Welcome to Affirm Foundation presented by Princeton ministries with Dr. Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

Well, the Christmas packages have all been open. All of the wrap has been discarded. A new year has begun. At one Times Square, the fall descended and welcomed in a new year. And now a new year awaits us. This is the time of year that the world bows its head, crosses its fingers and makes resolutions. There are some who are going to say that this year I resolve, I promise that I’m going to lose weight. That’s the way the next year will be remembered for them. That was the year that I actually lost that weight. But there are others who will say, oh yes, that was the year I tried to lose that weight. Well, for Christians, as we face a coming new year, let me ask, have you made any resolutions for the coming year?

Especially resolutions in relation to your walk with Jesus Christ? We might call them spiritual resolutions for the coming year. Personally, for myself, I’ve made three major resolutions to the Lord over the last week. Those are between the Lord and myself, and they are of such a nature that I look forward to the coming year and establishing, by the help of God, those resolutions as reality in my own life. Have you made any spiritual resolutions for the coming year? Many Christians, I’m afraid, don’t make any resolutions. It’s not just at New Year’s that they do not make resolutions. It’s throughout the entire year that even the concept of making a resolution, a promise to the Lord, never even occurs to them. And I think there are probably at least three main reasons why Christians in particular seldom make those promises or resolutions to the Lord.

The first reason is because we are afraid that if we make a resolution, a promise to the Lord, that we will not be able to keep it. And there is a haunting fear that if I make this promise to the Lord and I don’t keep it, lightning may strike me, there’ll be a curse on me for the year. So wouldn’t it better that I not make any resolutions at all? Now, for those Christians who never make any promises to the Lord, never make any resolutions, very often they become very spiritual about their explanation as to why they never make any promises to the Lord. Usually they have a take it as it comes philosophy. They say, well, as the Lord moves me in the coming year. And then they wait for the movement of the Lord.

And all too often a year passes and there has been a status quo in their spiritual development. And the way they remember the past year is not the promises that were answered by the Lord. But rather it was a year of status quo, not much changed. And what that Christian does not understand is that the Christian life, as you have trusted in Jesus Christ and you know him as your savior, that the Christian life is a series of spirit enabled decisions that are then followed by action. In the book of Philippians, chapter two, verse twelve, we read this work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to do both for his good pleasure.

There is an attitude that every Christian is to have about what can I expect to happen today and tomorrow and throughout the remainder of this year? It is an attitude of seeing our activity for the Lord, our growth with the Lord, and our love for the Lord to come to greater depths, that we might grow more to be like Jesus Christ. I do not know anyone who is growing in an active way with Jesus Christ, who has not personally made resolutions and promises to the Lord as he would enable them by his spirit to accomplish this task. And they know specifically what that task is. Then they begin to pray about that task, and then they begin to research and they ask the Lord to help them to accomplish that task. That is the way ministry occurs.

We like to see it on a corporate level, but are you seeing it on a private level as an individual, the promises that you are making to the Lord, that you would be spirit enabled to accomplish the tasks that the Lord has you to do in this coming year? You know, when you took membership in the church, it began with a promise, with a resolution. The promise was I resolve, I promise. I resolve and promise in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit to endeavor to live as becomes a follower of Jesus Christ. And when you became a member of the church, you said, I promise, I resolve, I will do this one thing. But there are many Christians who are frightened to make a promise to the Lord.

There’s a second reason that many Christians do not make resolutions and promises, and that is that they have never understood that God wants to continually bring into your life and to mine change. God wants to bring into your life and into mine continually change. See, we agree with that at conversion. We say, I’ve been walking in darkness, and we hear the message of salvation about Jesus Christ, and we hear the life that Christ has to offer to us, and we say, by faith, I will accept that gift. And we acknowledge that we want a change in our life. The Bible talks about that change as being repentance, as turning our back one way of life and turning in a brand new direction to the cross of Jesus Christ.

And so, at conversion, we’re aware of an attitude that God has for his creation of change. And we are asked, do you want to change? Do you want to trust in Christ? And we say, yes. But let me ask you this question. Since your conversion, how much has changed? How much has changed with your family? How much has changed with the way you handle your finances? How much has changed with the way you handle friends? You see, every one of us is resistant to change. And when we say to the Lord, I promise, I resolve, that I will do these things, we are saying to him, Lord, I want a change in my life. I want to glorify you through that change. But change does not come easy.

