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We are so glad that you are starting the first day of the new year in church. Congratulations. Yeah, you want to give yourself a hand for that. Yeah, I mean, clearly I'm among people who truly love Jesus. I want to welcome all of you, those of us who are joining us on our live stream as well, and especially maybe you're here visiting with friends or family. I want to welcome you to our Twin Lakes family here this morning and may the Lord bless you in 2023.

But before we get started, as it often happens at the holidays, there's somewhat of a mix between joy and sadness. And that was certainly true in the case of our pastor of Spanish ministries, Julian Pizarro, who lost his sister Thursday night, very unexpectedly. Her name is Karen. She was 50 years old. She had a 27-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter and a grandchild. And so Julian is down in Chile with his niece and nephews and grand and the rest of his family, while Jessica is next door right now, his wife, Jessica, both doing the worship and preaching this morning.

And so we're going to pray for this whole family if that's OK with you. And so would you please join me? Heavenly Father, our hearts are deeply saddened for Julian, his sister's children and grandchild and the entire Pizarro family. And Lord, we trust that your loving arms are around each of them right now. And we pray that they would experience the kind of comfort and strength that only you can provide. And Lord, I pray that you would be with Julian's wife, Jessica, and children right now as they're involved in the Spanish service next door and that you would comfort them as well with this loss.

And Lord, we thank you that you sent, as we just celebrated, you sent your son Jesus to us and through his life, death and resurrection, we know that death does not have the final word. And so we thank you that Karen is in your loving presence and care right now. And may that continue to comfort the Pizarro family. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ and all God's people said, Amen.

Well, again, I am so glad that you are with us today. And before we turn a page on this new year, we need to look back and acknowledge and thank the people who made just the last part, the last moments of 2022 so special. For example, how many of you were able to come up to one of our candlelight services last week? It was so stunning. It was so amazing. I can say that because I had nothing to do with it. And so once again, I tried out for solo. I didn't make it. So anyway, there's always next year.

But seriously, the singers, the musicians, the decorators, the media people, the greeters, the people who are helping in childcare, let's just put our hands together for everybody and more that were part of that. What a gift to us. And not only were those services beautiful and amazing, but also next door, we had a remembering service. We had a candlelight service in Spanish. And then Christmas morning was such a cool event because one of the highlights was seeing, I don't know, 30, 40 kids just kind of come out of the woodwork and they're sitting on these steps right here to listen to Pastor Kyle Pitchford's awesome devotional.

And then those very same kids led the congregation in Go Tell It on the Mountain. It was such a cute moment. And then Renee starts sharing these vintage home movies of Christmas past, which were kind of funny and awkward all at the same time and somehow manages to connect that with the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ. And then the service ends with the congregation singing Happy Birthday to our dear brother, Robert, over here. What a moment for that, what that was. And such a cute, special time.

But wait, there was more because after that, thanks to Valerie Webb and a bunch of volunteers, close to 500 people enjoyed brunch right after the service on Christmas morning. And what was so cool about all this, it feels like the kind of descriptions you read about the first Christians as they would gather together for worship and fellowship and meals from all different walks of life together, encouraging one another. And so I say the person we have to thank most of all is our Lord. And so let's thank him. Father, thank you so much for your goodness to us. You have blessed this church beyond measure. And so we thank you and we thank you most of all for the gift of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Well, this morning I have a simple message for you that comes from an ancient story. And I want to express my thanks at the beginning to a pastor named Andy Stanley for informing some of my thoughts today, in particular, how organized the outline. But to begin, you know, at New Year's, there really are, I think, two kinds of people. There are people who make resolutions and there are people who do not. So let me just ask by show of hands, how many of you have or will make a resolution here at New Year's? Okay, that's pretty good. That's you. I have to say you're the most ambitious group that we've had all weekend long.

You know, it's kind of like, you know, you're in Santa Cruz when you go, what kind of goals have you set for yourself? And people are like, no, I'm good. You know, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just kind of laid back culture. So it's good to know we've got some ambition here this morning. That's good. And maybe the rest of us are wary of making resolutions because we know that we will inevitably break them. A few days ago in the New York Times, there was a piece about a guy named Samuel Johnson. He was an English writer and poet in the 1700s. And every year, he's kind of like the patron saint of New Year's resolutions, because get this, every year he would make resolutions on New Year's. And then at Easter, he would double down and recommit himself to those same resolutions.

