A YEAR
FOR THE LORD!
"And if it
seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers
served that were on the other
side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as
for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Joshua 24:15).
This year, I am going to
make it a habit to pray to my God at least _________ times a day. Daniel made
it a habit to pray to God three times a day (Dan. 6:10).
This year, I am going to
try and read _________ chapters of my Bible per day. Daily Bible reading is
essential to spiritual growth. There are 929 chapters in the O.T. and 260
chapters in the N.T. If a person reads 10 chapters per day he or she could read
the entire Bible 3 times in one year. If a person read 5 chapters per day he or
she could read the O.T. once and the N.T. 3 times in a year.
This year, I am going to
try and make it to _________ services per week. This includes worship service
and Bible class. Can we really say we are putting the
This year, I am going to
invite ________ friends, ________ family members, and _______ strangers to our
services. One of the greatest invitations you can ever give is an invitation to
know the Lord (Jn. 1:46).
This year, I am going to
try and give __________ each week of the money that God has blessed me with.
Giving is something we are to purpose in our heart and lay up and store for the
Lord’s work each week (1 Cor. 16:2; 2 Cor. 9:7).
Other areas we should try
and grow in this year:
“Now
therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him
in sincerity and in
truth” (Joshua 24:14)
2012
A YEAR FOR THE
LORD
At
the beginning of any New Year, many have a tendency to make New Year
resolutions. Many have great intentions of keeping these resolutions, but
unfortunately many times these new resolutions that are made end being broken
sometimes within days of them being made. Whether successful or unsuccessful, I
love the idea of renewing yourself each year to make your life better by being
a better person because you just do not hear of people pledging each year that
they are going to become better a being bad or a worse person.
While
the New Year is fresh, I would like use this idea of making New Years
resolutions and suggest that every Christian should consider staring out each
year with renewed commitment to serving our Lord better than they have in the
past. As Joshua said in:
Joshua 24:15 "And if it seems evil to you to serve the
LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods
which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or
the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house,
we will serve the LORD."
Every
year belongs to the Lord, therefore we should do our
best to serve Him with whole heart, mind, and soul. Hopefully, everyone has the
sheet I handed out. I have given this to you as a simply guideline for this
lesson and for you to think on for the rest of this year. This is purely
voluntary and as we go through this sheet, you will get set your own goals for
this New Year. Every possible thing is not covered on this one sheet, so I
encourage you to use the back of the sheet to write down any additional goals
you would like to accomplish for the Lord this year.
I
hope you will keep this paper somewhere you can easily pull it out from time to
time to see how you are doing with the commitments you have made. If you take
this paper and just through it in the trash after this lesson, then that speaks
volumes to what you think about all this. Again, do whatever you want, it is up
to you.
The
first thing on our sheet is prayer. If there is one area that is easy for us to
lose site of, it is prayer. Prayer is our opportunity to speak to our God and
to know that He is listening. Just listen to the confidence of David:
Psalm 55:16 As for me, I will call upon God, And the LORD shall save
me. 17 Evening and morning
and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall
hear my voice.
Also this writer says:
Psalm 145:18 The
LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all
who call upon Him in truth. 19
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry
and save them. 20 The LORD
preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.
We need to remind
ourselves that our God listens to us and wants to hear from us. If that wasn’t
enough, prayer helps us to overcome discouragement:
Luke 18:1 Then He
spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 2
saying: "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor
regard man. 3 "Now there
was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get
justice for me from my adversary.' 4
"And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself,
'Though I do not fear God nor regard man,
5 'yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest
by her continual coming she weary me.' " 6 Then the Lord said,
"Hear what the unjust judge said. 7
"And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him,
though He bears long with them?
Whether
we are being oppressed by our enemies or just having a bad day or a bad year,
praying to God can give us hope and lift us up know that God is near. We
certainly know that prayer was very important to Jesus because He spent much
His free time in prayer to His Father. Sometimes He prayed all night.
Of
course, Jesus made it possible for every Christian to have open access to the
Father through prayer:
Hebrews 4:14 Seeing
then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High
Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted
as we are, yet without sin. 16
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Paul tells us that we
prayer should be a high priority on our list:
Philippians 4:6 Be
anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray
without ceasing, 18
in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for
you.
