Bunbury
Sun am
2/01/11
“The hope of a new beginning”
Intro: *** Statement made by one of the bros on Friday am that struck me as being both sad & lacking in u/s.
Asked if he was going to come to New Year’s eve Bar-B-Q & he said “I have never celebrated New Year’s eve I don’t see the sense in it!”
I couldn’t help thinking how his thinking lacked insight.
God gives us new beginnings in seasons / times / days / years b/c it is necessary in life to be able to bring an end some things & a beginning to others!
Genesis 1:14 (NKJV) 14Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
Certainly if nothing else mentally it helps us to be able to close chapters of our lives & say ..... that’s the end & be able to look forward to a new beginning.
Think about what God says heaven & eternal life is really all about .....
Revelation 21:5 (NKJV) 5Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” .....
Heaven / eternity is going to be about a new beginning ...... beginning new things & leaving behind old things.
If there is one spiritual significance about New Year it’s this ...... I believe we enter the new year w/ the hope of a new beginning.
That’s also the title of my message t/m ‘The hope of a new beginning’.
Text: Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV) 7For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.
# 1. New beginnings.
A. There is something about new beginnings that is essential to every one of us.
a. As we’ve already seen in my introduction t/m new beginnings are not man’s idea – it’s God’s idea.
i. Let’s focus our minds on this whole idea of new beginnings & think about where it originated from.
ii. To do this we have to go all the way back to the garden of Eden ....... the new beginning of creation i/s.
iii. Here is God busily putting together the master blueprint of creation making everything a reality.
iv. He begins by creating worlds & then bringing about divisions .... night / day / horizon & sky / water / land / division of different types of vegetation.
v. Then we find God creating stars ... lights of heaven / sun etc & w/ this He brings about the division of time itself.
vi. Right here God recognises / identifies the need for there to be a beginning & end of various times / seasons.
b. Now the question that begs to asked is why did God do this ..... why did God think it necessary to divide up time?
i. Day / night / months / years / seasons / times?
ii. Part of the reason is b/c of the natural cycles of creation sowing / growing / harvesting all happens in timeframes.
iii. God has also programmed into animal creation, including humans a need for times / seasons.
iv. But I think that one of the primary reasons is that mentally / emotionally / spiritually we all need the possibility of a fresh & new beginning.
v. Think about the ultimate promise that God gives to those that love Him ...... it’s the promise of a new beginning.
1 Corinthians 15:51-54 (NKJV) 51Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
vi. Here is the last trumpet that will sound out a new beginning for the redeemed people of God.
B. But if new beginnings only come at the end of life then we are all going to be in trouble.
a. We are all prone to mistakes / bad judgments / errors in decision that we will have to carry our entire lives w/o a new beginning.
*** The other day we were pulled over by the police. I wasn’t driving & we had been clocked @ 21 km/h over the speed limit. But the worst thing was that the driver had a clean record w/ no demerit points against him. But b/c of double demerits @ Christmas he lost 4 in one hit! Ouch!!! But even our beloved govt sees fit to wipe the slate clean every three years & give every driver a new beginning!
i. We all need the possibility of being able to wipe the slate clean ..... getting a fresh start.
ii. That’s one of the reasons why God initiated the year of jubilee for His people...... God loves the idea of giving His people a fresh beginning / start.
Leviticus 25:2-4 (NKJV) 2“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the LORD. 3Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; 4but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.
iii. Here it is – a new beginning for the entire land ..... a fresh start & clean slate, servants freed / debts cleared / the land given a new beginning.
b. God knows how much we need this mentally.
i. This is one of the reasons why people have emotional breakdowns – they can’t get free from the past!!!
ii. Even God’s people back themselves into spiritual corners ..... battle lines are drawn / situations develop that they need to get free from.
iii. Every one of us needs the release / deliverance of a new beginning...... one of the natural jubilees that God gives us is the passing of every new year.
iv. So the question we want to ask here is .........
