The smell of a new car…the sweetness of a new baby…Ahaaa! Who doesn’t like new things?
This month, as shoppers glean through last year’s merchandise hoping for bargains, new products for the future are already being designed. Everything from hardware to underwear will get retooled and improved. New is nice!
That’s why I like celebrating a new year. As a Christian, I know that God is into new things. In fact, in the last book of the New Testament, Jesus declares, “Behold, I make all things new.” The Christian faith anticipates new things. It promises a new birth, new beginnings and new mercies on a daily basis to those who trust the Savior.
The Apostle Paul once wrote about the beauty of the Christian message. He said, “Thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him” (2 Cor. 2:14).
The gospel is always new and fresh, like smelling an outrageously expensive perfume! For you guys, maybe a better analogy would be sitting inside a new Porsche or Ferrari as the smell of new leather and components waifs through the air.
I once heard of the world’s most expensive perfume that sold for $215,000 per bottle! Hidden inside each 18–carat, gold-collared crystal bottle was a five-carat diamond!
That’s a great analogy of Christ’s gospel. To our spiritual senses it smells great and inside there is a lot more than you anticipated.
That’s what awaits you when you invite Jesus Christ to walk with you into the New Year. He alone can give you the assurance that your sins are forgiven. Only He, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, can walk with you through the uncertainties that will unfold in 2008.
What is the gospel message? Simply this: Everyone has fallen short of perfection. We are all broken and in need of repair. If we came off an assembly line, we wouldn’t qualify for God’s marketplace because some of our components are defective. All have sinned.
But God offers us new life through Jesus Christ! God’s way of fixing our brokenness is to offer a new birth. Here’s the promise: “When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun” (2 Cor. 5:17).
Why not start this New Year by inviting Jesus Christ into your life and allowing Him to lead you throughout this year and beyond…into eternity? Only He can take yesterday’s failure and continually make all things new!
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Fresh out of Bible school and with a heavenly mandate, Jim and Pam moved to Erie, PA, in June 1981. Having never visited the city, their sojourn began by living ten weeks in a tent on Walnut Creek with their four-year-old son. God had said, "Move to Erie, become established and build a great church." No obstacle was impossible to overcome!
Making Erie their permanent home, they helped establish three churches in Northwest, PA, and faithfully pastored Erie Christian Fellowship for 30 years. Their vision, which continues under the capable leadership of Jason and Liz Ackerman, is to honor the Lord Jesus Christ and build strong believers rooted in the Word and guided by the Spirit.
Jim and Pam continue to minister as District Directors of Rhema Ministerial Alumni Association. In September 2018, Jim experienced a miraculous recovery from a "widowmaker" heart attack and a 6-day coma. After prayer, Jim was miraculously restored to the joy of his family and the astonishment of a caring medical team. Jim is currently writing "Let's Pray," a book that chronicles God's guidance and answers to prayer in their life.
Jim and Pam have one son, Dr. Justin Dumont (married to Dr. Anna Dumont), and four incredible grandchildren; Jazna, Coleben, Symeon, and Kendru.