Embracing the Year's End: Reflecting on 2023 and Welcoming God's Vision for 2024 | Shawn Miller

December 31st 2023.

I really enjoyed and appreciated the praise and worship that Franklin led and the theme of reflecting back into 2023 and then moving forward into 2024.

And it goes right along with the sermon that I have prepared for this morning.

I would like to share some thoughts on looking back and looking forward, and then, after the sermon, I'd like to leave some time to hear from you what are you expecting, what are you anticipating for 2024?

Maybe, during the sermon, have a time of reflection on how was your year of 2023?

There's two words that came to mind as I studied for the sermon this morning, and the first word is past, p-a-s-t.

Something that has already happened, and the second word is new N-E-W something appearing for the first time, something appearing for the first time.

There's a game that I was a part of three different times over the holidays, over Christmas.

One, I was a part of playing the game and two other times I orchestrated it.

And no, this is not monopoly.

I saw you smile, bo.

I was also part of monopoly and I think I've got my fill for the next five years, so we'll leave that at that, but this was a game to where we had 10 questions, and it's a perfect game to do after you're done eating and you're still all sitting around the table.

You have 10 questions of reflection and you fill out these questions and some of the examples are what was your favorite Christmas I can't think of the word now Tradition what was your favorite Christmas tradition, either now or years back?

Where would you like to travel to?

What is good advice that you received?

And then you fill out these questions, you hand in your papers and then the facilitator reads the questions and the people around the table guess whose paper it is.

It's very interesting.

One of the questions on that list was if you could, what would you ask God like face to face?

If you could, what would you ask God when you could hear an audible answer back?

And as I reflected on 2023 and I was thinking as far as moving into 2024, the question that came to me was what are you going to try to teach me next?

And as I poundered that, there's different things that came to mind.

And as I reflected on year 23, there was some very positive things that happened and there were some very hard things that happened.

And as I reflected further of what can I learn from 2023 and what can I learn that benefits me going into 2024?

So, reflecting over the past year, for some of you this may be very difficult.

This may be, this may be where you're thinking thank God, 2023 is finally over and for others of you, you might be experiencing a very rewarding and encouraging process in thinking back over 2023.

You might be thinking I wish 2023 would have never ended.

It was such a good year.

You might have had a very good year relationally.

You might have had a year where you felt you really grew with God, in your vertical relationship with him.

If that happened, you possibly had a good year in your horizontal relationships with other people.

You might have had a very good financial year.

You might have had a very good year just in general.

Others of you might have had the loss of loved ones.

You might have had a year where it seemed everything that could go wrong went wrong.

You might have had a year where you felt like you were treading water with your relationship with God, which obviously results in treading water with your relationship with people.

You might have had a year where you're finally like let's just get to this day of the 31st of December, let's move on.

I don't know where you're at this morning.

But the questions that I would like to pose for us this morning in looking back.

The first one is what lessons have I learned in 2023?

And then the next two are how much have I progressed or declined in my walk with God?

And then, to go along with that, how much have I grown in my horizontal relationships with other people?

Matthew 22, 37 through 40, jesus says basically what we quote every Sunday morning you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is a great and first commandment, and the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.

How much have I grown or declined in my relationship with God in 2023?

And how much have I grown in my relationship with others?

If I would draw a timeline up here I don't have a whiteboard, but if I draw a timeline of January 23 to December 23, and you started out here, are you now here or are you here?

Have you declined or have you progressed In 2023, I'd like for us to take a moment just in silence and reflect on your life in 2023.

Thank you, i'm… 2023 is now past and I like what Franklin encouraged us to do this morning to not look back and have a lot of regrets on if I would have done this or if I would have done that, and not to get too high on the positives as well, not to live and get stuck in what is past.

So how do we look forward to what is coming?

Looking forward to the new year of 2024.

New, something that has not happened before, something that is about to happen for the first time.

The new year may bring new hope for some of us.

We might have a lot of things planned in the new year.

We like to think that the new year could be better than the one behind us.

God wants this year before us to be the best year that I've ever had.

Do you believe that?

Do you believe that God wants the best for you?

So what is the key to making this new year the best year we've ever had?

The key to this lies in where will our focus be for fulfillment in 2024.

Is it a simple turn of the calendar page?

It's obvious that a simple turn of the calendar page will not heal relationships.

A simple turn of the calendar page will not multiply your resources.

A simple turn of the calendar page will not take away the pain of losing a loved one or of a crisis that you might have gone through in 23.

So what will?

