Goals Part A 1.2.11

Happy New Year!

We are glad to have you hear with us this morning as we start 2011 out together.

Over the past few weeks, I have sure appreciated the positive comments that I’ve heard about how you’re evaluating and making some changes to your Christmas celebrations based on the Advent Conspiracy series we went through in December. I want to again thank the Christian Ed Board for their work to find that series.

I think that we need to keep evaluating how we interact with these core things of our faith and our life, because it is soooo easy for us to slip back into “normal mode” or “auto-pilot” instead of intentionally engaging our culture and those around us. This JUMPED out to me on Friday as Karen and I were driving past a business that had a sign out front stating that they had Christmas stuff on sale for 75% off. Before I thought, I made some comment to Karen about why did they still have Christmas stuff around. In one of those “duh moments”, she quickly reminded me that Christmas was just a week ago. SHOOT! The culture got me! I still have work to do!

As part of that ongoing process of keeping our focus on Jesus throughout the year…not just when we think about Him in the manger or on the cross, over the next couple of weeks I want us to look at some specific areas of our life in this coming year where we can improve our success at being Christ-followers on a daily and weekly basis.

During this current week, there are many people talking about resolutions that they’re making for the New Year. About.com had these listed as Americans top ten resolutions for Americans:

1.    Spend more time with Family and Friends

2.    Fit in Fitness

3.    Tame the Bulge

4.    Quit Smoking

5.    Enjoy Life More

6.    Quit Drinking

7.    Get Out of Debt

8.    Learn Something New

9.    Help Others

10. Get Organized

Many of these sound like good options don’t they! Obviously, missing from the list is anything related to building up a person’s spiritual life. However, so much of our lives are based on the core of our faith in Jesus and our ability to live out our beliefs from the inside out!

I also found in some research (http://www.quirkology.com/UK/Experiment_resolution.shtml) that while 100% of people who set some resolutions for themselves, only 52% of people are really confident of their success with these resolutions. BUT, of every 100 people who set New Year’s resolutions, how many do you think are actually successful? Only 12% are!

Now, as an educator, 12% doesn’t seem like a very good percentage of people who pass a certain test! Actually, 12% doesn’t sound like a good percentage for much…except maybe if you were making 12% on your savings account J.

This same research did find out that when men engaged in more purposeful goal setting like losing a pound a week instead of the more generic “lose weight”, they did better. Likewise, for women who made their goals public and got support from other women around them that they did much better in achieving their goals.

I think from what I’ve read, one of the key issues here is the need to move from thinking about resolutions which might be something that is “made to be broken” to setting goals which are more clearly defined and are more likely to be successfully completed.

So, as we purposefully move ahead with the coming year, I thought it would be good for us to pause for a minute and think through some of the areas of our life that we’re involved in.

Each of us gets the same amount of time each week: 168 hours.

Some people waste that time, some spend that time, and some invest every day for the sake of eternity.

Think about your weekly schedule. What things fill that up?

Work/taking care of your kids

Retirement

Sleep

Time with/for God

Family time

Ongoing education

Watching TV/Movies

Talking on the phone/texting

House/Yard work

Shopping

Surfing the Web/FaceBook/MySpace/games

Exercise

Building relationships with Christian friends

Building relationships with Pre-Christian friends

Recreation

Other______________________________________

While I often hear people talk about the importance of putting God first in your life, your family second, and work third, and everything else including your self after that, it’s pretty rare to find people who actually do that with their schedules isn’t it?

For the next couple of weeks, I have chosen a few areas of our life where I believe that we can set some goals that will help us improve our life as we follow God’s principles. If you really want to call them New Year’s Resolutions, that’s sure OK, but HOPEFULLY, we will do much better than a 12% success rate!

Spiritual:

Since we’re here at church and we’re talking about ways to become more Christ-like, I figured one of the best places to start our study on improving ourselves is to see what ways we can increase our spiritual walk with the Lord.

Three verses kind of jump out to me (and I know there are MANY more that emphasize this point). This is probably a topic that we could spend several months on looking at various aspects of how to improve our “Spiritual Quotient”.

2 Timothy 2:15   Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Some versions translate this, “Study, Work hard, Be diligent, Do your best” to be approved by the Lord as you are involved in God’s Word

Of course, this assumes that we are involved in God’s Word outside of just listening to the sermon on Sunday morning. As you can see by the kinds of words that are used, God expects us to use some effort in our interaction with His Word.

Another passage is located in Colossians 2:6 & 7  Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,  7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Here, Paul expects those of us who are Christians to live our lives like Christ lived His life. We are to make sure that we are developing strong spiritual roots so that our faith is being established and strongly nourished. For those of you who have farmed, had a garden, or even had house plants, you know how important the root structure is to get a healthy flower or fruit. In the same way, each of us needs to make sure that we are feeding and fertilizing and nurturing our relationship with the Lord in such a way that we are living out our faith daily.