And then on his birthday, he would recommit himself to those same resolutions again. He did this year after year after year. How did that go for Samuel Johnson? Well, at age 65, after a lifetime of resolutions, here's what he has to say. He said, "When I look back upon resolutions of improvement and amendments which have year after year been made and broken either by negligence, forgetfulness, vicious idleness, casual interruption, or morbid infirmity." He's Mr. Positive and it only gets better. He says, "When I find that so much of my life has been stolen unprofitably away and that I can see by retrospections scarcely a few single days properly and vigorously employed, why do I yet try to resolve again?"

Can any of you relate? Yeah, you're all the people who didn't raise your hand the first time when I asked, right? Here's the deal. Forbes magazine, again, just recently, posted the results of a study indicating that 80% of people ditch their New Year's resolutions by February. All right? So if you're a resolution person and you make it past February, then you're a champ. I mean, you're way ahead of the rest of us slackers. And so I wish you every success. But whether you're a resolution person or not, this is the time of year that we think about improving ourselves in some way. I mean, you might not say, you may not declare it, but come on, you're thinking about it.

I mean, because after all, in the last week or two, we've consumed more calories than we will, you know, hopefully for the next several weeks going forward. I know I have like, wow, everything with butter tastes awesome. And so it's not uncommon for us to think about, you know, losing a little weight right about now, getting out of debt, maybe curbing your media intake just a little bit, because if you were to look back on all the screen time you've had, you'd be horrified. So maybe next year, not so much. In other words, the typical New Year's question boils down to this. It's what should I do about me? Where do I need to improve myself in some way? And I think this is good.

I actually think that we should aspire to get in better physical, financial, spiritual shape or something like that. I mean, that's a good thing. And again, I wish you all the best in that. But here's the thing. In the grand scheme, on your last day of life, if you're cognizant, I doubt seriously that your last words are going to be something like, I'm so glad I was able to maintain my ideal weight my entire life. It's probably not what you're going to say. As good as that all is, you're going to be thinking of things bigger than that. Bigger questions. Like, what's my purpose? And I hope you're thinking that even before your last day, well ahead of it, like thinking about it even now.

How do I build a legacy that lives on long after I'm gone? And if you've ever had those thoughts, and again, I hope you have and you continue to, there's even a better question than what should I do about me? And that better question is what needs to be done around me? How can I make a difference? How can I impact and bless others? Because you know what? Every person who has ever made a positive impact in your life has owned this question right here. They've thought beyond their selves and thought about how they can be a blessing to other people. And you know what, Twin Lakes Church, you absolutely excel in this.

I mean, it's amazing. That's why serving here is a pastor's dream, because your tangible expressions of love and care for people in this congregation, and sometimes we feature these things, but you don't even know 10% of it. How people have reached out to others in times of needs just on their own, just saw a need and they addressed it. It's really amazing. And not just here within the confines of our church, but in our community and all around the globe. And so for many of you, this morning's message is really more affirmational than informational. And even so, New Year's, this is like such a great day to be thinking about, you know, what will make this year meaningful? How will I have an impact in this coming year? How will the Lord use me in ways that only he can?

And so the big idea this morning is this, if you want to become a better person, and I'd like to think we all want to become a better person, then do this, do something to make the world a better place. That's a sermon in a nutshell. And I want to give you a powerful example, a story about a guy in the Old Testament named Nehemiah. Nehemiah's story is found in a book in the Old Testament, conveniently called Nehemiah. Very good. And his book begins like this, chapter one, verse one. These are the memoirs of Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah. In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes reign, I was at the fortress of Susa.

Now, here's the backstory on Artaxerxes. 20 years earlier, his father Xerxes was king, but then Xerxes was assassinated by the commander of his own palace guard, kind of like a military coup takes place. Well, who's he going to look for next? Artaxerxes. And just a little time goes by, Artaxerxes finds himself in a life or death, hand-to-hand fight with the same guy who killed his dad, and you don't get to be the commander of the palace guard unless you have some seriously lethal skills. You know what I mean? But incredibly, Artaxerxes prevails, and he secures the throne, establishing very clearly that he is not a man to be messed with. Okay, this is one tough guy.

