Saturday, January 07, 2006
January 1, 2006 Sermon Notes--Renew, Renew!
note: posting taken from loose sermon outline notes of pastor. Actual sermon not videotaped this week. Sorry.
Text: Psalm 51:10-12; 2 Cor 4:16-18See also Titus 3:5
Happy New Year! This is the time of year where we look back, where we make our resolutions that will inevitably be broken, where we talk about gaining weight, finishing that novel, talking less on the phone, paying down the bills, and invariably, we evalaute those resolutions and find them lacking.
You know, looking back is good. But, Christ calls us to be a forward thinking people. He calls us to look forward, to look ahead, to not live on the past. Granted, it is good to look back, but we cannot be firmly rooted in the past. We must be rooted in the Present of God, the Present of Christ. But, things are not always great, they are not always rosy. We tire, we bleed.
With Christ, we need to realize that each day is a new opportunity. Each day, God renews us. Each day, though the mountains crumble and new ones rise, we are renewed by Christ's love and sacrifice, by His transforming regeneration (Titus 3:5).
This reminds me of a movie from the 1970s, a somewhat cheesy though modern classic scifi film called Logan's Run. It takes place in the future, where all humanity lives in relative harmony in one city. You have a disc on your hand. When you turn 30, everything goes bad. You must report to the ceremony of Carousel to be "renewed", or you will be hunted down by Sandmen who vaporize you. Here is the key, renewal is a farce: you really just get cremated because you can't have the population growing, so when people turn thirty, you kill them. There is supposedly a place called sanctuary where "runners" can go to escape. however, there is no real sanctuary, just the outside world.
Well, here is the good news. There is a real sanctuary for us. It is in the healing power of the Lamb of God, Christ. It is hiding in the flood of the blood of the Lamb, being renewed by His sacrifice and the cleansing power of his blood. We need to ask for this renewal and accept the gift of redemption.
Even as our bodies on the outside are wasting away, we are being renewed daily in the Holy Spirit. We are being drawn closer to Him, becomeing more His people, more of His true creation, the New Man. Thus, growing older, another year, it doesn't mean as much as it does to the outside world. To them, renewal is getting botox treatments. To the outside world, getting your face lifted behind your ears is renewal. Not so with us. WE are not concerned with the lesseer, outside being. WE are concerned with the inner, eternal soul. Through the the Holy Spirit, we can begin each day as fresh as babes. Therefore, we can use each day to resolve to be better, to improve, and each day each minute, is a gift to be used to renew ourselves in Christ and to help others to seek renewal in Him. So, here and now, not as the folks in Logan's Run, but as a brother in Christ, I urge you all: Renew! Renew!
Text: Psalm 51:10-12; 2 Cor 4:16-18See also Titus 3:5
Happy New Year! This is the time of year where we look back, where we make our resolutions that will inevitably be broken, where we talk about gaining weight, finishing that novel, talking less on the phone, paying down the bills, and invariably, we evalaute those resolutions and find them lacking.
You know, looking back is good. But, Christ calls us to be a forward thinking people. He calls us to look forward, to look ahead, to not live on the past. Granted, it is good to look back, but we cannot be firmly rooted in the past. We must be rooted in the Present of God, the Present of Christ. But, things are not always great, they are not always rosy. We tire, we bleed.
With Christ, we need to realize that each day is a new opportunity. Each day, God renews us. Each day, though the mountains crumble and new ones rise, we are renewed by Christ's love and sacrifice, by His transforming regeneration (Titus 3:5).
This reminds me of a movie from the 1970s, a somewhat cheesy though modern classic scifi film called Logan's Run. It takes place in the future, where all humanity lives in relative harmony in one city. You have a disc on your hand. When you turn 30, everything goes bad. You must report to the ceremony of Carousel to be "renewed", or you will be hunted down by Sandmen who vaporize you. Here is the key, renewal is a farce: you really just get cremated because you can't have the population growing, so when people turn thirty, you kill them. There is supposedly a place called sanctuary where "runners" can go to escape. however, there is no real sanctuary, just the outside world.
Well, here is the good news. There is a real sanctuary for us. It is in the healing power of the Lamb of God, Christ. It is hiding in the flood of the blood of the Lamb, being renewed by His sacrifice and the cleansing power of his blood. We need to ask for this renewal and accept the gift of redemption.
Even as our bodies on the outside are wasting away, we are being renewed daily in the Holy Spirit. We are being drawn closer to Him, becomeing more His people, more of His true creation, the New Man. Thus, growing older, another year, it doesn't mean as much as it does to the outside world. To them, renewal is getting botox treatments. To the outside world, getting your face lifted behind your ears is renewal. Not so with us. WE are not concerned with the lesseer, outside being. WE are concerned with the inner, eternal soul. Through the the Holy Spirit, we can begin each day as fresh as babes. Therefore, we can use each day to resolve to be better, to improve, and each day each minute, is a gift to be used to renew ourselves in Christ and to help others to seek renewal in Him. So, here and now, not as the folks in Logan's Run, but as a brother in Christ, I urge you all: Renew! Renew!
# posted by Mark : 4:48 PM
