As Christians, we do not have to try to change. When we come to Christ, he changes us immediately. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Our problem sometimes is that we choose to see ourselves as we once were. We choose to define ourselves by our sin and not who we are in Christ. There is a big difference between saying I have a bad temper than saying I am a Christian who struggles with the temptation to anger. The former says there is no hope to change, the latter says through Christ, I can overcome.

As Christians, we are new creations in Christ. We need to see ourselves in Christ and not in our sin. We should all be able to say, I may not be who I ought to be, nor am I what I will be, but thank God I am not who I used to be.

If you watched the Super Bowl this year, it was only an exciting game if you are a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles outplayed and outcoached the Chiefs. Following the game, interviews were given, and social media posts were made. Nick Sirianni, the coach of the Eagles acknowledged God’s goodness with thanksgiving. He said, “God’s blessed us very much, “He gave us all the talents to be able to get here. So first and foremost, thanks to him.”  Jalen Hurts, the Super Bowl MVP said, “God is good, “He’s greater than all the highs and the lows.” Following his loss Patrick Mahomes shared on Social media, “I Want to give thanks to God for every opportunity he has given me.

These men teach us what the Bible commands, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Sirianni and Hurts teach us the importance of thanking God when things go your way. Thanksgiving is a reminder to yourself that you are not ultimately responsible for your circumstances. It is God who blesses us. There is also something better than the highest high that this world has to offer and that is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Patrick Mahomes teaches us that even in loss and disappointment, there is always still something for which to be grateful. In this case, he thanked God for the opportunities that God has given him. There have been some 15-16 thousand players who have played in the NFL. Only 10% of players in NFL history can say they have won the Super Bowl. Mahomes has done that and had the opportunity to play two more. No matter what hardship we may be facing now, God has blessed us so much more throughout our lives, so there is always reasons for thanksgiving.

Growing up, my favorite possession was my bicycle. I had a three-speed banana seat which was yellow and black. I loved riding my bike with my friends. During the summer, we would ride all over the place. We would be gone all day long. One of the things we enjoyed most was building ramps. Bricks, boards, and plywood was all we needed. We would see who could jump the highest and farthest. We would jump over stuff and sometimes over each other. To add flare, we would try to do trick riding, with no hands, standing up, or slalom.

One time, I went a bit too far. I tried to jump the ramp while steering with my feet. I came down the hill as fast as I could, moved my feet up to the handlebars, hit the ramp, landed, and crashed. This was the days before helmets and knee pads. Thankfully. I didn’t hit my head, but I ended up with a strawberry scrape down my leg. Ah, but it was worth it. I made it over the ramp and impressed my friends.

Isn’t it amazing the things we will do in order to try to impress other people. Yet the Bible teaches us to “do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4). We all naturally look out for our own interests. We are called to take that same level of concern we have for ourselves and apply it also to the interests of others. This is true humility. Humility does not think less of oneself, humility thinks of oneself less.

As Christians, we know that our performance does nothing to earn merit or favor with God. We are loved and accepted by God solely on the basis of faith in His Son. We are always in need of God’s grace. Even on our best day, we fall short of His glory, but he receives us, forgives us, and keeps us by his grace. When asked does this mean we can go on sinning, Paul responded God forbid. Ultimately, the grace by which we are saved is our motivation for serving the Lord. We don’t have to be obedient; we want to.

Out of our great love for Him, we want to follow his commandments, and one of them is for us to make disciples. We want to help people come to know Jesus and to know Him more every day. Sometimes we get confused and think that our task is to build a church. Jesus said, he would build his church, we are to help grow his kingdom by making disciples. The kingdom of God is found in the hearts of his people who boldly proclaim, Jesus is Lord. He is Lord, Master, and king of my life.

As Christians, we are called to be actively involved in the advance of the Gospel. Every week we should be using our time, talents, and treasure to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are all called to be on mission with God to redeem a lost world. A missionary is not one who crosses the seas, but one who see the cross. Who have you helped to take one step closer to Jesus this week?

Disciples of Jesus Christ are those who seek to become like their teacher. To be like Jesus is to become a servant. Jesus said, The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give my life for the ransom of many (Mark 10:45). Jesus came to serve to the benefit of others, giving them what we needed most, salvation from our sins.  If we are to follow after Him, the servant is not above his master.

We are called to serve others, we are to be compassionate friends who seek to meet the needs of others, especially their greatest need, to know Jesus and His salvation. The good news is that God has uniquely gifted each one of us to serve. He has given each of us spiritual gifts, abilities, passions, and experiences that shape how we can serve others. For some, this means being a handy man, others a listening ear, and for others a teacher. The list is as numerus as there are people, for we are all gifted uniquely by God.

To know that I am becoming more like Jesus by being a compassionate friend you can ask yourself, how have I served someone this week using my gifts and abilities. If we called to serve, it something that should happen on a regular basis. We can also ask ourselves who we are praying for intentionally that they can come to know Christ or to know Him more. People’s greatest need is to know Christ and to know Him more daily, and it should be a regular part of our prayer life. So ask yourself, am I a compassionate friend.

