​2025.
 
A New Year is here. Now what?
 
Is New Years just a time to celebrate the turning of the calendar by counting down the clock with a crystal ball in New York City, setting off breathtaking, fantastic fireworks, making personal resolutions, sipping some bubbly and kissing someone you love, or could it be a significant turning point in our life?
 

• I believe what a new year brings is up to you and me.

 

• One of the major truths throughout the Bible is that God is always doing something new.

 
From Genesis to Revelation, and everything in between, God is about the business of making things new. The Apostle John, the receiver of the revelation of things to come, wrote by the Holy Spirit “And He who sits on the throne, said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Revelation 21:5
 
God is a God of new. New is normal for the Sovereign Lord of the universe. New is in His holy nature. God’s faithful, true word declares He does new things. Guess what?  Our heavenly Father loves to do new for me and you!
 

• One of my favorite verses in scripture is found in Isaiah 43:18-19a which reads “ 

“Do not call to mind the former things, or dwell on the things of the past. Behold, I will do something new.” Numerous times throughout my faith journey the Lord used this verse to reassure me that He would do something new in me.
 
At a significant juncture in my journey, I was deeply depressed, despairing of life, and uncertain about the future. The Lord lovingly overwhelmed a broken guy who was struggling to find his way back from a life setback. Oh, how I needed to hear that God was going to do something new! God, not Steve or anyone else would deliver me from the “former things,” the hurtful “things of the past” that I was dwelling on.
 
“Behold” means to pay attention. Listen up. The Holy Spirit spoke to me: Steve, yesterday is history. The old is behind. The future is forward. Your Father in heaven is going to do something new. Note the word says, “WILL DO something new,” not might, or hope to do. What a promise from the Promise Keeper!
 
With His help, I focused on something new, not something old. Today, not yesterday. Over time, my attitude and life changed. The Lord brought me back from my setback. I am a comeback kid in Christ who knows the power of God doing something new!
 
Do you need something new in 2025? Are you tired of dwelling on yesterday? How is focusing on hurt, pain and heartache helping you to move forward? Do you really think the Lord wants you to drag negative baggage into your faith journey in the New Year?
 
Time to close out 2024 and open the door of 2025 with some new luggage!
 
Something New In You In The New Year
 
I do not know what the something new in you should be in 2025. But you and God do. Here are a few suggestions that may apply to your life.
 

• Get things right with the Lord. You know what they are.
• Watch your words. Confess life, not death with your mouth.
• Clean up your language. Flush your potty mouth!
• Speak your confession of faith with confidence.
• Overcome something that has beaten you down for years.
• Overcome a bad habit. Defeat a stronghold.
• Deal a death blow to secret sin.
• Restore a relationship that matters to you.
• Make right something you did wrong in 2024.
• Stand up. Stand out. Stand boldly. Stand strong for Jesus Christ.
• Commit to be a positive influence for God’s Kingdom in 2025.

 
Resolutions, like gym memberships and diet plans, last about three weeks. Commitments to make significant changes in our life, with God’s help, can last a lifetime.
 
Write down what your something new in the New Year is going to be. ____________ _____________________________________________________________________.
 
 Could it be there is someone in your life that would love to see you do something new for you in 2025? Someone who genuinely cares about you is pulling for you to do better in an area of your life and hoping you will do something about it.
 
Why not surprise them with a new you in the New Year!
 
You might live a better life than I do. But I know this about me, I need something new all the time! I really do. Just ask my wife…I am sure she has an idea or two for me in 2025!
 
Robert Schuler has said “It takes guts to leave the ruts. A rut is a grave with the ends kicked out.” Doing the same old thing, the same old way is being stuck in a rut. Living in a rut is not God’s good, acceptable and perfect will for His followers.
 

• Refuse to stay stuck in an old rut. Choose to do something new. Get out of the rut you have been in before it becomes your grave.

 
Every day, not just New Year’s, is an opportunity to be and do something new in Christ.
        
A NEW YOU IN THE NEW YEAR…. why not? Look to the Lord to do something new in you in the New Year.
 
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” II Corinthians 5:17
 
A Word For Your Week: Something new in you in 2025.

​Christmas is a wonderful time of the year.
           
I am a Christian. I believe with all my heart that Christmas is about the birth of God’s Son Jesus Christ.
 
