New Hopes For a New Year!
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Let us Pray’
Lord Holy Father thank you for being here with us today thank you for allowing us to be here and fellowship and learn from your word. Lord open our hearts this morning to receive your word, cleanse our hearts from anything that would keep us from seeing you, Oh Lord be with all the ministers of all the churches around the world Let your Glory be made known Amen
Have New Hopes in a new year by Starting the Year off Right
What would you like to accomplish this year?
Maybe loose some weight?
Maybe gain some?
Maybe get a better Job
Maybe to quit drinking Dr. Peppers
Get that blood pressure under control
Maybe its to finally get around to fixing up that old barn
What would you like to accomplish this year
First if you are like many of Americans you may have already had a new years resolution
and by now its only a memory
Today i want to talk with you about some resolutions that go far beyond the physical and deep into the Spiritual nature that will overflow and positively have overwhelming affects on your day to day life. Thus effecting your physical nature
Johnathan Edwards A great theologian during the Puritan age know as the last great Puritan . He was a man that focused on the heart of God. Edwards did many great things he in his preaching led to the first great awakening it swarmed through the united states like wildfire and eventually spread all over Europe as well. It was His dedication to the particular call of The People of God that drove so many to the throne of Christ.
Edwards preached on love He preached of Grace He preached on Justification by faith alone. But it was His particular call His personal call of Holiness that stretched from his own heart and poured out into the pulpit week after week that drove that fire to spread far and wide.
Edwards said the problem with the world is that God is good and we are not. This is why they hate him So.
He was in-tune with his own personal short comings and even as a young man sought to resolve them for when Edwards Read the Words of our dear Lord Jesus saying :
“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
This tore Edwards heart out as he saw his own sin as the worst amoungst the whole of the earth
one scripture that Edwards drove home and often in the pulpit but also in his many daily journals was:
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
He was asked Why do you preach so much on the Holiness of God and why we ought to be Holy, Edwards Responded because every week you people forget
Edwards had 70 Resolutions that he reminded himself of daily he started writing his resolutions when he was just a teen, Though through his personal journals we know that Edwards struggled like the rest of us wrestling with Sin His resolutions and his dedication to chase after the heart of God was evident to all those around him and would later write of Him and His impact on the Kingdom
Just a few of Edwards Resolutions
3. Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.
4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.
5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.
6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.
7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
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As We Look on to a new year it had me reflecting on my own life my own journey and As i sat down to write for the first time in a long time I found myself writing a set of resolutions. As the New year starts so des my semester I haven't been in class since 2020 the beginning of Covid so im kinda rusty if you will. Ill have to discipline myself make the most of my time, ill have to be careful to spend time with my family. As I looked over my syllabus this week i saw I have a 5 page paper due in two weeks so I had to start reading right away no time to waste. I had almost forgot what a book nerd i am . I hadn't realized how bad i missed it. So I began to reflect and I wrote my own resolutions
I wrote
That I may desire and act to become an better follower of Christ
That i may desire and act to be a better example of a life led by God
That I may desire and act to become a better preacher, to become more effective in not only communication of the knowledge of the Word but to the application and the heart of the Word
That i may desire and act to a better Shepherd Through a deeper devotion unto God that he may equip me with the leadership abilities to lead His people in such a dark time
That I would be a better Husband and father
That His light would shine through me and that i would share the Gospel with more people For His Glory
As i wrote these i reflected back upon them,
now remember these are personal I am sharing with you some of my own perceived weakness. But i do so because I want the Lord to use it to motivate you. To look inward to see your weakness where you may be slacking , Where there is room for you to grow in your knowledge service and relationship with God and others
Each one of us should desire to please our father more each day
We should have a heart like David a man after Gods own hart this is the heart that i see in Edwards This is the heart in which i hope God sees in me, this should be your very desire
Deuteronomy 6:4–5 (NKJV)
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
jesus repeats this in the book of Matthew
Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
It must be pretty important God himself through His son is telling us what he wants from us To Love him with all of our heart with all of out soul and all of your mind
it should be personal
This should be personal not because im telling you this is what i want, or your wife, or husband to be looked at and praised by others, no this should be a personal desire within your self to please God.
Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.
2. For the benefit of others / not for the praises of others
Most resolutions like weight loss or financial gain most are selfish ambitions with no real positive or moral effect of others, However resolution with God that attempt to love Him with all your mind heart and souls will have a tidlewave of a effect on those around you
Remember God has placed you in your community on your street in you family in your circle of friends even your work place for His glory. How much more positive will this world be if we began to impact the world in which God has placed us in the manner in which he has called us to love our neighbors . That as we search his mind his heart with our entire soul that in every relationship that we have will be impacted that they will see less of us and more of God in us. Remember to know God is not simply academic in nature while we must know Him with our minds we must know Him through a deep relationship that is fueled by His love . The Word Know Can mean knowledge
But the bible uses it to show a very intimate relationship we see a example of this between Abraham and Sarah
So as we look to have a impact on others around us we also must know them not just about them but know them through a deeper relationship that is fueled by His love His mercy and His grace
Knowing God Like you Know Trump or Knowing God like you know your father mother husband wife
3. For the Entire World
When Edwards started His resolutions as a young teenage boy im sure he never thought that they would have impacted the world in the way in which they have. In His time alone by his devotion to chase after Gods heart God faithfully used Edwards to preach throughout the united stated and Europe ushering in the first great awakening and His writings are still with us today and still moving the next generation to chase after the Heart of God. When you have God motivated Goals and you truly desire them God will Honor them for His Glory you will see Mountains moved by God obsticals torn town by God
So We must know God and seek him with all of our minds though the deep understanding of his words we began to fall in love with the God who loved us so much while we were still his enemies came a died to pay out debt of Sin , the seeking of the mind will lead to the heart when we find ourselves in Love with God not that we loved Him first but as 1 john puts it
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
We love Him because He first loved us.
Loving God with our Heart leads to our might our Soul
All that is within us , to do all we can for him
WE want and desire to please God rather than man
But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.
in everything we do we do to glorify God
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
When We know God>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
He will be on our minds you will be more in tuned with Him in your thoughts thus influencing you actions and making a impact on others around you thereby being the light in the world of darkness
So what should you do now?
WE are looking at a new year, this means new opportunities, time to hit the rest button for some of you time to grow deeper in relationships With God and others
New opportunities for the Church New missions can be started new outreach ministries can BE STARTED maybe you are not yet serving there is a place for you Lets work together for one purpose the Purpose of the Kingdom
Lets begin
First thing Pray .>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.>>>Pray and Pray some more
Seek God for guidance and direction
Start a journal write out you wants desires and reflect on them are they selfish or Godly pray over them
Seek God Daily return to your journal to keep track of your shortcomings and successes God loves you and wants your obedience and He is willing to come along side you and Gide you through the unknown and all you need to do is let Go
Are you ready
Are you ready to be a new man
a new woman
a new Child of God
One that is driven by a heart after Gods own heart not just the routines of religion but by the transformation of a living God
if you were to make resolutions today what would they be?
Let us pray
Oh Father Help us to make new resolutions,Lord Help us to be inspired to make Godly resolutions help us to be motivated to make holy Resolutions
Lord equip us with your spirit that the World would see your goodness and mercy in our lives oh Father if there be a child here today that needs you let them com oh father if there be a man or woman here today that wants to give their life over to you let them come in your name Amen