Happy New Year FBC!!!
Another year is coming to a close, and the next one is just over the horizon. I enjoy taking some time at the end of a year to reflect on God’s many blessings from throughout the year, the lessons learned, the prayers answered, and the people who have touched my life. It’s also a great time to think about new goals to set for a new year, as well as hopes and dreams for the days ahead. I also enjoy coming to the end of a year of reading through the Bible. This year a number of us used the One Year Bible, and today our readings completed the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. I get excited about beginning again with a new plan for reading through the Bible. This year I (and any others who want to join me) will be using the ESV Daily Reading Bible, which uses the popular reading plan developed by Robert Murray M’Cheyne. I already sent info about that to you in a previous email. There are copies of the plan on a table in the foyer at church.
There were some powerful truths from today’s reading, including this from Malachi 3:8, 10 – Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In your tithes and contributions… Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. And thereby put Me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I have enjoyed the notes from the Gospel Transformation Bible this year. Part of the note for this passage says, “Our giving is a diagnostic window into how we view God. If we see God as the gracious giver of all good gifts, we will desire to excel in the ‘grace’ of giving (2 Cor. 8:7). If we view Him as a hard taskmaster whose service is a burden, however, it will be visible in our reluctant giving. The issue is our attitude, not the amount (Luke 24:1-4). Through it all, we remember Jesus, who ‘though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich’ (2 Cor. 8:9). We are cheerfully generous not in order to pay God back, but in light of His great and lavish generosity toward us. What else could we do?” So friends, what are your Giving Goals for 2015?
Another great passage from this morning was in Revelation 22:12-13 (which I will be preaching on eventually!) – “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing My recompense with Me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” He is coming soon! This could be the year! Are you ready? Another GTB note: “From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is a message of God’s saving grace in Jesus, whose final glory is yet to come. Thus we pray for Him to come quickly because we love Him, trust Him, and long for the fulfillment of our hope and His glory. He is our great hope and eternal treasure.” So friends, what are your Spiritual Goals for 2015, which will help you prepare for His coming?
And as we finished the Psalms again today, we were reminded of our ultimate purpose and what should be our highest priority: Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens! Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him according to His excellent greatness! (Psalm 150:1-2) So friends, what are your Worship Goals for 2015? What will you be doing to enhance your ability to praise our great God this year?
Finally, our reading in the final verses of Proverbs reminded me of how blessed I am to have the wife that God has given me: Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.’ Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates (Proverbs 31:28-31). The Bible speaks highly of relationships within the family. So, friends, what are your Family Goals for 2015?
Let’s thank Him for His goodness in 2014, and seek His face for a tremendously blessed 2015!
This Sunday we will be back in our study of Revelation! We will look at Rev. 3:1-6, the message to the church at Sardis. Please read that ahead of time, and ask the Lord what He wants to say to you personally and to our church as a whole.
May God bless you with a Christ-centered, Spirit-filled, and God-glorifying New Year!!!
Love From Your Pastor,
Michael