God's Formula for Success In the New Year

John Wooden, the eminently successful basketball coach at UCLA during its dynasty years, was asked his secret in producing stellar teams. His answer: "We master the basics. We drill over and over again on the fundamentals."
Moody Monthly, September, 1989, p. 4.

When I was a child, during the Christmas season we used to always say, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.” You don’t hear as much of that anymore. People wishing each other Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Businesses like to say, “Have a Prosperous New Year.”
Well, Christmas is over but the New Year hasn’t begun yet. I think that God wants us to have both a prosperous and happy new year and I think He has given us His formula for that in Scripture.

There is only one place where the Word of God uses the word “success.” And that is in Joshua 1:8. But I believe that God expounds on how to be a success in:
Proverbs 4:23-27.
"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil."

The dictionary defines the word KEEPSAKE as Anything kept or given to be kept, for the sake of the giver; a memento.

Keep:
Bad sense- To conceal, Hidden Thing, Subtle.
Good sense- To Guard, Protect, Maintain, Obey.
I believe that since the Bible says that:
nothing can be hidden from God
since He knows everything and can even read our thoughts (Psalm 139:2 among other places)
since this proverb is really about the benefits of wisdom
We can safely say that this is talking about KEEP in the good sense.

Heart-Feelings, Will, Intellect, The Center of Anything.

With All Diligence-A Guard (the man, the post, or the prison), Watch

Hebrew: Keep thy heart above all keeping.
What does that mean to you?

To me, it means that above everything else that we feel is important to us, above everything else that we feel is worth keeping (holding onto), whether it be:
1. Worldly Possessions-I Timothy 6:17-19
2. Friendships-Proverbs 18:24
3. Family Relations-Luke 14:26,27
4. Fame-Luke 9:25
5. Popularity
6. Etc.
The Holy Bible says it is most important to keep our heart, to guard our heart.

Why Keep Our Heart With All Diligence?
The second part of the verse tells us why: “For out of it are the issues of life.”
What do you think that means?
Issues-Outgoings, or, as another person put it, Spiritual Vitality.

Let’s look at some things Jesus said to help us understand this a little better:
Matthew 15:1-20 The Pharisees are questioning Jesus about why the disciples don’t keep the tradition of washing their hands before they eat. Jesus responds by telling the Pharisee’s how they have transgressed the commandments of God.
Look at verse 7-11 and 16-20. Luke 6:43-45.
If you, really, want to get to know someone listen to what they say. Sooner or later their heart comes out.

Verse 24:
“Put away”-to turn off, to turn aside, depart, forsake, to cease, etc. Proverbs 3:7 “depart” same word as “Put away.”
Froward-primary root- to knot or distort. Make crooked, perverse.
Perverse-to be opposed to law, to transgress, contrary to law.
Lips-has to do with speech.
Doesn’t this go right along with those verses we read in Matthew and Luke?
See also:
James 1:26, Psalm 39:1, I Peter 3:10.

Verse 25:
“Look straight”-to be level, right, upright, just, lawful, etc.
Two main meanings:
1. Literally: straight
2. Ethically: an upright moral life.
This concept is reflected in many of our modern day expressions: “the straight and narrow, standing straight and tall (the good sense of pride), straight from the shoulder (honesty)”
The Hebrew idiom “to be right in the eyes of someone” means to have that person’s approval.

We should be seeking the Lord’s approval.

Have you ever been driving down the road and something off to the side catches your eye and you look that way and kind of begin to stare. What happens? In a matter of a couple of seconds you’re heading over in that direction, aren’t you? You got your eyes off of where they are supposed to be.

Lamentations 3:47-51. What Jeremiah saw affected his heart. Not in a lustful way, but it still affected his heart.
Psalm 101:3 In part: “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes:”
Matthew 6:22,23: Jesus said the light of the body is the eye. Notice the exclamation point at the end of verse 23. That statement is not a question it is an exclamation.
Matthew Henry said this:
“Let the eye be fixed and not wandering; let it not rove after everything that presents itself, for then it will be diverted from good and ensnared in evil.
We must keep our eye upon our Master, and be careful to approve ourselves to Him.”

Verse 26:
“Ponder”-to roll flat, (for example, to prepare a road). to weigh mentally.
Matthew Henry says,
"put the word of God in one scale, and what thou hast done, or art about to do, in the other, and see how they agree; be nice and critical in examining whether thy way be good before the Lord and whether it will end well.’’ We must consider our past ways and examine what we have done, and our present ways, what we are doing, whither we are going, and see that we walk circumspectly. It concerns us to consider what are the duties and what the difficulties, what are the advantages and what the dangers, of our way, that we may act accordingly. "Do nothing rashly.’’

“Be Established”-one word in the Hebrew. The main idea is to bring something into an incontrovertible existence. Incontrovertible-not admitting of controversy; undeniable.

I know a preacher who was at a meeting with other preachers one time and they were discussing where they stood on an issue and it came my friend’s turn to tell where he stood on this issue and my friend said, “Well here’s where I stand.” And before he could say anymore one of the other preachers said, “Wait a minute, so and so, everybody here knows where you stand.” They knew where he stood on the issue before he even told them. That’s an Incontrovertible Existence!

A better example:
Proverbs 8:27 says that God prepared the heavens, but Proverbs 3:19 says that He also established (fixed) the heavens. One can be sure that God created the world and has it under control. The heavens have been established as His throne and the earth as His dominion. He reigns through wisdom and understanding.
That is an incontrovertible existence!

Verse 27:
“Turn not to the right hand nor to the left”
Deuteronomy 5:32, 12:32, 28:14, Joshua 1:7
We are not to deviate from the Word of God. Sometimes we get our own ideas in there and try to justify what we want to do and try to explain it away. We say, “Well, God surely doesn’t really mean that.”

Suppose a pharmacist has to calculate a dosage of medicine according to a person’s body weight, and instead of calculating it for a 100 pound woman, he calculates it for her husband who weighs 200 pounds. If the man’s wife took that medicine she would be getting twice the dosage she should be taking. That could result in a potential fatality.
Many times we are more concerned about our body than our soul. We are careful not to go to extremes that might cause us physical harm but indifferent when it comes to our spiritual health.

“Remove thy foot from evil.”
Proverbs 4:14, Psalm 1:1, Proverbs 1:10, 15.
God is serious about guarding our hearts.

Remember that quote at the beginning by John Wooden, basketball coach at UCLA?
When asked his secret in producing stellar teams. His answer: "We master the basics. We drill over and over again on the fundamentals."
You don’t have to be a theologian to be a successful Christian, you just have to drill over and over again on the fundamentals.
We haven’t mastered the basics yet. What are the basics of the Christian life?
1. Prayer
2. Bible Reading
3. Study
4. Witnessing
5. Giving
6. Scripture Memory
We try, sometimes, to make it harder than it is.

Keep thy heart with all diligence. How?
Master the basics. Drill over and over again on the fundamentals.
I never met a godly preacher that got to the place where they felt like they could stop doing the basics and be used of God.
That, after building a work for God, felt like they had gotten to the place where they could now quit praying, or quit reading their Bible, or quit studying, or didn’t have to witness, or could stop giving, or felt like they knew enough Scripture.
I am not saying we shouldn’t grow. II Peter 1:5-10 talks about growing and adding to our faith. But when we get so busy serving God that we don’t sit at His feet, we’re doing good works in the flesh. We’re missing it!

Want to be a success in your Christian life this coming year. Master the basics. Drill over and over on the fundamentals.
Proverbs 4:23-27 God’s formula for success in the coming year!