All Praise to God!

For What He Has Done

All praise to God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ for the great things has done in 2021. I find it right to give God thanks and praise for his faithfulness to us over this past year. MY YEAR HIGHLIGHTS

We all certainly have plenty of reasons from 2021 to give God thanks and praise. God has been with us carrying us through our toughest times working in them and through them making our highlights possible. God has been with us.

We give thanks to God because we can boldly call him our Father, because God came to us at Christmas through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today Ephesians calls us, his Church, on the first Sunday of the new year, to give all praise to God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ because of what he has done, what he is doing and what he will do. The challenge for us gathered here today is to remember what God has done for us through Christ. To recognize what he is doing now. To realize we the church are part of his mysterious plan to redeem all creation to himself. How will we partner with God in 2022 to be part of that plan.

All Praise and Glory to God Because of Christ.

COMPLETE STORY OF GOD

FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE

- He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. Why? Because we are united in Christ. Ephesians 4:3-6

- Before God created the world he loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy without fault in his eyes.

Through Christ God decided in advance to adopt us into his family.

Saved us by his grace

Ephesians 2:8-9

So we praise God for what he has done!

FOR WHAT HE IS DOING

God who is rich in Kindness and grace purchased our freedom from sin, through the blood of his son.

God through Christ has showered and is showering his redeeming kindness and grace. God is redeeming all creation to himself. God through Christ has purchased our freedom from sin.

Revealed his mysterious plan IN CHRIST.

He calls us through Christ to be part of that plan.

FOR WHAT HE WILL DO

God Saved us by his grace from sin and death.

Saved us for the good works he prepared beforehand. Those good works are part of his plan. Ephesians 2:10

This is God’s plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ.

Philippians 2:5–11 NLT

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God Called us together before the foundation of the world to be part of his plan to redeem all creation to himself.

How in 2022 are we going to work with God in his work to redeem all creation? It starts by remembering what God has done through Christ. Recognizing how God is working now and realizing that God called us the church to be part of his glorious plan to redeem all creation.

It starts by recognizing that we are not our own lords, but that Jesus Christ is our Lord.

Going Forward in God’s Plan

Since God through Christ has adopted us into his family how then are we to respond to what he has done and what he is doing? The answer is in Ephesians 1:14

Ephesians 1:14 NLT

14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

Since God has purchased us with the blood of his own son Jesus Christ, how do we respond? By realizing God’s redeeming work of all creation continues through us his church. Our response is to partner with God in his mysterious plan to redeem all creation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

As we begin a new year lets remember what God has done through Christ, lets recognize what God is doing now, and finally lets realize the work God will through Christ.