A Year of Restoration

   A story is told of a man who called a doctor and said that his wife was having problems hearing and he wanted the doctor to check her out. So the doctor said check her out at home and see how bad it is before you bring her in. The man said “how do I do that?” Doctor said “ask her something from the other side of the room and keep getting closer until she responds back to what you said”. So man goes home and she is in the kitchen making supper and from the other side of the kitchen husband asks “Is dinner about ready honey?” He didn’t hear anything. So he goes to the center of the kitchen and says “Dinner about ready honey?” Still didn’t hear anything. So he gets up right behind her and goes “dinner about ready honey?” and at that point she turns around and says for the third time Yes.

   Well, we have made it. We come to the end of one year and the beginning of a new year. We survived 12/12/12 and the “Incan End of the Word”.

   Now we get a start over, a “do over”.  And so here is the chance, everything about the last year is gone. So I want to ask us today how we are going to change, I want us to look at the way we lived our life in 2012 and the changes that we possibly need to make in 2013.

   As with all changes this focuses on priorities. I don’t want to you to respond publicly but what are your priorities?

   Now if I were to ask you what is your #1 priority what would you say?  Many would say well we are in church so the answer should be God.  But let’s not kid ourselves.  Let’s be honest.  If we are going to say that God is #1 then it must be evident.  And I don’t mean that he is #1 in my life on Sunday morning or #1 when I am experiencing a problem, but I’m talking about in our normal everyday living, what are our priorities in life.

   Looking back over the past decade the following list was compiled on New Year’s Resolutions

* 27% of resolutions involve health and fitness  

* 15% personal growth and interests

* 15% personal finance

* 9% education and training

* 6% time management and organization

* 5% recreation and leisure

* 5% family and relationships

   We said the #1 answer should be God. Did you hear me mention any resolution concerning God? It’s not there. To find anything about spirituality you have to expand the personal growth section and when that is done all that is found is 2% in that category think spiritual growth is important.

   It gets worse.  The Barna Group which specializes in research about Christianity reported that only 1 out of 7 adults place their faith in God at the top of the priority list.

   You say well that’s not fair because some of those are non-Christians. The survey goes on and says that out of Christians not quite 1 out of 4  place their faith in God at the top of the priority list.

   The majority of people are focused on the here and now and not on their relationship with God.

   It is my prayer that this year will mark the beginning of a time in our own lives and in the life of this nation that we will focus our priorities on Christ and praising Him for all that transpires in our life. And to give him thanks.

After all that’s what 1 Corinthians 10:31 says.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of the God.”

   I pray that this year we will put God first and do everything in His name.

   I am sure that if we did this, if our nation did this – we would not be having the problems we are seeing.  I believe if we hadn't asked God to leave our schools we would not have seen the shootings take place.  If our priorities had been on God over the last decade, we wouldn't be approaching a financial cliff like we are.

   I know it becomes hard not to get lost in our lives, our worries over how things are going and what is going to happen next.  So as your “Spiritual Doctor” I am going to give you all three very important prescriptions for you to take this coming year.  This is no guarantee that all will be perfect but I can guarantee that if you take these three prescriptions you may find yourself taking on 2013 with a more confident heart because your will be placing God as a top priority in your lives

1. STUDY GOD’S WORD

I want you to take a look in Acts 17:10.

“As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea.  On arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”

   Paul and Silas were on their missionary journey and were sent to Berea.  You have to understand that at this point Paul and Silas have just left Thessalonica where they city is in turmoil over what Paul and Silas are teaching about Christ, saying that all they have done is bring trouble.

Well Paul and Silas make it to Berea and instead of the Bereans hurling insults and creating a mob to run these missionaries out of town, notice what they do.  They searched the scriptures not just on Sunday mornings but every day.  And they did it with eagerness.  And because of this, verse 12, “Many of them believed”

   The bible is filled with many great and exciting truths and you and I need to invest time in it every day so that we can draw closer to Christ and understand His will for our lives and for the world.

Lately the Army has been focusing on the state of marriage – a great thing and I believe Strong Bonds is a wonderful commitment our leaders have given us.  But the real answer is simple, all one needs to do is study the scriptures and discover what Jesus has to say about marriage.  The same can be applied to all areas of our lives, from all relationships to our financial struggles.

   The bible is our sword; we are to use it to defend truth and to draw us closer to God. And we need to examine the bible daily.  

   Don’t take my word for it, get in there and discover what life’s greatest purpose is.  Get in it and discover what God has promised for you.  If we want to draw closer to God then we must be willing to read His book.

2 Timothy 2:15 says:

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth”

   Another way of saying this is found in the KJV which says “Study to show thyself approved”

   The best thing that we can do is to get involved in God’s word.  There are plenty of opportunities to do that from committing to read through your Bible this year to email devotionals.

   Get your day going with one of the Psalms and then spend the rest of the day praising God for opening up His word.  I know how life is because I am living it with you, but take time to read God’s word.

   When the former missionary David Livingston was asked where he was prepared to go, he answered, “I am prepared to go anywhere, so long as it is forward.”

