Well, last week I wished you a happy Christmas. This week I'm wishing you a happy new year.

And while it is the first of the year, January 1, 2020, some of you might be thinking about writing some resolutions.

You know, those things you write and are all intent about keeping for a few weeks, and

then life sets in.

Well, let's go back in time to our friend Jonathan Edwards because he wrote some resolutions.

He wrote 70 of them. This was from the time of 1722 to 1723.

At this time, Jonathan Edwards is 19 years old, going on 20.

He's completing his MA at Yale, and he is also doing a brief stint as a pastor in New York City of a

Presbyterian church. This church met by the Wharf in New York City and

Edwards was there for a few months.

And so during this time, as he's trying to think about what he wants his life to be

about, he does what he often did.

He wrote, and so he wrote these resolutions.

Edwards resolutions start with a preface and he's very important

that we remember this preface. He says this, being sensible that I am unable to do anything

without God's help. I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions so far as they are agreeable to his

will for Christ's sake.

Now there's three things I love there.

One is his recognition of his own weakness and his own ability to keep these

resolutions. And because of his own weakness, what does he do? Well, he appeals to God's help and

God's grace. And so he wants God's grace to be at work in him.

But then thirdly, and I love this, he's also aware

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