And so you go into the average home, and what happens over a period of years, we get used to that same wallpaper. And what happens at our work over a period of months and years, we become used to the procedures. And then someone suggests that there be a change to improve the way business is done. And all too often, there is resistance to that change. Why, it even comes to our clothing, that the type of clothing that you wear is probably the same type of clothing that you’ve been wearing for many years. You have certain colors that are your color, certain styles, certain lapels. You say, that’s me. This Christmas, my son, who is really working me over in change, not only gave me a tie, but he also gave me some suspenders.

And I never thought that I was the type of person who would wear suspenders, especially red suspenders. I have to admit, I still wear a belt, just in case. You see, change is something that we are resistant to. And unless from an outside source change is brought upon us, our nature is status quo, not to change. Why are we afraid to make promises and resolutions to the Lord? It is because we are afraid of the change that is built into that promise. And so if we say to the Lord, I promise this year that I am going to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with my neighbor. Deep down inside of the basement of our heart, we are afraid of what that change will really mean. And all too often, we do not make that promise to the Lord simply because we are frightened.

There’s a third reason, I think, that we often do not make those resolutions to the Lord, and that is that we are simply in too much of a hurry, and we do not have that time where we sit down with the Lord and we ask him, what is it that you want me to do with my time? What changes need to occur in my life? In the coming year, sometimes I feel that my middle name is hurried, that days seem to roll by and there is an activity level from morning to evening. And it starts from the time I walk into the office until late at night. And then it begins again the next morning and continues. And before you know it, Monday has turned into Saturday. The week is over. And you wonder, where has it gone?

And our lives become filled with phone calls to return, people that we want to visit, meetings to attend, mail that seems to pile so high on our desk. Sometimes I can scarcely look over my desk because the mail has just been brought in. The other day I sent secretary in to clean up my desk and she hasn’t been seen since. And if you are at all familiar with a hurried life, you know how difficult it is to do the things that we know we must do. But then to find the time to quietly be still and to know that the Lord is God and to ask him, what do you want me to do with this coming year?
Because I can guarantee one thing, that if you make no plans for the coming year, if you simply take it as it comes, it will be a status quo year. Times I’ve seriously thought of changing my address so that no one can write to me and I won’t get any mail for a few weeks. And then at other times, I thought about unplugging the phone. And the other day my son was in the car. We drove by a car telephone store and he said, dad, that’s just what you need. And I said, you don’t understand. I said, I can’t get away from that thing. The only quiet time I get is when I’m in the car and I don’t want a phone. In the cardinal well, we live in a time that is consumed with activity.

And as Christians, we need to take that time privately and to remember, be still and know that I am God. Well, if you have made resolutions and you have determined in your heart, by the grace of God, I want to see a change this year. And you have identified 12345 areas where you want to see God’s hand at work in your life, then the question is, how can you keep those resolutions for the coming year? I’d like to suggest several principles. One, it is Christian to make resolutions. This is not something that is reserved only for the pagan. And so often we think of New Year’s resolutions as something that comes out of our days, of being away from Jesus Christ, that is a carnal act. I would remind you in the book of Romans, chapter eight, verse five.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. Is your mind set upon the things of the spirit? The apostle Paul in the book of Romans, chapter one, verse 13, tells the Romans that he had a plan. He had resolved to do something. He said, I often planned to come to see you, but I was hindered until now. In other words, the apostle Paul sat down. At some point he analyzed his ministry, and he determined that it would be a good thing for him to go to Rome. He resolved to do that. He did everything he could to go to Rome, but the lord prevented him from going.

Does that mean that he failed, that he should never have had that plan? No, it simply means that God had put in his heart the will to go to Rome. And out of that will came a desire, a promise, a resolution. Do we have any guarantee that the desire that is put upon our heart in form of a resolution for the coming year is going to occur? No, we have no promise, but we are asked to still make that resolution, and by God’s grace, I’ll go to Rome this year. So said Paul. But it didn’t turn out, and that’s okay. You see, the Christian does not look upon that as an error. Do you think there was ever a meeting where Paul stood before the congregation and said, this year I’m planning to go to Rome. The Lord has placed that on my heart.

As a matter of fact, I’ve written a letter to the Romans to tell them that I’m planning to come. But then the year passed and he never went to Rome. Do you think the congregation stood up and said, paul, you shouldn’t make promises like that. You misdirected us. No. The apostle Paul simply was responding to the will of the father as he determined to the. Of his ability the things that the father had for him. With what you know, do you have a plan for what you think the father might have for you in the coming year? Do you have plans for your prayer life? Do you have plans, resolutions on how you might serve other people in the name of Jesus Christ? Do you have plans on how Christ will be brought into your home in a more effective way?

