God’s Promise for the New Year

Instead of approaching the new year with a promise to yourself (in the form of a New Year’s resolution), why not focus on a promise from God? Dr. David Jeremiah breaks down one of the most quoted – and most misunderstood – promises in the Bible. It’s a perfect verse for the year ahead.
“Jesus said it like this, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matt.”
― Dr. David Jeremiah, Where Do We Go from Here?: How Tomorrow’s Prophecies Foreshadow Today’s Problems

From David and Donna Jeremiah and the entire turning point family, we pray this Christmas you experience the Savior’s presence like never before from our homes to yours.
We are wishing you a Christ centered Christmas and a very blessed New Year.
Coming up on turning point, this verse, this promise, this wonderful encouragement.
This motivation for the New Year is for those who love God.
So the question I need to ask you today, are you a God lover?
No, don’t just tell me you believe in God.
No, God lovers are those who have taken God’s wonderful gift of eternal life to themselves as the Sun rises on a new day and a new year discover perfect peace with strength for today.
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Now here is Doctor Jeremiah with his message, a great promise for the New Year.
Listen to Paul’s words from one of the most famous verses in all of the Bible verse 28 of Romans eight.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8 28 is the foundation stone of the very workings of your destiny and mine.
It is both our birthmark and our epitaph Christians cling to this verse during the difficult times of their lives like you would cling to a life raft in the stormy sea.
So here from this verse are five great truths to launch you into confidence and excitement.
Number one, this is a definite promise.
The verse begins and we know how incredibly important it is to know in this age where people say you can’t know anything for sure where truth and knowledge seem to have taken a back seat to errors and opinions.
I am here to tell you that what you know is important.
We want to know what we know. And here we are told something we can know.
The phrase we know is used five times in the book of Romans.
Paul says that you and I can know beyond all doubt that every aspect of our lives is in the hand of God and will divinely be used by the Lord, not only to manifest His glory, but to work out our own ultimate blessing.
Now, earlier in this context, Paul has spoken of other things we can know.
But it’s interesting in verse 26, he tells us something we can’t know in the context of what we can know is a word about what we can’t know.
Notice verse 26. Likewise, the spirit also helps in our weaknesses for, we do not know what we should pray for as we ought.
Now, the adjacency of these two verses close to each other is not an accident.
One about knowing and the other about not knowing for here is the difficult road that we walk on as believers while we can know that God is ultimately in control of our lives.
We don’t know the details and we can’t see what he’s up to.
And in our day to day experience, we don’t even know how to pray about it sometimes can I get a witness?
One of the paradoxical things about being a Christian is this, we are often the most certain about the ultimate when we are the most uncertain about the immediate, I mean, I know what God’s up to and I know that one day I’m going to be with him in heaven.
I know he’s got control of my life, but he doesn’t let me in on the details of the day to day experience.
So I have to believe with all of my heart that while I can’t see it and sometimes it’s so confusing.
I don’t even know how to pray about it. God is in control.
I can know that I want you to stop for a moment and think about the importance of knowing what you know, because there’s going to come a day in your life and in mind where all of the other things are gonna be unimportant.
And the only thing that’s gonna matter is what, you know, what do you know?
And the Bible says we can know that all things work together according to God’s plan.
I’m so thankful and that’s not just the only thing we know every week we come together here and open the word of God and we learn and we know and the more you know about what God is up to, the more you know about what He’s communicated to you through His word, the better you’re gonna be prepared for whatever happens.
It’s important to know something and I say that because in our world today, especially in a lot of churches, they’ve almost legitimized ignorance.
They’ve almost said turn your mind off, let your emotions take over. I want to tell you something.
When you get into a deep problem, your emotions aren’t going to help you, they’re gonna hurt you.
What, you know what, you know, for certain, that’s what’s going to make a difference in your life.
I love this little phrase and we know, say that with me and we know it’s a definite promise and then it’s a divine promise.
We know that God works here is how the N I V translates Romans 8 28.
And I think it’s more accurate, at least it’s more in keeping with the word order in the language of the New Testament.
And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose.
We know that it is God who is involved in all of this.
Now, if you said pastor, I want you to know I’m doing my best to help you.
I’d be encouraged, but I don’t know that I’d feel a whole lot of confidence depending on who you are and what you do and what kind of influence you have.
But when the God of the universe says to you, you can know this.
Here’s what I want you to know I am for you. I am with you.
In fact, I am working behind the scenes in your behalf.
