From the creation story we discover the value of all people. God wants to be with you. Think about that. You. God wants to personally be with you. At great cost to God, God has done everything possible to get you back. You are valuable. True, lasting self-esteem begins by believing what God says about you.

Living as strangers in a strange land, Christians are called to be different, to live humbly. But humility is not a popular nor celebrated trait in the modern world. It's not praised on talk shows nor celebrated in graduation speeches, its not touted as a core value for business. If you go to the self-help section of Dymocks or Page One you won't find many books on humility. The basic reason for this is because humility can only exist in God’s presence. You could say that humility follows God like a shadow. We can expect to find humility celebrated in our modern world as often as we find God celebrated – which means almost never.

Christians live as strangers in a strange land; they are called to live differently from the values and customs and expectations of this world. One of the reasons Christians know that they are aliens and strangers in the world is that the world we live in does not embrace the same principles. The core concerns that preoccupy Peter – and the whole New Testament – are the salvation of the human soul and the glory of God.

In 1st Peter, Chapter 2, we are told to crave for what is pure. As we do this, we learn that the desire to taste and enjoy God's kindness cannot flourish in the same heart with things like malice and hypocrisy. So we long to live differently from the values and customs and expectations of this world. As strangers in a strange land, we are to strive to taste the kindness of God in his Word. Because it was “God has caused us to be born again to a living hope” – for another world, another, greater kind of existence.

As Christians, we are strangers in a strange land. The language and values and customs and expectations of this world should feel foreign to us. Something really radical has happened to us. Peter writes: “God has caused us to be born again to a living hope” – for another world, another, greater kind of existence.

In 1st Peter, we are told that Christians survive in this strange land by faith and endurance. Not by imposing a lifestyle on others through rules but by living holy lives that compel others to follow.

We know that we need a plan when it comes to providing the basic physical necessities of life. We take steps to see that we have enough to eat and clothes to keep us warm. But do we take our spiritual needs that seriously? Do we apply the same earnestness in planning to maximise our spiritual life as we do in planning to make a living?

As we begin another new year, we need a plan. A plan to set aside time each week in the coming year – specifically to plan your life of prayer and devotion and ministry.

This Season reminds us that God is in the midst of what we often categorise as common, ordinary and secular, and that segregating our world into “secular” and “sacred” limits opportunities for us to see Jesus at work in our daily lives. Charles Spurgeon said, “To a man who lives unto God nothing is secular, everything is sacred… The sacred has absorbed the secular.” Join us this Sunday as we consider that night, two thousand years ago, when God sent Jesus to make sacred what was considered profane, secular and common.

In the first chapter of Acts, Luke introduces several important gospel perspectives that recur throughout the rest of the book. Principal among them is that the book of Acts is first and foremost a book about Jesus. He is the primary character of the book and the centre of all its events.

Acts portrays the continuing work and teachings of Jesus, following His ascension, in a way that no other book of the Bible does. Acts demonstrates that as the flowering movement spreads, Jesus Himself is at work. The Church is Jesus’ instrument to continue His work in the world.

In the closing chapter, we encounter the Apostle Paul, a man sold-out for Jesus. To his dying day, he preached Jesus every opportunity that was given to him regardless of the consequence. Not all of us are called to be preachers, but all Christians are called to participate in a common race. How will you finish?