Title: “Starting Afresh in 2026” Script: Proverbs – several passages
Type: Thematic Where: GNBC 1-4-26
Intro: New Years offers us the opportunity to consider making changes in our lives. Some of these are minor changes, some of these are more radical. We’re all familiar with the term “reboot” when it comes to computers. Rebooting is a troubleshooting method: when your computer is giving you trouble—for example, a program locks up or is simply not responding–you shut it down and restart it. In addition, a common way to reboot your computer is to press down on the Ctrl+Alt+Del keys simultaneously. Sometimes an area of your life—or perhaps more than one—has gone completely off track and makes you feel bogged down and like you just can’t move forward. If this is the case, instead of making small changes here and there, why don’t you look with me today to see how to start afresh.
Prop: Today we’ll examine several Proverbs to realize 5 steps to take for a fresh start in 2026.
BG: 1. All of the main passages will come from the Proverbs today. Proverbs are “Wisdom Literature”. Most people I know want to be wise. Read the Proverbs! Most written by Solomon, wisest man to have ever lived.
2. Message is laid out as an acrostic where the first letter of each main point makes important word. Prize to 1st 3 kids under 12 who come up to me after service with answer.
Prop: Exam. the Proverbs we’ll realize five steps to take to ensure a new start for 2026
I. Stop Making Excuses for Personal Failure. – Prov. 28:13
A. The 1st step we must take to ensure a new start to 2016 is to Stop Making Excuses for failure.
1. 1st we must take responsibility and quit making excuses for our own failures.
a. Prov. 28:13 says: “He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.”
b. Confess what you/I need to confess. Confess our sin to God fist of all. Then, the Bible tells us, and as Protestants we sometimes don’t want to do this, but the Bible says in James 5:16: Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Confess to yourself. Confess the lies you have believed, some for years. Call them what they are, LIES! Confess if you are lazy, undisciplined, critical, angry, etc.
2. Personal Success encourages others to succeed.
a. Illust: May 6, 1954 was the day a monumental achievement took place in sports. It was on that day that Roger Bannister, an Englishman, ran on Oxford University's Iffley Road Track, and broke the 4 minute mile. Bannister’s 3:59.4 was “earth shaking” in the realm of running. No one had ever run that fast. It was thought to be impossible. And then, it was done! Since that time, 100’s of individuals in America alone, have broken the 4 minute mile barrier. What was once deemed “impossible” is now common for elite runners.
b. How many items in our lives have we told ourselves are insurmountable barriers that we can never change in our lives? What is it that we face, come up to, or allow to defeat us that we think is something we can never overcome or defeat or gain victory over?
B. Planning is the prelude to success, passivity results in failure.
1. Other people can hurt us, other people can harm us, and other people can scar us. But the only person that can ruin your life is you. Nobody can ruin your life without your permission. You have a choice and that is you can choose how you’re going to respond to those hurts. The Bible says that the starting point is to just be honest and accept responsibility for my part in the problem.
2. Lack of Preparation is one of the main reasons for failure in life.
a. Prov. 20:7 says: "A sensible man watches for problems and prepares to meet them but the fool never looks ahead and suffers the consequences." Plan ahead. Prepare.
b. Proverbs 24:10 "If you give up when troubles come, it just shows that you are weak."
Failure is the path of least resistance. The problem is that often during trying times we stop trying. We give up. If at first you don’t succeed, welcome to the human race. If at first you don’t succeed, you’re normal. Very few people make it on the first try. Oftentimes, we give up just when success is around the corner. We never fail until we quit.
C. Applic: Dr. Jon Kerstetter is a retired ER doc, decorated Army officer, businessman, and author. Shining example of “White privilege” right? NO! Born into a broken home on Oneida Indian Reservation in Wisconsin. Very poor. When went to college, wanted to study medicine, but counselor for Indian Students told him “Indians don’t study hard sciences, do better in “soft sciences”. At age of 37 yrs went to medical school to fulfill dream. Could have blamed a lot of people. In order to make a fresh start in 2026 STOP blaming others and take responsibility.
II. Take Inventory of Your Life. Prov. 20:7; Prov. 4:10
A. Take time to reflect upon your and my life if we want to make changes in the New Year.
1. Reflection and preparation are important ingredients to success.
a. What do I mean by “take inventory”? By this I mean that we should evaluate the experiences of your and my life. All of the experiences. Major successes and failures of the past year. Learn from your mistakes. Most people are paralyzed by thought of failure. Failure can be your friend or your foe. You determine if failure will be your friend or foe by the way you react to it. You can choose to learn from it or choose to repeat it. If you learn from it then it can be your friend. However, if you don’t learn from it is your foe.
b. Prov. 20:7 - A righteous man who walks in his integrity-- How blessed are his sons after him. What is the best thing you can do for your children, parents? Save so won’t have to pay for their college? (No!) Give them loads of lucre at your death? (No!) Make sure they get 5 lessons a week in 15 hobbies, interests, and sports? (No!) Rather, the best thing you can do for your children is live for Christ and make Him the priority of your life. And as a Christian, live a CONSISTENT Christian life. A meteor shooting across the sky draws a lot of attention, but slow burning coals can heat a house or cook a meal. Your children will be BLESSED if you do this. Make Church a priority. Make personal Bible study a priority!
