Dr. Rickey Honea, Th.D.
(Preached at College Heights Baptist Church, Lubbock, Texas)
Sunday Morning 01-4-98

A Journey into the Unknown

"Ye have not passed this way heretofore" Joshua 3:4

Everyone wants to be a success. No one wants to be a loser. I have seen big strong football players sit on the bench and weep because their teem was loosing a football game. The world remembers a winner and forgets a loser. Some of us have won victories in the past year. Let us thank God for another chance.

The dictionary says to succeed is "to attain the desired object or end." The Christian has the right objective when he or she wants to be prosperous and successful and happy. But this is not just for oneself - it involves wanting it all for the glory to go to God.

Ill. A young man said to me some time ago, "I have just received a salary increase. This means more tithe in my church envelope. At Christmas time he said, "I have just received an extra bonus and this means more tithe for the Lord." He was putting God in the front of his prosperity. I know that God wants us to be successful in all that we do. He want us to be magnificent and not mediocre. He wants us to be extraordinary and not ordinary. He wants us to be radiant, jubilant Christians instead of discouraged and discontented pilgrims. He wants us to be happy to be full of hope and peace and power and not bound down with cares of woes.

We are now looking out upon a New Year. We are taking our journey into the unknown. With Joshua we can say, that "we have not passed this way heretofore." I believe that God wants His people to be happy in heart and prosperous in the best things of life. God promises both of these things to us if we follow Him. The whole secret lies n putting God first in the New Year. In the sixth chapter of Matthew we hear Jesus talking about material things about food and raiment and the needed things of life. Then he says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you."

I believe that this is God's formula for prosperity and happiness.

I believe that the Lord will give you everything you need in the New Year and cause your heart to sing with joy if you give Him first place. We are to do this not just on Sundays, but three hundred and sixty five days a year - not just in church, but in home, in business, in every walk of life. God is willing to give you a prosperous and happy year, but you must do your part. When a cook bakes a cake she must put certain ingredients into it. So if you are to have a prosperous and happy New Year, you must put certain things into the year. Let us think about these things.

I. THE BIBLE MUST HAVE A PLACE IN YOUR LIFE.

You can not neglect the Bible and find true posterity and happiness. This book helps you to meet the toils, stand the dangers and overcome the temptations of life. If you read and head the Bible, you will be able to lead a clean, courageous, strong life. It is a safe book to live by, it is a sweet book to die by. You can build your life on the Bible with more assurance because you will be building your life on the pillars of heaven, God himself. We are told that the foundations of the earth will tremble and fall, but that God's Word will stand. God is in this book and it can not be destroyed. It has come to us through a river of blood. Every page is stained with the blood of martyrs. IT has sustained men through the ages and it will sustain us.

In the days when the west was wild, two young men were traveling together. One was a Christian and the other claimed to be an infidel. They stopped at a lonely cabin and the old man who lived there permitted them to spend the night in his home. When they had gone to their room the infidel said to the other young man, "I am afraid of that old man. I believe he would kill you for a quarter. I am going to take my pistol to bed with me tonight."

When the bed time hour came the old man said. "Young men, it is my custom to read the Bible and pray before we retire. I hope you will join me. They sat quietly and listened. The old man read a chapter in the Bible and then offered a prayer "DEAR FATHER, he prayed, bless these young men who are away from home and love and protect them."

When the two young men went to their room, the Christian asked the infidel why he did not have his revolver with him. And the infidel answered, "THAT OLD MAN, would not hurt anyone."

POINT: The presence of the Bible and prayer had made him feel safe.

One of the best uses of the Bible is to help in straightening out our lives. When a builder takes his level and places it on a piece of lumber and finds that the lumber is not straight, he does not throw the lumber away, he does not throw the level away. He straightens the piece of lumber. POINT: so when we read the Bible and see that our lives are not measuring up, we are not to throw the Bible away, we are to straighten up our lives.

The Bible is also a photographer.

Ill. In the olden days a king was quite ashamed of a mole on his face. He called in an artist to paint his portrait, and when the picture was finished he saw that it was an excellent likeness, but the mole was still there. The king was angry with the artist, but the artist replied, "Sire, I painted you as your are, and not as you would like to be."

The Bible does just that. Read it with an open mind and compare your life to it. Where you see that your life is out of line, straighten it up. If you are not trying every day to measure up to God's standards and be a better Christian, you will never find the happiness that you seek.

May God help the Christian who is so satisfied with himself that he or she never feels the need of a change. The Bible shows us where we need to change.

Ill. Some years ago I had in my church a man who was just a nominal Christian. On the first day of the New Year he told me that he was going to read the Bible through that year. He faithfully kept that promise by reading several chapters every day. I could see that man grow in grace. He became a faithful and active and generous Christian. The Bible had changed his life. Let me urge you to brush the dust off your Bible and let it be your guide and stay during the coming year.

