Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
~ Luke 3:21-23
We are approaching the end of our four-week sermon series, “Reset.” I am extremely grateful for the conference leadership who put together the resources for this time in worship, and of course the St. Paul’s Worship Team for helping us live it out! This is a series I am going to miss because it feels so vitally important to life at the moment.
Throughout life there are a number of check points that signal new beginnings- graduations, retirements, change of jobs, change in relationships, births, deaths, the change of a calendar year, the start of a new season. But throughout none of those, I don’t believe I ever thought as them being a new beginning with God. And the reality is, every moment of repentance is a new beginning with God. But there is something special about taking some time to intentionally say, “I am going to try something new for this season of life.”
Throughout our Reset series we have reset our souls, our purpose, our values, and this Sunday we will reset our direction. We have discovered, some of us for the first time, four things that I pray will define our relationships with God from here on out:
God loves you. It’s a deep, and unwavering love that goes well beyond what you do, or don’t do. It’s a love that caused God to send Jesus into the muck and mire of this world, to share with us that same love and show us how to share that love. It’s the same love that led Jesus to die on a cross to save us from slavery to sin and death. It’s a love that makes us first and foremost, beloved children.
God wants to talk with you. Each of us are invited to play a role in God’s great story and part of our role is to have a relationship with God. We have the opportunity to talk with God through prayer, and God does speak back! As we hear in the Luke passage above, prayer is what grounded Jesus in reminding him of his identity and it can do the same for us.
God has a desire for us. God has a desire and a goal for creation and we get to live that out! Jesus teaches us to pray, “thy will be done,” meaning we are called to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We are called live into the love that God has for creation, to value community, and actions that help produce fruits of the Spirit. (see Galatians 5:22-23 for a reminder)
God calls us to make change. There are moments where we reach a crossroads and God calls us to go in a very specific direction. Sometimes, that direction is not always the same as everyone else. And even still, sometimes that direction changes along the way!
If we each were to live into these four things, I wonder how our lives would change? I wonder if we would be able to hear God more clearly? I wonder if we would be able to see God more clearly? I wonder what new and excited God-given direction we would head?!
Comment your thoughts!
Blessings friends,
Pastor Nicole