Verse two. Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem. They said to me, "Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down and the gates have been destroyed by fire." Now this wasn't exactly new news. Maybe it was to Nehemiah, but the fact is that, and you may know this, decades earlier, when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, they hauled many of the Jewish people to Babylon to serve as slaves.

And then 70 years later, the Persians conquer the Babylonians, and the Persian king, Cyrus, decrees that all the Jewish people living there, if they want to go back to their homeland, they can. So some do and some don't. Cyrus even bankrolls the rebuilding of the altar and the temple in Jerusalem. But meanwhile, in fact, all along, ever since they were exiled, there were other people who were living in and around Jerusalem. Some of them are Jewish, some of them were not. And when there's this influx of exiles returning from Babylon, they're not excited about this. They kind of stake their claim to the place and they certainly don't want to see these kind of new projects initiated.

And so, man, they press back fiercely through intimidation, even through bribing local government officials, and they manage to delay meaningful progress for 90 years. 90 years. You thought it was hard to get a building permit around here. This was next level. And so 90 years into the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the city is still an albatross. It's like a giant billboard saying, "Welcome to Jerusalem. We used to be something." You know, I have to think maybe sometimes we find ourselves feeling the same way. Like our best days are behind us. Or that we're perpetually stuck in neutral, no matter what we try in terms of progress or success, we just seem to just keep hitting a wall over and over again.

And that's the basic sentiment. That's the mood in Jerusalem. As its walls lie in rubble, the gates have been burned, and it's 90 years of just the same mess, and it's just part of the landscape now. Well, when Nehemiah hears this, he says, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. And I want you to think about this moment for Nehemiah because he's got a life in Susa, a fortress city in the most powerful nation on earth at the time. He's got comfort. He's got security. He could very well have just said, wow, what a shame. You know, someone really ought to do something about that. Instead, what does he do? He weeps. His heart breaks.

And he says, then I said, oh Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love to those who love him and obey his commands, listen to my prayer. Look down and see me pray night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned. We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you have given us through your servant Moses. Please remember what you told your servant Moses. Now watch this. He's going to quote what God said to Moses back to God. Remember this. When you said, if you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations.

And he's looking back on an agreement his people had with God, a covenant that they broke over and over again so many times that eventually God kept his side of the promise. He scattered them among the nations. But there was more to this promise, this covenant than just that. Listen to the next part that Nehemiah quotes back to God, his own words. You said this, but if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored. The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants. Oh Lord, please hear my prayer. Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please, listen to this, grant the success today. Grant me success today by making the king favorable to me.

Who's the king? Artaxerxes. Is he a pushover? No. So he prays, put it into his heart to be kind to me. And then he drops this little last nugget. In those days, I was the king's cup bearer. Wow. He's basically saying, yeah, I'm the one who stands in the presence every day of the most powerful man on earth. And it's dawned on me that I am uniquely positioned to make a difference here, to seek assistance from this man. So give me favor, Lord. Because maybe Nehemiah will find favor and Artaxerxes will help. Or maybe Artaxerxes will be annoyed by Nehemiah and that will be the end of Nehemiah. He doesn't know. But God answers his prayer and grants him favor.

Artaxerxes gives Nehemiah a leave of absence so that he can lead the rebuilding effort in Jerusalem. And he even provides, get this, the funding and the building materials in order to do it. And under Nehemiah's leadership, the wall around the city, which is crucial for its security, crucial for its prosperity, the wall around Jerusalem after 90 years of just nothing is completed in 52 days. 52 days after 90 years. Think about it, every New Year's comes around for those 90 years and people are going, well, sure hope this year works out different. Hope something happens with that wall this year and yet year after year after year after year, they just keep saying the same thing because things rarely change by themselves. People change things.

And then after 90 years, problem solved. In 52 days, all this by the way, despite fierce opposition, so fierce that Nehemiah had to post armed guards to protect the workers so that they could actually do their work. And not only that, but he instituted reforms where he helped out the poor in Jerusalem in a significant way. He led to social reforms, spiritual reforms. He accomplished a lot of good and it all started in one pivotal moment. And that was when God allowed Nehemiah's heart to be broken. In fact, Nehemiah's broken heart was by God's design. I got news for you. Sometimes God allows our hearts to be broken too. Not to crush us, but to ignite us. To ignite us with a burden and a deep burden to do something that God wants us to do.