A third verse reminds us of our prayer needs: 1 Thessalonians 5:  16 Rejoice always,  17 pray without ceasing,  18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you

Again, it’s not rocket science nor is it a totally unfamiliar passage of Scriptures. But it’s sure a good reminder that the Lord expects us to be in an atmosphere of continually praying…and proclaiming thanks and giving joy in that process. How do you live your daily life? As you come across a struggle, do you stop and offer up a quick prayer? When something good happens, do you pause to thank the Lord? Do you remember to pray for the requests that people bring up here at church on Sunday mornings?

These are just three brief glimpses into ways we could evaluate our spiritual health and might be some discussion starters as we look to establish our goals or resolutions for the coming year.

Here are a few areas for you to jot down there in your bulletin as some things to think about during this coming year:

·      Read your Bible

o   Small sections each day

o   Read through the Bible in a year

o   Read a passage over and over again to understand it

·      Pray

o   Pray for your family

o   Pray for the church

o   Pray for sick people in the hospital

o   Pray for friends who don’t know Jesus

o   Pray for friends who are struggling

o   I’m part of several prayer email lists and I meet weekly with other believers at work to pray for students and staff at our school

·      Pay attention to the sermon

o   OK…that was just a joke to see if you’re really listening or not J

·      Listen to Christian teaching (Radio/Podcasts)

o   As you commute to Bloomington or Peoria or wherever, listen to something that will boost you spiritually

o   Search…I have some podcasts that are 45 minutes, some that are 30, and some that 5-10 minutes long. That way, I can listen to a variety of options depending on the trip I’m on

·      Listen to Christian music

o   There are so many different options out there

o   I’m not getting my sledge hammer out to smash your music…but there is a difference the content of songs!

o   It's a quarter after one, I'm a little drunk and I need you now
Said I wouldn't call but I lost all control and I need you now
And I don't know how I can do without
I just need you now (Lady Antebellum “Need You Now” #1 Country song)

o   I'm still alive but I'm barely breathing
Just prayed to a God that I don't believe in
'Cause I got time while she got freedom
'Cause when a heart breaks, no it don't break
No it don't break, no it don't breakeven, no

I'm falling to pieces, yeah
I'm falling to pieces, yeah
I'm falling to pieces
I'm falling to pieces (Breakeven “The Script” #1 song from WBNQ)

o   Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other.
Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!
Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other.
Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.
Then what could stand against. (Chris Tomlin, “Our God”)

·      Study with someone else

o   Join a Bible study

Financial:

Again, I know that while we could go on and on about ways to increase our Spiritual journey in the coming year, we could do the same thing as it relates to our finances. I know, people get nervous when preachers start to talk about their money…it’s almost as bad as when any of our politicians start to talk about “our money”.

One area of finances is the whole area of giving to God’s work. Paul wrote to the Corinthian people, “Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.  2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, gas he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.

This too is just one little snapshot of ways we can set goals for the coming year. But, I think it’s an important one! How is your giving to God’s work? We talked in our Advent series about Giving More, and that is sure an important part of Christmas, but it’s also very important on a daily basis.

How are you investing the money God has entrusted to you? Are you hiding God’s money under your mattress, or are you releasing it to impact people today?

Here are a few nuggets for you to think about as it relates to your financial goals for the coming year:

·      Invest in eternal purposes

o   Friend helped finance an international adoption for a youth pastor

o   Friend is starting a Christian medical clinic to minister to the poor on Bloomington’s West side instead of continuing in her physician’s practice

·      Preparing for the future

o   In several places in Scripture, we’re instructed to prepare for the future and to be wise with our financial planning

o   Do you have a will so your money will be dispersed according to your values and convictions instead of the government’s?

o   Do you have a plan to leave part of your estate to multiply ministry beyond your life?

·      Getting out/staying out of debt

o   As I started researching American debt, I got discouraged!

o   The numbers vary, but I saw multiple places that place the average family’s Credit Card debt between $10 & $15k

o   Bankruptcies and foreclosures are all around us!

o   Many of my friends owe tens of thousands of dollars in school loans…several of them owe well over $100,000 between two of them

o   Maybe you need to work hard to get out of debt this coming year. Maybe you’re tempted to get into debt…DON’T!

o   If gas goes to $5/ gallon, if our economy suffers under the load of the debt we have, if the State doubles our income tax…what will happen?

·      Of course giving to the ministries of the church

o   What kinds of things could we do as a church if everyone gave generously?

o   What additional ministries could we fund?

o   How could we help our teens or even adults with missions projects and trips?

o   What special programs could we do or partner with to advance God’s Kingdom in this area?

o   What aren’t we doing due to finances?

Whew! I’ve stepped out a little today to talk about our spiritual life and our financial life. However, I do hope that my sermons are stimulating some thinking and some reflection long after Sunday afternoon lunch!

As we head into this brand new New Year, I want to challenge each one of us to be developing some goals for how we expect to increase our passion for following Jesus and for becoming more and more like Him instead of becoming more and more like our culture.

In the 166.5 hours before we gather again next Sunday, let’s come up with some ways that we can make better eternal investments in both the Spiritual and Financial areas of our lives. Next week, we’ll look at some other areas where we can be better stewards of our lives.