Alice asked the Cheshire cat, “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” He answered: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.” As Christians, we need to know where we are going. That is not a problem, I am going to heaven. That is true, but ultimately where is my life going in this world. The goal we have is to be a disciple of Jesus. We need to know what a disciple of Jesus is to help us know which way we should go.

Last week, we discovered that a disciple is a radical believer who dies to themselves daily so that they can live to the glory of God. A disciple is also an obedient follower. Now most of us define obedience by our trying, God defines it by our trusting. Jesus tells us to abide in Him. Paul said that we are to go on being filled with the Spirit. To abide in Christ and to be filled spirit is to abide in His word and to be filled with the things of the Spirit.

To make sure we are headed in the right direction, we need to ask ourselves, what changes do I need to make to my schedule to reflect that Bible study and prayer are a priority?  And if we are truly abiding in Him, he will speak to us for His sheep hear his voice. So, we need to be able to reflect and share with others what God is saying to me through His word and prayer. We also should testify to what God is doing in our lives as we follow Him.  

I remember in school having to take the ASVAB, Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. We were given it discover our developed abilities to help predict future academic and career success. It helped us to decide what we wanted to be when we grew up. That was a question that everyone asked you as you were growing up, what do you want to be?

As Christians, this is also an important question.  What do you want to be? Most of us would answer, a disciple of Jesus Christ, but what is that exactly? We know that a disciple is a student, who follows their teacher, but what does it look like. Over the next few weeks, I want to answer that question.

First of all, a disciple is someone who dies to himself daily, so that they can live for the glory of God. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:31, everything you do, do it all to the glory of God. I call this a radical believer because, this is the hardest thing we have to do. It is so much easier to live to satisfy our sin nature. It is hard to deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Jesus. Most of us give into our natural impulses, but if we want to be a disciple, we have to learn to die to those impulses so that we can live for Him.

How do I know that I am a radical believer? Every day we can reflect on our lives.  Ask yourself, what did I deny myself of today?  Did I die to that urge to get even with someone who hurt me? Did I deny myself some relaxing electronic device time, to spend time in prayer or Bible study? I can also ask myself what did I spend my time, my energy, my money, and my thoughts on most this week? Whatever the answer is, reflects who or what your God is?  Is it Jesus, or is it yourself? I hope and pray that we can all say we are radical believers, because that is what the normal Christian life is to be,

Many people struggle at Christmas. They feel like they have to be joyful but all they can do is shed tears. For many people this is the first Christmas without a dear loved one. This is the first year that my family celebrated Christmas without my dad. It does not feel the same. For others, they are celebrating Christmas without their loved one, and there is still a huge hole in their life that time has not filled.  For others, tears are caused by financial struggles, wondering how they will make ends meet. For some, there is a broken relationship, a son or a daughter is estranged or a marriage is over, and tears are very much a part of their Christmas.

 Many people falsely believe that tears have no place at Christmas, but the Bible would disagree. Tears are very much a part of the Christmas story. When Herod sought to kill the Christ child, he ordered that all boys two years old and under be killed. The Bible recorded the tears of the mothers.

“A voice was heard in Ramah,

    weeping and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;

    she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” Matthew 2:18

Tears are welcomed at Christmas. Tears are the reason that Jesus came.  Jesus came into this world to save us from our sins and to give us a future where one day He will wipe away every tear. So, cry your tears this Christmas. Do not feel bad, when you weep for one day your tears will be wiped away.

I remember going through a time in my life when I had lost the Christmas spirit. The main reason was Christmas was not the same.  As a young adult, the wonder of Christmas that a child knows so well was long gone. Christmas in many ways felt like just another day. That is until I met my wife, Leigh Ann. We met in April, began dating in June and were engaged in December. That Christmas, Leigh Ann knew that I did not have any Christmas spirit and she flat out told me that if I was a scrooge, we would not be getting married.  That was definitely motivation to find it.

It did not take long for me to find it. Just being around Leigh Ann’s mom helped a lot. Frances Nicholson loved Christmas and her enthusiasm for it was contagious. You could not help but be joyful when you were around her. But where I found the Christmas spirit, was where Frances found hers. It is found in the joy of the Christmas story.  “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”  The joy comes from knowing, believing, and treasuring the truth that for unto me, a Savior has been born.

The Grinch had it right. “Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps” means a little bit more?”  The joy of Christmas is experienced no matter what circumstance we are in, if we focus on Jesus. I hope that you have the Christmas spirit this year because you know that Jesus is your savior.  

We celebrate Thanksgiving this week as a nation. George Washington was the first to set aside a day of national Thanksgiving in 1789. His proclamation began with these words:

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor– and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

How can you know that you live a life of thanksgiving. The Psalmist tells us that you sing loud.Psalm 107:22 says, “And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!”  The word tell is to do so publicly and loudly.  For many though we are too embarrassed to sing loudly, but the truly thankful person knows that it is their sacrifice of thanksgiving. A sacrifice is dead. We die to our pride to sing loudly and joyfully to the Lord. So if you want to truly live a life of thanksgiving, sing his praise loud.