1) Suffering for Christ, Paul says he gives thanks even in his sufferings because he knows that when we, as the church the body of Christ suffer, then mystically Christ shares in our sufferings, as he said to Paul on the Damascus Road ‘Saul - why do you persecute ME?’ Jesus warns His followers that, the world just as it persecuted the prophets and then crucified Him, will continue to persecute His Church until He returns.

2) The Secret of Christ, Now Paul was seeing Gentiles coming to faith in Christ all around him not just as a result of his own ministry but hearing reports from Timothy, Epaphras and many others of how people in their thousands from all nations were turning to Christ. Revival all around Him in the 
known world how exciting that must have been, have we lost this excitement today. Christ in You the hope of glory, Paul spelled out the all sufficiency of Christ in regard to one’s salvation and that the fullness of God was now available to everyone who believed, This was to counter the heresy that was beginning to come into the church and would soon be a major problem for the church (Gnosticism). Christ is all and is in all.

3) The Strengthening by Christ  God wants you to daily grow and develop in Him and for your faith like a strong plant to take deep root in Christ, so that when the sun scorches you and the storms beat down upon you, by His power and strength within you and with the knowledge He suffers along with you and feels your pain, you can sail on through the eye of the storm rejoicing in His presence and power, and thanking him for His love strength and guidance.

1) Who are you? Paul sets out his Apostolic authority for he had never met this group of Christians (The Apostle to the Gentiles) chosen by God to be His messenger. Paul believed the message he was bringing was not from himself but was the very word of God for these people. The New Testament is God’s word to us and we need to understand at the beginning of this new year that it is God’s word to us.

2) Why me? We can make excuses for not obeying what He says to us, but Paul reminds the Christians that they are now God’s saints, set apart and chosen by Him and for Him as such we are no longer people of the world but now People of God the ones to whom His message is sent.

3) What’s it all about? Grace and Peace you can’t buy them, you can’t learn them the world doesn’t have them they are Gifts from God. Following Peter’s sudden death, we are grieving today as a fellowship and we need more than ever these 2 gifts of God as do Jenny, Sian and Andrew, Dave and all their family. Jesus promises that My Grace is Sufficient, for every circumstance of life. Undeserving as we are He seeks to pour out His comfort strength and love into our aching souls. He longs to pour His Peace into our troubled minds and hearts He is The Prince of Peace our Wonderful Counsellor. We are no longer His enemy but His beloved Child “Come unto me and I will give you rest” Knowing that our Real Home is in Heaven and that Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare that place for us, and will take us to be with Him on the day he calls us home. Death is never convenient for those of us left behind but our lives are in His hands from the moment of our conception until the day we die, and although we may not understand it, His time and His ways are perfect.

A forest fire devastates everything in its path but months later a miracle occurs when new shoots of gree plants begin to appear amidst the charred deserted landscape. SBChas endured much pain, sadness & disappointment in the past decade or so but now we are seeing those same new shoots of new life and hope. God can use even the pain and disappointments to bring about His purposes. Just like the poem if we look back we will see one set of footprints in the sand. Realising this, what does Ezekiel have to say to us?

1) Individual Accountability (ch.18) we cannot blame anyone else our parents grandparents for 
how we choose to live and we are all responsible for our own actions in God’s sight. Yet Jesus has paid the price for our rebellion.

2) Individual Protection (ch.34) The Lord’s MY shepherd (Ps.23) Ezekiel speaks of how God will shepherd his people to protect them and lead them to good pasture. Just as he led the people of Moses’ day through the wilderness when He was with them every single moment of those 40 years the bad times and the good so He is with you and me as we stand at the dawn of 2012 He will be with you Jesus promises “I am the good shepherd (John 10).

3) Individual Restoration (ch.37) He will breathe new life into our dry bones as He did for His servants throughout History like Elijah, Jonah, Jeremiah who had wanted to end it all and felt they could not continue. he met their physical needs and then restored them to be part of His army. So in 2012 if we get low and tired and defeated if we ask Him to he will fully restore us, so that we can praise Him and tell the world Jesus Lives.

Whatever 2012 holds for you, all of us can be assured that Jesus will Hold you every moment of it.
 

1) God’s Promise of Peace. (Micah 5:4-5) Jesus came into a world full of chaos and confusion to a town in chaos but despite Mary and Joseph’s circumstances the baby sleeps and as Mary holds her baby she feels the peace radiating from her child, a picture of God’s peace, no doubt she may have remembered the words of Isaiah 9:1-7 and the words of the angel in Luke 1:30-33. The 1st verse starts still the night, sleeps the world and ends with sleeping in heavenly rest/peace older translations have the words sleeps the world in peace tonight and from earthly woes we would be freed, Jesus God’s promise of Peace. In the midst of pain confusion and chaos we can find God’s peace in our Saviour.

2) God’s Promise of Redemption Psalm 111:9. In Jewish society, slaves could be freed by the actions of a family member fulfilling the role of a “kinsman Redeemer” Leviticus 25:47-49… He must be:  a Kinsman, Free, Able to Pay and be Willing. Jesus fulfilled all 4 necessary qualifications by His coming at
Bethlehem. God sent Him to redeem us from the bondage of sin and the power of death. The Hymn says Christ the Redeemer is Here, Christ The Saviour is born, and the dawn of Redeeming Grace. 3) God’s Promise of Grace On a plumber’s van in S.Africa “There is no place too deep, too dark or too dirty for us to handle” a perfect explanation of the Gospel of Grace. We don’t deserve God’s love or forgiveness and can contribute Nothing to our salvation its all of His Grace. The hymn speaks of this Grace, Strikes for us now the hour of grace, also Abundant grace for our intent, and a child from whom all blessings flow.