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Joel Willoughby
December 31, 2023 at 6:00 PM
"The Hopeful New You"
The Hopeful New You
By Joel Willoughby
They said short devotion. So it'll be over soon. Just like Jesus is coming back soon.
It's been a couple thousand years. All right. So I was all over the place, and so I didn't give Lynn anything to work with because I didn't know what I was doing.
I actually ended up settling down. Just one passage. I said I was going to go everywhere.
I'm basically going to stay in one place. But. So if you wanted to.
No, we're not going to get there yet. I don't want you thinking about that yet. Okay, so what sort of resolutions do we make? Okay, I'd have to bring this up...
Then what I did was I went to Chat GPT, because that's how you do everything nowadays. Apparently they have nuclear launch codes in there, too.
No, I'm just kidding. But they have everything. And so I asked, I said, what's the top ten resolutions? Okay, and so this is what it says in order, top ten.
And I think you guys can relate with everything. It's here that it would be one of the top ten, not that you would personally make these resolutions. So.
Right, in order of number one. No, let's do it better. Let's start with ten.
Right, let's build up. Okay. Start with ten.
Get organized. Nine, reduce stress. Eight, spend more time with family and friends.
Seven, travel more. Six, learn a new skill or hobby. Bread.
Number five, save money. Number four, quit smoking or vaping. Number three, lose weight.
Number two, eat healthier. Number one, exercise more. So those top three, I pretty much knew there'd be the top three.
So that's pretty common. Yeah, really good. And so I've said some of these things before.
Sometimes I just stopped because then I'm not failing if I don't make resolutions. It's easier that way sometimes. What's good about making resolutions like this? And I think that it could be right, it could be wrong, it could be good, it could be bad.
It really depends, right. There's motivations, there's circumstances going on. Why do you think so? If you think through this a little bit.
So we're going to kind of think through that and not knocking, making resolutions by any means. I think it just depends on what your motivation is. What do you want to do and why do you want to do it? Right.
I think that's a big deal there. Let's go to Romans 828. The great Romans 828, and this is a verse that is famous for a reason, but it is often misused, it's often misunderstood.
And so we're going to not fully dissect this thing today, but we are going to bring out some ideas from this. Romans 828. We're going to read around it too later, but I'm just going to jump right into that verse first and we're going to come back to the whole making goals and things like that later.
Okay, so let's read it first. I got the ESV here, Romans 828. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Seems pretty simple, seems pretty straightforward, and it gets used in lots of different ways, some of them not legitimate, others may be. And so think through this. Not all things are good, okay, not all things are good.
That's not what it says. Some people misunderstand the verse to think that all things are good. Not all things are good, but God can raise good out of the ashes of evil.
God is powerful enough to redeem anything. He can bring good out of evil things. But it's not that the evil things are suddenly good, that's different.
Here's another thing. God will make all things work together for good, but not necessarily for you as an individual or within your lifetime. So collectively working out all things together for good, okay, but not necessarily for you as an individual.
You might have a really, really rough time. You might be a job that never actually got anything good in the end. That could be the idea.
There are people that live, they're born and live in very harsh circumstances, and they're heavily persecuted for even being christians, and they might even die the martyr's death. Okay, so then what did they see here? Right? So it might not be on this earth during this lifetime on earth. It might not be for you as an individual, but yes, it's true that God will make all things work together for good.
Now, all things work together for good by God's sovereignty, his decree, his divine power. But there are some qualifications. We've already gone through a little bit of this here.
This is not true for everyone. It's not great for everyone, but only for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. The believers, it's good for the believers.
For the unbelievers, not so much not good for them. God is good in what he does. He is just things like that, but it's not good for them.
They are not enjoying it in the end of all things. Notice believers are called according to his purpose. What are God's purposes? You think through that? That's actually a really profound question.
What are God's purposes? Could you list them all? That might be really hard. You could. If you are very vague, I suppose you could.
We know of some purposes, but I don't think we know all of God's purposes. There are things that happen and we don't know what God's purpose was in making it happen or allowing it to happen. Either way, we don't know.
We just don't know. Why did Job suffer? Now you could say, well, for God to be glorified. Well, Job never knew.
Job never knew why he suffered. He came to the right conclusion about who God is, but he didn't know why he suffered. Bible never actually tells us he's a good example for us.
Right? That's an interesting thing. We don't know every purpose God has for every single thing that happens, that he makes it happen or allows it to happen. Good is the ultimate goal in this verse, verse 28.
