The new year has dawned. I was up early for our 8.00am morning liturgy service which was a bit hard after a fun night with other church members as we did at house crawl before a 10.30pm New Years Eve service the night before.
As the new year comes around again some of us make New Year Resolutions. But how long do we go before we have broken them or lapsed back into our own ways again.
Our Vicar's wife preached from Jeremiah 31:31-34
31 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
She talked about how God promised us a new covenant in the promise of Jesus. The old covenant was that of the law in the old testament. But the law could not save us, it can only show us that we are sinners.
God's new covenant is His love and Grace. We are filled with the Holy Spirit when we ask Jesus into our lives and He teaches us and dwells in our heart. He will always be there and with us. He forgives us even before we knew Him “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
We may make promises only to break them. We may make changes and sometimes succeed but often all under our own steam. We need to learn to ask God to help us. We should remember the only unchanging thing for 2012 is God's faithfulness and that He will always be there.
All scripture is from New International Version 1984 (unless otherwise started)
Some church family New Year revelers dressed for the occasion.
I am second from the left
No comments:
Post a Comment