II. PRAYER IS ANOTHER ELEMENT THAT YOU NEED IN THE NEW YEAR.

To have physical life you must breath the air that God has given you. To have spiritual life you must pray, for prayer is the Christian's vital breath. You and I never have a strong Christian character nor spiritual force unless we spend some time alone with God. We are week but God is strong.. We need to grasp His hand in prayer that we might receive strength for our battles of life. There are many hills to climb upward in 1998. There are many burdens to be borne, there are many temptations to overcome. We can never win without prayer.

Look at Daniel. He could defy the decrees of the heathen rulers because he was a man of prayer.

A little girl was reading the story of Daniel and she got a bit mixed up. Where is said, "Daniel has a spirit in him." she read it this way, "Daniel has a spine in him"

She did not miss it by far.

Daniel did have a back bone and he got it by PRAYER.

POINT: That is what we need today, men and women who will stand up for their convictions that are based on Bible truths.

Look at David, he was also a great man of God. I think the secret of his greatness lay in his prayer life. Listen to Psalm 55:17 "Evening, morning, and at noon will I pray and cry aloud; and he shall hear my voice."

Look at Jesus. He prayed when he was popular and prayed when ye was unpopular. He prayed at His baptism and prayed at His temptation. He prayed after His busiest days. He prayed all night, He prayed often in the early morning hours. He prayed when He fed the five thousand and when He called Lazarus from the grave. He prayed in Gethsemane with the greatest agony man has ever known. He prayed upon the cross until His head dropped upon His bosom and He cried out, "IT IS FINISHED !"

POINT: If Jesus Christ, God's only Begotten Son, needed prayer in His life, how much more do we sinful creatures need to pray?

If Jesus, who had power to still the storms and create worlds, needed prayer, how much the more do we weakling need it?

So let me urge you to pray daily in the coming year.

Find some place where you can be alone with God. Find some time to give to prayer, even if you must get up earlier each morning for this exercise.

Ill. Some time ago, I heard a great Christian give the secret of his spiritual power, even though he did not come right out and say this was his secret. Years ago he decided to rise up early each and every morning and spend that time with God. He would walk out into the forest among the trees and there He would drop to his knees and pray with God.

He has kept that practice down through the years and therein lies the secret of his great spiritual power.

III. THEN THERE MUST BE THE ELEMENT OF CONSECRATED CHRISTIAN LIVING

All of your prayers and Bible reading will go for naught unless it is backed up by a consecrated life.

This is the trouble with too many Christians today , they are compromising with the world.

They do the things that are wrong and go to the places that are questionable, even when they know that they are hurting their Christian growth.

Now hundreds of people never read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But they do read our lives.

Some of them will never be influenced for Christ because they can not see HIM in us.

If a man wants to catch fish, he has to go where the fish are.

If he wants to find gold, he has to go where the gold is.

If he wants prosperity and blessings and happiness, he must go where these things are found.

And where are they found? They are found where God is, out there in the consecrated life that is useful to God.

God does not walk the low ways of the world. You will not find God in an alcohol bottle, at the end of a drug needle, in the arms of an adulterous relationship, but you will find God in the Bible and through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. God's power is always found in a consecrated life that is being lived for God.

You will not find Him in the old worldly ways of life, you will not find His blessings there either.

You must walk with Him daily if you expect to find the blessings of God.

What does it mean in a practical sense to walk with God?

I have mentioned some of the private practices of Bible reading and Prayer, now let us look at some other experiences.

Walking with God includes faithfulness to His Church.

Why did Christ put the Church down here in this old world? And why did those who have gone on to heaven establish churches in the first place?

They did it so men might find Christ and then, having found Him, that they might have an institution through which they could do His work on earth. I believe in a church that is preaching His Gospel, teaching His word, and sending missionaries and evangelist out to make Him known to the world.

Christ is the Head of the Church and I want to be a part of it.

The work of the true church is the most meaningful, the most permanent work in all the world. A while back, I received a letter from a man who wrote this paragraph, " I am just one of the hundreds of men who has found your church. After I came once I couldn't stay away. I was saved soon and you baptized me. Now my heart sings with joy and happiness that I never had until I found Christ."

Let me tell you that I want to have a part in a church which finds a young man, who is searching, and leads him to know Christ and puts a song of joy in his heart.

Ill. A few years ago, a man walked down the aisle of our church on one Sunday morning. and gave his heart to Christ. His wife and children who were already Christian were not at church that morning. When he went home and told them what he had done, they were all so excited and so happy.

A few months later, I went to visit that young man who was in the hospital facing death, He spoke often of how glad he was that he came to church that day and heard the true Gospel and got saved.

Now he was facing not death, but eternity with Jesus !!!!!! He had NO FEAR !

When he died, his family rejoiced that he was a saved man.

Let me tell you that I want to have a part in a church which helps a man prepare to die and his family to face sorrow.

In all the years that I have been preaching I have seen many cases of backsliders, but never knew a single case of a person's backsliding who attended church regularly Sunday morning, Sunday night, Sunday school, and Wednesday night. Who attended prayer meetings, read their Bible and had devotional prayer at night.

When Jesus came to earth He though of you and me. He did not say, "What is the least thing I can do for them, but He did say, WHAT IS THE GREATEST THING I CAN DO FOR THEM?

Then He went up to die for you and me, to save us from our sins, and to take us to Heaven.

