With the beginning of every new year many of us find ourselves searching for a new start, a new commitment, a new resolution for the year ahead. A resolution is defined as "a promise we make to ourselves to commit to something of great value." Often these resolutions involve a commitment to lose a few pounds, start a new exercise program, even to read the bible daily. What if this year we decided to commit to something a little deeper? What if we decided to commit our complete devotion to Christ by giving Him our complete loyalty, our life, our labor and our last? Join us as we explore in what might happen if we made an honorable new years resolution.

Without question the year 2020 has been the most frustrating and challenging year in my life. I am pretty sure I am not alone in feeling this way. As we enter the year 2021 I wanted to take the opportunity to share my heart with those I have the privilege to serve as their spiritual shepherd. The words found in Colossians 1:9-12 are a prayer that Paul prayed for the believers that made up the congregation of the church at Colossae. From these verses I come to share the prayer that I commit to pray for our congregation each day throughout the year 2021.

God never intended for our Christian walk to ever become stagnant or mundane. In fact, the opposite is actually true, He intends for our walk with Him to always be moving forward. Every one of us would have to admit that dwelling on the past is a constant temptation as we venture through life. In today's passage Paul shares his personal testimony of how he fought through those temptations and was eventually able to proclaim: "This one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Join us as we explore, from this passage, three goals to apply to our lives as we move forward into a new year.

Bethlehem was an incredibly tiny place on planet earth, but the greatest event in all of human history occurred there. The culmination of 1,500 years of prophecy became a reality with the incarnation of Christ in a manger, because there was no room in the inn. That event in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago teaches us several important lessons as it relates to Christmas. In a world that has been successful in pushing Jesus out of the celebration of Christmas, Bethlehem pushes back. In our message we will learn three important lessons to help us refocus our celebration of Christmas.

The road to Bethlehem was a long, hard journey. For 1,500 years Prophets had been writing about the day when the Savior of the world, born of a virgin, would be born. Amazingly, all of this would take place in a small, obscure place named Bethlehem. Think about the generations that came and went during those years. Mom's and Dad's taught the truths of the coming Messiah to their children only to be repeated by the next generation and so on and so on. Now, at last the day has arrived and God has made sure everyone would know by placing a star above the manger where Jesus would be born. The most anticipated event in all of human history is taking place just as the Prophets had described.

What if I told you about a day when a Savior that would be born as the child of a virgin in a small obscure village named Bethlehem. What if I told you that He would be born in a certain family lineage, live a perfect life and die a tragic but voluntary death and then three days later rise from the dead. What if I told you all of this and then 800 years later it all occurred exactly as I predicted it would. Do you think you would have a hard time believing that He was the Savior? Our text this morning is a record of just such an event. Here we will be reminded that Jesus was not simply a child, He was The King! God's plan was for Jesus to go from "The Cradle To The Crown."

In a world that seems to believe we are doing our children a favor by not keeping score and giving all participants a trophy for their efforts, it is little wonder our children struggle when they grow up and discover that life does not work that way. From my earliest memories I remember my dad teaching me and my two brothers that life is hard and seldom fair. In our message this morning we will explore the truth of that statement from the Scriptures. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that true growth in life comes when God allows us to go through challenging circumstances. Come along as we discover the truth in the statement: "No Pain, No Gain."

We all live in a world that is great at starting things. We are great at starting a new diet, a new exercise program, a new job, a new educational endeavor etc. The problem we all have is that we start well but we often finish poorly. In our message this morning we will examine the encouraging truth that, unlike us, whatever God starts, He finishes. By the end of our message, my prayer is that we will all live each day in full and complete confidence that our God is constantly working in our lives to complete the good work He has begun in us.

In the living of the Christian life we often encounter roadblocks that threaten our ability to walk in blessing. For many of us, one of those major roadblocks is a tendency to worry. In our message today we will explore why worry in the life of the believer is a total and complete waste of our time. Someone said it this way: "Worry is like a rocking chair; it will give you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere." If God is who He says He is, why would we worry? In our text this morning we will be reminded of the truth that worry has no place in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ.

We are living in a world that with the passing of each day there seems to be less and less respect for God. America used to be a nation that revered the Word of God and followed it's teachings in everything from governmental policies to average everyday personal decisions. Today we pass laws that are diametrically opposed to the clear teachings of the Bible. In our Series: "Lessons For Life" we will be exploring a collection of ideas and lessons that all people would be wise to heed and follow. Today we begin with Lesson #1: "He's God And We're Not." It is my prayer that these lessons will help us rediscover and return to a nation that honors God and one again respects the authority of His Word.