You can count on it, you can take it to the bank. God is working.
This is not only a definite promise and we know and a divine promise that God works.
It’s a definitive promise. In other words, there are some words here that tell us what this includes and we know that God works.
What are the next two words? All things? The text actually says that in everything God works for good.
Now, let me just stop for a moment because some of you already got question marks on your face.
This verse does not say that it is good.
If I break my leg or my house burns down or I get robbed and beaten or my child dies.
But it does say that God uses these events and weaves them together with every other facet of my life in order to produce what He knows to be the very best for me.
Please hear me. Don’t go out of here and say, Doctor Jeremiah brought us to the scripture today and he told us that every bad thing is good and every good thing is ok and it’s all the same.
There’s no difference. No, that’s not what I’m saying. Please hear me.
All I’m saying is that God understands what’s going on. He knows what’s going on.
He takes what happens in this world in which we live and He weaves it together into a plan that is for your good and for His glory.
Now, we get a little more insight into it. When we come to this next point.
This is a definite promise and we know it is a divine promise that God is working.
It’s a definitive problem, all things, but it’s a dynamic promise together for good.
God is working all things together for good.
Now, let me tell you something, I’ve learned from the study of this passage in the language in which it was written, this expression translates a word in the Greek language which is pronounced and it is a word from which we get our word.
Synergism. Synergism is the working together of various elements to produce an effect that’s greater than often completely different from the sum of each element acting separately.
I know that’s a wordy statement, but in other words, synergism is taking things that you wouldn’t think have anything to do with each other, have their own purpose and synergism brings them together and creates something out of that.
That is usually greater than the sum of the parts in the physical world.
The right combination of otherwise harmful chemicals can produce substances that are extremely beneficial.
If you don’t believe that when you go home for dinner today, don’t put any salt on anything because ordinary table salt is composed of two poisons, sodium and chlorine.
But when you put them together, you Sprinkle it on everything you eat, it’s good on French fries.
Once again, it’s important to point out that this is not saying that things will just work out.
It is saying that God causes the synergism to happen. He is the one who is stirring the mix.
This is a definite promise and we know this is a divine promise that God works.
This is a definitive promise. He works all things and it’s a dynamic promise.
He works them all together for good. And finally, this is a defined promise.
Now, Romans 8 28 is one of the most absolute verses in all of the scripture.
We absolutely know that absolutely, all things work absolutely together for absolute good. It’s absolutely wonderful.
But now comes the part that’s not absolute. This promise does not apply to absolutely everyone.
There is a precondition that must be met before the promise works for you.
Notice that the verse says to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
Now, let’s take those two phrases and sort them out.
First of all, this promise is for those who love God, those who love God is the fraternity pin of the believer.
I’ve been totally blessed at how many times in the Bible we as believers are described simply as those who love God.
What a great name for believers.
We’re God lovers, Deuteronomy 79 says therefore know that the Lord, your God.
He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for 1000 generations with those who love Him.
Psalm 145 the Lord preserves all who love him.
First Corinthians 29, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man.
The things which God has prepared who for those who love him first Corinthians 83.
But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him, James 1 12 blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
What religion do you belong to? I belong to the God lovers.
I’m a God lover. The Bible says this verse, this promise, this wonderful encouragement.
This motivation for the New Year is for those who love God.
So the question I need to ask you today. Are you a God lover?
No, don’t just tell me you believe in God. No.
God lovers are those who have taken God’s wonderful gift of eternal life to themselves.
In fact, these two phrases, those who love God, those who are called are really two sides of the same coin.
Those who love God looks at it from our perspective, we love God.
But those who are called looks at it from God’s perspective. He calls us to himself.
And I don’t want to get into all of the nuances that go along with that whole truth.
But let me just tell you, you are here today because God has called you here. He’s brought you here.
If you’re not a God lover, he wants you to be a God lover.
Once you become a God lover, you will not only be a God lover, you’ll be a called one because God calls people to himself.
We are called according to the scripture. God has a purpose for our lives.
All of these wonderful truths that we have unpacked today about God working in your life and in mine, they all belong to a certain group of people, those who love God and are called by God for his purposes.
What an important moment for us to just stop at the beginning of this new year and ask this question.
Have I come to the place in my life where I could truly be called a God lover.
Have I loved God with my heart and my soul?
Have I received this wonderful gift of eternal life? Am I one of the called ones?
Let me tell you something, men and women, the incidents in our lives are not incidental.
