Sermon Tone Analysis
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Communion
Communion
all welcome okay if you don’t, hold till all served
1 Cor.
11
Pray for bread
Pray for Cup
Welcome New Members
Remember to invite people to Bertha’s memorial service and for the cooks among us to bring food and if possible provide help for the meal at noon on Tuesday.
Resolved to Grow
INTRODUCTION
People are busy attempting to keep their New Year’s Resolutions so I thought I would share some with you this morning.
Here are some New Year’s resolutions from children:
Joey, age 10, writes, “My New Year’s resolution is to not eat as much sugar—but I probably won’t keep it.
Hannah, age 7, says, “My New Year’s resolution is to stop picking my nose—It is going to be hard.”
Declan, age 11, states, “My New Year’s resolution is to eat 10 bags of oranges every month.”
Jude, age 7, made a resolution concerning fruit as well saying, “I resolve to eat more bananas because I only eat two or three bananas a day now.”
Hannah, age 7, says, “My New Year’s resolution is to stop picking my nose—It is going to be hard.”
Maggie age 13, made the following resolution about dancing: “I am resolved to make it through the year without seeing my mom to the whip, the she adds, “please God.”
So, I guess moms, if you want to embarrass your teens just bust out a dance move.
Finally, Kendra, age 6, writes this about New Year’s Day resolutions: “What is the point of making resolutions if you never really keep them?’
Today’s message and those that will follow in the next weeks, will challenge you, not to make a resolution, but to resolve in your heart that you will take intentional steps to grow deeper in your Christian faith in 2020.
Next week we will host a guest speaker, Ron Cox.
Brother Cox is speaking at our men’s convention this coming Friday and Saturday.
Men, if at all possible sign up today (men waiting at door when you leave).
If you can’t pay today, that’s okay, get signed up.
If you can’t pay at all, that’s okay, get signed up and then show up.
We wouldn’t charge, but we are providing a rib supper on Friday and a fish fry on Saturday.
So sign up, invite your friends, bring your sons, and let’s do this.
Young men, lets do this.
Two weeks from now I will continue this series called “I am Resolved.”
It will continue for six weeks.
During that time I will give you seven different spiritual activities that you can plan to incorporate into your life.
If you will be here, discover those seven principles, plan to incorporate them into your life, and then intentionally follow that plan, then 2020 will see you make great leaps in spiritual growth.
Today, I want us to see the need to take our lives off spiritual cruise control and push forward in our spiritual lives.
The apostle Paul well understood the need to continually pursue spiritual growth.
Paul was a mighty man of God.
He walked close to the Lord.
The Lord did miracles through Paul.
Paul’s hand penned books found in our Bibles.
Yet Paul never got to a place in his life on earth where he stopped striving for spiritual growth.
Listen to what Paul wrote about spiritual growth in :
In the first part of v. 13 Paul says he had not yet taken hold of everything God had for him.
As close as he was to God, he could grow closer.
As great a job he did at serving the Lord, he could still learn to serve the Lord better.
He realized that there is no point in life where we can say we have arrived, that we have all the Lord we need, and that there is no more need for spiritual growth in our lives.
No, Paul knew, and we should know, that as long as there is breath in us, we need to grow spiritually and become more and more the person Christ wants us to be.
My challenge to you today and throughout this message is a bold, demanding, but for every Christian, a necessary challenge.
It is a challenge for you to make and then intentionally follow a plan for spiritual growth.
I am resolved, and I challenge you, to be resolved to grow in Christ in 2020.
BODY
To achieve spiritual growth in 2020 you need to understand the power of pursuing “one thing.”
In the second sentence of v. 13 Paul says, “But one thing I do” ().
What did Paul mean by this statement?
First, we need to be clear about what he did not mean.
He did not mean he was casting aside all his responsibilities in order to pursue spiritual growth.
He still needed to make tents in order to support his ministry.
He still needed to deal with the issues of the church.
He still had a great deal of things to do that in and of themselves were not what we would consider spiritual pursuits.
So, what then did he mean?
He meant that his spiritual life, his relationship with Christ, his spiritual growth was the most important element of his life—it was the one thing he would do as he took care of other tasks.
He meant that he incorporates spiritual growth into every phase of his life.
Whether he was directing the affairs of a church, appointing deacons and elders, or stitching a flap on a tent, he was aware of God and pursuing spiritual growth.
For us it means that everyday activities provide a way for us to pursue spiritual growth.
Driving to Springfield with some slow-poke riding in the passing lane provides an opportunity to grow in patience and perseverance.
Dealing with an irate customer who is angry over some trivial matter provides an opportunity grow in kindness, love, and inner peace.
Washing the dishes or milking the cows gives the opportunity to sing praises unto the Lord, pray in your spirit, and practice joy in the face of suffering when one of the cows slaps you in the face with a manure soaked tail.
Seeking the Lord and spiritual growth is not the only thing we do, but it is the “one thing” we do in everything we do.
If you were to ask Paul who he was or what he did how would he reply?
He could say--
Preacher
Author
Missionary
Church planter
Mentor to young ministers
He was all this and more!
But in he said he was a servant of Christ Jesus emphasizing the fact that no matter what he did he pursued Christ and that growing in Christ was his one thing!
If someone asks us who we are or what we do how would we respond.
I would likely say “pastor” or “minister” and its okay to say that.
I can’t afford for that to be all that I am—I must be a servant of Christ, a disciple of Christ, a man who is intentionally pursuing spiritual growth!
Who are you?
A father.
A mother.
A nurse.
A farmer.
Retired.
Dental hygienist.
Teacher
Banker
Lawyer
Certainly you can be these things.
But above all this, we must be disciples of Christ who intentionally pursue spiritual growth!
That must be our one thing we do in everything we do.
To achieve spiritual growth in 2020 you need to forget the past ().
Paul understood and taught us the need to forget what is behind us.
He didn’t mean that we cold literally forget the past.
Only God does that when He promises us that He not only forgives us our sins but He forgets our sins.
Paul meant that we cannot allow the past to hinder our growth in Christ.
We learn from the past.
The past gives us wisdom sometimes in what to do and what not to do.
We cannot allow the past to determine our future.
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