   So you and I should place a priority on Studying God’s Word and going forward this year in this important endeavor

II. SHARE GOD’S WORD

   The great evangelist Dwight Moody was once criticized for his evangelistic methods. It was then that Moody replied, “I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”

   The truth is most of us don’t do it.  We do very little when it comes to reaching out to people for Christ.  As a whole we have little passion for people who are lost, confused, mixed up and messed up.

   This year, I hope that we will develop the initiative to honestly and intentionally reach out to people and share with them the good news.

   But why should there be so much emphasis on evangelism?  Why is it important that all of us be committed to placing as a top priority sharing the Gospel with others?

   Well because it is a command that is given to all Christians by Jesus.  In the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus commands us by saying:

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”

It does not say Preachers go and make disciples of all nations

It does not say Missionaries go and make disciples

Rather it refers to each Christian that has willingly accepted Christ into their lives.

   The Great Commission was not just spoken for a generation 2000 years ago. It was spoken for all generations.  The Great Commission is exactly what it says.  It is a great priority that we have to teach, witness, share, love and invite people to have one of the greatest relationships with a Great Savior who has come to save.  

   And when we are willing to share people will want to be baptized, they will want to be a part of church and they will begin to see greatness take place in their lives. --- And we will see the world change.

But what happens if we are not willing to share the gospel?  Romans 10:14:

“But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him?  And how can they hear without a preacher?   And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!”

   All believers are sent to announce this Good News.  The process of salvation begins with the one who tells another the Good News.  Like Paul and the early Christians, who spread the message of Christ despite persecution and even death, we should be eager to share this Good News of salvation to all who will listen.

If you have Christ in your life and are excited Shout it out!!!

   Now actions speak louder than words.  We know Christ and listen to how we just shared how enthusiastic we were for Christ.

   If you can’t be excited that Christ died for your sins and gave you salvation in his house, then how in the world are we going to be enthusiastic for Christ when we go out into the devil’s house which is this world and share the good news?

   If it is good news to you then show it; be excited.  If you are excited about something it causes us to want to talk.

   Think about sports fans for a minute, maybe it’s you or you’ve seen someone just get all crazy over a game, jumping up and down yelling at the tv.  I knew a guy back when I was in AIT who was a Broncos fan.  Now this was way back in 1990 when the Broncos played the 49ers.  He was so upset at the end of the game (the Broncos lost 55 to 10) that he literally went to his room and cried.

   DO YOU GET MY POINT? We should be so enthusiastic about bringing the Good News to everyone that we should be in tears when people reject it.  We should be proclaiming the Good News like we wear our favorite team’s colors.

If we are excited about having Christ in our lives then let’s show it and tell it and live it.

So we need to Study God’s Word, Share God’s word and now I have the third prescription to share with you.

III. EXAMINE OURSELVES

In II Cor. 13:5 we find these words:

“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test”

   In today’s world, it seems that when it comes to an examination, everyone is always looking at the other person instead of themselves.  It’s amazing when something goes wrong all of a sudden the finger pointing starts.  It’s always someone else’s fault and not ours.

   We are always willing to jump to being critical of others yet; maybe this year is the year that you and I should be willing to examine ourselves a little more closely.

Go back to II Corinthinas 13:5: “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves”

   The Corinthians’ have had it in for Paul.  They have been insistent on testing Paul, the very one that had brought them to the Christian faith.  And now Paul was coming to encourage them to stop looking at others and to look at themselves.  What Paul was asking them to do was to examine themselves and to see if it was true that through their actions and words Christ Jesus was living within them.

   I remember when I was teaching High School I would occasionally have my students grade their own quizzes.  It would save me time but it would also give me the opportunity to see who really cared how they were doing.  Some of my students were harder on themselves then you would think.  I had one tell me how it was an eye opening experience and that she would become more disappointed when she had to grade here wrong answers – she wanted to do better.

   We are all aware of the term soul searching, but have we ever really done it.  Have we taken time to look at our life both inside and out and graded ourselves.  The bible tells us to test ourselves so let’s do so; you, of course grade your own tests:

1.  When was the last time you prayed and did not need something or was in trouble?
2. When is the last time you shared Jesus with someone who is not a Christian?
3. When is the last time that you sat down and meditated on a passage of scripture?
4. When is the last time you sacrificially gave without expecting something in return?
5. Are you repeatedly committing a sin?

How did we do?  Did we pass with flying colors or did we just get by or did we fail?

   Examining ourselves can be hard but can also be helpful for it helps us to see the things that need to be changed.

   If we are Christians then we should realize that Christ Jesus is within us and that should cause us to want to study God’s word.  It should compel us to want to share God’s word with others. It should also demand that we examine ourselves and our actions.

Do others see Jesus living in us.

   So in a few days 2012 will be no more and 2013 will be ushered through the door.  I pray that we will check our priorities and be encouraged to Study God’s word.

I pray that we will be willing to share God’s word.  If you are excited that Jesus is living within you then are you going to show how excited you are.

And finally after being willing to examine yourself and noticing the changes we need to make, that we are willing to begin the spirit of restoration.

Don’t be like the man in the story who thought his wife had the problem.

 May 2013 be the year in which Christ Jesus is not just within us but that Christ Jesus can be seen through us. Amen