Here is our first sermon of the New Year. It is from Romans 12 and is on discipleship.
This email accompanied the message:
“Reflections"
Shalom David and Sharon
A new year in the Hebrew calendar starts with a new moon at the beginning of the month. While there was no new moon on January 1, 2019, we still begin our year here in the states on that date. Our year started with our three sons taking part in a Messianic Young Adults conference in Rome called,
Muchan, which is Hebrew for "ready". So they spent their New Year's eve in Italy! What a blessing.
Tina and I had a quiet New Year's eve together and that is just the way that we wanted it. Our first week of the new year was filled with doctor appointments and just yesterday I had a minor surgical procedure. Don't worry, all is well!
I have been thinking a lot about the thoughts that occur at the beginning of the year and came to the conclusion that we should really be more concerned about our "New Life" than about the new year. Romans 12:1 reads:
I beseech (urge) you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable (rational) service.
It is, and should, be a simple fact that God does not want our new year's resolutions, He wants us! And it's not a once a year thing, it's an everyday thing!
Romans 12 is a wonderful chapter to read about what being a disciple of Messiah is all about. It's all about your relationships with God, with the world, with yourself, with believers and with non-believers. It's about walking uprightly with your God.
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Psalm 84:11
A walk with Him is a blessed walk indeed!
Myer Dennis and Tina Karp
New Years – New Life Resolution | Son of David Congregation
Recorded on January 5, 2019