New Covenant 2026: God Writes His Law on Your Heart

A sermon by Marie Agostini, CCNV, December 28, 2025.

Introduction

You're entering a new year, and you might be wondering what God is preparing. Marie Agostini opens 2026 with a simple conviction: the Lord is inaugurating a year of new covenants. Not an adjustment, not a church slogan, but a pact God wants to renew with you, with your family, with your community.

She starts in Luke 2 (the birth of Jesus amid Caesar Augustus's census), then moves back to Hebrews 8:7-13, where God promises to write his law on hearts, and comes down to Isaiah 16:3-5 to describe what this covenant produces in the way you live. Three passages, one invitation: let God write something new deep inside you this year.

Sermon Outline

1. God shows up where no one expects him (Luke 2)

Marie walks slowly through the birth of Jesus. An imperial decree, a traveling couple, no room to be found, a manger. The Savior of the world enters history through the back door, in the middle of Roman oppression, in complete silence.

The first witnesses aren't Herod, the notables, or the tax collectors. They're shepherds watching their flock: busy, ordinary people who smelled like sheep. "The angels are sent to those who are ready to listen," she says. The wise men will follow a star (God's "GPS"), because they too were truly searching.

If you think you're not important enough for God to call you, you're wrong. God still shows up in the heart of "Bernard tending his sheep over there," of "Gertrude sorting wool," of the high school student, of the employee caught up in their day. The revolution of the kingdom plays out quietly, among those who listen.

2. Hebrews 8: the law written on your heart

The key verse for the year is Hebrews 8:7-13. Marie lays it out calmly: "If that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no place found for a second one." It's not God who failed; it's the people who broke the pact. Like a marriage where one partner betrays, betrays, betrays, until the other finally has to admit the relationship is broken.

But God had a plan. "I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people... For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more."

That's the DNA of the new covenant: you no longer need God's will dictated to you from outside, it's written within you. Marie insists: "We're all beginners when it comes to this new covenant." No one is an expert. We grow together, with a heart that wants to know. The keywords she sets for 2026: consecration, understanding, purification, mission.

3. Isaiah 16: justice as the signature of the covenant

A new covenant doesn't stay internal. It shows. Marie opens Isaiah 16:3-5: "Hide the outcasts. Don't betray the fugitive. Let the outcasts of Moab live among you... For oppression will end, and the throne will be established through mercy."

She draws a direct line to Jesus himself, a fugitive from birth, a refugee in Egypt fleeing Herod. "The gospel isn't politics," she clarifies, but it is the disciple's concrete posture: refusing the logic of withdrawal, protecting those without shelter, standing up for the weakest. "May the Lord not find in our lives things that hold back our own prayers."

4. A miracle that sets the tone for the year

Marie closes with the testimony of a sister whose foster daughter, in a coma after an accident, had been declared brain-dead by MRI. This sister held on for ten years through a professional and spiritual battle, refusing to leave until God told her to. She prayed, called out, believed. One morning, the girl opened her eyes, moved her arms, woke up. The new MRI showed no more damage. That same day, in a church service, a pastor was preaching on Talitha koumi: "Little girl, get up."

"Victory doesn't come when you have no problem. It comes when you're at war." That's the picture Marie paints for 2026: a community of faith, love, and miracles, one that holds on even when everything looks frozen.

Key Takeaways

• 2026 is a year of new covenants. A pact to make with God, with your family, with your church.
• God writes his law on your heart (Hebrews 8). You no longer depend on an outside rule: the Holy Spirit teaches you from within.
• God calls shepherds, not the powerful (Luke 2). You don't need to be remarkable to be chosen, you need to listen.
• The justice of Isaiah 16 is the signature of the covenant. Hiding the fugitive, protecting the outcast, refusing to turn inward.
• Consecration, understanding, purification, mission: the four keywords to work on this year.

Personal Application

1. What concrete pact is God asking you to renew with him in 2026: in your prayer life, your time in the Word, your presence at church?
2. What "law" is God trying to write on your heart this year, not as an imposed rule, but as a new desire?
3. Who are the "shepherds" and "stars" God is placing on your path right now? Who is the angel sending you to?
4. Where does turning inward close your eyes? Who around you fits the "fugitive" of Isaiah 16?
5. In what battle do you feel like walking away, when the Lord is telling you to stay?

Scriptures Referenced

• Luke 2:1-20 · the birth of Jesus, the shepherds, the angels.
• Hebrews 8:7-13 · the new covenant and the law written on hearts.
• Isaiah 16:3-5 · hiding the fugitive, doing justice, establishing the throne through mercy.
• Luke 17:28-36 · the days of Lot, the urgency of consecration.
• Mark 5:41 · Talitha koumi, "little girl, get up."

FAQ

What does it actually mean to "write the law on the heart"?

It means your obedience no longer depends on outside pressure, but on an inner desire given by the Holy Spirit. You're no longer trying to "do things right so you don't get caught": you love what God loves, you hate what God hates, because he has changed the software of your heart.

Why does Marie talk about "blood" and the new covenant?

Because the new covenant of Hebrews 8 is sealed by the blood of Christ on the cross (Hebrews 9). That blood is what makes it possible for God to forgive your wrongs and remember them no more. Without the sacrifice of Jesus, a law written on the heart would remain a beautiful but unreachable idea.

Is the social justice of Isaiah 16 optional for a Christian?

No. Marie says it plainly: "This isn't politics, it's the gospel." Standing up for the fugitive, protecting the stranger, refusing the every-man-for-himself mindset: that's the natural signature of a heart transformed by the new covenant.