Research shows that it takes 21 days to form a habit whether it is good or bad. If you will look at your sheet, you will see a blank for you to fill in of how many times a day you will try and pray to God. I give Daniel as an example because the Scripture teach us that his habit our custom was to do it 3 times a day. Maybe that will be a good number for you, but the idea is for you to choose your own number and make it a habit.
If you start today praying let’s say three times a day for the next 21 days, perhaps when you wake up, in the afternoon and before you go to bed then it should start becoming a habit and it is great habit to have. Please understand I am not talking about some mindless habit like chewing your finger nails or popping your fingers, I am talking about a habit that you repeat daily with meaning. Our prayers should not be some empty ritual where we just say some canned words. No, we must never forget that we are speaking to God almighty and He is listening to us. We should use our time of prayer to praise God, thank Him, pray for others and use it to turn our problems over to Him.
Prayer is great area for us to improve in and enjoy, so I hope you will make this New Year a year that you pray more than you ever have before. I did not mention prayer time over our food because that should be given, but if you have slacking in this area try your best to thank God for every meal.
Another area we can always improve in is the time we spend in the Word of God. It so easy for us to say, I will read my Bible tomorrow. Before we know it tomorrow never comes and the only Bible reading we get is when we come to our services. I understand, it is tough to squeeze in Bible reading every day especially when we have so many other things competing for our time.
It is kind of like exercise, many of us need it, including me, but there never seems to be time for it. However, when it comes to watching our favorite TV show or doing our favorite hobby we somehow make the time for it even if it means setting aside 3 or 4 hours to do it. Even though we may enjoy doing things that good for us once we start doing them, we seem struggle more with doing these kinds of activities that are good for us, but we never seem to have much trouble doing those things that have little or no benefit to our lives.
Let take exercise for example. Once someone gets started on exercise routine, they usually begin to like it as long as they are not doing something insane. They certainly love the way their bodies feel from the continued exercise. However, physical exercise takes a commitment. For some it might be 30 min a day for more hard core people it might be 2hrs a day. Maintaining a good physical exercise can be difficult to do because I said there are many things that are competing for our attention, so many times physical exercise goes to way side. While physical exercise is certainly important for physical and mental health the Bible tells us there is something more important:
1 Timothy 4:8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is
profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that
which is to come.
Godliness is far greater than physical exercise. How do we obtain godliness? We obtain in from the Word of God. When it comes to God’s Word we should have the attitude of Job:
Job 23:12 I have
not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His
mouth More than my necessary food.
I am afraid if some of us
ate physical food as often as we eat spiritual food we would be nothing but
skin and bones. We need to remind ourselves just how important it is that we
make daily Bible reading part of lives. Listen to what the following Scriptures
have to say about the Word of God:
Psalm 119:103 How sweet are Your
words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Psalm 119:127 Therefore I love
Your commandments More than gold, yes, than fine gold!
Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found, and I ate
them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am
called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.
John 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is
to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
1 Peter 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure
milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
Romans 1:16 For I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation
for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
James 1:21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness
and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which
is able to save your souls. 22
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves.
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped
for every good work.
All these Scriptures speak of the importance and joy that God’s Word brings to our lives. It makes us spiritual fit and wise. It teaches us what we need to know to be saved and to have confidence in our Lord. God’s Word combats the negative and sinful ways of the world. No wonder Paul told Timothy:
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto
God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth.
Peter tells us always be ready to give an answer to those who encounter:
1 Peter 3:15 But
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a
defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with
meekness and fear; 16 having
a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile
your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
If we want to have
stronger faith and be able to combat the temptations of this world and to be
able to defend God’s truth to those who ask, we must be students of God’s Word,
which is why I am asking you to commit to a number of chapters to read in the
handout. If you will look at your handout I give you some guidelines that will
help you to determine a number of chapters to read each day. Notice what I
wrote:
Daily Bible reading
is essential to spiritual growth. There are 929 chapters in the O.T. and 260
chapters in the N.T. If a person reads 10 chapters per day he or she could read
the entire Bible 3 times in one year. If a person read 5 chapters per day he or
she could read the O.T. once and the N.T. 3 times in a year.
