A New Beginning

A New Beginning

JOHN 8:1-11

1Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. 3And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

I want to preach to three different types of people today.

ÿ The first are those who can say “Yes I have done everything I could this year for God”. I lived for God the best I could.

ÿ The second are those that can say there are some areas that I did well and then there are some areas in my walk with God that did not go so well.

ÿ Thirdly are those that did not do well at all in their walk with God.

To these three groups of people I direct my comments today. I feel that the word of God has some great news for those in all three groups. There is hope for you today no matter where you are.

PRAYER

No doubt there are questions in your mind about his new year.

What will happen in this new year?

Will the United States go to war?

Will our shores be invaded this year?

Will there be another terrorist attack?

What lies in store for me personally?

Will this be the year that the Lord returns for the church?

Often times during the beginning of the year people ask themselves questions about their own life.

I’m talking to you this morning about: A New Beginning!

At the beginning of the year perhaps more than any other time of the year we become reflective, and look back over the year and over our life. We think about things that went right and things that went wrong. We think about victories and we think about defeats. We think about mistakes that we made and how there are things we wish we could do over again or words we wish we could have taken back. At this time of the year resolutions are made, diets are started, and exercise machines are dusted off and put to use again. At this time of the year new things are tried.

As a Christian this is a time that we can evaluate our walk with God.

ÿ Did I give my best to God this past year?

ÿ Did I pray like I should have?

ÿ Did I witness like I should have?

ÿ Did I read the word of God like I should have?

ÿ Did I attend church and was I faithful to God as I should have?

ÿ Was God number one in my life?

Often resolutions are made.

Resolved in 2003:

v I will spend more time with my children.

v I will finish those odd jobs around the house.

v I will become more productive on my job.

v I will become more involved in the church.

v I will lose weight and exercise more.

v I will become more faithful in my daily devotions.

Resolutions – most people make a few every new year. They make them even though they are broken almost before they are made. But I suppose they are made because they symbolize the rite of passage into the new year.

Resolutions are made because people want to see some specific changes in the new year. They want to:

v Get to be a better person

v Get thinner

v Get smarter

v Improve relationships

Maybe they want to learn from the mistakes of the previous year. Perhaps they want to keep hope alive that somehow this new year will be different.