Renewing Our Resolutions: Gifts

SERMON TITLE:   “Renewing Our Resolutions:  Gifts”
SERMON TEXT:    2 Corinthians 8:1-15
PREACHER:           Rev. Kim James
OCCASION:           January 16, 2022, at First UMC
 
 
INTRODUCTION
 
                How are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions?  We’re now two full weeks into 2022.  Are you still watching what you eat?  Are you still exercising?  Hopefully you haven’t already given up on your goals to a new and improved you. 
                As I started this series on renewing our resolutions, I read quite a few articles on how to maintain our efforts to change our habits.  Most of them boiled down to something like this.  1)  Make sure your resolution is relevant to your life.  2)  Make sure it’s specific, so you know exactly what you’re trying to achieve.  3)  Make sure it’s attainable, not something totally unrealistic.  4)  Make sure you surround yourself with a supportive community that will cheer you on.  And, last but not least, 5) make sure you plan for trouble.  Think ahead about what might trip you up, demotivate you, or sabotage your goal, so that—when such a thing inevitably happens—you’ll be able to take it in stride, pick yourself up, and keep moving in the right direction.  Whatever personal goals you set for this New Year, I hope you are, in fact, making some desired progress.
                Here in worship, we’re spending this month of January talking about renewing the resolutions or vows that we make when we join a United Methodist church.  As we stated earlier, in our unison reading, those vows are that we will participate faithfully in the congregation through our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.  Today’s topic is renewing our resolution of gifts.

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