Let met give you an example of how long it will take you to read 10 chapters or 5 chapters per day. First, of all some chapter are short and some long. Some people can read fast some slow. So, I used Mathew 21 as a sample. This is fairly long chapter with 46 verses. While there are some chapters that are longer than this, the majority are much shorter. Now I can read fairly fast. I read this chapter in 2 min and 23 sec. If you are a fast reader like me or faster this means you could read 5 chapters in about 11 minutes and 10 chapters in about 22 minutes. I also read this chapter word for word out loud and took me 4 min 50 sec. This should be pretty close to the time of a slower reader who mouths every word as they read. For you it would take you around 22 minutes to read 5 chapters and around 45 min to read 10 chapters.
So, think about it, it only takes 11 to 22 min to read 5 chapters per day or 22 min to 45 min to read 10 chapters today. Even if a slow reader only spent 15 min a day reading their Bible, they would be able to read the entire Bible through in one year. Surely, we can all give 15 to 20 minutes a day to read the precious words of our Lord. I hope you will make some kind of commitment on your paper and do your best to keep it. Even if you miss a day or two it no reason to stop reading because what is important is that you are reading it. Remember, as I said it only takes 21 days to form a new habit, so make reading your Bible daily one of your new habits this year.
One more thing I want to mention that will help you grow
even more is when you are reading, write down those
things that you do not fully understand or things that catch your eye. Then go
back later and study those things you wrote down so that you can gain a deeper
understand of the Scriptures.
The third thing our sheet that would be good for us to work on this year is our attendance to the service that we have to offer. This is an area where the world can compete for our time. The school systems and other secular activities could care less if what they are doing conflicts Sunday or Wednesday church services. Now this was not always the case. Since the majority of churches assembly on Sunday and have Bible class on Wednesday those in the secular world would plan their activities around those days if at all possible because more Christians used to make Bible class and worship a high priority, but like I said this is no longer the case.
It becomes very easy to skip Bible class or worship because of a secular activity and I am not talking about once in a blue moon either, I talking about frequently. If more Christians started saying no we cannot attend such and such event because that is our time for the Lord, more of the secular places would begin to revert back to making their schedules more friendly to Christians. Now do not get me wrong I understand that there are some events and things like work that cannot be avoided, but there are many times that Christians simply allow any event to take precedence over worship and Bible class.
We have to be careful of where we put our loyalty as Jesus said:
Matthew 6:24 "
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the
other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.
If we try and juggle between worldly demands and serving our living God, we are going to find ourselves in conflict on who to give our time to. Like I said sometimes it cannot be avoided, but if it could would you make the sacrifice and not just go with the flow of everyone else and assemble with the saints instead?
We must never forget that Jesus died for us so that we could become part of His body, which is the church. When we come together is it a time of edification, praise to God, worship, and a time to learn about Him and what we can do to glorify Him. We only have Sunday and Wednesday as designated times that we meet for worship and Bible study. That is 2 days out of the week to be encouraged and uplifted after spending a lot of time in the world. When you think about it, that is really not that much time. In the first century, we learn that they would sometimes meet with each other daily:
Acts 2:46 So
continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house
to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the
church daily those who were being saved.
Acts 5:42 And daily
in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching
Jesus as the Christ.
Notice what Jesus tells
us:
Matthew 6:33
"But seek first the
Seeking the kingdom first
would certainly include assembling with the saints for worship and for Bible
study don’t you think. Let us not forget what the writer of Hebrew says:
Hebrews 10:24 And let
us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one
another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
If you have not been
attending the services as you should, I hope you will make it your goal to
attend as many services as you can. When you make the time to be with your
brothers and sisters in Christ, it will make you have a great year and help you
grow spiritually. The worse thing you can do is develop the attitude that
church and Bible class really does not matter that much because then it sets
you up to drift away from the Lord. As the writer of Hebrews says;
Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things
we have heard, lest we drift away.
We have only talked about 3 things on paper this morning: prayer, reading the Word of God daily, and attending all the services that we can. I hope you will join me in making these 3 things part of this New Year and hope that you will stick to it. There are more suggestions I would like to make that are on your handout and will talk about the rest of them tonight. So, if there is nothing preventing you from being here tonight, I hope that you will come assemble with the saints at 6 p.m. as we consider more areas we can focus in this New Year as we focus on giving it all for God.