Imagine with me for a moment you are one of the shepherds tending your sheep. Fairly normal, probably boring, sheep herding shift. Then, the night sky lights up with angelic messengers. declaring a wonderful, history and life-changing message for humanity.
 
And the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11
 

• God loved the world so much that He sent His only Son that first Christmas to be the Savior of mankind. The angel announced “good news of a great joy.” A Savior, Christ the Lord, had been born in Bethlehem for you, me and the whole world.

 
Personally, I really enjoy the traditions of the holiday festivities. Santa Claus. Brightly lit Christmas trees. Families sharing a festive meal. Goodies galore. Wide-eyed children (adults too!) excited to open presents. Neighborhood light tours. Inspirational church programs and pageants all warm my sentimental heart.
 

• News Bulletin:  Santa Claus is not our Savior. Jesus is. He is the light of the world that outshines any Christmas light display. 

           
Fact: Ever since the birth of Jesus over two thousand years ago, Satan, the world and our surrounding culture has declared war on Christmas. Their target: Jesus Christ. Anti-Christian, secular minded, liberal thinkers boldly attempt to remove Christ from Christmas.
 
You who keep up with culture know their tactics.  Ban Nativity scenes from public. No Christmas carols banished from school holiday programs. “Happy Holidays” is the politically correct replacement for Merry Christmas.  Even poinsettias have been removed from a courthouse because they are a religious symbol! Talk about “Bah, Humbug!”
 

• The above efforts of unbelieving folks infuriate me and saddens my heart.  

 
I have a few thoughts worth thinking about regarding the futile attempt of arrogant, self-righteous, Christ rejecters who are on a mission they can never win.  
 

• Man may remove a manger in a nativity scene but not the message of the manger.
• Man can replace Christmas with a X-mas, but Jesus is still Savior of the world. 
• Can man undo what God has done? Never going to happen!
• Do you really think any mere man can take the Lord God out of anything?
• Does man really think he can trump God’s Word in the Bible with his word?
• Do you think God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are panicking in heaven over secular man’s efforts to erase Christmas?  Can you imagine God declaring, “O My gosh, what shall We do?” Not likely!
• Who in this or any world can dethrone Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords?

 
Oh, unbelieving, secular man, wake up! Jesus came at Christmas, grew up, taught truth, personally suffered, was crucified on a cruel cross and rose from the dead with resurrection power to be your Savior.
 
History is “His” Story. The redemption story began with a baby born in a manger that first Christmas. Two thousand years after the holy child’s birth, our lost, sad, sin-sick world still needs Jesus.
 

• Christmas can never be taken away because Christ lives in our heart.  

 
Fellow Christian, this Christmas stand up for what you believe. Never be intimidated by an unbelieving culture. Refuse to be shaken by the foolishness that abounds.
 

• Celebrate Jesus Christ joyfully, boldly and unashamedly. Pray for lost souls. Share your faith in a winsome manner with those who wander aimlessly in spiritual darkness, blinded by Satan. As the light of the world, reach out with God’s love and mercy to those who are sincerely looking for truth.

 
At Christmas, and everyday of the year, Jesus is still, and will always be, good news of a great joy!
 
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
 
A Word For Your Week: Jesus Christ is Christmas.

“I am bored.” “My life is boring.” “I am bored to tears.” 
Recently I have heard statements about being bored from a seventy-year-old retiree, a thirty-year-old Generation Z-er, an eleven-year-old fourth grader, and a forty-year-old wife and mother.
BORING HAPPENS.

• Fact:  You and I can become bored.

Steve Roll has been bitten by the boring bug more times than I can count. I definitely do not like the sense that my life is stuck on the boredom button. Being bored is not my buddy.

• Last time I checked, boredom is not one of the fruits of the Spirit!

 B-o-r-i-n-g is epidemic in our hyper-speed, fast-paced, entertainment crazed, technology driven society. Our culture has more STUFF TO DO THAN EVER. Activities ad nauseum. Endless events. Online games. Unceasing demands on our time and energy.
Lots of stuff to do…BUT WE HAVE MORE BOREDOM THAN EVER!
Americans are a go, go, go ….do, do, do people that have no idea what to do when the go and do come to a screeching halt.
I have a couple of thoughts about boredom. Boring is never invited. It just shows up. Who gets up in the morning, begins their day by declaring I cannot wait to be bored today?  No one in their reasonably sound mind that I know.
Boring is a genuine feeling that comes and goes.
Boredom messes with our head and emotions. Stimulates all sorts of stinking thinking. Tempts us to be discouraged and depressed. Being bored is a royal pain in the hind end! 

