Resolutions Worth Keeping: Seek God

January 6, 2008

Here are the top ten resolutions in North America. See if you match up with any of these:

10. Get Organized
9. Help Others
8. Learn something new
7. Get out of Debt
6. Quit Drinking
5. Enjoy Life More
4. Quit Smoking
3. Lose Weight
2. Get Fit
1. Spend more time with Family

I find that list encouraging for the most part- all relatively good stuff. However, it’s sad that people get into such bad habits so that they must make resolutions to start good habits like spending time with family or getting in shape. Of course, it’s even sadder that most folks will break their resolutions before winter is over. Statistically, as we are nearly a week into January, a quarter of all New Year’s resolution have been broken or forgotten, more than half after three months. I saw this cartoon in Reader’s Digest the other day. Don’t ask why I was reading Readers Digest- I’m not retired yet.

Read the rest of the sermon here

"Resolutions Worth Keeping" Series Promo

A special thanks to Ben and Jen for putting this together. We had a blast talking to folks and inviting them to Connections. Getting a little video clip to use in the worship service was icing!

Just Ask

We meet for worship in a really cool theatre.
A really costly one.
$600 a service.

We paid the bills for our preview services and tried to make a good impression.

They sent us the 2008 contract to review.
Yesterday I wrote back, asking to discuss a proposition:

We'd sure like to pay less- how about $500 a week?

The rep wrote back today... said that sounded reasonable.
(I immediately thought of those Staples commercials with the "Easy" button.)

"Ask and you shall receive..." Jesus once said.

May this be the encouragement we all need to simply ask...

• Ask for the favor
• Ask for the gift
• Ask someone to come to worship with you
• Ask someone if they'd like to know Jesus

Just give them the opportunity.
They may say, "Sure."

Keeping Resolutions- Bible Reading Plans

Here's the first of several helps in keeping my resolutions...reading the Bible.
Nurturing the life of faith doesn't get any more fundamental than this. The simple discipline of reading scripture and praying. This is how a daily connection with God begins. So here are some great resources that I've used.

1. A Student Bible. They have numerous reading plans built in- one year plan, three year plan, and many two-week topical reading plans.

2. Online. You can't beat BibleGateway.com. This site has 4 different plans, numerous versions, and is very user-freindly in a nice layout.

3. Email. There are many ways to have your Bible reading plan emailed daily, or part of Google's Reader program. One very easy one is BiblePlan. You can pick several plans, versions, even languages.

NOTE: in regard to which of the many translations to pick from, here's my 2-cents: I've read the New International Version (NIV) for years. It's the classic "dynamic equivalent" translation. I have recently updated to the "Today's NIV" (TNIV), almost the same, but with a few nice changes in light of recent textual work.
As for a paraphrase, the new standard is "The Message." This makes the reading the bible like reading a novel.
Advantage- easy and fun to read.
Disadvantage- hard to memorize and remember locations of important passages.
Both of these versions are available at BibleGateway and BiblePlan.

4. Printed Reading Plan. Many options available. NAVPRESS has some good ones that come in trifold format which I like.

5. Finally, another option is to come to worship this Sunday and pick up a plan from our resource table! Stick it in the Bible you have and read away!

BONUS SECTION: Tips for reading the Bible from George.
1. Read a Gospel: Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. You can't beat the life of Jesus! Just keep reading about Him.
2. Read Romans: Martin Luther read it everyday. I don't, but I do read it a lot!
3. Read Proverbs: 31 chapters, 31 days in a month. Read a chapter a day each month. Billy Graham does this.
4. Read the Psalms. Many bible plans make a daily Psalm a part of the discipline, which is the perfect way to lead into prayer.

Now get into the Word of God! Blessed reading.

My Resolutions

I've been thinking about our sermon series starting this Sunday,

Resolutions Worth Keeping

I'll have a lot more to say for Sunday and the coming weeks, but for now, I want to be sure that this series starts with me- what are my resolutions?

Resolution is simply defined as

a "firm"decision to do or not do something.

Resolutions seem to have a bad rap these days. Perhaps I'm overly sensitive to the hype, but people seem to be making a point of not resolving anything. I guess our culture has a hard time making firm and lasting decisions.

I've decided that I'm not perfect, that I still want to grow, that I want to set goals for my life, my family and "my" church (it's Jesus' church, but he called me to be the pastor). The beginning of a new year is as great a place to take an inventory of my life and make some changes/decisions.
But I do understand the frustration of making outrageous or impossible goals, not achieving them, getting discouraged, and the downward spiral begins. I've certainly not kept or reached every resolutions I've ever made.
I still bite my fingernails.
I still struggle with budgeting money to the level I think God calls me.

So here we go. I have few categories, not because I like to compartmentalize my life, but because it does need some ordering for purely practical reasons.

Personal Resolutions:
1. Stop biting my fingernails (it will take a village)
2. Compete in an Olympic distance triathlon or marathon.

Family Resolutions:
1. Get on a budget (Not just tithing, saving and spending frugally, which has kept us out of debt, but actually spending on a budget so we can enjoy money more.)
2. Take each family member out for a "retreat"- Eden, Karis, Justin and Robin. I'm thinking of a night away camping or to an event that they would uniquely love. (While this may mean seeing High School Musical on Ice or something like that with Eden, it will also mean taking Justin to a Monster Truck Jam or something else that's awesome!)

"Spiritual" Resolutions:
1. Read through the Bible. I did this two years ago, then got sloppy this past year.
2. Monthly Prayer and Spiritual Reflection Retreats. I like being with my family too much to go for extended periods away. But a day each month, a night or two thrown in on occasion. This isn't for me personally, but primarily as the pastor of a new church. I need to guard this time to build into my relationship with God to be the leader He wants me to be.

Professional Resolutions:
I listed them before- but they bear repeating- 5 in all, one for each finger to remember in prayer. If we surpass them all, to God be the Glory. If we fall short, let us seriously evaluate our level of commitment to this mission...

1. Filling the 350 seat theatre this Winter/Spring.
2. 100 volunteers for our Ministry Teams: FAST, FIT, Family, Worship and Media.
3. Launching our Connections Groups with 200 participants Fall 2008.
4. Growing to two services (or two theatres) before Christmas 2008.
5. 52 decisions to follow Jesus (one for every week of the year).