What is the least thing you and I can do for Christ?

The very least thing is to attend the services of our church. You are going to make some New Year resolutions. Why not say, I RESOLVE TO MEET GOD IN CHURCH WHEN THE PEOPLE OF GOD GET TOGETHER TO WORSHIP GOD!!!!

Walking with God includes faithful service.

Many of God's people take jobs in the business world and stick to them through the years, giving their very best to those tasks.

But some of them take places of service in a church and feel NO responsibility toward these places.

They can not be counted on. It is a sad day for your souls and the KINGDOM OF GOD when you can be counted on by the world and not by God and your Church.

Walking with God and living a consecrated Christian life also includes separation from the world.

This means living the purest, cleanest, most earnest Christian life that you know how to live.

It means walking with God every day and trying to be like Jesus Christ.

The difference between a consecrated Christian and a nominal Christian is simply this:

One gives Christ full control of their life and puts Christ fist in all things.

The other, allows everything else in the world to come before His Lord.

Which one best describes you today?

Let me urge you to say : "IN THE NEW YEAR, I WILL ALWAYS PUT CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH FIRST."

I will NOT be a halfway Christian, but the BEST Christian I can be, with God's help !

IV. THEN THERE MUST BE THE ELEMENT OF CHRISTIAN GIVING.

First, we ought to give Him the first day of the week, under the ceremonial law of the Old Testament men were subject to the Jewish Sabbath. This day was set aside to commemorate the finished work of creation.

Today, according to the New Testament, the first day of the week is to be set aside to commemorate the resurrection and the finished work of redemption.

The Lord's day is set aside for three purposes:

1. A day for rest. We are to close our business, and take time to rest from our labors, spend time with our families and celebrate life.

2. The day is set aside to WORSHIP God with all our hearts.

Man is essentially a religious being, something inside of man cries out to worship a higher being, See , God placed that there! Life can never be full and complete with out worship.

Tell me this, how can a real Christian go Sunday after Sunday with out gathering together with God's people to worship God and it not bother them?

The day should be set aside to serve God in any way that we can.

3. We should give God the first part of each day.

Spurgen said, it should be a rule, to never see the face of a man in the morning until we have seen the face of God in prayer and Bible study.

The best way to start your day is to communicate with God.

Let us remember always that the world is not our friend. It will rise up against you every day, filled with difficulties, disappointments and problems.

We need the help of God as we face each day.

As a soldier never goes into battle unarmed, so let us not go forth into a single day until we have spent time with God seeking His power and help for the day.

Next, we are to give God the first part of every dollar that we earn. There is a strong correlation between giving and spirituality. No man is strong spiritually unless he has learned to give God His part.

So many Christians today, pay their bills and if there is any left over, they give what little is left over to God. But in the Bible, He always claimed the first-fruits.

Bible teaches that the TITHE is the Lord's. The tithe is the first tenth - it ought to be paid off the top of our income. Just give God the first tenth and then stand back and watch Him make the other nineteenths go farther.

Even the government recognizes our responsibility to give. They now allow up to over 30% of your income as tax credit if this money is given to your church.

Ill. A little girl came home from kindergarten one day and said to her mother, Our teacher asked us to bring dolls for the poor children, and I am going to give one of mine.

She lined up her dolls and picked the best one she had and put a nice dress on it. She took that doll to dinner with her that night, and the went to bed with it and held it tight. The next morning she wept and said to her father, I am having a hard time giving up my best doll.

Dad said, you don't have to give up your best doll, just give some old sorry doll that you don't like any more.

She said,,,, as she wiped her tears away, But Daddy, I would not give a sorry doll to any child,

See, she had won the victory as she wiped her tears away and went to school excited about giving her best.

Later, as Christmas came around, a friend of theirs had mailed them a package and inside was one of the finest dolls you could find in the city.

Little girl said, I guess when you give the best you got, the best comes back to you, Hugh dad!

POINT: That is the way it works in your giving to God. Give Him your best in the coming year and the best will come back to you.

V. LAST OF ALL: THERE IS THE ELEMENT OF WITNESSING FOR CHRIST IN THE NEW YEAR.

Think back over the years you have been save, how many have you won to CHRIST.

When was the last time you sat down and won someone to Christ?

This could be our last year, last chance to win someone.

Man shouted, I have been living on the mountain for 20 years, Preacher said, how many have you won to Christ during that time. Man said, None! Preacher said, I sure don't want to live on that mountain then!

Think about all the people you know, work with etc.... many are hungry for the Gospel, many may be waiting for you to just ask them to get save.

Inv.

Last year. many sat where you sit today, they are gone.

Next New years day, some of us will be gone.

According to the law of averages, many of us will die during the coming year.

If you thought for certain this could be your last year, I am sure you would turn your back on the world and live for God.

Lets make this the best year for Christ ever !!!!

We are beginning another voyage. We are starting out upon a new year. We are journeying into the unknown. God help us to take the Lord with us and never leave His side a minute during the coming year.

Then, when we meet Him, whether it is during the year or at the end of the year, we will hear Him say, "WELL DONE, THOU GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT."

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