Series: Overflow
Message: Thank You
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Reflection: Japhet De Oliveira
Live Wonder: Jessyka Dooley
Live Adventure: Jessyka Dooley
Live Purpose: Kyle Smith
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Hebrews 12:18-29 in the English Standard Version (ESV). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: Tomorrow I will be preaching my final sermon in this Christmas series, Overflow. Dr Mark Johnson will write the Daily Walk next week and will preach the final sermon of the series and the year. As I reflect on this passage one more time today with you, I can’t help but think about the gifts that we take for granted in life that have nonetheless been transformative in shaping who we are.
At the start of this week, on Sunday evening, we held our third annual Wiser Generation Christmas Banquet. Every year, I show all our guests the best Christmas TV advert (in my opinion) from back home in England. This year’s ad, by John Lewis & Partners (a British department store), is described as follows.
This year’s story is about the power of a gift. And how that gift inspired, changed and influenced the course of a little boy’s life. That little boy just happens to be Elton John. The film begins in present day and works backwards chronologically through Elton’s life right until the moment on Christmas morning when he received the special gift that changed his life.
You have to watch the 2-minute and 20-second advert yourself. It is the winner for me this year, in part because it captures those moments when a gift is not just about something cool, or something fun. It’s about a gift that changes your life. A gift that made you think differently about yourself and others from that point forward. My first Lego Technic Car, given to me in 1980, comes to mind for so many reasons, not least because it was a sacrifice for my parents to buy it for me but also because it unleashed my imagination. It was to become a toy that I would remap into something else for years to come. I would even use real engine parts from Citroen mixed in with the Lego pieces to mingle multiple worlds that were not even meant to be together. It is why today the Lego metaphor I share for Bible Study (regarding Duplo and Technic) is far deeper than describing the two methods as just “simple” and “complex.” A gift has the potential to transform us.
Paul wrote this passage because he had experienced radical transformation. His life connected to Jesus just overflowed with joy and excitement. He could not contain it. He was a different person because of it.
Recalibrate: Christmas is a reminder of Jesus fulfilling His promise. How do we live out the art of gratitude in the world? What about your surroundings (home/neighborhood/city/etc.) are you thankful for? What about your community (family/neighbors/work/school/etc.) are you thankful for?
Respond: Pray for places to love more
Research: Read one of the recommended commentaries on this passage.
Remember: “Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please Him, with reverence and awe . . .” (Hebrews 12:28, GNB).
Japhet is senior pastor at Boulder Adventist Church in Boulder, Colorado, and is co-founder of the One project. Originally from southeast London, he served in the South England Conference for nine years—as a pastor and later as conference youth director—before moving to the United States in 2006. He and his wife Becky have two sons, one at university and one in high school.
After all that Hebrews 12 shared with us about the unshakable Kingdom of God, we are told to be thankful for it! Talk with your child about some of the things that you are thankful for. Tell them that because God is so good and because God is so strong and because God is not going anywhere, we should be thankful to Him and we should worship Him always! When we worship God, we worship Him with reverence and awe. Describe what reverence and awe are to your child and then pray together.
Read your Words to Remember out loud. Why do you think we should be grateful and worship God? What did Hebrews tell us about Jesus and His Kingdom this week? He told us that everything else might disappear or break, but He will stay forever! Do you think that is a good reason to worship God? When we worship God, Hebrews tells us to do so with reverence and awe. What do you think those two words mean? Reverence means to have a big amount of respect and awe means to be amazed by something!
This week we covered a lot of ground. We went from Sinai to Zion and from shakable to unshakable. The two illustrations are very tightly connected as they convey the same message: God wants to bring you to somewhere better. God has taken us from death to life. He has moved us from our “Mount Sinais” and has placed us firmly on His “Mount Zion.” That is the reason for the hope we have. That is why we have gone from shaken to unshakeable. As your reflect this Sabbath, I pray that you will look closely at your life. No matter where you are, remember that God wants to take you further. Ask God the question today, “Where are you taking me?” I know He will begin to reveal a life that you could never have imagined. (Trust me, I know from experience!)