The Beginning Of A New Year

1. INTRODUCTION:
   
   
   1. NEW EXPERIENCES AWAIT US.

      Joshua 3:4 = "Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore."

   2. THE FUTURE IS UNCERTAIN.

      James 4:14 = "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."

   3. ONE THING IS FOR CERTAIN GOD IS IN THE FUTURE.

   Psalms 90:2 = "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."

2. DISCUSSION:
   
   
   1. WE ARE IMPRESSED WITH THE THOUGHT OF TIME.
      1. Time means nothing to God because he has all of it.

         2 Peter 3:8 = "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

      2. Time is important to man because he has so little of it.

      Job 14:1 = "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not."

      Psalms 90:10 = " The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." 
      Psalms 90:12 = "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."

      Ephesians 5:16 = "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil."

   2. THIS IS THE TIME OF YEAR WHEN WE TAKE STOCK OR LOOK AT THE PAST YEAR.
      1. We should take stock of our blessings.

         Psalms 65:11 = "Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness."

      2. Take stock of your Christian service.
         1. What progress have you made during the past year.
         2. What are your weaknesses and strengthen them.
         3. What do I need to do to improve and work on it.
   3. LAY ASIDE THE WEIGHTS WHICH HAVE RETARDED OUR PROGRESS

      Hebrews 12:1 = "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,"

      1. Lay aside all malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, and evil speakings.

         1 Peter 2:1 = "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,"

      2. Lay aside lukewarmness.

         Revelation 3:15-16 = "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."

      3. Lay aside worldliness.

         James 4:4 = "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."

         I John 2:15-17 = "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

      4. Lay aside sorrows.

         COMMENT: In the most sheltered of lives, storms and disappointments will come, but they should be accepted so as to become wings to lift and not weights to hold us down. A piece of tallow and a piece of clay can be placed equal distances from a flame and one will melt and the other hardened. Some of life’s experiences will harden and last while others will melt away.

      5. Lay aside everything that absorbs our energies and retards our progress.

   Matthew 13:45-46 = "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."

3. CONCLUSION: WHAT WILL YOU RESOLVE FOR THIS YEAR?
   
   
   1. GOOD RESOLUTIONS ARE NECESSARY TO MORAL AND SPIRITUAL ADVANCEMENT.

      COMMENT: When the water pitcher is broken do you quit drinking water? We seek another means of securing this life sustaining fluid.

   2. RESOLVE TO MAKE THIS A HAPPY YEAR.

      Psalms 144:15 = "Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD."

   3. RESOLVE TO DESIRE TO BE MORE LIKE GOD:
      1. Drink deep into the milk of God’s Word to grow stronger.

         1 Peter 2:2 = "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:"

      2. Be more like Christ walking in His steps.

      1 Peter 2:21 = "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:"

   4. RESOLVE TO READ THE BIBLE AND PRAY EVERYDAY.

      1 Timothy 4:13 = "Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine."

      1 Thessalonians 5:17 = "Pray without ceasing."

   5. RESOLVE TO RESIST THE DEVIL.

      James 4:7-8 = "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."

   6. RESOLVE TO MANIFEST PEACE AND NOT STRIFE IN THE CHURCH.

      Romans 14:19 = "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."

      Matthew 5:9 = "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."

      Proverbs 20:3 = "It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling."

      Psalms 133:1 = "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"

      Ephesians 4:3 = "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond on peace."

   7. RESOLVE TO PRESS EVER FORWARD IN THE SERVICE OF GOD.

Philippians 3:13-14 = "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Luke 9:62 = "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

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