Happy New Year!
Simply Jesus
Sunday, January 5, 2025
Welcome! Happy New Year!
Announcements: Potluck following service. Do you want to grow in personal awareness of your faith and how you relate to Jesus? Start using the study in our app. I create a personal reflection study nearly every week that can help you look within based on that message and Scripture. You can record your reflections and email them to yourself to keep track, then look at how you are growing throughout the year. We have many tools available right within our church-use them to your benefit.
Call to Worship: Psalm 95
Oh come, let us sing to the LORD and make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! 3 For the LORD is a great God and a great King above all gods. 4 In His hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are His also. 5 The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! 7 For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.
To worship is to offer our hearts to His love. And to worship is to surrender to His purpose in our lives.
"Let us come then before the throne of grace, acknowledging the supreme authority of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Savior, and offer our worship to Him alone, as He is the highest power in heaven and earth.".
Praise Songs
Intro: As we come to the end of one year, I am always in prayer to hear from God about the direction He has for us in the coming year. As I was reading His Word and about who Jesus is, these words came to me, Simply Jesus.
He is all we need, and we certainly need Him in our daily lives. Many of us know this on some level and yet we resist this as our absolute truth to live by. Throughout history, we have been seeking satisfaction, safety, salvation even, and acceptance through countless sources one of them every fully measuring up or providing what our heart truly craves. Each one failing us in some way, disillusioning us, and leaving us feeling like we are on shaky ground or shattered altogether. Be it other people who have their own flaws, the government, the healthcare system, our financial investments, and even religion. All of these are flawed and again we know this for some reason as humans we are drawn to attach ourselves to some or many of these things to find satisfaction, purpose, peace, or hope.
What we fail to understand or remember is those very things we are longing for and searching for are not of this world and are divinely given and therefore can only be divinely fulfilled.
Jesus Christ is our source of life, purpose, peace, security, and hope. He holds all that we are longing for and freely offers all that He is to us as we trust in Him and follow Him.
So why would we resist or doubt?
It comes down to either we don’t truly know Him, not personally, so we won’t trust Him. Or we have allowed other things to clutter our mind and heart and we forget the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus. When we do this, we are just getting in His way and He is calling us all to get on the way- to bring about His Kingdom here on earth by living faithfully and obediently to Him. Faith in Him gets us on the way! Do you know this is what faith is-believing He is who He says He is-especially when nothing appears that way? Our circumstances don’t define who Jesus is-He tells us who He is and our faith chooses to believe this truth over what we see or don’t see.
So God gave us a command for 2025 to learn or remember, Simply Jesus.
We will begin in the book of Hebrews that God led me to. In here we’ll address exactly who Jesus is, since He is the Rock upon which we are building our lives. Let us make sure we know the foundation upon which we are building.
All throughout this year, we’ll look to His Word to see who Jesus is; to see that Jesus is the Word. My hope is that come the end of 2025-which will be here in the blink of an eye it seems- that we’ll remove the clutter from our thoughts; our focus will be clear and sharp as to what and who we are looking at; and we’ll be free to act by faith in who we know Jesus is. Let this knowing expand greatly within us and build our faith.
Let’s begin!
Hebrews 1:1-12 NASB
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, to the extent that He has inherited a more excellent name than they. 5 For to which of the angels did He ever say, “You are My Son, Today I have fathered You”? And again, “I will be a Father to Him And He will be a Son to Me”? 6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” 7 And regarding the angels He says, “He makes His angels winds, And His ministers a flame of fire.” 8 But regarding the Son He says, “Your throne, God, is forever and ever, And the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of His kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of joy above Your companions.” 10 And, “You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Your hands; 11 They will perish, but You remain; And they all will wear out like a garment, 12 And like a robe You will roll them up; Like a garment, they will also be changed. But You are the same,
And Your years will not come to an end.”
Who is Jesus Christ? He is the Son of the Living God, the radiance of His glory, the exact representation of God. He laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning-He was always present. He holds all things together and while all earthly things will wear out; our God never will. He is King now and forevermore.
Do you know these truths deep in your heart? Is there a certainty within you to know Jesus is Lord over all-including your world feels like it’s closing in?
Because if you don’t know this-really know this- when life hits you hard and there is a certainty it will- you have no foundation to stand on; everything crumbles. However, when you do know who Jesus is and you have Him to cling to, you may get pushed and trampled upon, but you will rise up and be able to stand. You find times of perplexion but you will not be in despair, for in Christ there is eternal hope that is unwavering. If you know who Jesus is, you can cling to His promise, “in this world you will have many trials of all kinds, but take heart, because I have overcome the world!”
What is in this world? Brokenness, division, fear, darkness, sickness, hate, violence, and death. We all either experience directly or witness these things unfolding. The good we have and experience comes from the Lord!
So let’s begin this new year on a strong foundation-that of Jesus Christ, our Lord who was born to be our Messiah and free us from the bondage to this world and offer us divine love, peace, joy, and hope.
- All Sufficient.
If we have questions about who Jesus is, really… we should always go to His Word. Don’t take someone else’s opinion as your truth. Don’t look to social media memes as your source. Don’t let it only be movies or music that tell you who Jesus is. Don’t remain ignorant. I had no knowledge of who Jesus really is growing up-but that shouldn’t stop us from seeking and discovering at any age and stage in life. If we are questioning; if we doubt; if we wonder then let us look to His Word that tells us exactly who He is and pray that God will pierce this truth into your heart.