I'd like to look at a number of examples in the Old Testament this morning of God's promises and faithfulness to different men of the Old Testament, to where I think we can glean some insight on what should our perspective be as we go into 2024.

A lot of the thoughts that I have this morning are taken out of a small devotional book that unfortunately, I think is out of print, but I was fortunate to land one, and a small devotional book by the author's name is Dennis Kinlaw and it is this day with the master.

I know Paul has one, and I don't think I've ever had a devotional book to where there's been so many fresh new thoughts of just profound wisdom, and a lot of the thoughts that I'll be sharing, even concerning these men, come out of that devotional book.

God is a God who wants to make all things new.

Revelation 21, verse 5,.

Revelation 21:5

It says that I will make all things new.

With God comes a promise that the future can be better than the past.

Abraham, because of Abraham's communication with God.

Abraham found out from God himself that God has a promise larger than Abraham could ever imagine the barrenness of old Sarah would be gone and a nation would be born out of Abraham and Sarah Something they never dreamed of, something they probably entered that span of time, maybe wondering, but never knowing how God will multiply them, with Sarah being barren.

God made a promise.

God fulfilled it Moses God met Moses and informed him that he was created for more than shepherding sheep.

The promise was given to him that he will be the leader of the nation born out of Abraham and Sarah.

The promise was given to him that he will be the one leading God's people to freedom.

Turning your Bibles to Joshua, chapter 1.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Joshua, chapter 1.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

I like to read verses 1 through 9.

This is another example of a man of God being faithful to the law of God and God promising that he will give Joshua whatever he tells him he will.

After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of none, moses, assistant Moses, my servant is dead.

Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.

Every place that the soul of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you just as I promised to Moses From the wilderness.

And this Lebanon, as far as the great river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the great sea, toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory.

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.

Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will not leave you or forsake you.

Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.

Only.

Be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded.

You Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success.

Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous, do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go.

If I put myself in Joshua's shoes and I am the successor of Moses some very large shoes to fill.

I wonder what was going through Joshua's mind at this point in time.

I imagine he felt very incapable.

I imagine he felt very disqualified or unqualified for the subject at hand, for the task that God was handing over to him through his servant Moses, and I wonder what went through Joshua's mind when he heard these words take courage, I will never leave you or forsake you.

Don't be afraid, follow my commandments and everything will go just as I say.

My encouragement for all of us as we go into 2024 this morning is to take courage, no matter what you might have gone through the goods, the bads, whatever you went through in 2023.

Let's proceed into 2024 with expectation and anticipation and confidence that God is with us in whatever comes our way, just as Joshua did here, going into the task of taking Moses' place and leading the Israelites, david.

We could read many accounts of David receiving promises of God and see the faithfulness of God in David's life.

David wasn't perfect.

We know that David had some huge blind spots, but he was still saving communication with God.

In 2 Samuel 7, we read about the covenant God had with David.

God intended, through David, to give his people, the nation of Israel, a city, jerusalem, a temple, and he thrown that.

God told David will be established forever in 2 Samuel 7.

And then we move forward into the latter part of the Old Testament, where we have all the Hebrew prophets prophesying things to come, new things to come, and they wrote this through the inspiration of God himself and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

They prophesied that a king greater than Moses or David would come and sit on the throne forever, that a king would establish.

This king would establish a new kingdom of people with new hearts, a new temple in which God resides.

As we look at all these people, the Hebrew prophets, david, we could look at Gideon, we could look at Solomon, we could look at all the good kings of the Old Testament, we look at Abraham, we look at Moses, what did all of these people have in common?

First of all, they all had close communication with God.

They had communion with God.

Secondly, their faces were turned towards the future.

Their faces were turned towards what God was asking them to do Because of their close communication with God.

They moved forward with confidence and expectation.

We can move forward with confidence.

We can move forward with anticipation.

We can anticipate something, but do we actually expect?

Do we actually move forward with expectation?

Do we move forward in faith?

Do we ask the questions of the things that we're anticipating and expecting, or do we try to keep our expectation hidden, just so we don't get hurt or so we don't get laughed at or so we don't look foolish?

Do we believe God's promises?

As children of God, as children who have the opportunity and the privilege to walk with God on a daily basis, we should be anticipating with confidence and expectation what God has in store for us in 2024.

The New Testament also picks up on the theme of new things.

First, peter, 1, verse 3, talks about the new birth.

A new birth.

Romans 6 23 talks about the new life in Christ.

Ephesians 4 24, a new self, created after the likeness of God, a new commandment, in John 13 34.

