We are called to be RESOLUTE...a twist on New Year's Resolutions

Ok..I've been promising this post for nearly a month now...and I finally got ahold of the sermon I needed to refresh my memory on to make sure I had it all right...so, here goes:


How many times have we made resolutions for the new year only to forget we even made them by the end of the first week {or sooner...}...? How many times have we said, "This will be the year that I actually do it!"? Pastor Willis brought this point up the Sunday following Dec, 31/Jan 1. He even brought up, what many of us have come to do, that there's a number of us who have resolved to not make resolutions!!! {sheepishly raising my hand right now} But then he want on to say that as Christians, we are called to be resolute and so cannot not make resolutions. I know, my face was somewhat twisted in a confused look, too. He then brought to our attention Paul and his 1st letter to the Corinthians: For I resolved to know nothing amont you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 1 Cor 2:2 ...As Christians, we are called to be resolute.

Now everyone has wiped their faces clean of expression and all are quietly listening...where are you going with this, Pastor??

His next statement was dumbfounding: This year, I want all of you to know Christ and Him crucified by drinking, cheating, stealing, and lying more that you ever have before....

After a brief pause, to let it all sink in, he explained...and let me just tell you: it was amazing.

Drink: Drink the Water of Life.
- When we are all so busy with anything and everything else in our lives/the world how parched do our souls become?? How starved are our spirits for that nourishing elixir of life that is God and His precious Word?!
- Everything else we fill our lives with is nothing but dust in our mouths. Gross...but so true. And, what an effective analogy to demonstrate how much damage we do to ourselves when we aren't drinking from the Word...daily.
- I remember Butch talking about this one time at Living Hope: he said something along the lines of people will die from thirst in something like 4-5days...how often do we go for a whole week without drinking from God's Word??? Scary to think about.

Cheat: Cheat Satan.
- One of Satan's many names is "The Accuser." That's one of the things he will do when we stand before the gates of Heaven -- He will accuse us of all of our wrongs, before the Lord's throne.
- Satan will do anything and everything to fool us into sinning...and then rub our noses in it...awesome.
- How many of us are plagued by sins we have committed in the past...even though we have confessed and been forgiven?? That guilt is something Satan uses against us. Pastor Willis made a good point when he said that sometimes it only takes something as small as hearing a song...even just a line! Or a scent, or a place...a street name...anything can trigger our recollection of whatever happened and result in us resuming ownership of the guilt that came with that sin.
- The Devil robs us of that glorious joy found in Christ crucified...what a tragedy that we allow him to.

Steal: Steal time with God.
- Our lives are too busy...simply too busy. How can we know this? Pastor Willis used the illustration of noting the minuscule numbers of Bible study attendees on Sundays...Tuesdays...Wednesdays...Thursdays...etc. It was a pretty good reminder that we too often hear of an opportunity to grow in the Lord and spend time with Him but turn around and say, "Well, I have this or that on that day...so, I can't go..." Yeeowzas!
- Pastor Willis encouraged us to make time in our day for the Lord.
- We should want and desire to spend time with Him, to be at church/Bible study, to be fellowshipping with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We should WANT this!!
- Another sharp point was this: What if we spent even half as much time with God as we do pointing something at a screen...even half!!! OK, Pastor...we're getting it.
- So many of us envy those who truly know the Bible and look something up or rattle off a reference with hardly a thought about it. We want to have that knowledge, but it seems we are rarely willing to make the "sacrifice" of giving up "our" time to spend time learning God's Word and putting forth the effort required to commit it to memory.

Lie: Lie back and rest in the Lord.
- He wasn't telling us to be lazy with this, but rather to find respite in the Lord.
- Time flies so very quickly in the fast-paced world of today. This is especially true when we are investing ourselves and our time in anything and everything but God and the people around us.
- Psalm 46:10 tells us to "Be still and know that [He is] God." What if we really were still and allowed ourselves to truly know that He is God.
- Slow down. Rest in the Lord.


Basically, all this combined means that our lives depend of knowing Christ and Him crucified. Don't discount His call and desire for us to be in Him. Don't be afraid to be resolute and KNOW Him.

So, there is your permission to drink, cheat, steal, and lie more than ever before. Enjoy and good luck!

It was truly an eye-opening reminder of how we, as Christians, ought to live out our lives in and for the Lord.

Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - If any of you want to listen to the sermon yourself, you can find it here, click on "January 3rd 2010 Sermon"