New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2012 sermon by Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Sermon text - Hebrews 11:24-30 and other Scripture portions
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In Christ Jesus, the same yesterday, today and forever, fellow
believers:
    There have been many predictions that the end of the world is at
hand.  The most recent one was December 21, 2012, based on a
supposed prediction in the Mayan calendar.  Since you are here, and I
am here, and this church building is here, guess what!  It didn’t happen.
    There have been other predictions of specific times for the end.  The
Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, have set a date more than one time.
But we are still here.  There have been other sects or cults with people
gathering together to wait for a so-called rapture or end which they say
definitely is right around the corner.  But it hasn’t happened. 
    Why?  Because God alone knows the time He has set and no one
else knows of that day or hour.  I can’t even say for sure that 2013 will
definitely arrive just a few hours from now.  Maybe God has planned
the end for before midnight.  That is His business.
    So what do we do?  Leaving the future in God’s hands, we MOVE
ON.  And in this service let us do that moving on by looking at the
past to learn something about living in the present as we await what
is eternal.  For that I would like to make use of especially two people
from Old Testament times, namely Moses and Joshua.  
MOVING ON
I    LOOK AT THE PAST.  (Hebrews 11:24-29)
    1. Moses looked back at the past. (24-26)
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as
the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  He chose to be mistreated along
with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin
for a short time.  He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of
greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking
ahead to his reward. 
        a) Moses, having been brought up in a king’s palace, easily could
have had opportunities to enjoy this life’s treasures and sin.
        b) But first, from his family, he had learned about a greater
treasure, the truth of God’s salvation.
    2. What do we see as we look back?
        a) Did the past include family that brought us up to know God’s
salvation in Christ His Son?  Thank God for that.
        b) But do we also have to look back and see that the so-called
pleasures of sin made us fall once, or often?  Were we at times
ashamed to stand up and be identified as Christians, ashamed to suffer
“disgrace for the sake of Christ”?  Moses had to deal with that too.
    3. Moses’ past life was a life of faith.  (27-29)
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered
because he saw him who is invisible.  By faith he kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn
would not touch the firstborn of Israel.  By faith the people passed
through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried
to do so, they were drowned.
        a) By faith Moses followed God’s will, God’s guiding directions,
and experienced the truth of what God had promised.
        b) That promise was not only deliverance from Egypt, but above
all deliverance from eternal death by God’s Passover Lamb.
    4. In faith he acknowledged past guidance. 
        a) Who wants to go through great difficulty?  Moses, among
other things, had the Red Sea and a desert to cross.
        b) Perhaps you had your own Red Seas to contend with, like
sickness, stormy financial times, problems with family or other people.
        c) But look at the past.  Humbly thank God for being with you.
And now, moving from Moses to Joshua, let’s go on to
II  LIVE IN THE PRESENT. (Josh. 1:1-5; 24:23-24; Heb. 11:30)
    1. Joshua had God’s promise. (1:1-4)
After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said
to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide:  “Moses my servant is dead.
Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan
River into the land I am about to give to them - to the Israelites.  I
will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised
Moses.  Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon,
and from the great river, the Euphrates - all the Hittite country -
to the Great Sea on the west.” 
        a) Living in the present would not be easy for Joshua.
        b) But he had God’s promise that God would be with him.
    2. We have the same promise from God. (1:5)
“No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your
life.  As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave
you nor forsake you.”
        a) The promise is not that life in the present will always be easy.
        b) But it is the promise that God will never leave or forsake us.
    3. May we live in the present keeping our promise. (24:23-24)
“Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are
among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God
and obey him.”
        a) Israel made this promise.  But Israel failed again and again.
        b) We have made this promise too - think of your confirmation
ceremony.  But often we fail too, don’t we.  That is why we daily need
our God’s grace and forgiving love, the comforting assurance of the
Lord’s Supper that Jesus died that we might be forgiven and live.
    4. Live in the present confident in God’s promise. (Heb. 11:30)
By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched
around them for seven days.
        a) The future was still ahead for Israel, but they could be
confident that God would keep His promises.  And He did.
        b) Now for us in the present, we have God’s promises too.
        c) And what we should do is remember that as God kept His
promises to Moses and Joshua, so He is with us as we live in the
present, and as every passing second becomes the future.
III  AWAIT WHAT IS ETERNAL.  (Hebrews 4:8; 11:13-16; 2 Cor.
    1. No earthly home is our real home.  (Heb. 4:8)            /4:16-18)
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken
later about another day.  There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for
the people of God.
        a) So was it for Israel.  That geographical land wasn’t and isn’t it.
        b) And so it is with us.  I have lived in homes in 2 countries, in 2
states, and in 5 cities.  But none has been or is my real home.
    2. We don’t live hanging on to 2012. (Hebrews 11:13-16)
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did
not receive the things promised; they only saw them and
welcomed them from a distance.  And they admitted that they
were aliens and strangers on earth.  People who say such things
show that they are looking for a country of their own.  If they had
been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had
opportunity to return.  Instead, they were longing for a better
country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be
called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
        a) Israel didn’t go back to Egypt, and we can’t go back to 2012
or any other year that we considered better than what we have had.
        b) Looking ahead, God has prepared something far better,
something that required what we celebrated in Christmas and will again
celebrate on Good Friday and Easter.  Jesus, God’s eternal Son, took
on Himself a body, flesh and blood like ours, so that He could die an
innocent death in place of all of us sinners to pay the wages of our sins,
and then to arise from the dead to prove His victory and His promise
of being our Resurrection and our Life.
    3. So let us live not getting discouraged. (2 Cor. 4:16-17)   
Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting
away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our
light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory
that far outweighs them all. 
        a) Yes, trouble and aches and pains may well increase.
        b) But don’t ever forget about the eternal glory our Savior has
won for us, a glory that far outweighs any problems or difficulties we
may have had or may have to deal with in 2013 or later.
    4. Live now anticipating God’s promised future.  (2  Cor. 4:18)
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For
what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
        a) Look at the past, and learn from it.
        b) Live in the present, knowing God will never forsake His own.
        c) And await what His eternal love has prepared for us.

