God's Formula for Your Future

The sermon opens by comparing the situation of the Israelites at the border of the Promised Land with our situation as we enter a new year. The Israelites had mixed memories of joy and sorrow from their past but ahead lay a future filled with challenges, uncertainties, and dangers. Similarly, we too stand at a crossroads between a past with both good and painful experiences and an uncertain future. Therefore, God gave the Israelites a formula for success in the future, and God wants to give us the same formula as we enter 2024.

The first part of the formula—the secret things—belongs to God because God is absolutely sovereign and merciful toward us. The secret things God has not revealed to us include future events, the weather, our financial situation, our health, and many other matters known only to God. Because these secret things belong to God, we should not worry about or be obsessed with the material future. Instead, we should leave these matters to God and focus on what we can control. As Jesus taught in Matthew 6:27, worrying cannot add one cubit to our height but only wastes precious time and energy. We should not seek out psychics or other questionable sources trying to reveal what belongs only to God.

The second part of the formula—the revealed things—belongs to us and is our responsibility. God has revealed much to us through His Word, the Bible. One specific example is Matthew 28:19-20, where Jesus commands us to go to all nations and make disciples of Christ. This work includes four actions: go, make, baptize, and teach. We are called to continuously make disciples of Christ by going to places where people have not heard of Christ, sharing the Gospel with them, encouraging them to believe in and receive Christ, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey Christ's commands.

The sermon emphasizes that we must live according to what God has revealed rather than being fascinated by secret things. The Israelites failed because they were unwilling to trust God by faith and wanted to return to slavery in Egypt; they walked by sight rather than by faith. As a result, an entire generation wandered in the wilderness for forty years. The formula for success is simple: do what God has revealed to us in His Word, leave the secret things to God, and trust in Him. We have God's Word, the Holy Spirit, His promises, and His Church to help us throughout 2024.