As we stand at the end of one year and look into the beginning of a new one, before the resolutions are made and broken, and before this current year has come to an end tonight, we need to declare to the Lord and in our hearts that the following is our first priority: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.." (Joshua 24:15b).

Is it in you?

power ... in the ancient Greek is δυνάμεως τής or dynameos tis

And the power or dynameos will come upon you declares Acts 1:8, but there is more to dynameos than just that.

[Jesus said:] "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me." -- John 12:26

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
-- Romans 12:21

A friend used to remind me that the number one goal in dealing with difficult people or circumstances is this: Don't become what you hate. He wasn't talking about hating the person, but despising their evil, wicked, petty, and sinful actions and motivations. We don't overcome the Devil by underhanded and dishonorable means. We overcome evil, we drive it back into the abyss, by doing what is right and filling our hearts and lives with goodness.

The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined
humanity - hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory
- because at the Father's will Jesus Christ became poor, and was
born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a
cross.  -- J. I. Packer

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not beconceited.
Romans 12:16

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. -- Romans 12:12

How can we keep our circumstances from determining our mood? How can we emancipate ourselves from the limitations that life deals us? The last in the trio of commandments opens the door for the other two to be true -- we can rejoice in hope and we can be patient in affliction because we have been faithful in prayer.

No matter what our situation is, we can pray with joy because of our hope in Christ no matter what our current situation is. We can remain patient, persevering through affliction, by presenting our requests and intercessions to God with thanksgiving. Prayer is God's gift to us so that we can be patient and joyful, even when things don't appear to be going well.

I hope my Southern Baptist Pastor isn't reading because I am about to start preaching! Here we go ...

God's plan is that those who have received His grace seek actively to persuade others to accept His divine, free, gracious offer to them. If I fail to invite others to be reconciled to God in Christ, I cease to be an agent of reconciliation, and I show signs of having received God's grace in vain.

Therefore, my involvement in evangelism helps me to share the treasure of God's grace. Person-to-person communication of the Christian faith is God's intended way of building the Church; it is the most credible form of demonstrating God's grace. I need to be involved in missions because God chose to send His Son to human beings. When I communicate God's intentions to others, through word and deed, the Good News is personalized, and it ceases to be theory or a set of abstract ideas. People are not born Christian. They become Christian.

Evangelization is the means by which people are introduced to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Christianity cannot long survive without evangelism. This is the logic that the Apostle Paul sought to impress on the Roman Christians: 'How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?' (Romans 10:14, NIV)

Have you taken the call, the command, to share the Good News seriously? When is the last time you shared the message of Jesus Christ with someone? How will they hear if you do not tell the story?

It's About the Cross

One filled with joy preaches without preaching. -- Mother Teresa