As we turn the page from 2019 to 2020, I want to offer some New Year's Resolutions that will help us be better Christians during the New Year. While I offer up these resolutions for 2020, these things should be put into practice every year.
1. Make it a goal to attend the worship services at your local congregation or elsewhere every week of 2020. There are 50 Sunday's in the year 2020. Make it a goal to be present for worship all fifty opportunities. This is not counting the Sunday and Wednesday evening worship services, gospel meetings, Vacation Bible Schools, and singings that can be attended throughout the year. Obviously there will be instances where attendance for all 50 Sunday's might not be attainable due to sickness or other factors beyond your control, but before you decide to skip worship because you are too tired, remember the words of Hebrews 10:25, where we are told "not to forsake the assembly."
2. Make it a goal to better your prayer life in 2020. Everyone can improve their prayer life. As I wrote Monday and back in October, we have to be in the habit of going to God's throne and "wearing God out." This year, make it a habit to use your down time to pray. Prayers don't have to be long and we shouldn't make them long like the Pharisees did in Matthew 23:14. Instead we should be like the persistent widow in Luke 18 and "pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1).
3. Make Bible Study a priority in 2020. What do you do in your down time? Personally I enjoy watching sports (in person or on TV), playing fantasy football, reading, and watching The Andy Griffith Show. As a minister I have the privilege to get to spend the majority of my work days engaged in the study of God's Word. I do this by preparing sermons, Bible Classes, and blogs. Even though I devote most of my time to these things, I still read my Bible outside of sermon or Bible Class prep. I read the Gospel Advocate magazine, I go back and revisit passages from sermons or Bible Classes that I have heard on Sunday's and/or Wednesday's. I challenge you in 2020 to carve out time for Bible Study. When you wake up in the mornings or go to bed at nights, spend less time on social media and instead devote more time to God's Word.
4. Invite friends, co-workers, classmates, and even non-Christian family members to worship. In #1 I said that there are a total of 50 Sunday's in 2020. That's 50 people and 50 opportunities to invite someone to worship (again not counting Wednesday Bible Study, gospel meetings, and Vacation Bible Schools). Jesus tells us in Mark 16:15 to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Are we preaching to others, either by sharing our knowledge of the scriptures or by our actions? Believe it or not, how we behave preaches a sermon that will make non-Christians either want to be apart of what we have, or dismiss us completely.
5. Break down the cliques. One of the biggest things that can kill a church are cliques. Cliques involve a group of people that only do things among themselves. They only sit together during worship, they only eat together, they only go on trips together. I get it, some people just gravitate to certain people better than others, but friends, this will kill churches. This will make people leave the church. We are all trying to get to the same place, there will be no cliques in Heaven, so why do we have them in our churches? The apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 3:14, that as Christians, we are "pressing toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." We are all trying to get to Heaven, instead of doing so with a select group, let's get there together!!
As this year comes to a close, I want to tell you that God loves you, I love you, and the Chestnut Mound church of Christ loves you. I guarantee that if you commit to these five resolutions in 2020, then you will become a much better Christian. This will be the last blog post (written by me at least) for 2019, however our doors are always open on Sunday mornings and evenings. We would love for you to join us for worship. If you're interested in becoming a Christian, we would love to study with you, and if you've fallen back into sin, we'd love to pray for you.
In Him,
Carver Moore
We would be honored for you to join us for worship at the Chestnut Mound church of Christ.
Our service times are as follows:
Sunday Morning Bible study: 10 am
Sunday morning worship: 11 am
Sunday evening worship: 5 pm
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