• So, what should you and I do when boring shows up? How about focusing on the abundant life we believers in Christ have in Him? Good idea!  

The Parable of the Good Shepherd is found in John 10:1-18. Read this passage in its entirety. Jesus declares He is the Good Shepherd (the Savior) who takes care of the sheep (you and me).
 A shepherd knows each sheep by name. The sheep know the shepherd’s voice. Shepherds protect the sheep from predators who seek to destroy them. The shepherd is willing to lay his life down to save the sheep.
In verse 10 John writes about Jesus: “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I (the Good Shepherd) have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly,”     
What does abundant life in Christ have to do with beating boring? Everything. When you and I walk by faith that the Good Shepherd Jesus laid His life down for us sheep so we could have an abundant life, boredom fades into the sunset!
Boredom wants you and me to think we have no life. Nothing is happening. Where did the fun go? Jesus laid down His life on a cruel Cross and rose from the dead so that we could be saved. Salvation is all about joy! The joy of receiving Jesus’ joy that no one can steal from us (John 16:20).
Listen up my friend.  When I am wrestling with boring, I still have abundant life in Christ. His victory is my victory. His joy is my joy. His peace is my peace. How can abundant life in Christ be boring? Not possible. Abundant life in the Lord is sustaining, satisfying, gratifying, fulfilling and eternal.
Just a thought. Boring won’t kill you! Make boredom work for you.

• When boredom sneaks up on you, remind the boredom boogey-man that you have abundant life in Christ. I am alive forever in Jesus. Take that boredom!

Battling Boredom

• Boredom has a lifespan. It does not last forever. Sometimes boring lingers longer than at other times. If a person is bored all the time, they need to get a life! The point is: you and I will not be bored all the days of our lives unless we choose to do so!
• When boredom shows up, do not do something stupid that you will regret. Resist the temptation to do anything out of God’s will just because you are bored. Amazing how many bored folks sin!
• Being busy for the sake of being busy is not the antidote for boredom. Busyness will just wear you out… and make you more bored with life!
• Get up. Get out. Do something meaningful and rewarding. Then come back and take a nap! Sleep that boring spirit off.   
• Turn “boring” moments into opportunities to draw closer to God. Read your Bible. Listen to praise music. Pray for people you care about. Write an encouraging note to someone. Text a scripture to someone. Call someone up. Serve your loved ones. Help out with ministry at your church. Reach out to help someone who needs assistance and encouragement from a servant of Jesus.
• Life is not just about me. Boredom’s focus is self. Stop being so self-centered. Be other-centered. Who needs me to serve them in Jesus’ name today? There is nothing more rewarding (and not boring) when we volunteer to serve others along life’s journey. The regards are amazing!
• Keep your spiritual armor on (Ephesians 6:1-10). Satan will attack with a spirit of boredom to keep Christ’s followers from abundant living in Christ and reaching out to win lost souls for the Kingdom of God. Sadly, folks who reject Jesus, will be bored all the way to hell!
• When boredom comes knocking on your mind’s door, keep the door locked. Find something meaningful and valuable to do. Boring will have to knock on someone else’s door!

 

• My friend, Spirit-filled living, enjoying abundant life in Christ, beats boring. Life is not boring when we love Jesus with all our heart and serve others in His name.   

“It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant.” Matthew 20:26
“Now we who are strong should bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.” Romans 15:1
“Serve the Lord with gladness, come before Him with joyful singing.” Psalm 100:2
A Word For Your Week: Beat boredom with abundant life in Christ!

Two people.  Similar life circumstances. One is joyful, happy. The other sad and depressed.
The difference?  Attitude. One chooses joy. The other does not.

• A strikingly significant sign of our troubling times is the joylessness of so many people.

If you do not believe me, I challenge you to look straight into the eyes of people you meet. What is obvious by its absence is the sparkle of joy. Very few people’s eyes dance with joy anymore. Nor do many walk with a joyful bounce in their step.      

Sadly, in our society, joyless people are the rule while joyful people are the exception. A genuinely joyful person sticks out in the crowd like a happy sore thumb (can a sore thumb be happy?). Not sure about that one!   
Lack of joy puts many people in their grave long before they are pronounced dead! Know anyone like this? I have seen far too many joyless people in my lifetime.
Oh, how our world needs joy! How can you and I be joyful in a joyless world?