And it doesn't matter what your job is, what circles you run in, how little you think you may have to offer, like Nehemiah, you and I are uniquely positioned, uniquely positioned to make a difference somehow, somewhere for someone. There is something specific that God wants each of us to do. That's why he created us. And you may be thinking, well, Mark, I'm sure that's true for most people, but that ship has sailed for me. Man, I've got physical limitations, I've got financial limitations, I've got baggage, I've got scars, I've got regrets, and to that I say, that may all be true, but you are not beyond God using you.

Because God can use anyone if they're willing. And listen to me, we never really know what's hanging in the balance when we choose or choose not to lean in to how God may use us. You hear what I'm saying? We never really know what's hanging in the balance until we say, yes, God, use me. And he takes us to places that are beyond what we would have even imagined. And so I'm going to encourage all of us, including myself, to lean into that reality this morning, this day, the first day of this year. And I want to share with you, in order to clarify that, three questions that really help renew our sense of purpose. Are you with me? Are you with me, church? All right, let's dive in here.

If you want to make a difference this year, and I know you do because you were created to make a difference. If you want to do that, first question to ask yourself is what's your burden? What's your burden? What breaks your heart? What is that dream, that idea that has stuck with you for years? You just can't escape it. What do you have a passion to do and to change? I mean, if you were with us during this recent food drive, you recall this note that we got from a boy named Lucas. He wrote this in Spanish. It says, "Dear church, please use this money to help those who are hungry." And he signs his name, Lucas. And many of us saw this and were inspired by it.

In fact, I have no doubt that God used this young man to help rally the church around this past year's food drive goal. I have no doubt about that at all. Well, a little backstory. This is Lucas right here, here with his mom. And his mom told us that Lucas was inspired by something that he heard in a sermon earlier in the year. Now, how cool is that just in and of itself that Lucas is locking in to the sermons every single weekend? That's pretty cool. Well, what inspired him was when he heard that God uses our passions and our interests for his glory. And so Lucas has a passion to grow vegetables in his garden at home. And so he sold those vegetables to raise money. That was the money that he gave to the church for the food drive. Wow.

I mean, when I think about what Lucas is doing now and I think about what I was up to at that age, man, I don't even wanna go down that trail. What I wanna say is Lucas, if you're here today or you're listening from somewhere, I believe with all my heart that God has great plans for you, young man. Amen, church. Amen. Let's encourage him. Yeah. Proud of you, Lucas. Okay, so what's your burden? What's your burden? Secondly, who's doing something about it? Chances are that you're not the only person on earth that has that burden, that you may not actually need to start a new nonprofit or something like that. Chances are that there are other people already working on dealing with that particular need.

For example, you have a burden for people who are going hungry even here in our own community. Well, we have right here at church People's Pantry that provides groceries for hundreds of people every single week. Or maybe you have a burden for widows and single moms and practical needs, like for instance, when their car breaks down and they don't have the resources to get it repaired. Well, we have Moms' Angels, again, right here on site that fixes those cars for them because these guys have a passion to help these women. Or maybe you have a heart for special needs adults. We have a class that met this morning called Joyful Noise. It meets every Sunday. It's one of the coolest Sunday school classes here at church.

And maybe you feel a burden to help children. When you think about the world that our kids are growing up in, if that doesn't break your heart, I don't know what will. And yet, honestly, our children's ministries that operate during the week on Wednesdays and also here on the weekend, they can honestly use help. Let's use a burden. Here's a way that you can make a difference. And these are just a few examples. This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as opportunities and groups that are doing things, not only here at church, but all throughout our community in dozens of ways. And for more information on those, just go to tlc.org/localoutreach. You can take a picture of the screen if you think you'll forget. But just read, scroll through that page. It's just amazing how God is using people.

And you might go, "That's exactly what I wanted to be a part of as you do that." But here's the bottom line, and it's this. It's that we can do more than just me. You know what I'm saying? That there's strength in numbers. And so when it comes to your burden, ask yourself, who's doing something about it? And you can lock arms with them. And then finally, this third all-important question, which is, how can you help? How can you specifically help? And again, you don't have to be the next Nehemiah. Sometimes we hold ourselves back because we think, when's that kind of Everest-sized goal gonna be the thing that I try to scale? How about starting with something really small and simple instead? See where that leads.