Do you have plans for your personal evangelism, the sharing of the gospel with another person to the end that they might trust in Jesus Christ? Do you have plans? Have you made resolutions in your heart? By the grace of God, I will do these things in the coming year. There is a second suggestion to the keeping of resolutions, and that is that you would learn to pray and to ask the Father for those promises, those resolutions. Scripture tells us in the book of Matthew, ask, and it shall be given. You seek, you shall find, knock, and it will be open to you. At the heart of the Christian faith is a belief and a determination to pray about the things that we will do. And we’re invited by our father to ask him.

If you say, I really don’t have any plans for the coming year, I haven’t even thought about a promise to the Lord. Then why not begin by asking the father in prayer? If you ever thought about the great promise, ask, and it shall be given. If I were to say to you, ask the president of the United States for anything, say, really say, yeah, go ahead. And you go home and you call up the president of the United States, I guarantee you’ll not get within five switchboards of the president. If I were to say to you, call the vice president, perhaps four switchboards. What if I were to say, call the president of Chrysler, talk to him. He’ll give you anything. You can’t even get through.

And yet our Lord, creator of this universe, who knows the flow of the galaxies, who knows the smallest atom, says to us, ask, and it shall be given to you. We wonder, what should I do in the coming year? Have you asked the father? Have you asked him about those changes that need to occur for you to continue your growth in Jesus Christ? Finally, if you really want to keep a resolution that you make with the Lord, be prepared to change your plans. Be prepared for your life to change. So often we do not want that change to occur, and so we make no promise. But I’ve noticed that as you ask the Lord for a promise, and then you pray about that promise, and you begin to act upon that promise, it requires a.

A change in your schedule that the Lord then requires of us in a tangible way to alter the use of our time. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things shall be added to you. Seek first the kingdom of God. And yet, we live in a society where we are seeking first many other things. We are seeking security in our job first. We are seeking that promotion. We are seeking that education with the mistaken notion that I am simply on vacation from this promise of the Lord, because there is going to come a day when I am going to first seek his kingdom. It’s not right now, but I can tell you it’s coming. As soon as I get that degree, I’m going to seek his kingdom first.

As soon as I get that new position, then I will seek him first. But the promise of scripture is exactly counter seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all of these other things. Meaning what? In the context of that verse, your housing, your clothing, your food, all of these other things will be brought to you by the father. Do you believe that? Michael Faraday was known for having discovered hundreds of inventions. He gave us the electric motor, the dynamo. He had some 92 awards that were given to him by different societies. In science, he was a committed Christian. He belonged to a small church, but he loved Jesus Christ. One evening, he was to receive the Medal of Honor from the king of England. The banquet was held in Faraday’s honor as hundreds gathered, dignitaries, scientists, the king himself.

It was on a Wednesday night, and as the speeches went on and on, later and later, and it came time at the end of the evening for that crowning purpose, to give to Michael Faraday the award for another invention. They found that Faraday had slipped out was not to be found in the banquet hall, for at 07:00 he quietly left that banquet to attend the Wednesday night prayer meeting of his church. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto you. Have you made any resolutions for the coming year? Do you plan to change as God would bring change into your life? Seek his kingdom first, and there will be change. Let us pray.

Our God and our father, we come before you as the one who has made us, as the one who has declared from the beginning to the end. You know us well, Father. Help us. We pray, as we look at a coming year, to make those promises to you that are not according to the flesh, that are not carnally minded, but instead that we would be spiritually minded, and that we would have a great resolve in this coming year to serve you. Father, help us to find those areas that we might promise even greater service. And, Father, we ask for your enabling spirit to help us, for we are dependent upon you. And, Father, we give you thanks for that greatest gift of all of new life through your son, Jesus Christ.

And if there be any here today who have never made that first promise, the promise to trust in Jesus Christ, the promise to repent of their sins, to turn away. Father, I ask that your spirit would enable them to trust in the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that they might be changed, that change would be only a foretaste of the changes that you will bring in their life, because of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to a firm foundation presented by Princeton ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton Ministries Post Office Box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. That’s a Princeton Ministries Post Office Box 2171 Princeton, New Jersey 08543. The Lord bless you and Doctor Smith looks forward to hearing from you.