Thought for January 6, 2024

•  1494: Columbus and his men celebrate the first Mass in Americas--Haiti
• 1838: Morse demonstrates telegraph machine
• 1850: Conversion of Charles Spurgeon
• 1907: Maria Montessori opens her first school
• 1929: Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta
• 1941: FDR makes four freedoms speech [Speech, Worship, Want, Fear]
• 1975: "Wheel of Fortune" premiers
• 1994: Nancy Kerrigan attacked by Tonya Harding's boyfriend
• Born: John Smith, Sherlock Holmes, CArl Sandburg, Tom Mix, Sam Rayburn, Khalil Gibran, Danny Thomas, Loretta Young, Cary Middlecoff, Earl Scruggs, John DeLorean, E.L. Doctorow, Lou Holtz, Nancy Lopez, Paul Azinger, Jameis Winston
• Died: Gregor Mendel, Theodore Roosevelt, Dizzy Gillespie, Rudolph Nureyev, Lou Rawls, Naimat Ahmer [stabbed 17 times in Pakistan for saying Jesus is the only way to God]

Thought:

Finishing the week thinking about the word "new." It's a new year. I am reading Hebrews 10 today, especially verses 19-25. This was the scripture for the December 31 sermon at church. Jesus inaugurated a "new and living way" through His blood atonement for us. The first thing this tells me is that without Jesus, I was on a dying way--the wages of sin is death. I was on the way to death and an eternity without God--but Jesus gave me a new and living way. Hebrews tells us what this new and living way means to us:

• We can draw near to God with confidence and assurance because of the blood of Christ. [10:22] His blood has cleansed us and in His righteousness we can draw near to the Father. My grandfather used to use an illustration from the War of Northern Aggression in his sermons. A widow had a single son. He was captured during the war and held prisoner by the Union Army. His mother went to Washington to ask President Lincoln for the release and return of her son--a rebel. She could not get in to see the President and waited in the park across the street for days--rejected each day. A young boy played in the park and struck up a conversation with the mother. The boy asked why she was here every day crying and she explained she needed to see the President but could not gain access. The boy says, "come with me, the President is my father." She met the President and her son was released to her. My grandfather would say that the son gave her access to the father in the same way the blood of Christ bought us access to the Father. Draw near to God this year.
• We must hold fast to our hope in Christ because He is faithful and keeps His promises [10:23]. Our hope is based upon His promises--He has prepared a place for us; He will come again to receive us; He will take us to live with Him forever. That is our hope, our only hope. We hold fast to that hope through faith in the One who made the promise. Walking in the new and living way means we hold fast.
• We walk in this new and living way with others who believe [10:24-25]. We encourage eac other to love and to serve and we do that together. Some will say they do not need the church, but the Bible says we do. We walk in the new way together--encouraging, holding accountable, reminding, exampling. 

This year, let's draw near to God, cling to our hope, and walk together in faith. 2024 will be a great year!

Blessings

Larry