Three Simple Rules for the New Year. Based on John Wesley's Three Simple Rules: Do No Harm, Do Good, Stay in Love with God.  How do my words, actions (and INACTIONS) harm others? Doing good is universal. Is doing a little good enough? There are so many obstacles in the way of doing the work to staying in love with God. How do we remove those obstacles? How do we love God with our  heart, mind, soul, strength?

New Year's Resolutions are rarely followed through with… One of the definitions of "resolution": is Resolution: the act of analyzing a complex notion into simpler ones -Merriam Webster Which is probably why some resolutions fail- we see the big problem- we need to save money to buy a car or we need to be healthier… and we forget to analyze the big picture into simpler steps.

What if we analyzed the idea of being a follower of Jesus into Three Simple Rules we could follow this year that could change our lives and the lives around us?

Last week we started our sermon series, Three Simple Rules. Rule one: Do No Harm. Rule 2: Do Good. Rule 3: Stay in Love with God. Last weekend’s focus was “do no harm”… we need to be on guard. We need to take a hard look at what are actions (and inactions) and our words could be doing to others. This week “do good.”

The third rule John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, calls 'Attending upon the Ordinances of God'. I can understand why the author, Bishop Job, of the Three Simple Rules, changed it from Attending… to simply: staying in love with God. BUT I also think that 'staying in love' with God makes it sound too easy. It's really not enough to SAY 'I am a Christian' and it's way more than just saying 'I love God!'