Preparing for a New Year

As we look upon a new year we will no doubt face both joy and challenges, peace and trials. How can we prepare to face it with faith in God and in a way that honors Him? David gives us a good example of how to overcome difficulty by strengthening oneself in the Lord.

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1 Samuel 30,27:8-12
Deuteronomy 25:17-19
Psalm 18:1-3

"Then David strengthened himself in the Lord his God". Alexander Maclaren has rightly underscored this point. There was ever a danger in Israel of holding to the official covenant faith without having a vital personal faith. It could be all too easy to speak of the "Shepherd of Israel" (Psalm 80:1) but not be able to say "The Lord is my shepherd" (Psalm 23:1), just as church folks might affirm Jesus is the Son of God but would not dream of calling Him "the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). As Maclaren has said, David could no longer say, "My house", "my city", or "my possessions", but he could say, "My God". That is where the strengthening must begin. Dale Ralph Davis 1 Samuel

The Lord our God is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of Himself, infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, and withal most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. (1 Corinthians 8:4,6; Deuteronomy 6:4; Jeremiah 10:10; Isaiah 48:12; Exodus 3:14; John 4:24; 1 Timothy 1:17; Deuteronomy 4:15-16; Malachi 3:6; 1 Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:23; Psalm 90:2; Genesis 17:1; Isaiah 6:3; Psalm 115:3; Isaiah 46:10; Proverbs 16:4; Romans 11:36; Exodus 34:6-7; Hebrews 11:6; Nehemiah 9:32-33; Psalm 5:5-6; Exodus 34:7; Nahum 1:2-3) 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• How did God get David out of his spiritual decline and sinful self-reliance?
• Why was it important for David to turn to God at the worst moment?
• What might he have done otherwise, and what would have been the consequences?
• How did David strengthen himself in the Lord His God?
• What was the application of this passage to us as we look to this new year?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

What Child is This: His Essence

The incarnation of the Child reveals amazing aspects of the nature of who God is. What type of being would so willingly lower Himself so far to save such people as us? What depths of love and what a willingness to sacrifice for our well being! We will try to explore some of these depths in this sermon.

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Matthew 1:18-25,20:28
Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• How do we grasp for privileges and recognition?
• What does it mean when the Bible says Jesus did not grasp after equality with God?
• How was this illustrated in the sermon using a President as an example?
• In what ways did Jesus lower Himself when He became human and lived on earth?
• How did He further lower Himself with His death?
• What does all of this teach us about the very nature of God?
• What should our response be to such an amazing God?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

What Child is This: The King

What child is this? Do we really grasp the significance that this baby was called a King... the King of the world? A few people at the time of Jesus birth did (some for good and some for bad). Their response is a helpful study of the real implications for all people that Jesus is the King.

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Luke 1:26-38,2:1-20
Genesis 49:8-10
Psalm 2:7-12
Isaiah 9:6-7,11:1-2,11:10
2 Samuel 7:11-16
Acts 2:36
Matthew 1:1,2:1-18
Revelation 11:15

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• What is the difference between a King and a President?
• Why does it seem that people today just don't get the significance of the fact that Jesus is King?
• Why do we need a King and a Kingdom?
• What are the implications that Jesus is King and Lord?
• What are the implications for people who say they are not interested... or not into religion... or not into Jesus?
• What do the manger and the cross say about Jesus as King?
• What happens when the King comes back a second and last time?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

What Child is This: Pre-existence... or... Where Did He Travel From?

What child is this...? is the question the hymn writer asks. The answer begins in eternity past and in great glory. To appreciate what Jesus has sacrificed in just coming to earth we must look at the glory He had before His incarnation.

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John 1:1-18,6:38,14:9,17:5
Hebrews 1:1-3
Colossians 1:15-17
Revelation 4:1-6
Genesis 1
2 Corinthians 8:9

Love is in God, as light is in the sun, which does not shine by a reflected light, as the moon and planets do, but by its own light, and as the great fountain of light. And from God, love flows out toward all the inhabitants of heaven. It flows out, in the first place, necessarily and infinitely, toward his only-begotten Son; being poured forth, without mixture, as to an object that is infinite, and so fully adequate to all the fullness of a love that is infinite. And this infinite love is infinitely exercised toward Him. Not only does the fountain send forth streams to this object, but the very fountain itself wholly and altogether goes out toward Him. And the Son of God is not only the infinite object of love, but He is also an infinite subject of it. He is not only the Beloved of the Father, but He infinitely love Him. The infinite essential love of God, is, as it were, an infinite and eternal, mutual, holy, energy between the Father and the Son: a pure and holy act, whereby the Deity becomes, as it were, one infinite and unchangeable emotion of love proceeding from both the Father and the Son. This divine love has its seat in the Deity, as it is exercised within the Deity, or in God toward Himself. Jonathon Edwards Heaven, A World of Charity, or Love

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• What was Jesus' life like in heaven before He came to earth?
• What does the Bible mean when it says Jesus was with God and He was God?
• From what you heard in this sermon, what would it be like to see God in heaven... what would you see, hear and feel?
• What are some of the contrasts between what Jesus experienced in heaven and what He experienced on earth?
• Why did He even come here... what motivated Him?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA