Baptized Into Christ

As we enter a new year, many Christians make a New Year's resolution to get back into the habit of reading their Bible.  Often, people make it a goal of reading through the entire Bible in a year, which is a wonderful goal and can be a real blessing to those who are able to keep the daily commitment. Another option Christians sometimes take with the new year is to have a word for that year...or a verse of Scripture. Let me propose another option.  How about picking one book of the Bible and really getting to know it in depth? Many Christians say that they long for an in depth study of God's Word, but they aren't sure how to go about it or where to start. One option is to buy a commentary and use that along side your study.  Commentaries can be helpful resources, but they are also expensive and often times people rely more on the commentary than simply reading what the Bible says. So let me give you a simple (cheap) way to do an in depth study of a book of the Bi

This is the sermon I preached on New Year's Eve. We didn't get a recording of it and I thought it might be of benefit to others to hear/read, so I've decided to print it here. God bless you in 2017! Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, The gospel reading appointed for New Year’s Day in our lectionary stands out for one reason.  It’s only one verse long.  Tonight, I wanted to have the Gospel reading for New Year’s Eve read in the service, but I wanted to preach on that shortest of readings in our lectionary.   From Luke 2:21l;   And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.  That’s it.  That’s the whole reading. And the verse doesn’t contain a whole lot of action or information either.   And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived i