POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON - The "ONE"derful year of ____
Time Sensitivity: The Last Sunday before New Years
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A number of hours from this moment we enter into the new year. It is a time of hope for humanity, but turning a page on a calendar is powerless without humanity changing. Humanity changes by turning from the millstones of old ways and habits to building on the milestones of spiritual growth. Individually and collectively as one people under God’s leadership we must proceed down this path.
100 years ago it was a common belief held by the so-called elite of America, “that there were only about 400 people in all of America worth knowing.”
The writer of this period, O’Henry, believed that each person in society was worth knowing and had a story to tell. His classic story “The Gift of the Magi” has its theme in each person giving his most prized possession for their love of the other. We are giving our most prized possession, all of our days of our lives, in exchange for the future, in the strong hope of becoming all that we may become.
100 years ago, such a strong belief was held about “a good first footer” that many people were willing to pay for the “right” first footer on New Year’s Day. The first person to walk across your doorstep on that first day of the New Year was called the first footer. He would be hired to appear at the exact time so as to not trust fate, to bring misfortune for the whole year.
We stand poised on the threshold of not only a New Year but also a new millennium to be our own first footer to walk across our doorsteps into our future. God is already walking ahead of us preparing our way of good.
Jesus Christ holds to the all-inclusive belief that each person has worth and value. His prayer is that each person rise above the lacks and limitations of their past to an innate knowing of their worth and value.
There is a verse in the Bible that has great power concerning your life. I read from Matthew 16:19. Jesus says: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
We think that this is the truth for some people, a long time ago, but it is just as true for each of us today. Jesus is talking directly to us as we approach 2001, through these pages of our Bible. It is as if He came up to you in a vision and said, “I’m going to give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” You would know that you had something incredibly powerful working in your life. And you do. It’s for all of us. It crosses religious lines and theology of people. It is the Truth about humankind.
We have been given the keys. Here is the key. It’s in your prayer time. When you pray, what do you decide to bind to yourself? When you pray with a belief, with a knowing, without doubt, and you decide to have something in your life in the new millennium, it’s going to be there.
There’s a great power that happens beyond our physical sight.
As humans, we tend to focus on the negative. We think of ourselves being bound to our problems, tied to them where we can’t get loose. We try and we try, but we can’t do it. But what Jesus is telling you is that you are bound to your good, and your good is with you every day.
Allow me to share from James 1:2-8: “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.”
Your mind is a vessel of God thought. Your mind can be the connecting place with God Mind. Your mind is the place where God answers your prayers. In order for God to get something to you, God must get it through you. And for God to get it through you, you must have an open channel. It may be a small little crack in the dam that we have put up, it can be the size of a grain of mustard seed, but there must be a crack in your free will for God’s will to come through. If there is, then all can change and all of the good of God can come to you. Everything can become anew. You have spent your whole life waiting to get to this point in your personal history. When a couple gets married, we expect it to be the finest time of their lives, and it should be. But how about you? Right now should be the finest time in your life too. You’ve lived too many years, you’ve invested too much time, and you’ve been here too many Sundays for it not to be. It doesn’t matter what is happening in the outer. Sure, we all have challenges. Let us go beyond our outer challenges and enter through this doorway of 2001 with an assurance of joy because we know we’re not alone. If we accept the promises of Jesus Christ, we know that we are walking forward all the time to greater and greater good in our New Year.
America has just concluded an historic presidential election. A great writer wrote these words and his writings led him to becoming president. This was written by Herbert Hoover, it’s called The Uncommon Man.
“In my opinion, there has been too much talk about the Common Man. It has been dinned into us that this is the Century of the Common Man. The idea seems to be that the Common Man has come into his own at last.
Thus we are in danger of developing a cult of the Common Man, which means a cult of mediocrity. But here is at least one hopeful sign: I have never been able to find out who this Common Man is. In fact, most Americans, and especially women, will get mad and fight if you try calling them common.
This is hopeful because it shows that most people are holding fast to an essential fact in American life. We believe in equal opportunity for all, but we know that this includes the opportunity to rise to leadership — in other words, to be uncommon.
Let us remember that the great human advances have not been brought about by mediocre men and women. They were brought about by distinctly uncommon people with vital sparks of leadership. Man of the great leaders were, it is true, of humble origin, but that alone was not their greatness.
It is a curious fact that when you get sick you want an uncommon doctor; if your car breaks down you want an uncommonly good mechanic; when we get into war we want dreadfully an uncommon admiral and an uncommon general.
I have never met a father and mother who did not want their children to grow up to be uncommon men and women. May it always be so. For the future of America rests not in mediocrity, but in the constant renewal of leadership in every phase of our national life.”
And so it does. When you travel around this country you see statues of people. This is true especially Washington, D.C. You see statues all the time, but these are never statues of common people. They are statues of people who have gone the extra mile, who have stepped out of their comfort zone, stepped out of mediocrity, and did something great.
