New Year, Your Choice A Message for the New Year Joshua 24:13-15 I. God’s People are Given a Chance (vv. 1-13) A. God has brought us to this place. B. God has blessed us in this place. II. God’s People are Given a Challenge (v. 14) A. Fear the God Who has brought you here. B. Serve the God Who has blessed you here. III. God’s People are Given a Choice (v. 15) A. Serve the tired gods of the surrounding culture. B. Serve the true God of the universe. More to Consider Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man. Benjamin Franklin The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose, new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man-made New Year resolution, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective. G.K. Chesterton, A Chesterton calendar Even the most regular, seemingly unimportant tasks of my life must be shaped and directed by a heartfelt desire for the glory of God. Now, I don’t know about you, but in the busyness of life I lose sight of God’s existence, let alone His glory! Let’s start the new year by admitting that there is nothing less natural for us than to live for the glory of Another. Paul David Tripp When the author walks onto the stage, the play is over. God is going to invade, all right; but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else comes crashing in? This time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. That will not be the time for choosing; It will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. C.S. Lewis.
