3 New Year's Goals

PS. 65:11—DAVID SAID, “THOU CROWNEST THE YEAR WITH THY GOODNESS”

What direction will we go as a church, on this first day of 2009, let me just tell you. I don’t know! God answered your prayers and He answered ours and brought us together "for such a time as this". He will give me direction, I will follow Him by leading you, and you indicated by your vote that you will follow:
* when you understand…when you don’t
* when you trust me…and when you have to trust the God who sent me to you
* when you agree…and when you have to agree to disagree.
This is a great time to go forward!

1. Find Some Dissatisfaction
Spiritually—don’t ever be content, satisfied. Here’s the attitude to have: However much I read my bible in 2008, it wasn’t enough (or prayed, or gave, or served, or worshipped) Phil. 3:13—“brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended” (arrived) If we’re not careful, we can allow ourselves to get to the point of complacency. (beat down with the woes of life, failures of yesterday) When is a church officially dead, when can we write Ichabod on the door? When we’ve looked backward so long we can’t find it within ourselves to look up, and look ahead!

2. Find Some Devotion Phil. 3:13—“but this one thing i do…”
To the self-righteous rich young ruler, Jesus said, “one thing thou lackest”
To busy Martha, criticizing her sister Mary, Jesus said, “one thing is needful.”
Jesus healed the blind man, he said, “one thing I know…I once was blind, now I see”
Ps. 27:4 David said, “one thing I have desired of the lord.”
Paul said, this one thing I do…a statement of devotion. His Christianity was not a sideline, not a compartment of his life. A wheel has many spokes, and so do we in our lives: work life, school life, hobbies, family life, church life. Jesus doesn’t want to be a spoke at all, he wants to be the hub of the wheel out of which all the spokes grow and connect Christianity shouldn’t be a compartment of our life, it should be our life! We need to trade some commitments of this world for commitment to our lord.

3. Find Some Direction v. 14, “forgetting those things which are behind…”
Did you know that the month January got it’s name from Caesar, who named the month for the Roman god Janus, the two-faced god…one face looking backward, and one forward.
In 2009, there’s no looking back…the past is passed…no man putting his hand to the plow, looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. No looking back at past sin…He forgives it, He forgets it, so should we! It’s satan who reminds you of those past sins, not God. When you think of it, thank God for forgiving you the 1st time!
John R. Rice, “no matter what you did in the past, your future is spotless!”

Let;s Look Forward Too What God Will Do For And Through Us In 2009