Blessings & Peace this New Year!
Your LOOP Friends
God with Us (In the Beginning) pt.1
All Scripture reference taken from the New Living Translation
So here we are as it is the last Sunday of the year, the last Sunday of 2025!
And I thought this would be a good day to start a new sermon series…
Normally this time of year we teach on topics like, the old is gone, the new has come, vision and goals, new year, new you type of stuff…
And all that’s good, but I feel like the Holy Spirit wants us to journey down the path of Kingdom theology, and the message reconciliation…
For instance, what’s the deal with God all about anyway… How do we explain the need for a Savior to someone who doesn’t understand why they need a Savior…
Or, why Jesus had to die on the Cross… I wonder if far too often we allow our insecurities of the Scriptures get the best of us, and we feel inadequate in sharing our faith… So we just don’t…
But God has a unique purpose and plan for each one of us, and part of that plan for all of us is to join Him in the ministry of reconciliation…
And that’s why the title of this series is, “God with Us,” and the subtitle for today is, “In the Beginning.”
I think this will be a four-part series, on January 11th we’ll take a break as we will have Steve and Elba Dolan with us…
John 1:1-2 – In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God.
John 1:14 – So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
One could call this basic theology, but a theologian could unpack this in a way we never thought of… But to keep things simple…
It really is quite simple… The Word is Jesus… And since the very beginning of it all Jesus was with God… And Jesus is God!
Then Jesus became human and made His home among mankind…
He came to experience life as we know it in human form… And part of that reason was so He could show mankind the type of life God always wanted us to experience…
A life that is in relationship with Him… Just as it was intended since the beginning when it all began in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve…
It’s interesting to note that the Apostle John starts His Gospel out with the very same three words the Book of Genesis starts with… In the beginning…
In the beginning God spoke everything into existence… And in the beginning Jesus was with God… As Jesus is God…
Let’s pause here for a second as there is another Person who makes the existence of God complete… And He is known as the Holy Spirit…
To keep it very simple for the sake of time… God Almighty, the Creator of it all, is a three part being… God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit…
All three are equal but carry out different roles… Human logic has a hard time grasping the concept of the Trinity, of a triune God…
And there are many different analogies to explain the Trinity…
But the reality is, the concept of a Triune God is also where faith in the mysteries of God comes into to play…
We will often come up against some things about the Kingdom that we won’t fully understand, but as long as we understand that God has a perfect plan in motion for mankind…
While at the same time we will also face some mysteries as to how the Kingdom of God operates…
In the beginning God spoke everything into existence…
Genesis 1:26 – Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.
This means we were created as a three part being, just as God is a three part being, we are spirit, soul, and body… We bear the image of our Creator as a three part being…
In the beginning God (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) created mankind… Flesh and blood…
And in the beginning, there was perfect harmony on earth, and a perfect relationship with mankind and God…
Then, they listened to the serpent… Fell for his lie as he got them to question God’s words…
And they rebelled against God, as they broke their trust with Him, and by doing so they brought sin into the world…
Now all of us are born with a sinful nature, into a sinful world… We are born with rebellion in our hearts…
This is often a hard thing to explain… Not everyone can grasp this concept… And that’s ok…
But something to always keep in mind is that it is not our job to get people saved…
It’s our job to present them with the truth of the Good News that brings great joy, and point people to Jesus… To show them what’s it’s like to be a believer…
As it is the power of the Holy Spirit that brings about the understanding and conviction in a person’s heart to realize their need to be reconciled back to God…
Just as God created flesh and blood… He then decides that He is going to become flesh and blood to reconcile mankind back to Himself by becoming one of us…
When Jesus (God the Son) walked the earth, He revealed to mankind the love God the Father has for us…
And the only way for us to have a relationship with God… The only way to be reconciled back to God… Is through Jesus…
As He paid the price for our sins, for our rebellion on the Cross…
2 Corinthians 5:17-19 – This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
God, who dwells in eternity… Stepped out of His glorious atmosphere of heaven and became one of us… Walked the earth as a human being… Tempted in all the ways we are, but lived a perfect life as He revealed to mankind the fullness of His character… The Kingdom of God was on full display when He walked the earth!
The Word that created us in the beginning is the same Word that shines light in our darkness, and reconciles us back to God, came in the person of Jesus…
The prophet Isaiah spoke these words about the coming of Jesus about 700 years before He was born…
Isaiah 7:14 – … The Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).
These are also the same words the angel quoted to Joseph when Joseph was struggling with the fact that Mary was pregnant.
