Well, the last couple of weeks, we've been talking about New Year's resolutions or this new year that we're stepping into. And the first week, we were talking about remembering, right? We talked about remembering what God did in 2020. And then last week, we talked about what are we going to take with us from 2020?
What are we going to leave behind? You guys remember the little glass jar bottle thing that I had? It wasn't a bottle. It was a glass jar.
I'm like bringing a baby bottle. I don't know. Sorry, I'm a parent of an infant. So none of you thought about like bottle.
You thought, yeah, totally a bottle. And I'm like picturing me feeding my infant. And but anyways, last week, we talked about we talked about how we get to take things with us, but we also get to leave some things behind as we move into this next year. And and this this week, I want to talk about the why behind resolutions.
What's your why behind your New Year's resolutions? How many of you guys have have in the last couple of months, you've maybe made a choice like I'm going to change. I have this new goal. I have this resolution that I'm just I'm not going to do Netflix as much.
You know, like how many of you how many of you have have made a raise your hands? You made some resolutions. You made some changes. You're like, OK, wow, not as driven of a bunch.
It's interesting. No, but yeah, a lot of you raise your hands. I saw you. Um, maybe some of you guys are going like I I've tried that whole like New Year resolution thing and it never works.
So I'm not going to try this year. And some of you felt like that. It's like, oh, I'm not going to do it this year. It's a hard year.
2020 is a little rough. Like I deserve an off year on resolutions. Some of you feeling that way? It's been busy.
Like I've been staying at home all the time. I've been really busy. I think some of I think some of us have failed at resolutions and we've gotten burned or we've just failed. And we're not as excited about signing up again or maybe we're like we forgot the last time we failed and now I'm reminding you and you're like, shoot, I forgot that I failed it last year.
And now he's reminding me that I failed last year. And I'm wondering if one of the reasons of why we keep on failing with our goals is because our why is weak. I wonder if I wonder if the driver, the why that's in the driver's seat is a little bit brittle. And so then when life happens, our yes, I'm like, yes, I'm going to change.
It just breaks really easily because our why is brittle because our why our motive is weak. And I really feel like the Lord has something special for us to step into tonight to bring all of these, whether we have any resolutions and we need to bring that to the Lord. It's like, I don't even want to change. And it's like, OK, we bring that to Jesus.
Right. Or maybe you're going, I do have these resolutions. I do have these goals. I do want to change.
I do want this new year to be a new me. Maybe that's you. But the question is, how's it going? It's day 10.
Are some of you like, shoot, I already failed. Some of you are facing day 10 and you're like, man, this is not good. I thought this was a long term thing. Or maybe you made all the plans.
That's how Katie and I were. Like we got together December 30th. We're like praying, yeah, God, what do you want? And we made this list and we haven't started the list.
Just haven't done it. We haven't started at all. And I wonder if some of that has to do with our why. And so if you're in Colossians 2, you can read with me.
I want to give a little bit of context before we read. Apostle Paul, he's right into the church of Colossae. And there's two parties that he's talking to. He's talking to the Judaizers, which are the guys that are Jews that have followed Jesus Messiah.
And all of these pagan new converts to following the way of Jesus, they're in relationship with these Jews that are also following the way. But these Jews are saying, no, you have to get circumcised. You can't eat pork. You can't eat unclean food.
You got to do all of these things. You got to be like the Jews if you want to follow the Jewish Messiah. And then there's another group of people that are coming out of pagan worship. And they were worshiping Aphrodite and Apollo and all of these other gods.
And Paul's addressing both parties. But what's happening is those people that came out of pagan worship, they're putting Jesus next to Apollo and they're calling them all gods. It's a polytheistic city. And so Paul's coming in and addressing that.
Those spirits, Apollo and Aphrodite, they're all called elemental spirits. And so Paul is coming in and he's addressing some of what the church of Colossae is dealing with. And I just want to start in verse 20. Are you guys ready?
Here we go. Here's the meat. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive to the world, do you submit to regulations? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, according to human precepts, teachings, traditions.
These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. How many of you know we've got all of these self-help strategies to getting free from sin, to changing? It's like, well, if you just put the software on your computer, that's going to fix it. Right?
