This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on January 5th 2025 by Colin. For the audio & video please click here. For the worship please click here. Worthy Goals for 2025
When we enter New Year, we make resolutions. We want to believe that the old has gone and new has come.
As we began the New Year, our hearts need to be filled with gratitude for God's faithfulness. We are all alive today and that's because of God. We need to be thankful to God. Let us look at Philippians chapter 1.
Let us look at some worthy goals to put forward for the year.
Philippians 1:1-2 NIV - [1] Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: [2] Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul was used by God in an amazing way. He calls himself a born servant. This actually means a slave. We can see Paul's great humility here.
Let us look at this attitude of humility. As Christians we must cultivate it. According to the New Testament, if you are saved, you are a saint. This letter is addressed to the overseers, deacons and saints.
Philippians 1:3 NIV - [3] I thank my God every time I remember you.
What a beautiful thing to say. In our lives, there could be people who cause pain when we think about them.
Philippians 1:4-8 NIV - [4] In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy [5] because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, [6] being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. [7] It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. [8] God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Here we see that Paul was filled with deep love towards these believers. That's a wonderful example to follow.
Acts 16:6-7 NIV - [6] Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. [7] When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.
What we see here is that Paul and his companions were led by the Spirit. Discernment was needed to differentiate between right and wrong and also God's will and their will. Going to preach is good but what was God's will?
Even in our lives, we must know the difference between Good and bad and also God's will and our will. That's why we must be connected to God by His Spirit.
Acts 16:8-14 NIV - [8] So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. [9] During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” [10] After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. [11] From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. [12] From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. [13] On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. [14] One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.
For salvation to come, we must go and preach and also God's must touch their hearts to put their faith in Jesus.
Acts 16:15 NIV - [15] When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Salvation is always followed by baptism which is a public declaration of faith in Jesus.
Acts 16:16-17 NIV - [16] Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. [17] She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”
We see that when the demonic spirits we're sharing the gospel.
From verses 18 to 24, we see that Paul and Silas were arrested and clogged for sharing the gospel.
Acts 16:25 NIV - [25] About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
Even in the midst of their trial, Paul and Silas chose to praise God.
In our lives we are going to face struggles, trials, sickness and persecution. But we must continue to worship God and praise him.
Acts 16:27-28 NIV - [27] The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. [28] But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
Those days if any prisoner escaped, the jailer was executed. Here, when the jailer realized that the prison doors were opened he thought that the prisoners had escaped. He knew he'd be executed. So he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul stopped him.
Acts 16:30 NIV - [30] He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
These are the golden words which we long to hear from the unbelievers - "What must I do to be saved?"
Acts 16:31-34 NIV - [31] They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” [32] Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. [33] At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. [34] The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
After the jailer asked them, Paul and Silas shared the gospel and the jailer and his entire household were saved and baptized. Amazing!
When they left Philippi, there were just a few believers gathering and Paul was thanking them for their partnership with him.
We can also partner in 3 ways -
1. Going
2. Giving
3. Loving
The Church of Philippi partnered with Paul by finding the gospel. Let us pray for the people who attended the Carols event that God touch them and open their hearts.
We have to be friends with the unbelievers because Jesus was a friend of sinners.
When we come to faith, that's just the first step but not the last.
It is good that a baby is born but when there's no growth its not good. Similarly, when a new Christian is born, he or she must grow and mature.
God's Word is our food to grow spiritually. Let us be a people of book - read God's Word.
Joshua 1:8 NIV - [8] Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
As we give ourselves to feeding on God's Word, we will see the difference in our lives.
One thing that's connected to feeding on the Word is Prayer and the other is Fasting.
Philippians 1:7 NIV - [7] It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.
Here we see Paul's love and deep affection for the believers. This is the quality of love God wants to see in His people.
We must pray that God would help us to love our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
We must grow more in loving one another. We are all in WIP - Work In Progress.
We all have shortcomings and failures. Till our death, we will have these. But when we sin, we must recognise it, repent and seek forgiveness and keep moving forward so that we may be pure and blameless.
When you commit a sin, don't be surprised as that's a sign of pride. We must be humble enough to say we're wrong.
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.