Encourage, serve, provide support, some sort of physical assistance or financial assistance. Just make yourself available in some way. For example, this last week I got an email from a woman in this church, her name is Sarah Fletcher, and her burden was she just wanted to serve somewhere in this church. She wasn't even really particular about it. She just wanted to serve and make a contribution. And so she writes me and she says this. Says, "Between working full-time in a demanding job and family includes husband, kids, parents, friends, life, finding a place to serve has been challenging in recent years." And I know a lot of you can relate to this.

She says, "I often think about it, but that's where it ends. I now realize that I was the one getting in my own way." And then Sarah has a little bit of a light bulb moment a couple months ago, and she realizes that, again, it doesn't have to be this massive enterprise. And so she writes this in her journal. This is her journal, look at this right here. She says, "As we make ourselves available to serve, He will make us able." And she just latches on it. She leans into that, and lo and behold, as Christmas approaches, she's thinking, "Well, I could make a difference there." And then so she says, "I was reminded about the great need during Christmas to welcome the many attendees. So I signed up for the Candlelight Service, not knowing what I would wind up doing.

I must say that after attending many Candlelight Services over the years, this year was likely the most special to get to participate in the act of service." Remember, that was her goal, just serve somehow. "It really blessed me beyond measure." And here's Sarah before the service, she was gonna serve in, all ready to hand out candles and welcome people, and she says this of her experience. "Each time I welcome someone through the door and wish them a Merry Christmas while handing them a candle, it filled my soul. Then, to help spread the small flames up the aisle and see the packed room hold up their own lights, wow, a new perspective on a beautiful sight." Many of you saw and experienced that beautiful sight, and for her, there was just that extra blessing, knowing, "I was a part of creating that."

And when you have those moments, again, very simple, but you're living out God's intended purpose for His creatures, He created us to bear His image and serve His purposes in this world. And so it just feels so right, it's like, this is what I'm made to do, to be a servant of God. And so what is it for you again? Again, maybe you're thinking about it right now. And again, it doesn't have to be huge, because here's the thing, small acts make a big impact. They really do. I mean, it was Jesus Himself that said, "Even a cup of cold water offered in my name to someone who thirsts is as if they were giving it to me." And so I wanna give you a chance to really just take that question, how can I help, or what's my burden, or who's doing something about it? I wanna give you an opportunity to sit with that question before the Lord right now, and ask Him to give you the direction, the inspiration, the clarity, or the desire to follow through.

So would you just close your eyes, and let's just bring those questions, those thoughts to the Lord right now. And Lord, may your spirit continue to lead each one of us, amen, amen. Now there's one thing I wanna make clear before we go into communion. This is not about you mustering a new level of willpower. This is not you trying to do something that is going to cause God to love you more, or extend more favor upon your life, or anything like this. If that's the motivation, to just kinda gut out some extra stuff for God, I'll promise you this, by February, you'll quit.

Because it has to flow out of a heart that is filled with a sense of God's grace, and His goodness, and His love, and when it fills your life to such an extent, you just wanna share it with other people. You just want them to know the kind of new life you have in Christ, like you do. And so that's where I encourage you to tap into. And that's what we're gonna be reminded of as we go into a time of communion, where we're reminded yet again of His goodness, His grace in our lives. And so in closing, just to kinda set the table, if you will, I wanna read these verses from 2 Corinthians 5 that remind us not only of what Jesus has done for us, but the newness of life, and yes, the newness of purpose that comes with it because of what He did for us on the cross.

When it says, "Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone. A new life has begun. Amen? Amen, let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we begin this brand new year, Lord, I pray that we would experience in greater fullness the new life that we have in Christ. And so Lord, I do pray that this would be one of our best years ever, and it would be that way because we leaned into what You had for us in such a way that a year from now, Lord willing, if we're here and able to look back on it, we'll say, "Wow, thank You, God. Thank You for the significance and the meaning and the joy that I was able to be a part of, wow."

And so I pray this, Lord, acknowledging that this is only possible through the power of Your Spirit in our lives, and for You to give us the wherewithal to do anything and everything that You want us to do. We can do nothing apart from You. So we thank You for making this all possible, as we remember the sacrifice Your Son made for us on the cross. May You, in these moments, days, weeks, and months ahead, strengthen our faith, enliven our hope, inform our purpose, and transform our hearts. And I pray this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and all God's people said. - Amen. - Amen. - Amen.