Hebrews 1:8 8 But regarding the Son He says, “Your throne, God, is forever and ever,
And the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of His kingdom. Jesus is the king of kings forever. His power is sufficient. His authority is sufficient.
Colossians 2: 9-10 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
As the exact representation of God, the fullness of deity lives in bodily form. He is the head over every power-on the earth and even over the enemy. There is no one more powerful. There is no name higher. Do you believe this?
2 Corinthians 9:8 NASB 8 And God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that, always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;
Through the grace of God, He ensures we have all sufficiency in everything-so that….we live miserable lives and barely get by… NO. so we have an abundance for every good deed! Meaning to carry out our purpose to help bring about His kingdom of peace and love here on earth.
As we enter a new year, think about what your current needs are. What are you hoping for? What are you waiting for? What are you desperate for?
Hear His Word today- Jesus is All Sufficient-every need you have He is sufficient to provide for you. Will you trust Him with those needs? Will you see Him as All Sufficient?
- All Supreme.
Colossians 1: 18-20 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Jesus is supreme in every way. He is the head; He is the beginning; He is the firstborn as He came in the flesh so that in everything, He might have supremacy.
When we doubt in His supremacy, we’re not alone. Humans have doubted God ever since we had sin enter our hearts because sin separates us from God and the intimate relationship He intends for us. Let me ask you, when you walk closely with Jesus, reading His Word, spending time in prayer, maybe journaling or talking with Him, sharing your needs with Him, praising Him- how often do you doubt His supremacy? How often do you doubt His plans for you?
But when you stop doing these things and allow clutter to fill up your head and heart, to take your time away from Him, and you are no longer filling yourself with the life-giving Word, you are no longer talking intimately with your God-how frequently would you say you doubt then? Not sure? Check your level of peace, worry, and fear.
As Jesus rose from the grave and appeared to the disciples, some of them even doubted it was really Jesus. Understandably so they saw Him die. Yet He told them ahead-He would have to die first and then be raised up.
Matthew 28:17 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
You see when we know by faith who Jesus is, our only response is to worship Him. And worship will always strengthen our faith and renew our hope.
Look at how Jesus responds to those who are worshiping Him by faith and those who want to believe but doubt.
Matthew 28:18 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus.
Hebrews 1: 11-12 11 They will perish, but You remain; And they all will wear out like a garment, 12 And like a robe You will roll them up; Like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.”
Jesus is the Only One we call on for help. He is the only One we follow. He is sufficient and supreme.
- No Add On’s Needed.
In OT times people chose to worship God along with other gods. In NT times people would believe in Jesus as the Messiah and still wanted to cling to Jewish traditions to ensure they were following proper religion; they would adhere to Jesus and the Law-clinging more tightly to the Law than relationship and faith in Christ as all-sufficient and supreme. This rings true yet today. We as a people cling to religious practices over Christ Himself. We cling to politics as our hope and security. We dance around with other religions believing we can try a little bit of everything and become more spiritual. We cling to self-made power and status more than Jesus’ supreme power.
This is not a message of condemnation, just a message to help us clear out all the Add On’s and know we don’t need them. Yes, we live in this world where all these things are present and we exist in it all, but we must check our hearts to see where might we unknowingly be saying yes Jesus…AND… (fill in the blank).
Look at what is said about even the angels-for some might make angels more powerful in their belief than Christ Himself:
Hebrews 1: 6-7 6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” 7 And regarding the angels He says, “He makes His angels winds, And His ministers a flame of fire.”
As we just recounted in our Christmas Eve service, the angels were commanded to rejoice in the birth of our Savior and the Son of God. They worship Christ and His arrival. In here we see they are ministers to serve God and His people. So they absolutely exist, but they are not more powerful or exalted than Christ Himself.
When the enemy tried to get Jesus to worship him let’s see Jesus’ response of truth to the power of evil:
Luke 4: 6-8 6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and [a]its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I want. 7 Therefore if You [b]worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” 8 Jesus replied to him,
“It is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
No Add On’s. Simply Jesus, for there is no name higher.
Conclusion: Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory, upholding all things by the power of His Word. There is no name higher for us to call on. He is all-sufficient and all supreme. He is our Lord and Messiah. Let us put our hope in Jesus, the Son of God. Let our faith reflect His Truth.
Let’s pray:
Communion: As we enter a new year, let’s pause and reflect on this message we just heard about who our Lord and Savior is. Ponder in your heart this morning who Jesus is to you. Who have you believed Him to be? Is your faith in all that He is, as He has stated?
Where have you doubted Him? Repent for that now and ask forgiveness for doubting and making Jesus too small for your troubles. Thank Him for His faithfulness and that He is far bigger than you can ever imagine. Ask Him to increase your faith today and in this year ahead.
Let’s remember now what His sacrifice offers us- redemption, right standing with our Holy God, peace with God, unfailing love that flows freely to us, direct access to the Father, forgiveness for all our wrongdoings and shortcomings, and eternal life, sharing in the joy of the Father. Amazing isn’t it?
Let our hearts believe today in the fullness of who Christ is. Let us give thanks for His gift. Let us choose to live this year to honor Him by seeking to apply this truth of Simply Jesus is all we need.
Luke 22: “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, which is being given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant in My blood.
Let’s pray the Lord’s Prayer together. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Offering: let us each pray and let God guide us in how He is calling us to give in 2025. Let us give by faith and in obedience to His leading and let there be joy in our hearts as we trust in Him.
Final Song
Final Blessing: Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