2. Taking “Inventory” means I am intentional about examining my heart.
a. Prov. 4:23 - Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.(NIV) Now look at that verse. Everything you do. Your motivation in life, your ethics, your morals, will come from your heart. Guard your heart.
b. Prioritize your relationship with Christ. Look, remember these verses were written by men who were a lot wiser than you or I am. What does the writer say: The best thing you can do for your whole life is to be in a right relationship with Christ. Best for your marriage. Best for raising your children. Best for your employer. Parents, living in IC we must swim against the prevailing cultural current. The greatest priority for your child IS NOT academic success at the expense of spiritual success. It is not athletic or artistic or financial or any other success at the expense of spiritual success and discipline. New Year, why not come to Sunday School? Why not bring your child to SS? Awana?
B. Take Inventory of your life so as to make positive changes.
1. God uses the experiences of life to shape you and me. He uses personal experiences. The family that you grew up in, the people you relate to. God can use your personal experience with your husband or your wife. He uses personal experiences to shape you. He uses vocational and educational experiences to shape you. He uses interaction w/WOG. He uses painful experiences.
2. As you take inventory of your life, you need to ask yourself three questions.
What have I learned? I know people 40, 50, 60 years old but they don’t have 40 or 50 years of experience. They’ve had the same year of experience over and over. They’ve never learned anything. What have you learned from past experiences? If you don’t sit down and think it through, you’ll end up repeating the same mistake over and over again because you didn’t learn from it the first time. What are my assets? What have I got going for me? Have I got my health? Have I got my freedom? Am I still mentally sound? Have I got some friends? Have I got the Lord? Have I got a church family? What do I have that I can get a fresh start with? Illust: The story goes that Henry Ford once hired an efficiency expert to evaluate his company. After a few weeks, the expert made his report, which was highly favorable except for one thing."It's that man down the hall,? said the expert. "Every time I go by his office he's just sitting there with his feet on his deck. He's wasting your money.' That man,? replied Mr. Ford, "once had an idea that saved us millions of dollars. At the time, I believe his feet were planted right where they are now.
C. Applic: Your and my life is a gift that we are to invest and steward well. Illust: Every life is given 86,400 seconds in a day. 31,556,926 in a year. How are you going to use them? What are your goals? What do you want to accomplish? Better take inventory.
III. Act in Faith – Prov. 3:5-6
A. The Christian Life is a Life of Faith.
1. The Christian life must be lived as a life of faith.
a. Prov. 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight”
b. There are three key words or phrases in that verse that draw my attention: trust, all your heart, submit/acknowledge. The Biblical definition of faith includes 2 key components: intellectual assent and trust. Intellectual assent is believing the facts about something or someone. Intellectual assent is believing that the chair was designed to and is able to hold my frame. Trust is acting upon that assent and actually sitting in the chair. Many people give intellectual assent to the facts of the Bible. Biblical faith requires not only my assent to the facts of the Bible, but that I TRUST the Bible’s directives so as to live my life under its directive.
2. Act in Faithful obedience to God even if you cannot see the outcome right now.
a. Acting in faith according to Prov. 3:5-6, requires complete trust, wholehearted, and submission of my will to the plan of God. Illust: A track athlete who runs for a wise coach may only see a daily run or workout that seems disconnected to the previous day’s run or workout. However, the coach had planned a course of training for each individual athlete that will have him or her “peak” at optimal time for competition. We may not realize it, but this is exactly what God is doing in our lives.
b. Illust: Do you remember in Acts 3:1-5 where Peter and John go up to the temple to pray. There at the 9th hour, lying at the gate called “Beautiful” and begging alms from the people entering in, asks of the disciples for money. This man asked for something and expected to get it, but in reality he got more than he expected. He wanted money and he got healed. The point that I want to make is this lame man acted in faith and was greatly rewarded. Many times we ask for something and expect to get nothing and we get exactly what we expected, nothing.
B. Trust God and Act in Faith for a Different Year.
1. Knowledge of the truth brings faith.
a. Faith is believing something, thus requiring something to believe. Our faith is based upon the truth in God's Word. Thus, knowing what God's Word has to say about something gives us the ability to believe it. Our faith should be based upon God's Word. (Read Bible)
b. I think the whole concept of faith is one of the most misunderstood ideas that we have, misunderstood not only by the world but by the church itself. The very basis for our redemption, the way in which we are justified by God, is through faith. The Bible is constantly talking to us about faith, and if we misunderstand that, we’re in deep trouble. The Reformers talked about noticia, assensus, and fiducia – believing the data, intellectually assenting, putting faith or trust in those facts. Here we put our whole lives into the lap of Jesus Christ and trust Him alone for salvation.