Like if you just make the plan, then it's going to work. If you just have the wisdom of man, then it's all going to happen. If you just start doing all of the right things that you read on the blog, then that's how you do it. That's how you, that's how you get healthy.
That's how you stop watching Netflix. That's how you get a budget, whatever it is. And we've got all of these wise in the eyes of the world ways to see transformation. But Paul goes on and he goes, but you're of a different kingdom.
You're of a different society. Look at this. Chapter three. If then you have been raised with Jesus, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is sitting with Christ and God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. I think it's what Paul is saying.
He's saying, I want you to see yourself seated with me. And I want you to seek the things that are above. What is he talking about? What is he trying to get across?
He's saying, I want you to have your identity in focus. Your identity. Once you've given your life to Jesus, your identity is that you're a royal. Your identity is that you sit with Jesus enthroned above everything next to the father.
And you get caught up into this love exchange thing that happens between God, the father and God, the son. And he said, I want you to understand that you are an alien to this world. You're not a refugee. You're an ambassador.
You're not somebody that's, that's just holding on. You're actually someone that's coming with a different perspective, a different culture, a different society, a different, like your passport looks different. You're different. Your way of life is different.
Your everyday lifestyle is different. It's a lifestyle. It's not just like a thing that you do. It's who you are.
It's your perspective. It's your way. You follow the way and the way is different. The way is narrow.
It's a narrow way. And it's a way with him. It's a way with someone. It's a way from someplace.
It's a way from someplace that's high above your circumstances. It's high above 2020 and it's high above 2021. So you're coming in and he's going, I want you to have a different perspective. I want you to see differently.
I want you to see that you are a son that's enthroned with me. You're part of the family. It's a family thing. He's going, I want you to be seated in your perspective.
And then what happens after that is he goes into, I want you to put off these things and I want you to put on these other things. So I put off all of these sinful mindsets, these sinful actions and put on the character of God. And then he says, look at verse nine. What is that saying?
It's basically talking about change, talking about transformation. That's like what we want at New Year's for our New Year's resolutions, right? And verse nine, it says this, look at verse nine. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have what?
Put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. So he's saying that old nature where you are a slave to how your life is always gone. That thing died. You're not a slave.
That's what we were taught. We were singing about this. The war is over. You're not waiting to get set free in 2021.
You're not waiting to get somebody on, on TBN to put their finger on the, the, the camera lens and have you fall back into your couch and get delivered and set free from your porn addiction. You're not waiting for something. Jesus already won the battle. Jesus already set you free.
And you're like, well, what do you mean he set me free? I've been waiting for freedom. No, the Lord set you free, but you need to think according to what's already been done. You're going, hold up.
I've been believing my whole life that I got to get set free from this thing. The Lord's good news is that that thing actually got crucified with Christ. The power of sin over you has been crucified and put to death. Now you actually get to live as a new creation, set free from that sin.
Why does Romans say all over the place, you've been set free if you're not free? Why does it say on the page that you're free if you're not free? We still think that we need to get set free and the Holy Spirit's like, oh, you already are free. Now step into Thanksgiving.
So every time you mess up, you just step in right into Thanksgiving. Thank you that I'm free. Thank you that that's not who I am. Thank you that I'm made new.
Thank you that that's sin trying to get in me and to try to control me. That's my old nature trying to come back. That's the corpse that I've actually been set free from. I'm holy and righteous unto you.
I'm a new creation. The old is gone. The new has come. I am yours and you love me even in my mistakes.
God is saying, wake up to what he already did. Wake up to that you have a new nature. You think, man, I got to get set free from my addiction. You are free from your addiction.
You are free. It doesn't feel like it though. But do we live our lives based on feelings? Oh, no.
Do we live our lives based on emotions? Well, I don't feel free. Does that mean that you're not free if you don't feel free? But we have to look at the Bible and go, what did Jesus do?
What does that mean for me? Right? Verse 9. I love verse 9.
It's so good. Okay. I want us to skip to verse 17. That was just a cherry on top.
That wasn't even part of this message. That just was for you. Okay? Verse 17.
Colossians 3, 17. Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Jesus wants to be a part of everything. I think a lot of times we have a tendency to think that he wants to be involved in saving us, he wants to be involved in the, I'm going to read my Bible more resolution, but he doesn't really care about the exercise and the eating healthy.