May it be said of you on your tombstone that you did not, for one day, (beginning in 2001), allow yourself to become common. You become uncommon. There will be many around you who might say things like you’re getting sick, that you’re going to have to resign yourself to sickness. You decide to become uncommon. There might be many around you who might say that because of your debt load that you’re going down the tubes, that there is no other way because they are the experts and they know, so you just might as well accept your fate. But you stand up and become uncommon.
There are many around you who are doomsayers. Doomsayers are common people. You’ll find thirteen in every dozen who will tell you the worst possible thing about your life. Don’t believe it. They are common people. You start to become uncommon when you say, “I can become better than my past.”
There’s one thing in this world of recycling that we cannot recycle. It’s the calendar. You can’t recycle 2000. It’s impossible. But you can, by going into this New Year, stand up and decide to become more than you’ve ever become before.
Now, never do this alone. Realize that many times you are stretched way beyond your limits. You have to allow God to do it through you. You have to consent to becoming one with God, and then it becomes so. Part of our consenting is having self-confidence. Jesus said we have to love our neighbors as ourselves. Most of us, as good Christians, love our neighbors but we do not love ourselves. Remember that you are the channel for all of God’s love and creativity to come through to your outer world. But the channel has to be there in you, for you, as you, in order for what is in the channel to come through.
You are on a process to make tomorrow’s dreams come true by your work today, by standing up and agreeing to be what you were created to be. You are a child of God, a child of all possibilities, a child of love and a child of power.
This week, write down five things that you like best and least about yourself. What do you like best? Those are your uncommon areas that you need to work on and become better at bringing those to pass. Then you become honest with yourself. Assess yourself. What are the five things that you like least? Then you make a decision. You know that with God’s help what you bind to yourself will become you, and what you loose will be loose, not only here but also in heaven.
Next, write down five things that are really important to you. The five things you have a passion for in life, the five things you love with all your heart, are things you don’t do as much as you should. You put it off until some other time, like retirement, or sometime in the distant future. You need to be focusing on those things today to fortify yourselves.
The next thing you do is write down five things that were important to your parents about you. Here’s why that gives you some problems. Many times we spend our whole lives living a dream that our parents had for us. We try to please them, sometimes years after they are gone. Now, while it is noble to do such a thing out of love, there comes a time as an adult that you have to decide what is important to you, and start to live your own life. That is the only way you ever become uncommon. You are not a Xerox copy of your mother or your father. You are different. There has never been a life or a fingerprint or a hair like you before in existence. Therefore, you have to become what God created you to be. God did not command you to be a copycat. God commanded to let your light shine, and your light is individualistic.
So, you have to decide what is important to you, and you have to take an inventory of what is important to your parents, and decide how much you have done in that category. What is right for you? Find it out. Let that light shine that is you in that area of life.
Then, write down some time-oriented, specific goals for this New Year for yourself. I believe in goals because it keeps your vessel on track. If you are in a boat, you have to steer it one way or another to get it to go somewhere. Where do you want that boat to go? You have to have a plan. You have to have goals. Otherwise, it will never ever get there.
I ask you to release the calendar of the old year, realize that nobody is perfect. We tend to knock ourselves down when we have something bad happen to us. We have to stop that. We are God’s creation. We are being created and recreated by God, and God’s work is not done yet. Yes, we make mistakes and yes, we do things we’re not supposed to do. Okay, we need to go on and become better tomorrow and not constantly blame ourselves or knock ourselves down because we did not live up to our potential yesterday. We have to strive to live up to our potential tomorrow. That’s where it counts. We did the best we could in the moment, but now we have the power to go beyond, to go higher and become uncommon.
This is partly a do-it-yourself religion. And that’s the only religion that works in the end. If I were Jesus Christ and you wanted to come up here and sit at my feet, you could sit at my feet all day long and I could talk to you as Jesus Christ, but in the end I cannot save you. You have to save yourself, by becoming one with God yourself.
It’s like we go to a parent and say, “Please do this for me. Please take care of this for me.” They can for a while, but there comes a time when we have to do it for ourselves. This is the message of Jesus Christ. His message is not to sit at His feet and be saved by His works. His message is to listen to His words and take them on in our own lives and be saved through working the example in our own lives.
At the end of your life, as people look over the different deeds you have done, if someone would judge Christianity by your faithfulness, would they want to join? Would they want to join if they see you out on the road somewhere? That’s the bottom line to everything. Yes, they would join! Because you are ONE with God in every word, action, and reaction.
It’s not just whether you go to church. It’s whether you live it. We all have to become the best possible person that we can be in a given moment. We’re going to have times when we fall down and times when we become uncommon. To be uncommon is what we’re striving for. That is what we’re going to have happen in our lives.
Each and every one of you is investing time in these services, and it’s not going to be wasted. Sometime you’re going to be called upon to go the extra mile in your faith. When that happens, instead of just falling down and quivering on the floor, wondering how you can possibly take it, you’re going to enter into a time of faithfulness, and maybe even joy because you’re going to know that you are not alone- you and God are one.
Please join me in prayer.