But what is good? What is that? What is good? That's another deep question. I do whole conferences on this about good, how there's evil and suffering, but God is still good and things like that. Good really can only be determined with omniscience and complete wisdom, because you have to see every single ramification in every single direction to its infinite degree.
How it plays out. We call good Friday good Friday because of what it accomplished. Jesus on the cross, the average peasant walking by in Jerusalem, seeing the crucifixion of Jesus, knowing he was an innocent man, they would not look at that bloody mess and say, that's good, right? Not naturally, but an omniscient being with all wisdom knows that is a good thing.
That's why we call it good Friday. So what is good? That's a tough one. That's why we have to rely on the person and word of God to figure these things out.
We have to do that. So we're working through that within this context. Romans 828 within this context, though there is an ultimate good being described, we can actually learn this here.
It is the ultimate glorification of creation and the believers, that's the good that Romans 828 is talking about. So what we're going to do now is we're going to read a lengthy part of scripture, and I'm going to work with all the power that I have to not explain stuff. And we're just going to read verses and it'll be good, and you'll get a gist of it here.
So we'll start in Romans eight, verse 18, and read through the end of the chapter. So quite a bit lengthy. I wanted to read the whole letter, but I figured that wouldn't fall into the criteria of short devotional.
Okay, but I'll try to be quick here. Follow along, please. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be reeled to us.
The Future. Keep this in mind. Future for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he sees. But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
So you see the future glorification of creation and believers. Then he says, likewise, verse 26. Likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought.
But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit, because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know what for those who love God, all things work together for good.
For those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he forenew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the first born among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called.
And those whom he called he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified there's our key word there again. What then shall we say to these things? Because they're pretty stinking.
Amazing. They use a technical word. If God is for us, who can be against us? Wow, that's awesome.
He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is to condemn Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. The Holy Spirit intercedes, God the Son intercedes. This is a really cool thing.
Verse 35 who shall separate us from the love of Christ? The answer, the short answer is nothing but shall tribulation or distress or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger or sword as it is written, for your sake we are being killed. All the day long we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Now notice that this is not saying you're going to have a pretty life.
This is saying life is going to be real bad. However, not even to the point of death, not to the point of any hardship, are you separated from these promises, from the love of God, from that relationship. And we are looking forward to what not a happy retirement on earth.
We are looking forward to the glorification of creation of the believers, to have that perfect, harmonious relationship, no longer hampered by sin or anything like that one day. This is exciting. So then we finish up here with verses 37 39.
Know in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. What a wonderful thing that is.
The hopeful new you, that's what. I don't usually give titles. Usually I just kind of like, this is the thing we're discussing.
But the hopeful new you, a lot of times we make resolutions and we have goals in our life, and we imagine a wonderful physical self. And even if we accomplish all those things and we become this wonderful physical self, what does that really accomplish in the long run? And there can be some good benefits there, and I'm not knocking that at all. I'm actually going to help you do it better.
That's what this whole point is today, okay? I just want us to reorient our minds so that we are focused on the ultimate long term goal. We don't want to just have something that's going to help us for a few years. We want something that's going to help us forever.
That's what we really want here. So, what should our goals and our resolve be? Who's ever heard of something called smart goals? Smart being an acronym. Each letter stands for something else.
So a couple of you. Okay, so I'm just going to run through that real quick. And what I'm willing to do for you is if you want to reach out to me and ask me, hey, what were those things? I'll give you those things.
I'll just send you this whole thing I have up here. I just printed it right before we left home. The smart criteria are guidelines often used in goal setting and project management.
So the acronym Smart stands for a few things here. So you'll go through it really quick and I'll slow it down and explain it. The s is specific.
M measurable. A, achievable or attainable, r, relevant or realistic, and then t time bound. The idea is that when you're making goals, you don't want to make goals that you'll never meet.
You want them to be goals that will actually be helpful, that are appropriate for you. So, specific goals. Goals that are clear, they're well defined.
They're specific. So instead of saying a broad goal, like, I want to lose weight, right, it's a common one. A specific goal will be, I'm going to lose ten pounds in two months.
Something like that. Okay, so, specific goal, measurable. All right, so I'm going to say.
Well, you say exercise for 30 minutes, five times a week. That's measurable. Did I meet it? You know if you met it or not, right? Okay.
30 minutes, five days a week, achievable or attainable. So these goals, be realistic. You can actually achieve them.
You can actually do it. It's not unrealistic. It's good to aim high.
Right. But you also want to meet the bullseye, or at least have the ability to. You want to be relevant or realistic.