Jesus is given the title Immanuel, and it means, “God with us!”
Let’s stop and think about that for a minute…
These are some of the best words of hope we will ever hear… And they are words of hope we should be sharing…
God is with us… He is not distant, disconnected, or disinterested in our lives…
Jesus proves that God is with us and He is for us by coming down from His eternal home in heaven and becoming one of us as He lived among us…
He is with us in our pain… He is with us in our doubt… He is with us in our confusion… He is with us in our questions…
And He is with us right now in this room!
Through the presence of the Holy Spirit, God is always with us…
And He is there to lead us out of our brokenness in hopes of showing us what life is really meant to be…
If we accept Him into our lives, He will then begin to show us the purpose and plan He has for us… As we become the person He created us to be…
Immanual is the Hebrew word for Jesus… And it means, God with us…
He is the Messiah, and this is the Hebrew word for, “Anointed One.”
And then we have Savior, the Savior to the world… And Savior is Greek for deliverer or preserver…
All these titles or descriptions are wrapped up in the name of Jesus…
And we are told in Matthew chapter 1 that He will save us from our sins (Deliver us)
Matthew 1:21 – … And you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.
The name of Jesus is the name of salvation…
When testifying of Jesus here is what the disciple Peter said…
Acts 4:12 – There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.
There is no other name by which we can be saved… There is no other name that brings us into a relationship with our Creator…
There is no other name that will welcome us into our eternal home of heaven…
There is no other name than Jesus… This is why we call Him our Savior!
This is why it is so important we understand the message of reconciliation…. We are reconciled back to God through Jesus…
There is no other name that can reconcile us back to God other than the name of Jesus…
This is why Jesus so boldly stated in…
John 14:6 – … “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
There is no other way we can reconciled back to God outside of Jesus!
Romans 5:1 – Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
Romans 5:9 – And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.
Before we put our faith in Jesus we are living under God’s judgement, His wrath, His condemnation…
But the moment we accept what Jesus did for us on the cross and invite Him into our lives… Believe in who He is and that God raised Him from the dead…
We are saved… We are saved from our sins and more importantly we are saved from God’s judgment/condemnation/wrath….
Salvation has layers to it… There is a lot going on when the process of salvation is taking place with a person…
The entire process is a mystery as to how a person responds to God’s voice through the power of the Holy Spirit…
And the moment we accept Jesus for who He is, and put our faith in Him we are made right with God… We are given right standing with God…
We now have an eternal life waiting for us as part of our Kingdom inheritance…
We are saved from our sins… Past, present and future… As we are no longer living in a broken state, but forgiven and made whole by the blood of Jesus… His blood that was shed on the Cross for us… For our sins!
Hebrews 7:25 – Therefore He is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through Him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
All the guilt and shame of who we once were is lifted from us through the process of salvation…
As Jesus will forever intercede with God on our behalf… He is our mediator…
All of this is a process… But it is a process that offers the hope of a Savior in Jesus who will lead us and help us navigate through all the intricacies of life…
The trials and tribulations… The victories and successes…
With Jesus we no longer travel this journey of life here on earth alone because God is with us!
And no one is excluded from a relationship with Jesus…
Romans 10:13 – Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
In Closing…
If there’s anything we can say when it comes to sharing our faith, pointing people to Jesus…
Is that God desires to have a relationship with each one of us…
In the beginning when He created the first humans, Adam and Eve, He had a personal relationship with them as they spent time together as friends in the Garden of Eden…
When they rebelled and broke the trust of the friendship…
God did not turn His back on them… Instead, He formed a plan for the salvation of mankind…
Now that sin and rebellion had entered the world… The human heart… God would send His Son to be the Savior to the world and that in Jesus God would reconcile people back to Himself by the power of the Holy Spirit…
Ephesians 1:9-10 – God has now revealed to us His mysterious will regarding Christ, which is to fulfill His own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ, everything in heaven and on earth.
The plan is that everyone will be reconciled back to God through Jesus…
But we are given free will… We have the choice to accept Jesus or reject Him…
And that means when everything is brought together under the authority of Christ Jesus there will be those who meet Jesus as their Savior and those who meet Him as their Judge…
And we do not want to meet Him as our Judge…
A New Year’s Paradigm Shift — Soaring not Struggling (Isaiah 40:28-31)
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
This day before the New Year, I spent an hour at our local CrossFit gym. I think I’m the oldest guy who comes to this gym. The men all seem buff and strong. The barbells they lift are loaded up with weights. My weights are light. They ran 800 meters today, which I can’t do, so I used the rowing machine. You get the picture. Weak vs. strong.