Galatians 6 15 talks about us being a new creation.

And then Revelation 21, verse 1, talks about God creating a new heaven and a new earth.

Revelation 21:1

Revelation 21, verse 5.

Revelation 21:5

God says I am making all things new.

What are you expecting for 24?

None of us know the future, but all of us know the one that does not change and is faithful to whatever he promises.

God is a God of eternal renewal.

God is a God of eternal renewal.

Solomon in Ecclesiastes I think it's chapter 1, verses 8 through 10, makes a statement that would go almost seem contrary to what I just all the new things that I stated.

Solomon says there is no new new thing under the sun this morning.

He is right.

There is no new thing.

If we look within ourselves, if our goal is to go into 2024 and think that we can continue to be self-sufficient, that we can create newness and we can create joy, we can create longevity from within ourselves, we will be let down and disappointed.

There is no new thing under the sun from within ourselves.

It only comes from beyond us, from the God whom we have the privilege of walking with, of communicating with and having a relationship with.

So the question for 23, the questions for 23, was what lessons have I learned, have I progressed or declined in my relationship with God, and how have I grown in my relationships with others?

My question that I would like to pose for all of us for 24 is am I looking forward with confident expectation to what God has planned for me in 2024?

Do I have my hands open to walk into whatever he has for me, just as Joshua did not know what the future is going to look like with leading the nation of Israel into the promised land, but he walked in faith because of God's promises?

Those promises are still true for us today.

I will never leave you.

I will never forsake you.

Be courageous.

So how do we do this in walking into 2024?

How do we walk with expectation?

How can we communicate with God on a personal level?

What does it take to be able to walk forward with anticipation and confident expectations?

I jotted down two things, and they are so not new we talk about them every year but they are so profound and they are so true.

And that is again our talking with God, our prayer time and immersing ourselves in God's Word.

It is imperative that we do that, and it might be.

You've heard me preach many times and I know I often come back to reading scripture and prayer time.

It is so important.

I would like to put in a plug and I know, paul, you've done this in the last number of years.

I would like to put in a plug again this year for to encourage us here at Grace Point to read God's Word and to pray, to be a praying church.

I did not read through the whole Bible this year.

I read through portions of the Bible and probably with the year that I had, I seemed to gravitate towards portions that I felt would benefit me at the right time.

I did not read through the whole Bible this year.

I would like to again do that in 24.

I had in 22,.

I would like to again do that in 24.

I would like to.

This is not to lift anyone up and it's not to embarrass anyone, but I would like to see a raise of hands of all those that read through the Bible in 2023.

Okay, we have two here this morning.

Can we do better than that in 2024?

I think we can.

It does not take two or three hours a day.

If we would dedicate ourselves to reading a half hour a day, I think we could easily get through the Bible in a year.

If I look at the men in the Old Testament passages that we touched on, their communication with God was deep and regular.

We have that same God today and we have His Word.

We don't hear audibly from God.

Sometimes it would be nice if we could, but we don't.

But we have God's Word at our fingertips Prayer time.

My wife got me interested in reading a book.

I just started reading it and it's a fascinating book by Tyler Staten.

I don't know much about the author.

The title is Praying Like Monks, living Like Fools, and it is a fascinating book and the whole book is on prayer and how prayer revitalizes your whole life.

It totally changes who you are as a person.

I picked out a word for 2024, and in just a short, bit short while, I'll open it up for you to.

If you have a word for 2024 or a theme verse for 2024, I would love to hear that and I would love for us to encourage each other with those items.

I'll tell you my word for 2024, just if for nothing else, for accountability.

My word for 2024 is health, like health, h-e-a-l-t-h, in three different phases spiritual health, emotional health and physical health.

I feel a great need to re-immers myself in God's Word, in God's Word for my spiritual health and emotional health, just to be able to, just to be able to handle whatever God brings my way and to trust Him, to up my level of faith, and I truly believe that will come through spiritual health and physical health.

No, don't expect to see an Arnold Schwarzenegger come out of this 50-year-old body, but just to take care of the body that God has given me and just the way I eat not overeating, just to put an emphasis on physical health.

That's my goal for 2024, as far as Word of the Year for me, and my verse of the year is just the first part of Psalm 46, verse 10, be still, be still, be still and know that I am God.

Psalms 46:10

And in that book I just mentioned praying like monks, living like fools.

He has a section on this.

Just being still Free is such an enemy.

I'd like to open it to you.

What is your goal?

What are your goals for 2024.