In his book “Laugh Again,” author Charles Swindoll writes:

“I have discovered that a joyful countenance has nothing to do with one’s age or one’s occupation (or lack of it) or one’s geography or education or marital status or good looks or circumstances. Joy is a choice. It is a matter of attitude that stems from one’s confidence in God—that He is at work, that He is in full control, that He is in the midst of what ever has happened, is happening, and will happen. Either we fix our minds on that and determine to laugh again, or we wail and whine our way through life, complaining that we never got a fair shake. Laughing one’s way through life depends on nothing external. Regardless of how severely the winds of adversity may blow, we set our sails toward joy.”

• Setting our life sails toward joy is setting our faith and confidence firmly in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The book of Philippians is a book about joy. I encourage you to study Philippians this week in detail. These 104 verses, penned by Paul from prison, are packed with joy and rejoicing! Thirteen times he uses the word joy, rejoice or rejoicing. During personal persecution and agonizing adversity, Paul intentionally set his sail toward joy.
Three life-altering observations about the attitude of joy and rejoicing that I am learning from Paul in Philippians.    

First, JOY is not based on CIRCUMSTANCES. If circumstances are responsible for joy, then Paul should have been horribly depressed! He was chained to a Roman guard, under house arrest, awaiting execution.  Few if any of Paul’s daily circumstances shouted joy. Read II Corinthians 11:22-33 and see what Paul’s life was like.

Paul rose above his difficult situation by rejoicing in the Lord. His joy was internal, not external. Rejoicing flowed from the inside (his heart), not from the outside (his situation.).    

• A Roman jail cell could not lock joy out of Paul’s heart.   

Second, JOY is a CHOICE. Life is about choice. Circumstances, good and bad, have a way of choosing us. But you and I choose our response to life’s twists and turns.  According to God’s Word, we can choose joy in all circumstances!

• Paul did. Incarcerated, isolated, maltreated, misunderstood, tortured, forgotten, and nearing the end of earthly life, God’s apostle of grace rejoiced in the Lord.   

Joy does not choose us. Joy must be chosen. To rejoice or not rejoice is up to me. Joy is my choice and my choice alone.      

• Like Paul, if we want joy, we must choose joy.

Third, JOY comes from JESUS CHRIST. The source of genuine joy is God.  The world apart from God knows nothing of real joy. In verse 4:4 Paul exhorts Christians to “Rejoice in the Lord; again, I will say rejoice.” Paul makes it crystal clear who to rejoice in (Jesus) and how often to rejoice in Him (always).

The one and only object of a Christian’s joy is Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus came and gave His life so that His joy would be made full in all who believe in Him (John 17:13). Nothing can steal His joy from our heart without our permission.

• Rejoicing in all circumstances is a byproduct of knowing Jesus on a personal basis.

Bottom line: JESUS IN OUR JOY! He is risen from the dead and coming back one day soon to take His beloved bride the church home to be with Him in heaven for all eternity! Now that is something worth being joyful about, isn’t it!

When was the last time you looked in the mirror and your eyes danced with joy? You had a joyful bounce in your step? Others noticed a joyful spirit in you?

• If you are tired of being joyless, and desire to be joyful, begin right now by taking the following steps to a joyful attitude and a happier life.

1. Decide to be a joyful person.
2. Choose joy in every circumstance.
3. Refuse to allow anyone or anything to steal your joy.
4. Rejoice in the Lord! ALWAYS!
No matter which way the winds of life are blowing, set your sail for JOY!
“The joy of the Lord is our strength”                                      Nehemiah 8:10

“These things I have spoken to you, that My (Jesus Christ) joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”                                      John 15:11                            
A Word For Your Week: Today and everyday choose Jesus Christ and His joy.