2012
A YEAR FOR THE
LORD
PART 2
This
morning we began talking about using the beginning of the year to renew our
commitment to God and to do our best to give our best to Lord in this New Year.
I gave everyone a handout so that you could set goals for yourself this year.
This morning we looked at first three areas I wanted you to examine in your
life and they were: prayer, reading your Bible, and attending all the services
that you can.
Tonight
I want to begin with point number four, which has to do with being more
evangelistic. Notice what it says:
This year, I am going to
invite ________ friends, ________ family members, and _______ strangers to our
services.
I
have read many different articles and books on the topic of evangelism and the
recurring theme is that more souls are won to Christ by those who invited their
friends and family members. We have got to stop allowing fear and the
possibility of rejection to keep us from inviting our friends and family. We
are their best hope at reaching them. Sometimes, I think we put too much stress
on ourselves of what they will think about us, when in reality is not really
that big of a deal. If our friends and family members love us, they might
become a little annoyed if we keep asking them to come to services, but they
are not going to turn their backs on you for simply asking them to come. If
they do, then they have issues they need to work out.
To
put things in perspective, lets say that you learned about a pill that has no
side effects, but this pill has been proven to keep away all sickness and
disease and as a bonus it reverses the signs of aging. I think we would all
love to have such a pill. If we found out about this new pill, what would do?
Well first, we would get it for ourselves. If we see that it lives up to its
claims, we are going to go tell family and friends all about it so they can
know about his wonderful pill. Would we not?
If
we were watching the news and we heart about a tornado or even wild fire that
was near our friends or family house, what would do? We would call them and
warn them about the danger so they would not be caught unaware of the danger.
Would we not?
While
these I have mentioned are certainly worthy reaching out to our friends and
family over, there is nothing more pressing than inviting them to know the Lord
because without the Lord, they will suffer a much greater travesty than just
physical death, they will spend eternity in the horrible place called hell,
which is why Paul said:
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive
the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good
or bad. 11
Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;
Now
we cannot go Medieval on them and force them to know the Lord. However, we can
do our best to persuade them to come to services or to have a Bible study. We
can take opportunities to say little things that will help open their eyes.
If
a risen Savior who died for us and has made eternity in heaven a reality for us
cannot motivate us more than a magic pill or a tornado or fire, then we
something is wrong because there is no greater news than what Jesus offers us.
Though
I have focused on friends and family, you will also notice that have place for
you to fill in a number for how many strangers you will invite to our services.
They we do not know them, we should care for them and
give them the same opportunities as our family and friends. Jesus asked:
Matthew 5:46
"For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the
tax collectors do the same? 47
"And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do
not even the tax collectors do so?
So,
I hope you will focus on being evangelistic this year because you might be the
only person that has the connection and the opportunity to win that soul for
Christ.
Our
fifth point on the paper has to do with giving. There are many areas that we
can give in and some of those are listed toward the bottom of the handout, but
this fifth point is specifically dealing with how much money you are planning
to give each week for the Lord. We are taught in Scripture to give what we have
purposed in our hearts. In fact, lets look a few Scriptures that talk about
giving.
1 Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay
something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections
when I come.
2 Corinthians 9:6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap
sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as
he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a
cheerful giver. 8 And God is
able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all
sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance
for every good work. 9 As it
is written: "He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His
righteousness endures forever."
What
you give is entirely up to you and is between you and the Lord. He knows your
heart and He knows what you can give. However, the idea given the Scripture is
that we give with forethought. We do not give God our leftovers or the least that
we can. We certainly do not what be like the joke I
heard once about these boys talking about their fathers who were preachers in
different denominations.
They
were bragging about how much money their dads made. One said,
my dad gets 10% of the collection. The other boy said, well my dad has your dad
beat because he takes the collection outside and draws two circles. One small one for God, and one big one for him. Whatever
lands in the big circle he takes and whatever lands in the small circle goes to
God. Well, the third boy said my dad wins because he throws the collection up
in the air and say whatever God wants He will keep but everything that lands on
the ground is mine.
The
reason jokes like this exist is because some in the religious world take
advantage of people so they can line their pockets with money, instead of using
the money for good. We should never have this kind of mentality. It also
because of this kind of abuse in the religious world that we sometimes shy away
about talking about how important it is that we give our money for the work of
the church.
