As we cross the threshold into a new year, ask the Lord to and begin a new chapter.

You know, that's really what life is all about.

We spend our years as a tale that is told.

One chapter comes to a conclusion. It's just the commencement of another. God's

endings are all new beginnings. And the last chapter is really just the first chapter of the

rest of the story. I bring you to Matthew chapter 28. It is the last chapter in the gospel according to Matthew, and in many

respects the disciples must have thought it was the end. Matthew 28, verse 1 says, in the end of the Sabbath.

As it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see

the sepulchre. Jesus is dead. Their Messiah is gone.

Their hopes have been dashed. Oh, they've come to the end. I've marked in my Bible in

Matthew 28 verse 1, the words the end and then the words the first. You see, it's not the end.

It's just the first of the next chapter. And God is at work.

You see, in all of life, there are going to be events. There are going to be obstacles.

They're going to be emotions. They're going to be enemies. All of that changes. All of that passes

away. But there's one thing that matters.

There's one thing that lasts. And that, my friends, is the presence of Christ, the risen Christ,

the living Christ. You see, in Matthew chapter 28, when they got to the end of it all, they met Jesus.

And they found in Matthew chapter 28 that the end of it all, they met Jesus. And they found in Matthew

chapter 28 that the presence of Christ was all they needed. Three times in this one chapter, we

find a word of attention. In verse 7, the Bible says, and go quickly, tell his disciples that

he's risen from the dead, and behold, he goeth before you. In verse 9 verse nine it says and as they went to tell his

disciples behold jesus met them and in verse 20 at the end of the chapter jesus himself says to them

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