The trials in our lives are not trivial.
God is up to something in your life and in mine, he is using our setbacks to advance our spiritual maturity to a place where we could never go without them.
He’s up to something with what’s happening in your life and in mine. And if you’re a God lover.
If you’re a cold one, listen carefully. This is about you.
This is about what God is doing in your life.
The story of job is one of the saddest stories I have ever read in my whole life.
Here’s this mature upright man who’s described in the Bible as a man who feared God and shunned evil.
And one day Russler stole his 500 yoke of oxen. His 500 donkeys. Lightning killed his 7000 sheep.
Cal Dean Bandit stole his 3000 camels and killed all the servants. He’s having a bad day.
Finally, a building collapsed on his seven sons and three daughters and Job was left with nothing.
Job’s response to these many tragedies is recorded at the end of the first chapter that you read.
When you read the book of Job, he said, naked, I came in from my mother’s womb naked.
Shall I return there? The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
Then job was stricken with boils from head to feet.
He called his friends to come and help him. All they did was heap guilt and misery on him.
Telling him in so many words that he was only getting what he deserved.
Even his wife tried to encourage job. She told him to curse God and die.
But job stood for him in his faith.
And even though he did not understand all that God was doing.
He expressed his faith in the sovereignty of God.
When we read in job 23 10, he knows the way that I take when he has tested me.
I shall come forth. That’s goal. Why did job say that? Because He knew something.
He knew his God though. He was being tested at the very core of his life.
He stood strong in the midst of it all. You and I have had some bad days.
Maybe you’ve had a couple of this year.
I promise you nobody in this room is gonna have a bad day like job had.
If God is faithful, even in the midst of all of that, he’s going to be faithful to you.
What can we say about Joseph?
Joseph is one of the few characters in the Bible about whom no evil report has ever given.
When he was 17 years old, his father asked him to go and check up on his brothers who were caring for his father’s herds.
And when Joseph found them, they threw Joseph into a dry cistern. He intended to leave him there to die.
But then some MidNite traitors came by and they seized the opportunity and they sold Joseph as a slave.
The Mid Unites took Joseph to Egypt, sold him to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s soldiers for a period of time, Joseph prospered under Potiphar.
But when Potiphar wife tried to seduce Joseph into sexual activity, he was uncooperative and he was then arrested and spent the next two years of his life in prison.
Finally, Joseph is summoned by Pharaoh to interpret the king’s dreams.
And when Joseph gave the correct interpretation, he was released from prison and installed as the number two man in Egypt with the responsibility and authority over all the food supplies in the entire country.
Joseph followed the Lord was the savior of his own family in all of Egypt as well.
But when he ultimately reunited with his brothers and they realized who he was that he was actually the brother that they had sold into slavery.
And now he was number two in Egypt, they remembered what had been done to them. They were terrified.
Then Joseph gave him this word, which is the Romans 28 of the Old Testament.
But as for you, you meant it evil against me.
Joseph said to his brothers, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive.
When all that was happening to Joseph during all the time of the famine, the pit experience, the false accusations, the time in prison, the exile from his father and his family.
God was still at work in Joseph’s behalf, working all things according to his plan, Joseph wasn’t aware of any of it, but God was doing it anyway.
Now we get to look back on it and we see the hand of God in it all.
And Joseph had enough insight into it to say to his brothers, all that you did.
You meant it for evil. But that’s not the big deal.
The big deal is that what you meant for evil?
God was meaning for good and he was orchestrating it in his great plan, bringing us together at this moment and what God did for job and what God did for Joseph.
God’s doing for us. And then let me just tell you a word or two about the Jewish people.
Been in the news a lot these days, God is at work among the Jews.
Here’s Jeremiah, the prophet writing about a moment in Jewish history that you will remember as you listen to the words thus says the Lord, the God of Israel like these good figs.
So I will acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good into the land of the Chaldeans.
For. I will set my eyes on them for good and I will bring them back to this land and I will build them and not pull them down and I will plant them and not pluck them up.
And I will give them a heart to know me that I am the Lord and that they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
Jeremiah wrote in God’s name a letter to the Jews in Babylon after the catastrophic destruction of Jerusalem in the midst of their captivity, in the midst of all of the difficult things they were going through on behalf of God.
Jeremiah wrote to the Jewish people and he said, I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord plans to prosper you not to harm you, but plans to give you a hope and the future, all the bad things were happening to the Jewish nation.
