As we enter a new year, we have no way of knowing what awaits us. We cannot predict the future. People have tried throughout the years only to be embarrassed or made to look foolish. I came across a few humorous quotes that speak to the impossibility of predicting the future, and looking foolish when we try.
Gary Cooper stated in 1938…
“Gone with the Wind” is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I’m just glad Clark Gable will be the one falling on his face and not Gary Cooper.”
In May of 1940 Mahatma Gandhi said this…
“I do not consider Hitler to be as bad as he is depicted. He is showing an ability that is amazing, and he seems to be gaining his victories without much bloodshed.”
Jim Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, firing Elvis Presley after one performance, 9/25/54...
“You ain’t goin’ nowhere…son. You ought to go back to drivin’ a truck.”
These quotes are humorous and sad to me. They heighten the fact that none of us can predict the future of other people or in life in general. We have no idea what 2024 has in store for us. And I would suggest instead of trying to make predictions, or guess what is going to happen, we should keep our eyes on Jesus and trust Him to see us through the ups and downs of the new year to come.
One main way that I want to encourage our church family to keep our eyes on Jesus is to focus together on a new sermon series that I am beginning in January from the Gospel of John. The scripture that will be our theme verse will be John 12:21c which states… “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” We are going to look at themes from each of the twenty-one chapters of John each week as we keep our eyes on Jesus in 2024.
I have seen pulpits in different churches throughout the years have this portion of this verse engraved, or affixed to the pulpit so that whenever the pastor is standing there preaching God’s Word it is a constant reminder to him that those who gather to worship on Sunday morning are not coming to see the one standing in the pulpit, they have come to see Jesus.
You see it really matters that people see Jesus because he is the only one who can save them from their sin. He is the only one who offered the perfect sacrifice of himself for those who would come to trust in Him as their Lord and Savior. And it is Jesus who can sustain us through the new year to come. We must train ourselves to keep our eyes on the only one who can take away the sin of the world. Let the words of John the Baptist ring in our ears as we consider the importance of “seeing” Jesus in the new year to come.
In John 1:29-32 John states…
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. May God bless us in 2024 as our
hearts wish to see Jesus!!
I love you and I love being your pastor!