If you have ever been lost, you know how good it felt to be found!
When I was 12 years old, Grandpa Wunderle took me deer hunting. He was a stow-away immigrant from Germany, had a deep guttural voice, distinct German accent and enjoyed eating cold sardines out of a can (smelled disgusting!). He was quite a character, called me Stevie, and wanted to show me how to hunt.
O-dark thirty (before sunrise) found us in the woods. Grandpa showed me all his hunting gear, demonstrating how it worked. He handed me a whistle.” Stevie, your job is to blow this whistle, which will drive the deer to where I am so I can shoot them.” I am sure I thought that was not very fair to Mr. Deer.
Throughout the day, I blew and blew that whistle with all my might.  Over and over again. Unknowingly, I wandered off and drifted away from where Grandpa told me to stay. It got dark at the end of the day. Really, really dark-dark! I had no idea where Grandpa was. Forest noises haunted me. My young mind imagined all kinds of creepy things that were coming to get me.
I was lost. Very frightened. No idea where I was or how to find Grandpa. I blew that whistle for all I was worth! After what seemed an eternity, low and behold, in the distance I saw a lantern and the shadow of a big, burly man coming my way. It was Grandpa! I ran as fast as my terrified feet could fly, hugged and held on to him for a long time.
STEVIE WAS FOUND! NO LONGER LOST!
My friends, I do not like being lost. Not in the woods. Not on the highway. Not in an unfamiliar city. Not anywhere. My wife says my sense of direction is so pitiful I could get lost in the car on our driveway. There is more truth to that than fiction!    

• Lost is not my friend. Being found is!

I want to share the story of a young man in scripture who was lost and then found. Please read the narrative in Luke 15:11-32. Visualize this story of lost and found. This story told by Jesus is called The Prodigal Son. Prodigal means wasteful.
A young man asked his father for his inheritance. Dad is still alive, so what is up with that junior? The father gave his second son the money. Immediately, the misguided, greedy boy left home and went far away where he partied to sow his wild oats.  Spent his entire inheritance on wine, women and song. When false friends spent all his money, he ended up feeding pigs in a pig pen! The hogs were eating better than him!
Friendless. Financially broke. Emotionally destitute. Lamenting his situation, verse seventeen records a monumental, destiny changing phrase “when he came to his senses.”  When he woke up to his dire circumstances he turned toward home. He would not return as a son but as a servant.
Trudging up the road, dirty, filthy, smelling like a pig (not a kosher thing for a Jewish boy!) he saw his father coming to meet him. Before he would complete his repentance speech, his dad, full of compassion, ran to his smelly son and embraced him!
The wayward son confessed his sins. Father’s response was utterly amazing. He told his attendants to “quickly” do the following things,

• Put the best robe on him. Signifying he is a son, not a slave.
• Put the signet ring on his finger. The ring from dear old dad was a credit card. Really Dad, giving him money!
• Put sandals on his feet. Why? Sons wore shoes. Slaves were kept barefoot so they could not run away.
• Cook the fatted calf. Time to party. Why? “This son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found; they began to make merry.” Verse 24

Arriving back home, the elder brother was ticked off. Dad simply told him you have been with me all this time, but your brother, my son, who was lost has been found! That is why we are partying!
Every time I read this story, my eyes well up with tears of joy and spiritual chills course through me.  

• So, do you get it? Lost son. Found by a loving, restoring father.

Regularly in my restoration ministry I meet with lost folks. Lost in their relationship with God. Lost marriage and family relationships. Lost loved ones. Lost jobs. Lost finances. Lost dreams. Lost hopes. Lost, lost, lost needing to be found!
John Newton was a slave trader. He came to faith in Christ and wrote the most iconic, popular Christian hymn of all time Amazing Grace. Newton wrote “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost and now I am found, was blind but now I see.
Newton’s personal testimony: once lost, but found. Blind but seeing with the eye of faith.
Like John Newton, I, Steve Roll, once was lost. But now I am found. I was blind. But now I see. October 6, 1972 changed my life for eternity when this lost boy turned to the Savior and Jesus welcomed me home to His heart with the promise of eternal life in heaven! GLORY TO GOD!!!

• How about you my reader? Are you lost and need found? No matter how lost you are, God loves you and sent His only Son Jesus to save you. Open your heart to Him. Surrender your life. Receive the free gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

• If you were once lost but now are found, rejoice in your salvation every single day.

Imagine what it was like for the wayward son, fresh out of a smelly pigpen to enjoy a feast of delicious food, a warm bath and lay his head on a down pillow that first night home. He probably said “Oh my, I was lost. Now I am found because my father loves me!”

• Jesus is a Savior who seeks and finds lost people.

Do you know someone who is spiritually lost? Share the Good News of Jesus Christ with them. Lead them to saving faith in the Savior.
“For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost.” Luke 19:
A Word For Your Week: Jesus specializes in finding and saving lost souls.