The
cost of living has increased a lot of the last several years. Gas prices have
almost tripled, the cost of food, insurance, electricity, water, gas and so on
has all gone up. When this happens, it puts a strain on our budgets especially
if our salary stays the same.
One
thing we must keep in mind is that the work of the church is also affected by
the cost of living increase. It cost more to maintain our meeting place, it cost more to be able to help others with food and
other needs. However, if we do not adjust our giving then we have less money to
work with in the church and its work will be limited more than it ever has been
before.
So,
the beginning of the year is great time for us to sit down and look at our
budget to see what we are going to give to Lord each week this year, while
keeping in mind that it cost more now to carry out the work of the church than
it used to just like it cost more now on just about everything.
Another
thing you might consider is that even when you are gone on vacation or you miss
because of sickness don’t skip out on giving your weekly contribution. Again,
this is total up to you, but a one week of missed contribution makes a big
difference in a small congregation like ours. Some Christians when they go on
vacation will give their contribution to a church they visit and there is
certainly nothing wrong with doing that, but also know other Christians who
simply wait and give their contribution to their local congregation when they
get back. Again, this is a personal choice, one is not more right than other.
However, in a small congregation like ours, that lost contribution does affect
the work here. When you keep your contribution in your local congregation you
will know that it will benefit it and you can be confident that it will be used
to help support the work here.
So,
I hope you will sit down and look at what you are giving and consider that the
cost of doing the Lord’s work has went up with everything else and make a
commitment and try your best to give each week what you have purposed in your
heart to the Lord.
On
the bottom part of your page, I have listed some other areas we could think
about as we enter into this New Year. Many of the things listed have to do with
serving. Jesus said:
Matthew 20:27"And
whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave -- 28 "just as the Son of Man
did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for
many."
Galatians 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use
liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one
another.
Whenever we became a
Christian, we were liberated from sin, and as we study God’s Word, we
understand that there is something more than just ourselves and our immediate
family. One area that we always increase in is serving others. Notice, this
service to others is done out of love.
Notice what Jesus says
about this in:
John 13:34 "A
new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I
have loved you, that you also love one another.
35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one
another."
Jesus makes it clear for
us, if we are a Christian and we want to be pleasing to God, then we must love
one another just a Christ loved us. When you read through the 4 gospels and you
study Jesus’ short work on the earth, you learn about the great love and
compassion He had for those around Him. Many people during that time wouldn’t have
anything to do with the poor, sick, or the maimed, but Jesus was the kind of
man that would put His arm around them and eat with them.
He had such a deep love
for those around Him that He would even shed tears for them when they suffered.
This is the same kind of love that we are to have for one another. When we love
each other and those around us, we will stand out and be different from those
in the world. Some today only care about themselves and their immediate family,
but when you see Christians who sincerely care for one another and have
compassion on those out in the world, people will know that they are disciples
of Jesus.
So, I would suggest that
you think about how you might be able to serve others this year more than you
have in the past. While it might seems like an inconvenience at first, when you
see fruit of your labor you will be glad that you did it.
A few of these are
mentioned in the list on your paper such as visiting the wayward and sick and
brining food for various works such as funerals or food to our youth
gatherings. If you look for the opportunities to serve others, I promise you
find it.
Every person can find a
place they can serve. You can certainly help with the maintenance of the
building. There is grass to be mowed, things to be cleaned, and things to be
fixed. We are already have people who volunteer to clean the building on
various months, but I guarantee you they will not care at all if you come up
and help them clean some during their month.
I cannot even begin to mention
all the areas that we can serve in, but I can say that if you see opportunity
to serve and glorify God, then do it. One area I do want to mention is serving
at our assembly.
First I want to talk to
those that are teaching. Those that teach the adult Bible class and those that
teach our kids are doing a great service for God and for us. I hope each
teacher knows how much they are appreciated even though they may not hear it
verbalized very often. I also hope you will use this New Year to remind yourself
how important your service is and that you will be thinking about how you can
impact your listeners even more than you have before. I hope you never lose
your zeal for teaching and challenging your listeners to grow.
For those of you who have
never taught, I hope that you will consider trying it. You could start out as
co-teacher in one of the kids’ classes. I am sure any of our teachers would be
happy to help you learn how to teach and allow you to help with the teaching.
