(Read Genesis 1:1)
In the beginning God created this big old world that we call Earth. He created this world we live on from nothingness, what it was before the beginning is all but forgotten, it is insignificant really. The truth is it doesn’t really matter what this great big mass we call Earth was before God created it, because up until His touch the world really hadn’t began. God shaped it and molded it to the way that was pleasing to Him, and then Mankind began. Our first beginnings started when God made us in His image from the dust and mud of this Earth and then he blew the breath of life into us. Our beginnings started with God.
II like that introduction that we see in the first chapter of the bible “In the Beginning” everything has a beginning including you and me.
Today I want us not to look back to the very beginning but to look at New beginnings, now it cannot be denied , our beginnings have molded us and shaped us into who and what we are today but we change constantly and we all have places where we begin again in parts of our life’s.
So as we leave the year 2014 behind and move into this new year of 2015 let’s look at new beginnings. I think we all can do better, be better and move forward in Christ in the coming year ahead. But first we must stop looking back at our past, whatever happened, whatever was done or thought or said in the year 2014 is over, you can’t change it, we do not have a Delorian with a flux capacitor to go back in time and try to make things right as Michael J Fox did in the movie back to the future. But we do have the ability to learn from our mistakes and become better people.
Let’s look at Isaiah 43: 18 and the first part of verse 19. (Read scripture)
Don’t think about those things in the past, don’t worry about them, I will do something new.
I know that this is easier said than done but thinking about the past will do nothing to change it.
I guess everybody knows Becky and I have had a tough year We started 2014 with my mother in law on hospice and she died on the 10th day of January, Becky had a bleed on the occipital lobe on the left side of her brain that was about the size of a golf ball, she still has not been realized from the doctor, my Mom moved in with us and was put on hospice and died the 17th of December.
Yes our year was full of tragedy and strife but we made it through, thanks to all of you here, and the comfort and fortitude that we received from Christ.
All of you here know about these last two years but you probably didn’t know that 2011 and 2012 were pretty much the same, we helped care for my father in law up until his death, saw my sister suffer with cancer and die at the age of 43, and cared for my Mother and tended her wounds that were left from a major surgery for her cancer. But here’s where the rubber meets the road , we didn’t dwell on the past, now I’m not boasting, I’m not saying my faith is any better or any stronger than anyone else’s. The truth is we were too busy dealing with the present to be dwelling on the past.
Now I know I’m not the only one that had problems and burdens last year, we all had them, some of you lost loved one, some of us may have had family problems, or even some financial problems, a lot of us have had to deal with sickness and sorrow but we are still here and we have a chance to begin anew in this coming year.
Now I don’t want to rain on your parade today but I want to be honest with you; more than likely you are going to experience some trials and some troubles. But just as we don’t need to dwell on the past we shouldn’t worry about the future either, Jesus tells us in the book of Matthew that there is enough trouble in each day without us adding anything else to it.
We don’t lose our past, we still have memories, we still have accomplishments and consequences that happened last year but we have the opportunity to have a new beginning a fresh start in this coming year. The chapter 2014 may be written down but the next chapter 2015 is full of blank pages waiting to be filled.
How will you start this new beginning? Will you start it with regret or will you move forward taking each new day as it comes and live into the joy that Christ offers. Will you worry about what could have been or move toward what’s going to be?
As we move into 2015 I urge you to heed the words of the apostle Paul says (Philippians 3:12-14)
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.…
We must take each day as it comes. Don’t worry about last year we have an opportunity to become a new creature in Christ 2nd Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
We all have things that we could dwell on and second guess ourselves about, did I do enough, did I love enough, did I try hard enough?
Don’t dwell on the past, take the opportunity today for a new beginning and remember when things get tough Jesus is right beside you, your church family is praying for you, you aren’t in this life alone.