We affirm together that this is the day for us to accept our good. This is the day when God is blessing us with a receptive faith and a trusting heart, an illumined mind and a quickened understanding. This is the day of victory in Christ when we become uncommon. We are in prayer this day, this “ONE”derful day, as a new opening comes in our eternal treasure of Truth. We realize that we are existing in abundant good that is around us like air. This is the day when the healing power of the Great Physician is working mightily in us.
Within the sacred precincts of our hearts, we hear the voice of God questioning, “Would thou be made whole?” The Great Physician knows that the faith in us is strong enough to ask, and is great enough to receive. God speaks with an authoritative power. As you enter into this New Year, God says to you, “Arise, take up thy bed and walk.”
This is our year to be free and whole. We arise and we lift up all old thoughts of neglect or hopelessness or helplessness, on which any belief in disease or weakness may have laid, and we walk with a new power, unbound, into the presence of the Christ. We find the Christ in the temple of our bodies. And the Christ will proclaim, “Behold, thou art made whole.”
This is the year for us to accept the good that God has prepared for us. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them who love Him.” We open our eyes and we look to God for the fulfillment of every conceivable need or good desire. Eyes have not seen the abundance everywhere present that God has prepared and provided. We no longer fix our eyes on the need or the seeming lack. The glories and the riches of the Father’s kingdom established here and now, in the midst of the earth, are ours.
This is the year for us to look to God as complete supply. We have found God, and we have found our all-sufficiency. All eternity is ours in which to prove God’s all-providing love. This year of 2001 is ours to accept God as our complete supply, the year for us, by faith, to bring into manifestation the good that we seek. This is the year to listen to the voice of love and wisdom within us, that directs us momently toward the good that God has prepared Whether tangible or intangible, the good we seek awaits us now.
We open our eyes that we may see, and our ears that we may hear the glad tidings, and we open our hearts that we may understand what God has prepared for those who love Him. We let our hearts be so filled to overflowing with the love and joy and riches of God that there is no room for any depressing, unhappy, untrue or unworthy feelings to remain in us. This is left behind and will not be recycled by us. This is the year for us to accept the fullness of the Father’s good, encompassed only by eternity. This is the good day, which has come to us, and it is filled with divine treasures for us all. We believe this as we walk towards the path of becoming uncommon people, in oneness with God. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray … Amen.
MEDITATION / PRAYER_______________________________________________
There is truly great power in united prayer. The dawning of each New Year reveals opportunities to experience new light in our lives. As we enter this special time of prayer, the light and life and love of Christ dawn anew within you. You prepare your heart and mind for this awakening during this prayertime.
THE CHRIST IS YOUR HOPE OF GLORY. This is decreed for you with great power.
In this quiet time of prayer, you still your thoughts and relax. Through the door of silent prayer, you enter a retreat of renewal and strength. Letting go of any anxious thought or feeling of tension, you become even more aware of the presence of God
The Christ spirit is your peace, the peace that passes your human understanding. This peace wells from within like the rising of the sun at dawn. In its quiet radiance, you are serene, poised, and composed. And you are grateful. The peace that radiates within you also radiates from you. You see the indwelling Christ spirit of peace in others as you pray.
Through the power of the spoken word, we decree: THE CHRIST SPIRIT FILLS YOU WITH PEACE. The Christ spirit within fills you with peace during every step in the new millennium. THE CHRIST SPIRIT FILLS YOU WITH PEACE. Take a moment now in the silence of prayer to experience this peace …
Just as the peace of Christ is always available to you, so is the light of the Christ spirit. You focus your attention now on the true light of God — that shines within your heart and mind. The light of Christ rises within you like the breaking forth of a new day. From a gentle glow on the horizon of awareness to the full brilliance of understanding, the light of Christ shines to reveal right answers and right paths. In this light, you are confident and wise.
You follow this glorious beacon of light with a receptive heart, rest now the listen to the “still small voice” of inspiration and wisdom …
The light of this new dawn also reveals the truth about health and wholeness. “If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” We are new creations in Christ. Through the ongoing life process, new cells are created to take the place of old ones. The Christ spirit infuses every cell of the body temple with vibrant life. You are centered in the Christ spirit of life, and the way to renewed energy, strength, and vitality is open.
Our attention is now focused fully on the Christ spirit. In this quiet hour, we seek only a greater realization of this wonderful presence within us. From the Christ spirit within come ideas — divine ideas — that lead us to greater expressions of abundance. With the dawning of these ideas also comes the realization that good is always available to us.
As we pray, we know — without doubt — that the Christ spirit is providing for every need. We pray the prayer for prosperity: THE CHRIST SPIRIT INSPIRES YOU WITH A NEW AWARENESS OF ABUNDANCE. YOU PROSPER. Believe this now, without doubt, in the silence of prayer …
“How great , , , are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The Christ, our hope of glory, abides within our hearts and minds. We awaken to this day and each day of this New Year with faith in the Christ spirit of light, love, and life. And we are truly grateful.
In Jesus Christ’s name … Amen.
God bless you! Have a great week filled with God’s goodness.
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