So Isaiah 40:28-30 speaks to me. It shows the striking contrasts between strength and weakness, power and faltering. Verses 28-29 compare Yahweh’s strength to human strength.
“Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint[1] or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.” (Isaiah 40:28)
Yahweh has no limitations. Time doesn’t faze him — he is everlasting. Chronological time means something to us, but isn’t important in God’s frame of reference. He isn’t diminished by getting old. He creates, he knows everything, his energy never diminishes.
This morning, part my workout was to do 50 push presses, lifting the barbell over my head 50 times. I could only do 10 to 15 at a time; then I had to rest. If weights were any heavier, I wouldn’t get to 50 at all. My strength gives out.
But our passage goes on to say that Yahweh transfers his limitless strength to us.
“He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.”[7] (Isaiah 40:29)
The text says that even the buff men and women in the gym will get to the point where their strength is utterly spent. They’ll reach their limit.
“Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted.” (Isaiah 40:30)
But here comes the promise that doesn’t depend upon my age or relative strength or endurance.
“They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31, ESV)
They who “wait upon the Lord” will find their strength renewed. “Hope in” (NIV) or “wait for” (NRSV, ESV), “wait upon” is qāwâ, “wait, look for, hope.” The root means “to wait or to look for with eager expectation.” Waiting with perseverance expresses our faith that God will save his people.
As we turn our faith towards him, he strengthens us. “Renew” is ḥālap, which in the Hiphil stem has the idea of “change, exchange, replace.” There is a sense in which we exchange our weakness for his strength as we wait expectantly for him to act.
The promise is that in the Lord we will renew our strength, just as David “strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 18:6b, NRSV). The prophet gives us wonderful images of soaring, running, and walking effortlessly. Praise the Lord!
Verse 31 shows us an eagle soaring. If you’ve ever watched eagles or vultures with their great wings, they hardly have to flap their wings. They just move their wings ever so slightly to catch the wind. They can stay up for hours. In the gym, the only way to gain altitude is to climb a rope. The heavier you are, the harder it is to climb. Imagine climbing up to the 500 feet or higher where eagles soar. Unless you have extreme upper body strength, you’ll never make it.
But Isaiah is offering a completely different paradigm. Instead of the physical strength of young people in their prime, he suggests taking off flying like a bird. The secrets of aerodynamics are designed into a bird’s wing or an aircraft’s lifting capability. It’s counterintuitive. You move forward along the ground and are lifted up in the process.
God’s offer of strength here is also counterintuitive. You wait on him in faith, you trust him, and his strength is transferred to you. Your weakness is replaced by his strength.
Jesus invites us to enjoy this phenomenon of replacing our weakness with his limitlessness.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me,
for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
He contrasts the heavy yoke that you’re currently struggling with, to a yoke that is surprisingly light. It is a paradigm shift. When we try to do it ourselves, we are overwhelmed. But when we turn it over to him, we experience something amazing — his strength!
“Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you.” (Psalm 55:22a)
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)
Is not having enough for food or clothing or shelter your burden? Jesus’ answer is:
“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)
The world says that there is no real hope or help from God. It’s all in your mind. It’s foolishness. But God says, “They who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.”
Jesus says, “Seek first my kingdom and I’ll give you what you need.”
The Psalmist says: “”Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you”
In this New Year, I choose to trust the Lord. I choose to wait on him and let him exchange my strength for his. I choose to soar like the eagle, rather than try to claw my way up to the heights by my own faltering strength.
This is what it means to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). This is how I choose to walk in this New Year, by his grace. Soaring, not Struggling. Amen.
Random Robby Ramblings
Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Old age is when you’re forced to..
What New Year’s resolution should a basketball player never make? To Travel More
Did you hear about the guy who started fixing breakfast at midnight on Dec. 31? He was planning on a New Years Toast!
Why did the man sprinkle sugar on his pillow on New Year’s Eve? He hoped to start the new year with sweeeet dreams
At the beginning of this year I made a New Year’s resolution to lose 10 pounds … Only have 15 more to go…
My resolution was to read more… So I put the subtitles on my TV
I was going to quit all my bad habits for the new year … But nobody likes a quitter!
What is a New Year’s resolution? Something that goes in one year and out the other.
Q: What lies on the ground, 100 feet in the air?
A: A dead centipede.
Q: Who were Frosty’s parents?
A: Mom and Pop Sicle.