January 3, 2016

Pastor Dan’s Message

Colossians 3:1-3; 10

Turning Point Wesleyan Church

 Colossians 3:1-3, 10

“Since you have been raised to new life with

Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.”

My wife and I, out of Love, ask God to Bless you and your family in this New Year of 2016.

Typically, with each New Year, most of us find ourselves trying to set “NEW RESOLUTIONS.” Or we put “NEW LIFE INTO OUR OLD RESOLUTIONS”

But regardless, our Resolutions are USUALLY always with an inward focus.

Something to try to lead us into a better type of life style.

As many of us struggle with setting and maintaining these goals we must also realize that for the most, these goals are only for our life within this world here.

Some of these goals may include like:

·         Losing weight.

·         For us to drink less or to stop all together.

·         We set out to put an end to a nasty habit.

·         We set goals of doing more exercise.

·         And it may even include to spend more time with our children and/or our spouse.

I cannot say any of these are bad but we must realize for the majority of the time, our resolutions are focused upon ourselves and not upon others nor are they upon our Lord God. And when we set them, at first, we have our focus but so soon afterward, we lose all reasons for them. Here is an example of this.

There is an old Candid Camera episode. You remember that old show. They revive it once in a while. The whole series had a simple premise in which they would play some joke on people and "catch them in the act of being themselves."

In this one particular episode, a man is on a busy city sidewalk. He is standing there looking down on the ground. He walks around a bit, always keeping his eyes on the ground. People pass by and look at him, and keep walking by. Then he gets on his hands and knees. He feels around with his hands. People slow down and look at this man who’s looking for something -- contact lens, lost coin -- who knows.

Finally, one passerby stops. She starts looking. She never asks the first man, "What are we looking for?" Then another passerby slows down and starts looking. Finally, the hidden camera has caught a crowd of about a half dozen people looking intently on the sidewalk. At that point, the actor, the first person who was looking on the ground, quietly gets up and walks away. No one else notices that he has walked away. They are so intent on looking for -- who knows what. They never asked what they were looking for, but there they are, intently looking, trying to find whatever is lost.

In the past, when you have set such ‘worthwhile’ Resolutions for the New Year, soon after that decision had been made, haven’t you found yourself like most people, haven’t you lost sight of and the knowledge of what you were really looking for in the first place?

But what if?

But what if you decided to do it different this year? What if instead of focusing upon yourselves and your life here, What if you place your focus upon God Himself? What if you decided to have your New Year Resolution be: “To Live ‘THE’ CHRISTIAN LIFE”

Did you notice that I didn’t say “to live ‘A’ Christian Life” or “to ‘BE’ a Christian”, but rather it was “To LIVE ‘THE’ CHRISTIAN LIFE”.

The first step is very simple -- seek Christ.

Your very first step is very simple, and that is to seek Christ. This fits right in with God’s greatest commandment, which is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, To LOVE OUR GOD WITH ALL OF OUR BEING!

Doesn’t it go without saying that we cannot love someone we do not know? So, You must first set out with “action”. With Action to Get to know Your God and what He has done for you.

We find that before God gave the command for us to love God which is found in Deuteronomy 6:5, we hear the statement made By God in verse 4. “Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone”

One aspect of this statement is that He is unique! He is Unique and the better you get to know what He is like, the easier it will be for you to love Him with your whole being.

This also involves for you to get to know what He has done for you. Again, before the first command is given in Exodus 20:3, God states what He had done for Israel in bringing them out of slavery in Egypt. Likewise, in Roman 12:1-2, the command to offer our lives as living sacrifices is prefaced with the word therefore--a word which directs us to remind ourselves of all of the mercies of and from God toward us which was recorded in the previous chapters of Romans.

To grow in Love with God.

Your second Step is to grow in Love with God. To grow in love with God, one needs to first get to know Him. He has revealed Himself in nature which is described in Romans 1:20, but there is so much more than that and He has written it all the way through His Word.

By the way, when you are asked ‘Who wrote the Bible’, what would your answer be? I would hope your answer would be God wrote it. We have letters and manuscripts which have been written by 40 different people and all of this makes up the entire Bible however, in EVERY CASE, God, Himself gave those words to those selected people who wrote the Words of the Truth which we now read and call the BIBLE.

You need to make daily Bible study an uninterrupted habit. It needs to be as much a part of your life as eating every day is. We would do well to remember that the Bible is more than a book; it is truly God’s love letter to us. It reveals His love for us through the centuries, especially through the ministry of Jesus Christ, His Son. You must read the Bible as a letter from Him, asking His Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts about what He wants us to glean, understand and gather from it that day, every day.

Memorizing important verses and passages is also essential, as is thinking of ways to apply what you learn (Joshua 1:8).

Following Jesus

You must also Follow Jesus’ example of praying constantly and consistently. When we examine the life of Jesus as well as that of Daniel, Elisha and others who had a passion for God, we find that prayer was a vital ingredient in their relationships with God. Even just a quick reading of the Gospels and the Book of Daniel reveals this. As with ANY Bible study, Prayer, Sincere and open communication with God, this Prayer Time Is Essential.

