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Happy New Year! - Preach for a Year


      Happy New Year!


      John 3:3; Romans 6:4; Philippians 3:13–14

          I.      Introduction

         A.      The Greeting of the Season

         1.      Countless greeting cards sent through the mails
         2.      Salutations and celebrations

         B.      The New Year is not Really New

         1.      While thousands will shout “Happy New Year,” they will awaken to the same old burdens as before
         2.      Instead of a Happy New Year, for many, it will be a terrible hangover
         3.      There is no magic hour at midnight that suddenly ushers in utopia

         C.      What Makes A New Year Happy?

          II.      Body

         A.      The New Birth (John 3:3–5)

         1.      Necessity of the new birth
         2.      Many have dreamed of the opportunity of starting over again
         3.      What the new birth is not:
           a.      It is not baptism
           b.      It is not reformation
         4.      The new birth takes place upon receiving Christ by faith (John 1:12; 3:16)

         B.      The New Walk (Romans 6:14)

         1.      There is no one more miserable than the believer who doesn’t live right
         2.      Let us see the contrast between the old walk and the new:
           a.      The flesh and the Spirit (Gal. 5:16–23)
           b.      The walk before and after for the Ephesian Christians (Eph. 5:1–16)
         3.      The difference between day and night (Rom. 13:11–14)
         4.      To practice the new walk, you must feed the new man (2 Peter 2:1–3)    
         5.      To practice the new walk, you must reckon yourself dead with Christ and alive with Him (Rom. 6)

         C.      The New Goal (Philippians 3:13–14)

         1.      Paul’s past goals
         2.      Your past goals
         3.      Paul’s past sins and failures
         4.      Paul’s past victories
         5.      Paul willing to forget all that may hinder him in his life for Christ
         6.      Do you have a new goal since becoming a Christian?
           a.      Does that goal have priority in your life?
           b.      Are you willing to forget the past in order to reach your goal?

          III.      Conclusion

         A.      Awful Results of Neglecting this Truth

         1.      No new birth … soul lost
         2.      No new walk … testimony lost
         3.      No new goal … rewards lost

         B.      Practical Results of Acting on this Truth

         1.      Salvation, separation, dedication
         2.      The joy of living in the center of God’s will

Ecclesiastes 5:4

          I.      Introduction

         A.      Resolution Time Again

         B.      Resolutions are Limited

         1.      Doing better cannot save us
         2.      Works do not commend us to God

         C.      The Value of Resolutions

         1.      It is good to set goals for ourselves
         2.      Resolutions of Bible characters
         3.      Let’s examine some Bible resolutions

          II.      Body

         A.      Jacob’s Resolution to Give his Tithe (Gen. 28:22)

         1.      Conditions under which the resolution was made

           a.      Jacob fleeing from Esau because he has defrauded him
           b.      A resolution made when he has little to give

         2.      Some thoughts about tithing

           a.      Abraham commenced it (Gen. 14:20)
           b.      Jacob continued it (Gen. 28:22)
           c.      Malachi commanded it (Mal. 3:10)
           d.      Jesus commended it (Matt. 23:23)

         3.      Does tithing apply to Christians?

           a.      It is clear we are to give a portion of our income (1 Cor. 16:2)
           b.      Notice that tithing began before the law was given

         4.      This is one of the easiest places to let down

         5.      It also is one of the most practical areas to prove faith

         6.      Note the challenge of Malachi 3:10

         7.      See how the Lord rewarded Jacob (Gen. 32:10)

         B.      David’s Resolutions Concerning God’s Word (Ps. 119:15–16)

         1.      “I will meditate in thy precepts”

           a.      The importance of meditating on God’s Word
           b.      “For as he thinketh in his heart so is he” (Prov. 23:7)
           c.        p 16  Taking God’s Word into our minds on a regular basis

         2.      “I will delight myself in thy statues”

           a.      Not to be drudgery, but daily delight
           b.      Like a love letter from the Lord

         3.      “I will not forget thy word”

           a.      This calls for memorization
           b.      Memorization of the Bible is not just for children
           c.      Why not begin to memorize verses each week this year?

         4.      The value of a resolve to read the Bible through this year

           a.      Four chapters daily gets us through the Bible in a year
           b.      Reading three chapters on weekdays and five on Sunday will also help us cover the whole Bible

         C.      Daniel’s Resolution Concerning a Clean Life (Dan. 1:8)

         1.      The testimony of a teenager (15 years old)

           a.      His country taken by a foreign power
           b.      He had been chosen to study at the palace

         2.      Decided in his heart to dare to be different

         3.      So easy to just go along with the crowd

         4.      The word “defile” means to soil or pollute


         5.      Plenty of pollution around today

           a.      Plenty of reading material that defiles
           b.      Plenty of viewing material that defiles

         6.      A decision for holiness of life will go against the flesh

         7.      Holy living always pays dividends

          III.      Conclusion

         A.      Your Resolutions for Christ Today

         B.      Think of the Impact these could make on the New Year




Roger F. Campbell, Preach for a Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1997). 15-16.

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