# 2. Why not?
A. Why not what?
a. Why not get a new beginning? Why not start fresh? Why not dump some of the bad attitudes that we know we have (even though we don’t want to openly admit to them)?
*** My daughter was telling me about a young lady she works w/. This attractive young lady was the victim of an unpleasant situation. Although it wasn’t nearly as bad for her as it could have been she began thinking about how she could change things so that other people would be facing the same unpleasant circ.
She made the comment at work one day after the event it would be good if she invent something to save others from facing the same situation. Great idea she thought – a pity someone doesn’t do it!
My daughter said to her ...... why don’t you do it? Of course the litany of excuses for why she couldn’t was forthcoming. Not the least of which was ..... not enough money!
The young lady had been involved in modelling career prior to working for the firm & our daughter encouraged her to go back to it part time to earn enough money to develop her plan.
Now several months later & a small fortune of expenditure invested into the plan the lady has registered her idea & developed it & the potential for it to make a lot of money appears to be enormous!
And what triggered it all was a simple question – why not?
i. Now some of you are sitting here t/m & you’re thinking to y/s ...... I wish things could be different this year for me.
ii. In fact New Year’s as I asked people @ our house to share w/ us their new year’s resolutions ..... I heard a couple of people say ..... but it won’t happen!
iii. Why not? Every one of the New Year’s resolutions was certainly reasonable & do-able so ...... Why not?
iv. Listen again to what the text says to us t/m .....
Vs 7. 7For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. ......
B. Why not? B/c the way we think is what we b/co!
a. This is what it really boils down to ....... it’s our thinking that stops us from getting a new beginning.
i. It’s our thinking that holds us back from entering into a completely new life.
ii. One thing I know is that sitting in the pastor’s position you b/co convinced about the possibility of people’s lives – what they could be / do.
*** One of the interesting things I note w/ people when I challenge them about changing is that the first thing people automatically do ..... their default setting if you like, the auto response, is to come up w/ a reason why things can’t be different. They have learned to be champions of the philosophy of can’t!
It’s almost as though they have gone in search of a reason why things can’t work / they can’t change / can’t be different / can’t have victory / can’t be better.
The idea of working through problems hasn’t entered into their thinking ...... or at least hasn’t been allowed to take hold of their thinking.
iii. The problem here is that we have learned to be masterful at developing excuses!
iv. And how did we get to that place ....... how have we b/co so masterful at making excuses?
v. Some of us right now are b/co defensive ......... I’m not making excuses / it’s true, I can’t, it won’t work for me ......... & that’s b/c you have accepted that line of thinking.
Vs 7. 7For as he thinks in his heart, so is he......
vi. You’ve thought y/s into limitations that God never meant you to live w/ ...... you’ve established mental barriers to what you are & are not able to do & be.
b. But here’s the amazing reality, the only thing that has to be changed for you have a breakthrough & be different is for you to think differently.
*** I was working in a new workshop in Busselton just after I was married. The guy had bought in lots of new & expensive machinery to be able to make his business really profitable. In the new workshop trucks were coming & going daily unloading equipment dropping off sand & raw materials for the parking lot ..... it was a hive of activity.
One of the trucks came one day to dump a load of gravel for the car parking lot base. He tipped the tray up & began to drive forward dumping his load as he drove. Fortunately one of the guys saw him hit a high voltage power line w/ his tray up. Power was immediately taken out to factory & the truck tray was holding the power line up & we though the entire truck was probably live from the power line. We didn’t know so no one wanted to touch the truck & the driver was fearful of getting out of the truck for fear of being electrocuted as he jumped out. There was also the very real risk of fire & the truck bursting into flames. For several moments no one knew what to do & then someone said back up & lower the tray. It seemed like such a simple solution in hindsight but at the time we were all so concerned w/ the truck catching on fire or the driver being electrocuted. It just took someone to think differently!
Of course the driver backed up, lowered his tray & apart from a live cable hanging down everything was OK.