We would find it very difficult to imagine a man and woman growing in love or even staying in love without communicating. Wouldn’t you agree?

The same is with God and prayer. Prayer cannot be neglected without expecting one’s love for God to grow cold.

And this is one of the devils lures. We may not be aware of how cold our Love for God has grown but the fact will remain the same. If we are not in constant prayer with God, We are no longer close to God. Prayer is a part of the armor against our greatest enemies. The Devil Himself. Ephesians 6:18 explains this.

We may have a desire to love God, but we will fail in our walk without prayer. Matthew shares this with us in 26:41.

We must act NOW and walk closely with Him.

And the forth step is VITAL as well. You must Walk closely with Him starting NOW!

Daniel and his three friends chose to obey God and refused to compromise their beliefs in even the food which they ate. We find this truth within Daniel Chapter 1. The others who were taken along with Daniel and his 3 friends, taken prisoners from Judah to Babylon, all but these 4 caved in. They gave up, they traded their life as Christ had chosen for them to live. And they traded all of that for a live as those around them were living and they are never mentioned again.

This is so important for us to understand. All of them, even with them being of strong beliefs, they were never mentioned again. All of the other men who were taken prisoners, they were also believers and followers of God, but they gave into their new way of life which was around them.

Their decisions then are just as we have here with us today. Do you stay:

·         Firm and live a life within God’s Law

·         Or do you substitute your beliefs,

·         Do you lower your standers,

·         Trade in God’s Truth

·         And put the world’s truth in its place.

·         Do you go along with the world, all the while claiming to be a Christian but living as the world lives?

When these ‘Jewish prisoners of war’ had their convictions challenged, it was only these 4 who stood alone for God. By the Reading of Daniel 3 and 6, this would make a great read for all of us so we would all become aware of the Truth of what comes from compromising our beliefs.

But why do we have to do it NOW? Why do we have to Act NOW and walk Close to God? Why can’t we do it later?

In answering that, Let me ask you a few military questions relating to being prepared.

·         Is it better to work out now so you will be in shape later for better endurance when you go into battle? 

·         Is it better to practice and learn strategies now so that when you are confronted with the enemy, you will know what to do?

·         Is it better to work with and get to know and trust the person next to you before you go and seek out your enemy?

It is the same with God.

In order to ensure that we will be passionate for God later, we need to walk with Him now and begin to obey Him in even the smallest of tests!

Peter learned this the hard way by following God “at a distance,” rather than identifying himself more closely with Christ before his temptation to deny Him. We find this in Luke 22:54.

God says that where a man’s treasure is, there his heart will be also.

As you invest your life in God through serving Him and being on the receiving end of being persecuted for Him, your treasure will increasingly be within Him, and so will your heart. (1 Timothy 3:12 and Matthew 6:21).

We must Eliminate All Competition

You must eliminate all of the competition from your life. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus said it is impossible to have two masters. We are always tempted to trade in our Love for God in for the love of this world. In 1 John 2:15-17, it tell us that the Devil makes it so inviting for us to love the things which please our eyes, to love the things which makes us feel good about ourselves, and to love the things which gratify and fulfill our fleshly desires.

James says in chapter 4, verse 4, that to seek the embrace of this world and its friendship is enemy (or hatred) toward God and it is spiritual adultery.

You need to get rid of those things in your lives. Yes, I am talking about:

·         Friends who would lead you the wrong way,

·         Things that take up your time and energy and keep you from serving God more fully,

·         The pursuit of popularity,

·         The pursuit of possessions,

·         And the pursuit of physical and emotional gratifications.

We find in Matthew 6:33, God promises that if we pursue Him, He will not only provide for our needs but He will give us our desires as well. (Psalm 37:4-5)

If you stray from God, REPEAT!

If you stray, and I should WHEN you stray, begin over and do what helped you grow in love with God in the first place. It is not uncommon to have dips in our relationship with God. You are most certainly not alone. Everyone has them.

·         Peter dipped in his (Luke 22:54),

·         and David dipped in his (2 Samuel 11),

But they got up and pursued after God once again. John, in Revelation 2:4, states it is not a case of “losing” one’s love but “leaving” one’s love. The cure is to repeat and follow the steps again that once caused you to grow in love with God in the first place.

But after a fall, The First Step would be to Confess.

You need to forgive all others and then confess to God of your own sins.

When you do these two things, you will receive the forgiveness, you will be restored once again, and this is when your fellowship with God the Father, Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit can begin again.

That is the result of confession (1 John 1:9).

In this New Year of 2016, I challenge you all to seek God like you have never done before. To put Him first in all things. To Love Him and Live a life for Him alone and through that, you will find a new type of love which has never been in your heart before.

By making these 6 steps your New Year’s Resolution, to make this type of promise with God of pursuit, the pursuit of Him filled with the passion which He has planted within your very own heart. In doing this, I have no doubt that God will bless you and all who you will be connected with.

And God will glorify His Name through this new way of life.