Goals should align with your objectives and values. Now, here, this is like the secular thing. Now, here we are looking at our goals and our values being of God's, right? And so we look at something like romans eight, and we see this big, giant plan, and we get to be a part of that, even though we're a minuscule part of that, as individuals.
We are a big part of that. As the bride of Christ. That's a wonderful thing.
And so we are looking forward to all this. Well, how can I join God in what he wants to accomplish? How can I please him in this way? And so you want to be realistic, relevant things, things that are actually, you're going to look back on it at your deathbed and go, I'm so glad I did that. I'm so glad I made that decision.
That's what you want. And time bound goals have a specific time frame or deadline. The idea is you want small goals that get you to your bigger goals.
That's a really good idea. So by following the smart criteria, individuals and teams can create well defined and achievable goals. This is the official statement, increasing the likelihood of success and providing a clear roadmap for progress.
But what we think about as being like Christ, we want to be like Christ. And so that's a big goal. And really, if you just said, be like Christ, how do you know if you're ever making progress? How do you know if you've got there, really, you're not going to be there until you're glorified, right? More so then you're still growing in knowledge and wisdom forever.
God's knowledge and wisdom is infinite. So we'll always be learning. We'll always be growing.
It's a wonderful thing. Okay, so what about those resolutions? Okay, so let's say, let's go back to the lose weight thing, right? Let's say you want to lose weight. Why? So let me get you a different path to follow here.
All right. So I desire to obey God by making disciples. I desire to obey God by making disciples.
If I have more physical and mental ability and a longer life, I will be able to make more disciples. Is that right? So I know we don't know the future. There's a lot of things we don't know.
But with what we do know, let's try our best to have longer lives and have more physical mental ability in those lives. But what for? To win more chess matches? To look cool, right? No. Okay.
We want to make disciples. So what I want to do is as long as God keeps me on this earth, I want to have the cognitive ability, the best I can and the physical mobility to get out there and speak the gospel to people, to help train them, to teach them about God's word. That's what I want to do.
So I'm going to use these smart criteria here to set these goals to achieve God's glory by maximizing my life to make disciples effectively in both quantity and quality. It's okay. You can get it.
It's okay. This is the casual, short devotional, which is probably already not short anymore, but okay, this may include a healthier diet, exercise, drinking more water, averaging 7 hours of sleep a night, whatever, taking vitamins. It could be a whole bunch of stuff, right? You could be doing that.
But what for? What's the big deal, right? That's what it's all about for us christians. Don't just think I'm going to make a goal of losing weight or exercising or something just to look good or something. That's not the point.
Bodily exercise does profit, but profits a little, right? Little. Why? Because it's relative to what is spiritual. It does profit.
But why does it profit you? Because it helps you do more in this life. That's why it profits you. Okay, so what if the Lord returns next year and all this extra stuff is actually what slows me down, right? There's always that idea.
So let me give you a quick overview. We're going to turn there. But Matthew 24 and 25, the Olivet discourse, right? Disciples come up, they ask three questions, and Jesus begins to, he gives like basically an outline and he answers those three questions in order.
And he gives some parables and things to help answer those questions. Here's the big lessons of Matthew 24 through 25. The Lord is coming back.
Fact. Okay? The Lord will come back sooner than some people think. Parable the ten virgins.
The Lord will come back later than some people think. Parable the talents, right? And no one knows when the Lord's coming back. And so here's the idea.
You don't know. So you live your life as if you're going to live the natural life that anyone would live. Okay? So right now, if the life expectancy is like 75, you just pretend like you're going to live 75.
That's what you do. And you don't know any better. And then if God changes plans, praise be to God, that's how you live your life.
And so what can we do? What kind of resolutions can we make that can help us actually to glorify God, to worship him, to have a pleasing relationship with him better. That's what we want to do. And we just make those smaller goals that lead up to those bigger goals.
And then that's how you will have actually a very fulfilled year. And if you get closer than you are now, but you don't actually meet whatever goals you set, well, that's still something praiseworthy. You're getting closer to being exactly what God wants you to be.
That's a wonderful thing. Let's go ahead and pray, and then we'll move on with the evening's events. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day.
Thank you so much for allowing us to gather here together and just to have good time of fellowship to focus on you, your word, what you would have us to be in this life. And we thank you so much for not just giving us mission and purpose in this life as believers, but you actually help us to do it. And then you reward us for doing it.
What a great God you are. We love you. Thank you for loving us first in Jesus.
