The New Year is here! We are thankful for another year to glorify our great God, and to grow in our love and knowledge of Him.
We are writing this letter as an update and an encouragement. Lydia and I have been very encouraged this year in our God’s power and willingness to use simple people for His work—“...they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled and they realized they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13). This has also been happening here, in the Jackson area—Simple men and women who love Jesus and love His word, boldly preaching His word and God giving increase. Praise God! There has been opposition and trials, but for the most part it has served to strengthen the brethren and to advance God’s kingdom—“We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22). Please pray with us that God would allow “multitudes of both men and women” (Acts 5:14) to be added to the Lord, that the believers here would be conformed into Christ’s image, that more laborers would be raised up for God’s work (Matt 9:37-38), and that God’s word would spread to ALL NATIONS. (Matt 28:18-20)
Our sweet boy: Samuel, our 3-year old son, is lively, inquisitive, cute, talkative, and hates bathing. He’s growing so fast…too fast! He’s learning a lot, and I’m continually amazed at the deep conversations I’m able to have with a 3-year old (although he often times, in the middle of a heart-to-heart, informs me that he’s a soldier and is going to shoot me). He’s all about wrestling daddy, and protecting mama and sister right now. We love him a whole bunch….pray that his eyes would be opened to the gospel, that he would believe and be saved, and that he would become a fruitful laborer for God’s kingdom.
Our sweet girl: Keely Elizabeth, our 1-year old daughter, is adorable, spunky, into-everything, and thinks she needs mama every second of every day. She also is growing very fast…too fast! Right now she’s all about imitating her brother (she thinks he’s the greatest comedian of all time), brushing her teeth, and eating A LOT. She is also convinced that if she cocks her head sideways and belts out a very cute “Pwwease!” that she can have whatever she wants.
We are very thankful for our children….Pray for us, that God would have mercy on our mistakes in child training (Rom 8:32), that God would give us wisdom for discipling our children, and that God would use our children to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. “Behold children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate.” –Psalm 127:3-5
A word for the New Year: “Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years…’”
God created this thing we call a “year”. God also created the “day”, the “week”, and the “month”.
Day—one revolution of the earth about it axis—God created this!
Week—Genesis 1 and 2—God invented the week!
Month—the time the moon takes to complete one orbit of the earth—God made this!
Year—the earth’s full trip around the sun—God set this in motion!
So why did God give us a time period called a year? Psalm 90 says “teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom”. That’s one thing we could do for the New Year—think about this past year…how much of it was spent serving God, think about how fast this year flew by, think about how fast life flies by, think about how short life is. Reading all of Psalm 90 helps us think rightly about these things:
“…from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”—Think about how long eternity is….God is God for all eternity, from everlasting to everlasting!
“For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.”—God is God for eternity, so to Him a thousand years is nothing. Compared to eternity, a thousand years is just a watch in the night. Think of a line that stretches out forever and ever in both directions, right and left…a line that never ends (everlasting to everlasting). A thousand years is like a small dot on that everlasting line.
“The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years…it is soon cut off, and we fly away”—Our God is God for all eternity! Compared to eternity, a thousand years is like a dot on the everlasting line. And the years of our lives are like a tiny speck on that thousand-year-dot that’s on that everlasting-to-everlasting-line.
“So, teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”—let us think about how short a time we have here on earth and use our time wisely.
“let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands.”—Since we have such a short short time, what work should we be doing with our hands to make the most of our short time on earth? Here’s something tragic: to waste that short life, and have to look back on our lives and say, “everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind, and nothing was gained under the sun”. But here’s something incredible: It is possible for you to use your small speck of a life to impact eternity! That’s right…there are ways to spend your time (your days, weeks, months, and years) having an impact on that everlasting line. How?
Romans 1:16—“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…”—Preach the gospel! If you preach the gospel to someone and they believe, their soul will be saved for eternity! So then, one way to impact eternity is to spend our little speck of life preaching the gospel to as many people as possible.
1 Peter 1:24-25—“…the word of the Lord endures forever.” God’s word endures for all eternity…So spend your short life knowing God’s word and doing God’s word, and this will impact eternity.
How much time did you spend this last year preaching the gospel, searching the Scriptures, or doing His word?
How much time will you spend this next year laboring for eternity? “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life…”—John 6:27
Love,
Ryan, Lydia, Samuel, and Keely Sullivan
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