New Beginnings

Good morning and Merry Christmas!

I am so glad that we can be gathered together today and enjoy some worship this morning. Today is a special day. IT isn’t often that we get to celebrate Christmas on a Sunday.

The last time that we were able to do this was on December 25th, 2016

After this morning the next time we will enjoy Christmas on a Sunday is December 25th, 2033. That is 11 years from now.

December 25, 2033

To help give some perspective on that.

For me. I couldn’t help but think about how old my kids would be.

Isaac will be 21

Ayndria will be 18. They both will potentially be in college.

I don’t want to think about how old I will be at that point.

That had me thinking about the amount of time that will have passed brought me back to childhood. I remember writting that essay about what you think the future will be like.

In the Future?

Remember those essay’s the ones where you had to write about what are all the new inventions that we would have. How we would live life and how different it will look. Often those essay’s ended up looking like the Jestons.

Jetsons Photo

We would all have flying cars and tubes that we get into to transport us around at high speeds. We will be able to eat any food we want from an automatic machine that cooks it for us. We can have house maid robots. I mean isn’t that what we hope the future holds.

To be honest that sounds great as a kid but as an adult I am happy that we don’t have flying cars. Can you imagine for a second what that would really be like. People struggling driving on roads where the road limits where we can go. Imagine if they were in the sky.

I can see the headlines now. Another flying car hits a House.

We never know what the future might hold but i sure hope it isn’t flying cars.

The truth is the future is exciting to think about at times. A lot of the reasons for that is because when we look to the future we can see possibilities.

Like that when we celebrate Christmas we can look to the possibilities of what is to come. Or in many ways we can see this is the start of a New Beginning for us.

Christmas is a New Beginning

Christmas marks a time of the year that we celebrate the Birth of Christ. It is the opportunity to celebrate and recognize that Christ coming is a new beginning for us. Let’s turn to the scriptures to help us see this.

John 1:1–5 NIV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:9–13 NIV

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Christmas is a New Beginning

Christmas is a time of year that we can look the start of something new. Jesus the Word came into the world as a light shining in the darkness. The world was in need of a Savior and Jesus came. He was a light in the darkness and he brought for the opportunity that would change the world. This is what we are reminded of this morning. We are reminded that the light the true light has come.

The Light Rejected

The other truth that we must face is that we live in a world that doesn’t always accept the light for what it is. That we do live in a world that has darkness and doesn’t always recognize Christ for what he is. There are times when the darkness feels like it is closing in but today is not that day. Despite many who might reject the light there are those that accept the light and that is reason for hope.

Children of God

This morning we get to have hope because the story begins with Jesus and the opportunity that we will have to become his children and to be a part of the family of God.

John 1:12–13 NIV

12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

THis is the grace and mercy that God has for us this morning that no matter what is going on when we choose to believe in him that he promises to make us his children. That this is now our inheritance and we are so blessed to know that we have a heavenly Father.

The End leads to a New Beginning

This is the last sunday of the year. next week we will be celebrating 2023. In the reality of the hope that we find in Jesus how do you want to move forward in your relationship with God?

How do you want to grow this coming year?

How do you want Him to change you?

In what areas of your life do you want to see God change?

THese are the questions that we need to be asking ourselves as we celebrate Christmas. These are the truths that we can have knowning that Christ was born today and everything can be made new. As we live out this truth.

John 1:14 NIV

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Let’s Pray