God was just taking it and stirring it and incorporating it because he had a plan when all the tough things are going on in your life or in mind, we may not understand it, but we can know, we can know one thing God is at work, making all things work together for His good.
And then the final and most impressive illustration of this is what happened to Jesus.
Listen carefully to what I’m about to read and notice sometimes when I’m reading it, it sounds like Jesus was a victim and sometimes it sounds like it was supposed to happen the way it happened all along, listen carefully.
Him being delivered by the determined purpose and Foreknowledge of God you have taken and by lawless hands have crucified and put to death for truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together, listen carefully to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done.
It looks like Jesus is a victim, but then it looks like he’s not a victim that God is involved in this, that he’s involved somehow in allowing it to happen.
No, in determining it to happen.
God took the most absolute evil that Satan could devise and turned it into the greatest conceivable blessing he could ever offer to fallen mankind, eternal salvation from sin.
God wants to take all that stuff and bring it to the place where it brings honor and glory to his name.
Well, as I’ve meditated upon this, I’ve come up with a couple of conclusions.
No 1, I am determined to trust God.
I believe God is worthy of my trust and I’m determined to trust Him.
Listen to what Isaiah says about God for I am God and there is no other, I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.
Indeed. I have spoken it. I will bring it to pass. I have purchased it. I will also do it.
Are you gonna trust God this year? Trust Him.
Number two, I’m determined to be grateful, count your blessings and see what God has done.
God wants to bless us. That’s the one thing that comes from Romans 8 28.
God wants to work all things together. What for good? Not for bad. He wants us to be blessed.
So if he wants to bless us, let’s keep score. Let’s start a revolution around here.
Let’s get off the negative stuff that so occupies, I mean, we have to work hard to overcome the negativity that’s in our world, do we not?
So let’s fill up this whole world with blessings in the new Year. Amen. Number three.
Yeah, I’m determined to live gritty.
It should probably be said live gritty to be gritties is to keep putting one ft in front of the other, to be gritties to hold fast to an interesting and personal goal to be gritty is to invest day after week after year in challenging practice to be gritties to fall down seven times and get back up.
eight edgy gritty. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen.
Don’t say I’m gonna let it come to me, go after it and live your life as if you believed God has created a safety net for you.
He’s created us not to be passive but to be active in serving him. God is good.
God can be trusted and you may not know what he’s doing, but he’s doing something.
You may not understand what’s happened to you, but it’s a part of His plan and we know that all things work together for good, for those who are God lovers and called ones.
That’s your promise as you step into the new Year, Doctor Jeremiah will return to close today’s special New Year’s program right after this.
Thank you for watching today.
When you support this program with a gift of any amount, Dr Jeremiah would like to thank you by sending you strength for today.
His new 365 day devotional for 2021 with each short devotional reading in this beautiful leather soft volume, you’ll be reminded that no matter the events of your yesterday’s or the uncertainties in your tomorrows, you can hold tightly to God’s faithful as you are guided by this devotional into God’s word and a daily time dedicated to Him.
Strength for today is also perfect for sharing with others and with a generous year end gift of $120 or more in support of this program, you’ll receive a four pack of strength for today so that you can give your loved ones a copy and help them discover God’s perfect peace and power.
Your support helps this program continue on this station and keeps the ministry on firm financial footing into the New Year contact turning point today.
And now with one last word for today’s program here is Dr Jeremiah.
I’ve always loved the opening words of Psalm one.
How blessed is the man think about it, who would not want to live a blessed and happy life, more specifically, who wouldn’t want to have a blessed year?
That’s the heart of what the psalmist wrote. Blessedness comes from living according to the word of God.
And what better way to start the New Year.
I would love to send you two free gifts that will help you begin the New Year with a new commitment to God’s word.
One is our booklet called Your Greatest Turning Point and the other is our monthly devotional magazine called Turning Points.
And we will gladly send you both these gifts free of charge.
If you will contact us here at Turning point today.
Next time on turning point, you say, well, Pastor Jer, I’m just so overwhelmed.
I don’t think I’m gonna make it. Why not.
Could have said I’m so overwhelmed if anyone had the right to say it, he did.
But Joe said, no, I’m going to trust God no matter what I’m going to stand with God.
I know that my redeemer lives and one day I’ll be with Him in heaven forever.
And I don’t understand what’s going on down here, but I’m an overcomer because I’m a child of God.
Join Doctor Jeremiah next time for a brand new message in his series over commers job overcoming the overwhelming here on turning point.