    Moving on to the end of this sermon now, we know that this
evening we’ll hear many people say to us, “Happy New Year!”
    Isn’t it wonderful to know that one day, because of Jesus our
Savior, we’ll hear God saying to us, “Happy Eternal Glory!”
    Meanwhile, as we move on from 2012 into 2013, may we always
remember that our God will never leave us or forsake us.        
           


St. Jacobi Evangelical Lutheran Church
8605 W. Forest Home Ave.
Greenfield, Wisconsin 53228
www.stjacobi.org

NEW YEAR’S EVE SERVICE
December 31, 2012               Monday               4:00 & 6:00 P.M.
MOVING ON
























Church Phone 414 425-3030                    Timothy J. Spaude, Pastor 414 425-8601
School Phone 414 425-2040           Richard A. Waldschmidt, Pastor 414 425-1485
David Hackmann, Principal  414 529-0214    Paul G. Eckert, Pastor 414 425-4649

WELCOME TO ALL!

Opening Order of  Service
    Hymnal Pages 52-53 and 55-56

Hymn 69:1-5   -----------------  “Across The Sky The Shades Of Night”

Scripture reading - Deuteronomy  34:1-9
     Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the
top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the
whole land - from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of
Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western
sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the
City of Palms, as far as Zoar.  Then the LORD said to him, “This is the
land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I
will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes,
but you will not cross over into it.”
     And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the
LORD had said.  He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth
Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.  Moses was a
hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not
weak nor his strength gone.  The Israelites grieved for Moses in the
plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was
over.
     Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom
because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to
him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.

Hymn 71:1-6   -----------------  “The Old Year Now Has Passed Away”

Sermon Text - Hebrews 11:24-30  (and other Scripture portions)
     By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the
son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  He chose to be mistreated along with the
people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.
He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the
treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.  By
faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because
he saw him who is invisible.  By faith he kept the Passover and the
sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not
touch the firstborn of Israel.  By faith the people passed through the
Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they
were drowned.  By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had
marched around them for seven days.
MOVING ON
I    LOOK AT THE PAST 
II  LIVE IN THE PRESENT 
III  AWAIT WHAT IS ETERNAL 

Our Offerings to praise and serve our eternal God.
    (During this time please fill in the Friendship Register.)

Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer  - “Our Father in heaven ---”

Confession - spoken together - Hymn 302:1 and 4
    “Lord, To You I Make Confession ---”
    “Lord, On You I Cast My Burden ---”

Absolution

Continuing Order of  Service
    Hymnal  Pages 35-37

Hymns  during distribution of the Lord’s Supper  -  441,  588 

Closing Hymn 73:1 and 4  -------------  “To God The Anthem Raising”

Other Scripture portions referred to in the sermon.
Joshua 1:1-5 and 24:23-24
    After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said
to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now
then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into
the land I am about to give to them - to the Israelites.  I will give you
every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.  Your
territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great
river, the Euphrates - all the Hittite country - to the Great Sea on the
west.  No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your
life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you
nor forsake you.”
    “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are
among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and
obey him.”

Hebrew 4:8 and 11:13-16
    For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later
about another day.  There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people
of God.
    All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did
not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed
them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and
strangers on earth.  People who say such things show that they are
looking for a country of their own.  If they had been thinking of the
country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.
Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has
prepared a city for them.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
    Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting
away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light
and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on
what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is
eternal.

(All Scripture quotations are from the NIV which is in our pew rack.)

Some Announcements 
     Our regular schedule of services is Saturdays at 5:00 P.M., Sundays
at 8:15 and 10:45 A.M. and Mondays at 7:00 P.M.  We welcome all! 
     We thank our organist, Mr. Ralph Engelhardt, the ushers, the
worshipers - all who are in any way involved in praising our Lord and
Savior.  Visitors, please join us in worship again.