“I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”
John 14: 6
12 “Look, I AM coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Revelation 22: 12-13
Pastors Noreen & Henry Kevern
The Season of Hope and Continual Learning
The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins, declares the Lord. Isaiah 59:20
My Redeemer lives. This is based on the fact that over 2000 years ago, a child was born to a virgin mother, and He was laid in a manger, God Who chose to come to earth, to work out His own Salvation for His creations. This is my faith, this is what I believe, that He lives in me. Because we are, were and will continue to be – stubborn people God still calls out to us to chose to come to Him and learn from Him. Jesus said: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I AM gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-29 God knows that we must continue to learn each and every day, so that we do not lose sight of Him and His ways for our lives. But we still are flawed human beings, who are blown here and there by the evil one. We allow him to enter into our lives and control things around us. We forget that the evil one knows God and he knows that God has plans for us for good, but the evil one wants to destroy us because he has fallen from grace and goes about looking to destroy our lives too.
This Season of Hope teaches us that we must be lifelong learners, never fearing to seek the Lord and to learn from Him. We cannot allow ourselves to think that we know it all, for that is foolish thoughts that the evil one fills our minds with. The evil one does not want you to keep learning because he knows that if you do, you will see through his pack of lies and see the truth of God. The evil one puts doubt in your head and makes you think that you know all there is to know.
What’s the first thought in your head when you wake up in the morning? Do you think of all that you have to do during the day, or do you wake up and thank God for another day, praying the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus gave us so that our lives are a reflection of Him? Do you take time daily to read and learn from His Word? Do you close your eyes at night, thanking God for all that happened during the day, whether good or bad, or does your mind run in different directions, foregoing the peace that could be yours, letting it all go to the Lord.
The 23rd Psalm teaches us all we need to know. There’s a story that a Sunday school teacher asked a young boy if he could say the 23rd Psalm, and he said, “The Lord is my shepherd, that is all I need.” Out of the mouth of babes comes praise to the Lord. With that attitude, giving ourselves to the Lord and acknowledging that He is all that one needs, puts us in the right frame for learning from the Lord. How can we possibly think that we can read the Word of God once and never study, never open ourselves to the learning process that comes from seeking the Lord daily and allowing His Words to fill us with His grace and knowledge? How can we have hope if we don’t know what hope is? How can we have rest, if we are always weary from what life hands to us? A relationship with our Lord is not something that is stagnant, but something that grows each and every day. Jesus came to teach us about love, pure love, that if we learn about this love, it will accomplish in our souls the love of God and the desire to learn the way of the Lord. Our lives would reflect His love and with that attitude of love, life on this earth would be so much better, if we could learn that we are all God’s children, foregoing the hatred and the neglect of God that is so prevalent in life.
Just think of it, God created the heavens and the earth, all the creatures that roam on this earth, the waters and the land, the fruit of the earth for humans. He created us out of love to rule over all creatures and the planet, making us stewards of the things that He created. So God created man in His Own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1: 27-28 God made us responsible with the gift of life, in all forms. There are rules to be followed and that’s how we learn, from God’s rules for our lives. How many of you know what are God’s rules? Do you have an attitude of learning God’s Word so that His rules, His laws, and His commandments are upon your hearts? How are we to take care of this gift of life, this planet that He made for us? There is so much in the Bible about stewardship and we don’t even know what it says.
It’s important to use this Season of Hope to continue to learn from God. It’s important to wrap ourselves up in His Word, to put His righteousness on and clothe ourselves with it as our breastplate, and put His helmet of Salvation on our heads so that we are protected from the evil one’s attacks. God is still reaching out to us, hoping that this is the year that in preparing for Christmas, we open ourselves to the wonders of His love and change our lives from what we were before we accepted Him as Lord and Savior, into what we are to be, servants of the Lord, doing His will in our lives. That is after all, what we pray when we say the Lord’s Prayer. “Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6:9-13 This prayer acknowledges that God is our Father, our parent and parents teach their children. God’s Word teaches us what God wants us to know. We are to revere God’s Name, keeping it holy, not throwing it around as a curse. We acknowledge that He is King, asking that His will be done in our lives, not our own will. His daily bread is His Word, our nourishment to fill us with all that is needed in our lives. We ask Him to forgive us our sins, and then to forgive those that sin against us, to keep us on the right path of Salvation, standing firm in His Word so that the evil one will not put temptation in our path. This is our Hope of Salvation, that our lives are a reflection of all that is God, and that we continue to come to the Lord each and every day, spending time learning from His Word and allowing Him to teach us the lessons that we need to learn in order for His will to be accomplished in our lives.
Being a Christian is not easy. It means daily that we come to the Lord and give up our human nature and clothe ourselves with God’s nature, allowing His will and not our will. It’s having faith to know that by continued learning, we will grow stronger each and every day and will be able to fight the good fight and not allow the evil one to control our lives. This Season of Hope is a new beginning. Allow yourself to enter into God’s rest and learn from Him. When you place yourself in the Lord, it’s easy, and the burden that He places upon us is light, for then we have the Lord’s strength. God’s not going to force us to change our lives, we have to willing do so. God doesn’t want to make you love Him, He wants us to choose to love Him, with all of what and who we are. It’s the Season of Hope, of good tidings and great joy, that is upon us. It’s time to reflect and grow, to learn and unlearn, of being willing to open our hearts, our minds, our souls to what God is. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 God chose to become one of His creations, to work out His Salvation for us. That’s how much God loves us.
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. John 3:19-21 When we deny God’s existence, we do so out of fear and ignorance. Fear that if our lives are brought out into the light, our sins will be exposed. Ignorance because we refuse to learn each day from God’s Word and seek Him in our lives. Don’t live in the dark, come into the light of God and allow Hope to fill your lives. God knows all that you have done, nothing is hidden from Him, that’s why He came one winter’s night, to bring about His Salvation for you, for me. This Season of Hope, allow yourself to learn from God and let His light shine through you.
My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant…His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation…He has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things.
Luke 1:46-55
