Another year come and gone. Harold Camping was wrong (twice), we’re still here. The Mayans were wrong, we’re still here. I guess when God in Matthew 24:36 says no one will know the day or hour of Jesus’ second coming, He meant it. Crazy, huh?? I digress. If you’re like me, then around this time of year you may look back on the last year. You may think about the plans you’d made that didn’t come to pass, or the unplanned events that did and everything that came with them. At the same time you may be looking forward to this next year with anticipation of what it might hold. As I’m writing this, I’m well aware that some of you are thinking about a relationship with God that has waned over the last year. You may have wandered from the God who you followed with passion for a time. Others may be dealing with the loss of family members, divorce, health problems, or a host of issues that have arisen in the last year. As you look forward to another year, I want you to know that this message is for you. Many of you reading this I know, and so I do want to share this encouragement with you – God loves you. If I could I would sit with each of you and tell of the times God has undone me through my own sin and suffering only to remake me closer to the image of Jesus, drawing me closer to Himself. God is infinitely holy, infinitely knowledgeable of everything you’ve ever done and ever will do, and He loves you. It wasn’t your merit, it was God’s mercy that led Jesus to die for you. You are radiantly pure, holy, clothed in the righteous blood of Christ, the object of God’s infinite affection. You were adopted as sons and daughters through the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is jealous for his own – he makes no conditions to his love, he just says come. Psalm 34:8 – “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Intentionally I am packing this message with scripture because as much as I can I just want to get out of the way and let God speak to you, encourage you, and call you back to where your joy and hope is found, in your relationship with your God and Savior, Jesus.
Lamentations 3:19-24 – “Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Hosea 6:1-3 – “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” Psalm 73:23-26 – “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Romans 8:18 – “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”Phlippians 3:13-14 – “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Mark 2:17 – “when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Isaiah 53:3-6 – “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Romans 5:1-5 – “we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Hebrews 10:19-23 – “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” 1 John 3:2-3 – “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” Hebrews 12:1-3 – “since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
John 8:12 – “Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, if Paul’s instruction to Timothy 2 Timothy 1:6 to fan into flame the gift of God, the Holy Spirit of God within us is true for Timothy, it is certainly true for each of us. We cannot change the past, we can only entrust ourselves to our loving Father and run the race set before us. 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 – “Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Let us be humble in seeking out fellowship, community, and discipleship in this race, knowing that as God Himself exists in Triune community we should also exist in community. Let us be bold to manifest God’s love to the world around us, each of us stewarding the giftings God has given us well. Let us all be captivated by our God, by His glorious perfections, and his love and mercy in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us strive to have Christ formed in us by the Spirit as we see and savor Him from His Word. Let us all run this race together, eager to hear the words of Jesus – Matthew 25:23 – “‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’”
Jude 1:24-25 – “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever”
Your brother in Christ,
Adam
Following the Way 