New Years 2008

Generally speaking, I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. However, I do believe that New Year’s affords us an opportunity to reflect on the “newness” God brings into our lives, every day, through Jesus Christ. What follows, then, are several texts our family will be meditating on this New Year’s Eve and Day—we hope you will join us in delighting in the newness God brings in Christ:

The Newness of God’s Covenant with Us: “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant” (Hebrews 9:15).

The Newness of Life in Christ: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17).

The Newness of Worship: “’9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.’ 10 Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants…12 Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare his praise in the coastlands” (Isaiah 42:9-10, 12).

The Newness of our Manner of Life: “…22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24).

The Hope of a New Creation: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:1-2).

The Newness of All Things: “And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’” (Rev. 21:5).

For the glory of Him who is making all things new,
Pastor Charlie