Thoughts For A New Year …
What are your Plans for the New Year?
·
Your
Goals … what do you want to accomplish?
·
Your
fears … What do you worry about? What scares you in the new year?
My dad died a couple days after Christmas at the age of 66. On
January 5, I turn 67 so I have met a goal which I never thought I would
accomplish. I have outlived my father. With my health issues, I never thought
that this would happen. In 1968 at the age of 17, it was discovered that I was
a type one (Juvenile) diabetic. The doctor said I could expect to live about 20
more years. By his prediction I shou8ld not have seen forty. … Oh, by the way …
I outlived my doctor.
·
Your
Goals … what do you want to accomplish?
·
Your
fears … What do you worry about? What scares you in the new year?
So how will you accomplish the things on your agenda for 2018?
Philippians 3:13-4:13 Brothers
and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one
thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press
on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus. 15 All of us, then, who are mature should take
such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God
will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already
attained. 17
Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as
you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I
have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as
enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is
their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly
things. 20
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from
there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring
everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will
be like his glorious body. 4:1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom
I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear
friends!
I.
Forgetting those things which are behind.
Philippians 4:13 Brothers and sisters, I do not
consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting
what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
One author wrote, "I shall never forget Dr. R. A.
Torrey saying to me as a young preacher, ’Young man, make up your mind on one
thing and stick to it.’" Vance Havner comments: "The Christian life should be
like a sword with one point, not like a broom ending in many straws. Such a
single purpose forgets the past, reaches toward the future, and presses on.
There is no time or place for side issues, diversions to the right or to the
left. There is no place for hands on the plow with eyes looking back. Paul was
a one-track man, but you can go a long way on the track"
a.
The bad.
i.
The failures
ii.
The hurts
iii.
Sin – confess it,
forget it and move on
iv.
Disappointments
v.
Stupid decisions
Dr.
William Sloan Coffin of New York’s Riverside Church said after the death of his
son, Alex. "The night after Alex died, I was sitting in
the living room of my sister’s house outside of Boston, when a middle-aged lady
came in, shook her head when she saw me and said,"I
just don’t understand the will of God." Instantly, I was up and in hot
pursuit, swarming all over her. "I’ll say you don’t, lady!!" I said.
(I knew the anger would do me good, and the instruction to her was long
overdue. ) I continued, "Do
you think it was the will of God that Alex never fixed that lousy windshield
wiper of his, that he was probably driving too fast in such a storm, that he
probably had had a couple of ’frosties’ too many? Do you think it is God’s will
that there are no street lights along that stretch of road, and no guard rails
separating the road and Boston Harbor?"
Dr. Coffin continues in the article: "Nothing
so infuriates me as the incapacity of seemingly intelligent people to get it
through their heads that God doesn’t go around this world with His fingers on
triggers, His fist around knives, His hands on steering wheels. God is against
all unnatural deaths. And Christ spent an inordinate amount of time delivering
people from paralysis, insanity, leprosy and muteness. As
Alex’s younger brother put it simply, standing at the head of the casket:"You
blew it buddy. You blew it." Dr. Coffin continues: "The
one thing that should never be said when someone dies is,"It is the will
of God." Never do we know enough to say that. My consolation lies in
knowing that it was not the will of God that Alex die; that when the waves
closed over the sinking car, God’s was the first of all our hearts to
break."
b. We also leave behind
blessings and achievements.
(I am not suggesting we forget them)
i.
Revival meetings.
ii.
VBS
iii.
Peace
iv.
Other blessings
TESTIMONIES
II.
Reaching for those things which are before.
I was watching TV on one of the channels was an old Olympic
rowing competition I found it fascinating. It’s called "Sculling,"
where eight men are in a boat, powerfully rowing to reach the finish line. I
was amazed to see their back to the finish line and they were totally dependant
on the man sitting in the front of the boat looking forward and yelling out the
cadence with every row, keeping the eight men totally focused through the
finish line. That’s
a lot like the race of faith – I don’t know when I will be at the finish line –
today, tomorrow, next week, 10 years, only Jesus knows when I will reach the
finish line. My responsibility is to focused on Him and let my faith trust God
for the finish line!
Philippians 3:14 I press
on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus.
a.
Pressing toward the “mark.”
i.
“finish line”
ii.
The end of the race
iii.
the upward calling of
God. (Rapture)
Matthew 24:39-42 …That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
40
Two men will be in the field; one will be taken
and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding
with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what
day your Lord will come.
b.
Follow together.
Philippians 3:17 Join together in
following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model,
keep your eyes on those who live as we do.
i.
Walk by the same
rule.
ii.
To walk close to God.
Colossians 2:6 So then,
just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,
iii.
To glorify Him in
godly living.
1 Corinthians 10:31 So
whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
c.
Let us mind the same thing.
i.
We should all be
going in one direction.
ii.
Following the Lord
iii.
Honoring the Great
Commission.
d.
We live by a higher Calling
Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we
eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ Our citizenship is in heaven.
i.
Not in this world.
III.
Stand fast in the Lord.
Philippians 4:1 Therefore, my
brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand
firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
a.
Stand your ground (fixed)
The
large cattle ranches in Oklahoma and the southern plains use wooden fence posts
instead of metal "T posts" because of the constant wind. After a
while the constant pressure from the wind bends the metal posts. The wooden
fence posts are able to endure the force and remain upright. Properly
maintained … they will stand fast for decades. And so can you when you are “properly maintained.” Jesus said,
John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In
the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the
world.”
b.
Stand for the Lord.
The Cocktaw Dog Soldiers wore a piece of long leather on the
back of his warrior regalia. In a fight he would
drop this piece of leather on the ground with it still attached to him. He
would place a spear through the end of it and stand there and fight until he
either was killed or had won the victory. He
would "stand his ground" to the end.
1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore,
my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give
yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in
the Lord is not in vain.
c.
Don’t waver to the left or to the right.
d.
Stay focused.
Hebrews 12:2 fixing
our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before
him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God.
i.
Don’t get distracted
ii.
Don’t get discouraged
iii.
Don’t quit.
Let us commit together to To Confess and
forget sin, To a closer walk, To keep on track with the Lord.
·
Your
Goals … what do you want to accomplish?
·
Your
fears … What do you worry about? What scares you in the new year?
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