!

Are you ready to be equipped today?

Let me see your Bibles.

Pray

Lord, help us to see you as new and fresh through your word today.

Help us to see truth where we have believed lies.

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Help us to see where we have been deceived by the enemy.

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Most of all let us see how much you love us.

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Let’s go to the book of Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NIV for this week’s wisdom Vaccination.

This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NIV

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

First of all let’s make sure everyone see’s that this command is in the Bible.

There is to be no half-heartedness as it pertains to loving God.

All your soul represents the mind which is the will, the emotions and the intellect.

All your strength represents giving it all you’ve got.

I would ask you how many of you loved the Lord with all your heart, soul and strength in 2023.

But I’m not going to do that.

But you do need to answer that question for yourself.

And with that:

Let’s get into today’s message.

Today’s message title is:

Don’t Forget the Lord

In today’s message we will be in Deuteronomy chapter six.

And if you are like many Christians and even most followers of God throughout the ages, you at times may tend to cycle in your diligence in service to God.

There are times when you are all in and serving God with everything you got.

But there are times when you are just going through the motions.

There are times when the enemy is deceiving you.

There are times when you are serving God for what you think he can provide for you.

There are times when you are serving God because you need a breakthrough.

How many of you would love to get to the end of 2024 and be able to say, “I served the Lord all of 2024 with my whole heart, soul and strength.”

If that is you, I believe I have a word for you today.

Point #1

God’s Command for 2024.

We’re going to take a look into Deuteronomy 6, and we’ll see that God was bringing his children into a new land that had been promised to them.

And I want you to see it similarly, that God is taking those of us that have become his children into a new year.

Before they were to enter, God was going to require that they level up.

And I believe that God wants us to level up as we enter 2024.

God loved his chosen people so much that he wanted them to become like him.

What is God like?

God is holy and perfect.

What was man like?

Man was common and fallen and been broken to pieces.

God was trying to put the broken pieces back together starting with the children of Israel.

And he is still mending us back together as we enter 2024.

Deuteronomy 6:1-3 NIV

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,

2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

For some reason as I was studying this, I was reminded of the movie, The Lion King.

Mufasa was the king of the pride land, and he loved his son.

He wanted him to have all the blessings of the pride land.

He loved his son Simba so much that he also wanted to protect him.

His love for his son caused him to put in place some boundaries for Simba that would keep him safe so that he would ultimately inherit the animal kingdom.

Mufasa told Simba that everything the light touches is ours to enjoy.

But wherever there is darkness, that is a place of danger and not a place that belongs to us.

We don’t rule in that place. We don’t belong there.

Now in the movie, Mufasa trusted that Simba would listen to his instructions and obey him.

But God knew how difficult it would be to change the mindset of a people group.

To change a way of thinking they had known there whole life.

Where you aware that even psychological research suggests that once our minds are made up on important matters, changing them can be as difficult as stopping an oncoming train moving at full speed.

Even when there’s danger straight ahead.

Your view of the world including your beliefs and opinions, starts to form during childhood as you’re socialized within a particular culture.

And it gets reinforced over time by the social groups you keep, the media you consume, and even how your brain functions.

It influences how you think of yourself and how you interact with others.

For many people, a challenge to their view of things feels like an attack on their personal identity.

And often they will harden their current position quicker than reassessing and changing the way they think.

God didn’t just trust that the Israelites would listen to his instructions and obey.

So, he gave them a series of instructions that would reinforce the new way of thinking.

God knew that without reinforcing the new thought patterns, we would go back to what was familiar.

God wanted Israel, just like he wants us, to love him with all of you heart and with all of our soul and with all of our strength.

This is God’s desire for you moving into 2024.

In order to execute this, God gives us some instructions which will aid us in fulfilling his command.

Deuteronomy 6:6 NIV

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.

Again, God’s command is that we love him with all of our heart, soul and strength.

And the way we bring this to pass.

Deuteronomy 6:7-8 NIV

7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

1. Put them on your hearts.

2. Impress them on your children.

3. Talk about them at home.

4. Talk about them when you in the streets.

5. Talk about them when you lie down.

6. Talk about them when you wake up.

7. Put wrist bracelets on to remind you.

8. Put a necklace on as a reminder.

9. Get signs that go on your door at home.

If you have a fence, put a sign on the fence.

Now that you know the command for 2024 and what it will take to execute it.

God has something to say to us before we inherit the promise.

Point #2

God’s Warning for 2024.

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 NIV

When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build,

11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied,

12 be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

My burden for us as we enter 2024.

Do not forget the Lord who…

Now, you need to fill in the dots.

For some of you do not forget the Lord your God saved your soul from eternal damnation.

For some of you do not forget the Lord your God healed your body.

For some of you do not forget the Lord your God healed your marriage.

For some of you do not forget the Lord your God healed your troubled mind.

For some of you do not forget the Lord your God sustained you with manna or food.

For some of you do not forget the Lord your God rescued you from trouble.

For some of you do not forget the Lord your God planted you with a loving community.

For some of you do not forget the Lord your God provided like never before.

For some of you do not forget the Lord your God provided in a drought.

For some of you do not forget the Lord your God has given you hope.

For some of you do not forget the Lord your God spoke to you and you heard him.

For some of you do not forget the Lord your God has constantly forgiven you.

Do not forget the Lord who ...

Point #3

God’s Instructions for 2024.

Remember my Lion King story.

Mufasa hadn’t long told Simba what he could do and what he couldn’t and where he could go or where he couldn’t.

When suddenly here comes Scar to tempt Simba.

He cunningly used Simba’s curiosity against him.

Just like Satan did with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

And just like Satan does with all of us.

He cunningly tries to use anything to keep us from the command.

Scar told Simba it’s too dangerous in the dark places for him and that only the brave lions go there.

Of course, Simba wants to prove that he is brave.

And Simba’s curiosity led him to disobedience which led him straight into danger.

And disobedience still leads us to danger today.

What is it that you have been led into or deceived into disobeying God in?

There are always consequences for our disobedience.

Moving into 2024 God wants us to:

Deuteronomy 6:13 NIV

Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.

Deuteronomy 6:14 NIV

Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you.

Deuteronomy 6:16 NIV

Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. (Ex. 17:1-7)

Deuteronomy 6:17 NIV

Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you.

Deuteronomy 6:18 NIV

Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you, and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors,

It’s all about keeping constant reminders in front and around us.

As we move forward into 2024, let’s remember to constantly look back and remember what the Lord commands.

If you’re watching online or here in the building, I have a very important question to ask you.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you right now?