Triumphant in 2025

Triumphant Through Him in 2025

 

Some of you may remember the child’s song written by Bill Gaither. “I am a Promise.” Some of the lyrics are these:

 

You are a promise, You are a possibility, You are a promise with a capital "P" You are a great big bundle of potentiality. And if you listen you'll hear God's voice, and if you're trying he'll help you make the right choices, you're a promise to be anything God wants you to be.

 

You can go anywhere that he wants you to go You can be anything that he wants you to be You can climb the high mountain You can cross the wide sea you're a great big promise You see . . . So keep on listening to hear God's voice And keep on trying he'll help you make the right choices you're a promise to be anything he wants you to be.

 

I remember playing it for our children when they were still in grade school. I mention it now because it makes a point about the point I want to make during this first month of 2025.

 

I debated with myself about the wisdom of referring to this children’s song because of some of the lyrics. For example: You can go anywhere that he wants you to go You can be anything that he wants you to be, You can climb the high mountain, You can cross the wide sea you're a great big promise You see.

 

Let’s face it. A lot of proverbial water has gone under the bridge and there are just some things you – and I – are not going to do anymore in this life. We’re not about to go climb any high mountains. We’re probably not going to cross any wide sea. Too much time has passed, and there’s just not that much more time left for any of us.

 

But, that truth still does not alter the greater truth: You STILL are a promise. You STILL are a possibility. And you can STILL do anything God wants you to do and you can STILL be anything He wants you to be.  Even at the age of 75, or 85, or 95.

 

God almighty Himself promises that to be so. Philippians 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. And so, please hear me: Rebuke and reject the devilish lie that God is done with you.

 

Christian, God will not be done with you until you are standing in His glorious presence on the other side of this life.

 

The title of my message today is this: Triumphant Through Him in 2025.

My text for that title comes from 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 – “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.”

2025 is still eleven and a half months ahead of us. And please, get this! You are still important to God’s work and to God’s kingdom. And you can still be abundantly fruitful for His work – if you WANT to be fruitful for Him.

 

Again, that’s not just me spouting some insipid promises, some feel-good platitudes. I’m reminding you what God Himself promises us. For example, here is 2 Peter 1:5-8 “[G]iving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound [are increasing] you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

Neither you nor I have ANY IDEA what God has ALREADY done through our lives. No idea. We might think we know, but who knows the mind of God or how great and infinitely intricate is His plan for each one of us?

 

Many of you might remember the 1946 Frank Capra classic film, It’s a Wonderful Life. It starred Lionel Barrymore, Donna Reed, and Jimmy Stewart. As you may remember, when George Bailey wishes he’d never been born, the angel Clarence grants his wish – and George gets to see what life would have been like in Bedford Falls if he’d never been born.

Bedford Falls is instead named Pottersville and is home to sleazy nightclubs, pawn shops, and places of ‘adult entertainment.’ The pharmacist was sent to prison for poisoning a child because the then ten-year-old George wasn’t there to intervene in time. George’s brother Harry died when he broke through the ice during childhood because George wasn’t there to save him from drowning. And because Harry didn’t survive, the thousand servicemen on the troop transport during WWII all died because Harry was not there to shoot down those enemy planes.

 

There’s much more to the story, but I share this brief synopsis because, as I said at the beginning, the child’s song and this story about George Bailey make the point that God makes again and again:

 

Like George Bailey, your life has intersected with hundreds, maybe thousands of lives – either directly or indirectly. And it continues to intersect every day with the lives of others – whose own lives themselves ALSO intersect with dozens or scores of others. Yes, even here at Ashwood.  Like an ever-growing snowball cascading down a snowbank, God uses you and me – still uses you and me to influence the lives of others.

 

That is why your life, my life, right up to this very moment on January 26, 2025 is so important to the Kingdom Story. And most of us haven’t a clue – most of us will NEVER in this life get a clue, as to how important your life, my life is to God’s kingdom.  Not until we reach heaven’s shores will we know even as we are known.

 

No wonder Paul wrote these words in Romans 11:33ff “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

 

Most of you are familiar with what Matthew records for us in the last portion of the 25^th chapter of his gospel. We’ve look at this text many times in the past. It’s good to look at again to remind ourselves of an important truth of God:

 

(Matthew 25:34-40) “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

 

I want to draw your attention to something important here. Those standing before God’s judgment seat had NO IDEA that they would eventually receive praise for what they’d done when they fed the poor, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, visited the sick, and so forth. They hadn’t done any of those things for a reward. They did them simply because they saw a need and endeavored to meet that need.

