2022 NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

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A relationship with God is among the three most common subjects of New Year’s resolutions, particularly among younger Americans, according to a new Lifeway Research survey.

The Lifeway Research poll found that 44% of respondents said they’ve made a resolution about their health in the past. Additionally, 29% said they’ve made a resolution about their relationship with God, and another 29% have made a resolution about their finances. 

Those ages 18-34 (35%) and 35-49 (35%) were more likely to make faith the subject of their New Year’s resolutions than those 50-64 (25%) and 65 and older (17%).

Home Bible Study Group

About half (48%) of Christians who attend a worship service at least four times a month said they’ve made a resolution about their relationship with God. By contrast, just 20% of those who attend less than once a month have done so.

Black Americans (41%) are more likely to have made a resolution about God than white Americans (27%), and the religiously unaffiliated were much more likely to have made a resolution about money (36%), time (29%) or work (22%) than about God (14%).

Among all Americans, other popular resolution topics include those about relationships with a family member (26%), use of time (22%), work (18%) and relationships with a friend (15%).

The Lifeway Survey comes on the heels of an earlier study conducted this year by Evangelical pollster George Barna and the Family Research Council, which found that only 6% of Americans have a “biblical worldview.” This statistic is most troubling because we know from the parable of the ten virgins, which is a parable that Jesus told the disciples when they asked him about the “end times” that Jesus prophesied that 50% of Christians are not born again. All ten virgins were waiting for their bridegroom but only half had oil for their lamps and when they returned with oil Jesus told them to go “I do not know you”.

“Afterward, the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Matthew 25:11

This clearly teaches us that half of the people who call themselves Christians are not born again of the Holy Spirit and will be the church of Laodicea which is left behind to experience the wrath of God poured out with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements. Note above that about half (48%) of Christians who attend a worship service at least four times a month said they’ve made a resolution about their relationship with God.

.”And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” Revelation 3:14-19

How different from the church of Philadelphia that was raptured and kept from the hour of trial (wrath of God).

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
“‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name… Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” Revelation 3:7-8,10-11

Can I suggest when thinking about 2022 you adopt David’s approach as given in Psalm 31:14.

“But I trust in you, O LORD;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand”

IS YOUR CHURCH AUTHENTIC OR PART OF PROPHESIED LAST DAYS APOSTASY?

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Pastor Francis Chan says he’s tired of man-made revivals and warned the church that there’s no time for “playing games” any more. Chan’s comments came during a February 6 speech at Liberty University’s Convocation gathering.

Chan, an avid surfer, compared man-made revivals to a wave pool—controlled and fun, but ultimately predictable and artificial. He says he came to that realisation while visiting a wave pool in Waco, Texas.

“It’s so different than going in the ocean, where it’s like, ‘Gosh, I don’t know if something huge is going to come.’ There have been times where we’ve driven for like an hour and just sat in the water—nothing happened. … There’s so many things that can happen in the ocean. And I thought, ‘This is so nice. You can just go to a wave pool and you won’t have any fear.’

“And when I looked at that thing, I thought, ‘Gosh, you know, this is what church services sometimes feel like to me.’ It’s like this wave that you can create. You know at 9:15 this is going to happen, and you know at 9:20, and then you know at 9:40 it’s going to start dying out because it has to. It’s just going to happen. And you can do it over and over and over again. And I feel like for many years I’ve been content with that, because it’s fun and everyone’s having a good time. But man, don’t you read the Scriptures and go ‘Gosh, there was so much that was unpredictable’? Where it really was a move from God. It wasn’t mad-made. It wasn’t this man-made wave, but things would happen that were out of your control.”

Chan says he is done with artificial moves of God and instead said he craves an authentic move of the Holy Spirit.

“I’ve been praying that this would be something that is not man-made, because I feel like I know how to make a wave in a room,” Chan says. “And I’m just done with it. There’s just no time for that anymore. I’m just done playing games.”

Jesus told the parable of the Ten Virgins as part of His response to the disciples question “what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” All ten virgins were waiting for the bridegroom, so we can presume they ALL thought they were Christians. What was the outcome? ALL slept (is Jesus telling us that the church will be asleep) and worse still half of them were not born again (no oil for their lamps). The Lord said to them, “depart from me, “I do not know you”. Could it be that 50% of people in our churches today are not saved?

I believe this wake up call to the church by Francis Chan is timely. Suggest you share it with others.