Stop it! STOP IT!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! No, I did not stay up until midnight to watch the New Year begin.... been there...done that! I always find it begins just fine without me staring at the clock waiting for it to happen! LOL!

This morning I was thinking about New Years Resolutions. People have a love hate relationship with those goals we set for the new year. Most people can't resist the urge to make a NEW commitment. Their hearts are in the right place, but it doesn't take long for the world to creep in and destroy your good intentions. Trust me, I have made plenty of those shallow annual commitments. I have TWO WORDS for you ... watch the video and you will find out what they are!

I know many of you have watched this video in the past. I don't care how many times I see it, the message is more relevant today than ever before and I just can't help but laugh. 

Stop it! 

STOP IT! 

I know what you are thinking. You think I am telling you to stop making New Year's Resolutions. I AM NOT! I am recommending that you STOP making hollow, me centered, selfish, meaningless, New Year's Resolutions. Beside advising you to STOP making hollow New Year's Resolutions, I want ALL of you to make THE EXACT SAME resolution for 2025.....

I want you to make a commitment to DISCIPLE THREE PEOPLE in 2025. Do you know what that means for spreading the Gospel in 5 years? Let's talk simple math. I am saying just make a commitment for 2025 to make THREE NEW DISCIPLES this year. Then, in 2026, those three people make a commitment to reach THREE NEW DISCIPLES each. Then, in 2027, all of those disciples do the same. You would reach, indirectly, 363 people. The average church weekly attendance in the United States is 65. You would fill 5 American Sized Churches! If you make a commitment to continue to make 3 new disciples each year for the rest of your life, the total would be in the millions!

I just finished studying John chapter 3 and 4. This part of John is all about GOING out and sharing the Gospel. Look at the woman at the Well:

"The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, 'Come an see a man who told be everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah? So the people came streaming from the village to see him." (John 4:28-29)

What excuse do you have for NOT making this your New Year's Resolution for 2025? I am too busy. I don't know what to say. I don't know enough about the Bible. I don't even know who to ask. All my friends are already followers of Jesus. Believe me, I have heard them all. Those excuses are similar to the reason you gave up on LAST YEAR's RESOLUTION. Jesus knows about your excuses, too. I think this is how Jesus would respond to your excuses:

"You know the saying. 'Four months between planting and harvest.' But, I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for the harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and harvester alike!" (John 4:35-36)

Come on, people of the Lord! The fields are ripe. You are constantly blessed by God, and you are paid good wages. The fruit of your faith is bringing others to the same joy and blessings you have been given. This woman had no formal training, she hadn't been a follower of Jesus for countless years. All she did was go share all Jesus had done for her, and look what happened:

"Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, 'He told me everything I did!' When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, 'Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world." (John 4:39-40)

I just started reading a really good book, "Looking for the One: Stories of Seeing the Lost, Lonely, and Broken Through the Eyes of Jesus" by David McIver. If you want to follow through with this resolution, read the book, and it will inspire you and help you get ideas on how to overcome your excuses!

STOP IT! STOP MAKING HOLLOW, ME CENTERED, NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS. Instead, commit 2025 to being a disciplemaker!!!!!!!!!!