Welcome to the final sermon of 2016. I am glad to have been able to post sermons here on the blog this year. I thank the Lord for this opportunity, and I thank you for reading the blog in 2016.
There are a lot of changes going on at work, and there are many more to come in 2017. I am hoping to find a different job fairly soon. Please pray for me in this regard. I thank the Lord that I have been able to have a good year in writing. I finished one book project, and I am about to begin another. I also have written several poems and a short story that I will be sending out to journals in the next few days.
As we go to prayer this week, please pray for an end to all of the violence and warfare in this world. Pray that 2017 will be a year of peace. Pray for an end to war in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and South Sudan. Pray for an end to terrorism and violence in the streets of our cities.
Let us also pray for those suffering from natural disasters. Continue to pray for those in Haiti and the Philippines who were affected by storms. Pray for those suffering from disease and from the lack of necessary resources.
For our prayer focus countries. let us pray this week for the nations of Gambia and Mongolia. Pray that people will hear the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This next year, I would encourage you to pick one nation in the world where there are not that many Christians. Pray each day for that country that the message of Jesus' love would reach many in that particular nation.
For our last sermon of 2016, I wanted to focus on the old year passing and the new year beginning. For me, 2016 has had a lot of bad times. I lost one of my best and oldest friends this year. He was only 49 years old. Two people that I knew from writing also passed away in 2016. Also, I haven't felt that well for a lot of 2016.
However, there was a lot to be thankful for in 2016 for me as well. As I mentioned, I had some really good accomplishments in writing. I was able to post messages here on the blog. I also found a church to go to that has been good so far. These are certainly things to be grateful for.
There are bad things in 2016 that I want to leave behind, and there are good things that I want to build on. I'm sure that this is the case for everyone. All of us, I'm sure, made resolutions for 2016 when it started. Some of those faded away quickly. I know that I wanted to lose weight in 2016, but instead I gained a few more pounds. I wanted to get ahead a little more financially, but I didn't get as far as I wanted.
January 1, 2017 represents a chance to reflect on our lives. What is it that we want to leave behind, and what do we want to get going in our lives?
I know that I do want to lose some weight in 2017. Come January 2, I am going to start on a diet. I also want to work even more diligently on writing in the coming year. I want to finish my religious writing project and my new book project. I also hope to get completely out of debt and find a new job. I might get a dog next year.
As far as my spiritual goals, I want to complete a series of messages here on the blog about all of the parables of Jesus. I would like to see people grow in their faith, and I would like to see people reached with the good news of Jesus through this blog ministry. I would also like to expand my evangelism ministry with the hope of reaching others with the message of salvation. Hopefully, I will grow closer to Jesus through prayer and meditation in 2017.
I don't know what your goals were in 2016 or whether you achieved them or not. I hope that you have some good goals for 2017. What I'd like to say to myself and to everyone who will read this message is keep going.
You may have had a really bad 2016. You may not have accomplished one thing you set out to do. Maybe you had a lot of tragedy, suffering and heartache in 2016. I just want to encourage you to keep going. Keep pressing on. Don't give up.
There are two passages of Scripture that I think can help us all with this point. In Philippians 3:13-14, the Apostle Paul urges us to forget what is behind and press on to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
We may have failed spiritually or in some other way in 2016. But, we can set that aside by God's grace and move on in faith trusting in the Lord in 2017.
Maybe you struggled with some type of sin and temptation in 2016 that you weren't able to get full control of. Confess that sin and move on in the grace of the Lord in 2017 with a renewed mind and heart to serve and obey the Lord .
In Matthew 7:7, Jesus talked about asking, seeking and knocking. He urged us to keep doing these things. He wants us to keep going and not be discouraged despite what may have happened in the past.
Maybe 2016 was a great year for you. You accomplished what you set out to do, and you were able to accomplish great things in service for the Lord Jesus. That is great. I would encourage you to keep going as well. Keep serving the Lord with all that you have so that you might accomplish even more for the Lord in this upcoming year. Don't rest in past accomplishments, keep going on to bigger and brighter things.
I hope that everyone of you will have a great and happy new year. I pray that the blessings of the Lord will be with you in whatever you seek to do for Him. I hope that here on the blog that we can learn and grow together through the messages. And, I hope that we will all learn about some good books to read through the reviews.
Let us all thank the Lord for bringing us through another year. Through all that has happened, He has been with us, and He will never leave us or forsake us.
Next week, I will be posting the verse for the week on Tuesday as the library will be closed on Monday. On Wednesday, I will have a dog book review. For the Weekend Sermon, we will begin our series on the parables of Jesus next week. May God bless you all. Amen.
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