2. Faith is Required to defeat the fear of failure.
Iluust: What we need to do is learn from those failures. Let me give you the real secret of success. Every successful entrepreneur knows this. Real success is built on failure. Failure is the way you become a success. You figure out what doesn’t work. Illust: As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn't fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps. You never call it a failure in your life. Call it an education. You learn from past failures and mistakes and act in faith for the future. Some people will never act in faith because they have been paralyzed by the fear of past failures and mistakes. What we need to do is learn from the past, act in faith for the future and look to God for guidance.
C. Applic: An old Scotsman operated a little rowboat for transporting passengers. One day a passenger noticed that the good old man had carved on one oar the word "Faith" and on the other oar the word "Works." Curiosity led him to ask the meaning of these oars. The old man, being a Christian and glad for the opportunity to testify said, "I will show you." Then he dropped one oar and plied the other called Works, and they just went around in circles. Then he dropped that oar and began to ply the oar called Faith, and the little boat just went around in circles again - this time the other way around, but still in a circle. After this demonstration the old man picked up Faith and Works, and plying both oars together, sped swiftly over the water, explaining to his inquiring passenger. "You see, that is the way it is in the Christian life. Dead works without faith are useless, and faith without works is dead also, getting you nowhere. But faith and works pulling together make for safety, progress, and blessing.
IV. Refocus on What is Important. Prov. 4:23
A. Living the Christian Life calls for focus to do what is right.
1. Prov. 14:15 “The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps.” The world has a way of forming you and me into its mold. No one wants to make waves. No one wants to seem judgmental. Everyone wants to get along. Co-exist is probably the most commonly seen bumper-sticker in IC.
2. Illust: Looking at a picture from a of mass of people at a Nazi victory parade during the 2nd WW. People stood on the streets 5-6 deep. Literally, hundreds of people in the frame all giving the infamous salute. All, that is, except one individual, whose nonconformity was actually accentuated by a circle. One man in the midst of hundreds not saluting. Not conforming.
B. Focusing on what is right means guarding what is valuable in life.
1. Proverbs 4:23: Guard your heart with all vigilance, for from it are the sources of life. The way you think, determines the way you feel. And the way you feel determines the way you act. If you want to change your actions, begin to change the way you think and it will inevitably change the way you act. If you are depressed, discouraged and distressed it may be because you’re thinking depressed, discouraged and distressing thoughts. That’s your choice. You don’t have to think those thoughts.
2. Illust: Our nature is often ruled by evil impulses and desires, which take no heed of any law but their own satisfaction. If the reins are thrown on the necks of these untamed horses, they will drag the man to destruction. They are only safe when they are curbed and bitted, and held well.
C. Applic: Remember that your heart is: 1.extremely valuable, 2. source of all you do, 3. it is under constant attack. The enemy uses all kinds of weapons to attack our hearts. We don’t guard worthless things. I take my garbage to the street every Wednesday night. It is picked up on Thursday morning. It sits on the sidewalk all night, completely unguarded. Why? Because it is worthless. We don’t guard worthless things, but rather, items of value. Not so with your heart. It is the essence of who you are. It is your authentic self—the core of your being. It is where all your dreams, your desires, and your passions live. It is that part of you that connects with God and other people.
V. Trust in the Lord. Prov. 3:5-6/ Prov. 28:14
A. Trust the Lord for Your Life in 2016
1. God has a plan for your life. Here is the key: our relationship with God does not hinge on unanswered prayers, trials, difficulties, and persecution; it hinges on who He is. He is our foundation in the midst of the storm. He is our peace in the midst of fear. He is our comfort in the midst of anxiety. The gospel is a message of hope and redemption. It offers God's grace through our trials, as well as peace that surpasses all understanding. We never find inner peace until we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. For the Christian, it's not the absence of the storm, but a deep inner peace amidst the storm in light of an eternal plan that keeps us secure. We are greatly remiss if we fail to teach this balance. Trying times are not intended to break us down, but to build us up. The only way to build such qualities as love, joy, peace, humility, and patience is to be confronted with situations that require love, joy, peace, humility, and patience. How do we develop patience if we're not tested? How do we develop forgiveness if we are never wronged? How do we develop humility if we're never humbled? Even Christ "learned obedience from what He suffered" (cf. Hebrews 5:8).
B. Trust the Lord Jesus Christ for Salvation if you never have.
1. I Tim. 2:5: “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. He alone is the One who brings us to God. Christ’s intercession for us is quite different from our intercession for one another: He intercedes as having merited what He asks for us.
2. Illust: An item in the May 2, 1985, Kansas City Times remind us a story about attempted intercession and pardon. The item had to do with the attempt by some fans of O. Henry, the famous short-story writer, to get a pardon for their hero, who was convicted in 1898 of embezzling $784.08 from the bank where he was employed. Problem was, O. Henry had died 75 years before. But you cannot grant a pardon to a dead man. A pardon can only be given to someone who can accept it.
C. Applic: Have you accepted Christ as your Savior? Now is the time. Today is the day.