Vs 7. 7For as he thinks in his heart, so is he......
i. Some of us here today are in a similar predicament to that truck driver ...... you’re hooked up / snared / in a difficult predicament.
ii. You have come to the place where you think ..... there’s nothing to celebrate this New Year .... b/c I can’t win!
iii. But the question I want to ask you is ........ why not?
# 3. The hope of a new beginning.
A. There is incredible power w/i each of us for a new beginning through the way we think.
a. Your thinking can either make you a winner or a loser, it all depends on the way you think!
*** Norman Vincent Peale wrote the book ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ ...... he was a minister, motivational speaker & author. His book has been widely criticised over the years but I believe that one truth is indisputable. Listen to what he says here in one of his quotes ...
“Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure. The way you think about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the fact because you think you are.”
** It was also Peale who said .... “Change your thoughts and you change your world.”
i. Now the simply truth is that thinking alone isn’t going to change much either ...... some people have lofty dreams but that’s all they are – dreams!
ii. Your thoughts have to be transformed into action if anything is every going to change / be different.
iii. Even a lack of action comes back to a thinking problem ..... listen to the way a lazy / inactive / non productive man thinks.
Proverbs 22:13 (NKJV) 13 The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!”
iv. This man doesn’t act b/c he has already defeated himself in the way that he thinks .... it’s too hard / it won’t work / takes too much work etc etc.
v. One trans of our text puts it this way ........
Proverbs 23:7 (GWT) 7 As he calculates the cost to himself, ......
vi. And this is the real challenge more than our actions .... the way we think b/c you are what you think!
*** Ever seen those advertisements of someone who has lost a lot of weight through a weigh loss centre? They usually show you a b/4 & after photo. Here b/4 weight loss is someone who is considerably overweight often frowning & communicating an aura of self defeat. Then the prominent photo in the foreground, the one they want you to focus on is the same person brimming w/ confidence, several kg lighter / trim & wearing snug fitting clothes w/ hands on hips. At the bottom of the advertisement is the promise that ...... Our weight loss centre will help you get there!
vii. But here is the reality ....... the person in the advert got there for one reason above everything else – they began thinking differently!
*** My oldest son lost 33 kg last year ....... that’s almost half his body weight now! Want to know how it happened??? He began thinking differently!
Vs 7. 7For as he thinks in his heart, so is he......
B. The practical point on obtaining the hope of a new beginning – think right!
a. A new beginning this year can be a reality for you ..... it doesn’t have to be like every other year.
i. Lets go back to our text & look more carefully at what it’s really saying.
Vs 7. 7For as he thinks in his heart, so is he......
ii. The Heb wd ‘thinks’ is the wd ‘Shaar’ (shaw-ar) & it literally = to split / open ... it carries the idea of a gatekeeper / janitor / porter.
iii. The thought behind this word is the idea of admitting / letting in certain thoughts / ideas / ways of thinking.
iv. The critical issue here is what thoughts you allow to fill / dwell in your mind ...... b/c those thoughts are eventually going to shape you & be the reality of what you are in life.
Look @ our text again ..... Vs 7. 7For as he thinks in his heart, so is he......
v. To put it into simple words ...... you b/co what you think – whatever thoughts you allow to flood / occupy your mind is what you are going to b/co.
b. So what you were @ 11:59 pm on Dec 31st is what you’ll be throughout 2011 unless something changes in your thinking.
i. You have b/4 a whole new year that can be filled w/ potential / exciting new realities / a changed life.
ii. But b/4 life can change you have to change in the way you think ..... you are going to have to stand guard over your mind & make a decision about what thoughts are going to fill it.
iii. Here is the test for thoughts that should be admitted or rejected from your mind ..... are these thoughts worthy to take up residence in your mind?
Philippians 4:8 (GWT) 8Finally, brothers and sisters, keep your thoughts on whatever is right or deserves praise: things that are true, honorable, fair, pure, acceptable, or commendable.