 

And so, they were dumbfounded to hear the words of the Lord at their judgment: ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’

 

What have you done in your life to help the poor and the lonely and the sick and the hungry and the cold? What kind words have you spoken to encourage the discouraged, to give hope to those without hope, to give laughter to those who could only weep?  What do you STILL do while you live here at Ashwood Meadows?

 

Listen, God tells us through Hebrews 6:10-12 “For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

 

In other words, God sees it all. He hears it all. He watches it all. So keep at it in 2025. Don’t lose your confidence that God is STILL using you – even if you cannot see it. DO NOT lose your confidence in our omnipotent God and Father – and thereby become sluggish about continuing to be faithful to His call on your life here at Ashwood Meadows.

 

Yes, it is nice to see or to hear that we are doing something of value for the Kingdom, and God shows that to us from time to time.  But remember those we just looked at from Matthew 25. They didn’t know of the value of their work for the Kingdom until they arrived at the Kingdom.  And I strongly suspect that with us, God uses everything we do – even the mundane day to day work we do – God uses all of it – nothing goes to waste.

 

All He asks us to do is TRUST Him – He wants us to trust that we are important to His work, even living here at Ashwood Meadows.

 

What can you do for the kingdom besides (as important as it is) what you already do – being kind to your neighbors and avoiding gossip?

 

1. Pray for revival – FIRST in your own heart. Make sure you are quick to repent of every personal sin which the Lord reveals to you. And then pray for revival in the lives of those around you. History clearly demonstrates that every mighty move of God through any culture can be traced to people praying for revival.

 

You have a prayer meeting already established here on Thursdays. Attend them. And pray for revival here at Ashwood. And pray out loud for those at the tables around the dining room. Pray also for the Holy Spirit to move on each one of us during our weekly bible studies and Sunday services here. Listen: I need your prayers, and everyone who lives and works here needs your prayers.

 

2. Tell your stories. What is God teaching you?  What HAS He taught you? If you have internet access, I can show you how to share your stories on the internet. If you do not have access, tell ME your stories and I will share them on the internet.

 

3. Ask God what He wants you to do to still be fruitful for His kingdom. I promise you He will show you what you can do. (See Jeremiah 33:3)

 

Let me close this message with this true story of an old missionary couple who’d worked in Africa for years. Because of poor health, they were returning to New York City to retire. They had no pension; their health was broken; they were defeated, discouraged, and afraid. They discovered they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his big-game hunting expeditions.

No one paid much attention to them during the voyage home. But they couldn’t help but notice the fanfare that accompanied the President’s entourage, with passengers trying to catch a glimpse of the great man.

As the ship moved across the ocean, the old missionary said to his wife, "Something is wrong. Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these many years and have no one care a thing about us? Here this man comes back from a hunting trip and everybody makes much over him, but nobody gives two hoots about us."

"Dear, you shouldn’t feel that way," his wife said.

"I can’t help it; it doesn’t seem right."

When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor and other dignitaries were there. The papers were full of the President’s arrival, but no one noticed this missionary couple.

They slipped off the ship and found a cheap flat on the East side, hoping the next day to see what they could do to make a living in the city.

That night, the man’s spirit broke. He said to his wife, "I can’t take this; God is not treating us fairly."

His wife replied, "Why don’t you go into the bedroom and tell that to the Lord?"

A short time later he came out from the bedroom, but now his face was completely different. His wife asked, "Dear, what happened?"

"The Lord settled it with me," he said. "I told him how bitter I was that the President should receive this tremendous homecoming, when no one met us as we returned home. And when I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put his hand on my shoulder and simply said, ‘But you’re not home yet!’"

Ashwood Meadows, Listen! Don’t let the devil break your spirit. 2025 will be a triumphant year for you and for His kingdom IF you want to be triumphant for the Master. Persevere for His glory through every step of your journey through 2025 – and that journey that begins right now. Today.

And God our Father will say to you on that great and glorious day in heaven: Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

Call on Him to guide your every step. You are STILL a promise. You are still a possibility with a capital P. You are still a great big bundle of potentiality.