If some of you guys are willing to take on role of teaching the adult Bible
class I or the elders can help give you material teach if you need it. I know
that teaching the adult class is not for everyone, but I feel confident that we
have some men in the congregation that could serve in this capacity if they
would only try. I can promise you, it is a rewarding
experience because you learn so much more from God’s Word when have to
prepare to teach it.
We have four deacons in
our congregations and the term deacon means servant. I am very thankful that we
have men that are willing to serve as deacons. I also hope that our deacons
will use this New Year to look for new ways they might serve our God by heading
up new programs that might help our congregation grow spiritual and numerically.
For those men that have
never served as a deacon, if you are qualified as per 1 Tim. 3 maybe you will
consider serving as a deacon in the church. It is not a position to take
lightly because you will become a special servant for the Lord one who is a
good example and is willing to serve. When asked to do something, you are the
kind of person that will do it if at all possible. Remember Paul says this
about the deacons:
1 Timothy 3:13 For those who have served well as deacons obtain for
themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ
Jesus.
To our two elders, whom I
love and appreciate. I hope that you will also take this new year to consider how you might oversee the flock and
influence them in godly way that will cause them to draw closer to God this
year. I am so thankful that we have elders because that is how God wants a
congregation set up. While a congregation can continue to do good for the Lord
without elders it never works as good as could with good elders like we have.
With that being said, I
would like for our men in this congregation who are qualified to be an elder
according 1 Tim. 3 that you would consider this year about becoming one of
elders. We have some good men in congregation that as I far as I know are
qualified to serve as elder. Of course, one has to have the desire to serve in
this position, but if you love the Lord and His church then that is usually
enough to give a man the desire serve in the position if he is qualified.
Having two elders certainly
qualifies as having a plurality of elders, but if something happens to of them
then we will not have any elders until another man steps up to the position.
While serving as elder can be difficult at times it is also joy as:
Hebrews 13:17 Obey
those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls,
as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for
that would be unprofitable for you.
I hope all of you
consider serving more and serving in other areas that you have not before this
year.
Also on my list is being
a godly example. Everyone of us no matter good of an
example we have been in the past can always improve in this area. So, hope that
each of us make a commitment to do our best this year
to be a Christ-like example to those around us. I preaching
entire sermons on this topic, so you should know how important it is for us to
be a good example to others.
As Paul told Timothy:
1 Timothy 4:12 Let no
one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct,
in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
Last but not least, I
hope that husbands, wives, and children will all do their best to make their
home a godly one and they will treat each other in Christ-like manner. This is
another area that we can all improve in no matter how well we have done in the
past. There is always room for improvement.
As I was thinking about
this topic, I was thinking about how some go into marriage thinking that
everything is going to be grand. I was thinking about how some men use their
pick up lines to find that potential mate for life. I have heard the one where
a man ask a women if she had tripped because she must be angel that fell out of
heaven, but after getting married and living with her there may be time that he
tells himself she didn’t trip, she got kicked or shoved.
I have heard women say
before, he hung the moon, but after being married to him for awhile, sometimes
she might say I wish he was hanging on the moon.
I have heard parents say
about the baby this is bundle of joy, but as the baby get older there are times
when the parents might think this is a bundle alright, but not a bundle of joy.
Family life can be very
challenging at times, but overall our family should be something we enjoy, so I
hope this new year you will make a commitment to
making your family more Christ centered and work on ways to make less conflict
to happen. When it comes to our marriages we would do good to heed what Paul
said in:
Ephesians 5:22 Wives,
submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is head of the
wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the
body. 24 Therefore, just as
the church is subject to Christ, so let the
wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just
as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify
and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to
Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but
that she should be holy and without blemish.
28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own
bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes
it, just as the Lord does the church.
30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His
bones. 31 "For this
reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
Children will do well to
heed what Paul said as well:
Ephesians 6:1 Children,
obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and
mother," which is the first commandment with promise: 3 "that it may be well with
you and you may live long on the earth."
There
are a lot of areas we could always improve in, and I hope that you will
seriously consider some of the ones I have presented in this lesson today
because anything we do better than we have before will mean that we are growing
and do more for the Lord.