He wants to be involved in the regiment of my devotions, or maybe I could lead someone to Jesus this year, but he doesn't really care about the whole financial goals that I have. And what's happened is we've made a lot of resolutions, but we've compartmentalized them fully from God, thinking that he's just the God of Sundays, thinking that he's just the God that cares about the spiritual stuff. But what we don't understand is that God actually loves your body more than you love your body, for sure more than you love your body, because most of us hate our bodies. And he loves our bodies, and he loves our emotions.
He loves our motives, he loves our desire, he loves our souls, and he loves our spirit. He loves all three parts of you, your spirit, soul, and body. He loves you, and he actually wants to be a part of the whole journey of all of your life. But we have these brittle whys.
So if I lined you up, and I said, okay, what's your New Year's resolution? It's like, yeah, I mean, they're all good, right? Like nobody, if I ask you what your New Year's resolution is, you're not going to be like, yeah, I want to drink alcohol more, and I want to just bring up my screen time a couple hours, and really just like press it in for five instead of six, you know? And I'm just believing to get more, like, more Doritos in, in 2021.
I like my Pringles, like, that's my jam, that's what I want. Oh, and I love McDonald's Flurry. Like, nobody's doing that. Nobody's like, yeah, that's me, that's me.
But if I lined all of you up, and I asked you your resolution, they would all be good ideas. Like, really good. Like, good things. Good job, guys.
Very good resolutions. Like, I'm very impressed. Good people, great people. Great desires, good things.
But then if I ask you the question, why? Why? It's like, why do you want to get healthy? I don't know, I should.
Like, how many, if I went around, it's like, how many of you would answer, like, I should? And, and your why is I shouldn't, I want us to get deeper into, like, well, why do you want to get healthy? Well, I want to, like, like how I look in the mirror. Okay?
That's awesome. Why? Well, I want to be happy. Okay, what's going to make you happy?
Um, like, if someone likes me, or if, like, my spouse thinks I'm attractive. Okay, why? Well, I want to be desired. Okay, why?
Because I want to be loved. And we start going down the line of the resolution of why. Why do you want finance? Like, why do you want to have a budget?
So I can get out of debt. Why? Well, because, because I'm drowning. Okay.
But why do you want to get out of debt? Because I should. Do you see that there's, like, this brittle thing? And it's probably why two weeks in, we're hit with a temptation.
And we, like, totally forgot the desire that we had two weeks ago. It's like, I don't know. But, but I'm like, I'm going to buy the trip. I'm going to buy the cruise, the Royal Caribbean.
It's like, it's a deal. Right? And you're like, I know I have these goals, but it's a deal. Right?
That's how it goes. And not for me, but probably for you. Right? I'm just kidding.
I'm just playing. I think that he's more passionate about your health than you are about your health. I think he's more passionate about your finances than you are about your finances. I think he's more passionate about what you take in through your eyes and how you spend your time than you're passionate about it.
But we've been keeping him at an arm's length or just forgetting that he's even cares. We've just been forgetting about him because he's the Sunday guy. He's the Sunday guy that it's like not the everyday guy. But all along the way, he's going, I want to be involved.
6 a.m. when you wake up and you're putting your exercise goals on. I want to be involved at lunchtime when you're with your colleagues and they're eating Culver's and you brought veggies. Like, I want to be involved in those moments.
He's going, you thought, sometimes, scientific studies say that when you have a goal and you do it with someone, you're like more likely, right, to succeed. I don't, check the facts on that. I'm pretty sure it sounds good. Sounds wise.
Sounds good. Yeah. Who's with you? who there's someone that wants to be part of the journey with you.
And so he's not just your why and giving you clarity and vision and dreaming with you about your why. He's actually the who that's going to be part of it with you in your everyday. And so I believe that it's time for us to step out of just doing things because we should. You know what?
Most of the time that is guilt. You know, most of the time that is that shame. It's like, I'm embarrassed about how I look. So I should probably start exercising.
I should probably start eating right. And all along the way, shame is the thing that's prodding you. And you wonder why you're so miserable. And it's because you're getting whipped by guilt and you're getting prodded forward by shame.
But you are destined to have a different master. You are destined to have someone that actually is with you, that loves you and cares for you. And that is all about you experiencing his heart in that area of your life. God is not one dimensional.