I am looking forward for 24.

I am looking forward to I can honestly say I am looking forward to what God has in store for my personal life, for my family and for Grace Point Church.

Who is willing to share?

Yes, mike, actually, you can just stand up and talk loudly until the Mike comes in.

So my goal is to be like, especially this last half of the Mike Church.

I was very as a Christian about life and to be like God and the man that I have and some emotions that Mike taught me Very good.

Thank you, Mike Delight.

Who else Zeb?

I can do it either way.

I think yeah.

One thing that a revelation for me in 23 was speak life, and I've talked about this and it's so dear to me is to speak life.

You know, you talked quite a bit about faith.

What is the true definition of faith?

The assurance of things hoped for?

The conviction of things not seen?

Faith to speak life.

I'm convinced that 2024 is going to be the best year ever in my life and I'm going to speak it.

I'm going to be courageous.

I appreciate the challenge this morning of reading.

I think I have read more books this year than I have, and reading doesn't come easy for me.

Brenda has three or four that she's one waiting for me to read and I will get it done, thank you.

Thank you, steve.

Yes, over here, john, okay.

I'm going to start with the first point, the first thing in us Going through 23, we've had some rough things, but really good news, and a lot of that is working with the same people, with the affirmation of what we have, and it changed the way things are and that affects the best of your mind.

Wow, thank you, john.

Anyone else?

Yeah, goodbye, all right, I think that's a good thing, but this Christmas, we all do the first thing.

I have a cold.

I don't like my brother and it was strange to be at home and they're not there.

I'm not sure if there should be shame for me, but in 2024, I feel like it's going to be a year of using friends I can tell you how I like it, but my team is better.

Thank you, judith James.

It'd be weird for me looking forward to 2024.

Hmm, I'm just a great person.

I have made a good living, I take care of my body.

I need better make-wise choices and I ask for prayers and I'm going to most fall in faith and enthusiasm.

And I have two capacities in the scripture and I go about the Olympians, and so it's one of the things that I really want to keep in front of me today, despite the present.

Whatever things are true, whatever things are no more, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are, with your Lord, if there is any virtue and if there is anything raised worthy, meditate on what's there and then, for the first time, I can fall in faith Right.

So I ask for prayers and I ask for your prayer.

Thank you, james.

I'm already just finished.

I want to thank the Father.

Very well, today he works for me 24x15.

What was that?

It's the word Beauty.

I do a lot of my work with not finding a safe, beautiful in our lives, but more easily than trying to do that.

And then I do the work and just recently I had a better time with my mother.

She used to learn to go to her name and say what was well and finally she was able to say whether there is a very, very small, more social nations to it and that has been helping shift my mindset and I want to be that next year and to teach you to create the moments, make the mind-readable things that have been changed so that I can be more clear to you, to give a part of the teaching of the people's lives better and have the opportunity to be accepted and acknowledge that that's their little, their second teaching.

Thank you, kyla.

For those of you that might have never given much thought to having a word of the year, it's obviously not a must, it's by no means mandatory, but it does bring focus to one specific area of life and I would encourage you if you haven't tried it yet last year was the first year I did it.

If you haven't tried it yet, I would encourage you to try it and it brings a focus to whatever area of life you think that you're lacking in, and just a continual focus.

Anyone else have any thoughts to share going into 2024?

I'm going to start with a question from the audience.

I was written by the real life of the Lord because I've written it in the first place In the early 30s.

I called Kevin and I said I have said before you, light it up.

Blessing and worship there are, produce life.

That's what thousands of people live and that man loves the Lord, God.

That man is a voice, he is the light of the day and I mentioned the land of the Lord, which is where you live.

I say it's a gift and to take that to our extreme life, I would say I would like to come to Lens.

We have to have some more to that.

I just want to say that you have so much power about the White House.

I didn't think about that much if I were this year and one illustrator that got my question.

He got me to end your interview.

He looked at my voice, he looked up.

He didn't say how dark it was.

I think that's all I'm going to say Thank you, marlon.

Thank you, marlon, have a good day All right.

Thank you for those of you that shared.

And again, my challenge to all of us this morning is let's go into 2024 with anticipation and a confident expectation for God to act according to his plan for our life and then walk with confidence and know that he won't forsake us.

Be courageous, he will always be there.

If anybody leaves, it's us, it's not him, it's us walking away.

Let's stay by his side as we go into 2024.

Let's all rise and, matt, I'm going to ask you to dismiss us with prayer.

So let's all rise and after the prayer, consider yourself dismissed.