One of my goals for 2020 is to begin an online presence that will be a help and encouragement to the awesome church family at Cedar Hills, and to anyone else who might read and follow. My goal is not to go viral or gain some type of platform, I simply want to help and encourage. I have not written formally since finishing seminary; so this will be a good refresher and learning opportunity for me. I’ll attempt to have proper grammar, use the correct punctuation, and not use run on sentences, but I’m not making any promises.;-) I trust God will use this blog as a tool to help all of us become more like Jesus and point people towards Him. Here it goes…
Tomorrow we will enter into not only a brand new year, but a brand new decade. I love the start of a new year because it brings about two things:
1. It’s a time to reflect back on your year and rejoice in how God has worked in your life allowing God to show you areas of your life where you need to grow and change.
2. It’s an opportunity for a new start. It’s a time to look ahead and set realistic goals. It’s a time to think on what you could accomplish for the Lord in the coming year.
As you seek to make changes and reach your goals this year it’s important to be reminded of this important truth from John 15:5. Jesus said, “…without me ye can do nothing.” Any attempt at change and growth apart from the help of the Lord is going to leave you frustrated. WE NEED HIS HELP!
God has graciously provided help by giving us the gift of prayer, the truth of His Word, and the person of the Holy Spirit to enable and equip us in the progress of our personal sanctification. With this is mind here are five goals I’d encourage every believer to practice and seek to grow stronger in 2020.
1. Build and strengthen your personal relationship with Christ
Job 23:12 – Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
Psalm 42:1- As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
Psalm 119:11 – Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Psalm 62:5 – My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.
In the course of each day make time to spend intentional time with God. The most important appointment you have in any given day is the appointment you make to spend time with Jesus. This can be done in several ways:
- Read your bible
- Meditate on a daily devotional
- Pray
- Sing
- Journal
- Read a spiritually uplifting blog or online article
- Listen to a podcast or sermon
If you want to grow in your relationship with Jesus in the coming year, this is a must. Growth and change won’t happen without it.
2. Be actively attending and serving in worship services, lifegroups, and Bible studies.
Hebrews 10:25 – “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
Be faithful to your local church. Don’t just come on Sunday morning or attend sporadically and expect to personally grow. It won’t happen. Beyond just attending the weekly worship services, it’s important that you are connected to others within the church to encourage, pray for one another, and have personal accountability. At Cedar Hills we call these lifegroups. These groups are more than just another sermon or lesson on Sunday morning. They are connections with one another. They are accountability. They are fellowship. They are opportunities to sharpen one another. Lifegroups are the most important growth tool we have at Cedar Hills.
Beyond attending services, lifegroups, and Bible studies, I would encourage you to get involved and be actively serving in a ministry. If you are not serving in a ministry see your pastor and ask him where you can serve and get involved. God has gifted each of us for ministry. Remember, you don’t belong to or attend church for what you can get, but for what you can give.
3. Tithe Obediently
There are very few times in the Bible will God dares you to test Him, but this is one of them. Listen to MalachI 3:10
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
God says, try it! Let me prove it to you! Beginning this very first week of January with the very first paycheck give God the first fruits of that check. Before you pay a bill, before you purchase groceries, before you give any other gift, give God His ten percent. Trust Him, that He will provide, bless, and multiply when we are obedient in our giving. We miss out on God’s blessings when we don’t trust God with our money. So become a faithful tither. It all belongs to God anyway.
4. Replace sinful habits with those things that are pleasing to God.
Let’s be honest, we all have sinful habits with which we struggle. We attempt to stop doing something or we attempt to begin doing something we should do and often find ourselves coming up short. How do we gain victory with these habits that are difficult to change? In Ephesians 4, Paul gives us the prescription for eliminating these habits and achieving victory in our lives.
Notice what he says in verses 22-24: “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
I like to refer to this as the principle of replacement. When you seek to eliminate a sinful habit in your life, you need to replace it with something good. We tend to make a resolution that we are going to STOP something and that is a good resolution to make. But simply eliminating something leaves a void. Paul is saying, don’t just stop something, but replace it with something good and profitable. Instead of allowing that addiction or habit to be an idol in your life, replace it with those things which please the Lord. Put off, and put on.
5. Look for opportunities to share Jesus with others
Mark 5:19 – “…Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.”
The theme for Cedar Hills this year is centered around being “Difference Makers”. The greatest opportunity we have to make a difference in someone’s life this year is to share Jesus with them. In Mark 5 we read the story of how an encounter with Jesus completely changed the life of a man from the country of Gadarene. What did Jesus tell this man to do? He told him to go to his friends and tell them of the change Jesus had made in his life.Those who know Christ have been given the greatest gift anyone can receive. It would be selfish not to share that gift with others in need. Begin now praying that God would bring you opportunities to share Christ with others this year. Be prepared when the opportunities come. Carry gospel tracts, get trained on how to share your faith, invite those God brings in your path to church. Determine to be a difference maker this year by sharing Christ with someone who needs Jesus.
Let’s remember the words of Jesus in John 10:10:
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
God wants you to have and enjoy the abundant life. How do you enjoy the abundant life God has for you? A good start is when you:
1. Build and strengthen your personal relationship with Christ:
2. Actively attend and serve in worship services, lifegroups, and Bible studies.
3. Tithe Obediently
4. Replace sinful habits with those things that are pleasing to God.
5. Look for opportunities to share Jesus with others