And I think most of the time we put him into the one spiritual dimension of our lives and we forget that he wants to be all up in all of it. He wants to get all up in your Monday and your Wednesday and your Thursday and Friday and Saturday nights. He's like, I want to get in there. He's excited about it too.
He's like, let's go. It's not like a track for him. He's not like you with resolutions. All right.
It's not a resolution in God's heart. Like I think this year I'm really going to be with Linda on Thursday nights. No, he's like, I want in all of it. I'm a good dad.
I want them seated with me. I want in all of the little details and it's my joy and my delight to give them a heavenly perspective. God wants to give you a new vision and it's not 2020 vision. Somebody say amen to that.
It's not 2020 vision. I got it tonight. Let's go. I want us to respond.
I want us to respond. Let's all stand. We're just a team. You guys can come to the front.
And I want to encourage you. We're going to go into a time of reflection very similar to what we've been doing the last couple of weeks where we just take time with Holy Spirit. And so we can spread out throughout the room. If you want to hit up the stairs or you want to go somewhere just in the room to connect with the Lord, you can do that.
And then once you find your spot, you can actually have a seat. So I know that that's funny. Some of you are probably just sitting in the same place that you were, but just encourage you to spread out if you want to just get space. Nobody moves.
No. Yeah. There's people moving. There's people finding their spot.
Yeah. It's awesome. The Lord, the Lord is canceling compartmentalizing in our lives. And it's, it's the original way to be human.
The original way to be a human is to have God in your everyday is to have God all of in your lifting goals and your health plan and your financial budget. God wants to be giving you vision and clarity as you're seated with him in heavenly places. He wants to be as verse 17. It says, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in his name.
You're a representative of him in everything that you do and everything that you say. God is wanting to, he's knocking in time. He's like, will you let me in? Knock, knock, knock.
Will you let me in to this part of your life? He's a kind God. He's a loving God. He's a patient God.
How many of you know we need patience when we're in process? So what we're going to do is as we, we're going to spend time just connecting with the Lord and asking him questions. But the first thing that I want us to do is start asking the question, why? Behind, whether maybe you're going, I don't have any goals.
I don't want to do a new year's resolution. And I want to encourage you to start asking the question, why? Ask Holy Spirit, why do I not want that? Maybe some of it's like, I've just been too busy to think about it.
That's fine. But you get to invite God into the next question. The next question is, well, actually for those who, who do have resolutions, do have things that are goals that you're wanting to change in your life, I want you to ask the question, why? What has your why been?
What has your why been of why you want to get healthier? Why you want to stop watching Netflix? What has your why been? Be able to name that.
And then we're going to go right into, Lord, give me a new why. Give me a new vision. Give me a kingdom vision. I know I'm royalty.
I know I'm of a different culture, a different way, a different society, a different way of doing everyday life. Lord, give me a vision of what's my why for this resolution? What's my why for this goal? And some of you guys might be going, well, man, this is like self-help stuff.
This is like, come on. I mean, isn't this like, like your best life now stuff? And I'm going, no, this is God. This is what Lordship looks like.
This is what sanctification is. Sanctification is your body and soul coming into alignment with the kingdom of heaven and who you are in the spirit. It's every part of you. It's all of your plans.
All of your plans. He's like, oh, I want to be part of that. So Holy Spirit, I just, that's what we're going to ask. Okay.
We're going to ask God, give me your why for these resolutions. And I believe that you guys are all adults. You can just step into this, write it down, write your conversation down with Holy Spirit, ask him questions, write down what he says. Lord, we want to have an anchor for our souls.
We want to, we want to have clarity. Lord, we believe that this is an end to brittle motivation. We're saying goodbye. We're saying goodbye to I shoulds.
We're saying yes to your vision. We're saying yes to your desire, your heavenly motivation that we get to carry. So Holy Spirit, I thank you that you speak to us because we're your little sheep who hear our shepherd's voice. Holy Spirit, we thank you that if we've given our lives to you, that you dwell inside of us and that we can hear your voice.
So Holy Spirit, we thank you that you're our guide in 2021. You're going to guide us. You're going to remind us of what Jesus' heart is, what Jesus has said. So we just invite you.
We invite you into these areas of our lives in Jesus' name.