"A NEW BEGINNING"
TEXT: NEHEMIAH 1:1-11
Have you ever needed a new beginning, a fresh start, a clean slate - a do over, have you ever needed a second chance after you had really blown it?
I’m sure Bill Buckner would love to have a second chance at that ground ball hit to him on the 6th game of the world series a few years back.
And Mike Tyson would love to have a do over in that now infamous fight with Evader Holifield - if Iron Mike had a chance to do it over again, I’m sure this time he would keep his mouth piece in and have dinner first.
And the player on the New York Giants #80 I believe his name was Callowway, the guy who fumbled the on side kick last saturday giving both the ball back and the win to the Minnesota Vikings would just love to get another try at fielding that kick.
Ernest Binder of the Cleveland Browns who fumbled the ball heading into Denver’s endzone in the 4th qtr leading to Denver’s comeback in The AFC Championship in 1987 would have loved to have a second chance.
Let me tell you a little story I heard about a computer whiz who would love to have a second chance.
A minister, a boy scout and a computer expert were the only passengers on a small plan. The pilot came back to the cabin and said that the plane was going down but there were only 3 parachutes and 4 people. The pilot added, "I should have one of the parachutes because I have a wife and 3 small children." So he took one and jumped out.
The computer whiz said, "I should have one of the parachutes because I’m the smartest man in the world and everyone needs me." So he took one and jumped out.
The minister turned to the Boy Scout and with a sad smile said, "You are young and I have lived a rich life, so you take the remaining parachute, and I’ll go down with the plane."
The Boy Scout said, "Relax preacher, the smartest man in the world just picked up my knapsack and jumped out."
Unfortunately there are not too many second chances given in life; therefore Bill, Mike, Callowway, Ernest and the computer whiz
will just have to live with their mistakes.
Last sunday we talked about how falling does not equal failure And how our God is a God of second chances a God of the do over.... Now what do you think about that?
Doesn’t that excite you?
You know we tend to let that truths like that just dance on our brains - but we need to resist that temptation and let them take root in our hearts & stir our souls...
With "our" God our failures do not make us a flop -- we get to bat again, we get another swing -- 3 strikes and it’s still not over...
Yes, our God loves to give fallen people like you and me a second chance.
What we are going to do for the next several weeks is study from the book of Nehemiah. And what we want to uncover as we study this book are the helps that we need to embrace and the hindrances we need to avoid in order to successfully accomplish our new beginning.
And let me tell you up front that I am very excited about this study. Do you know why? Because so many times I have tried to make a fresh start and by the end of the year I have not accomplish what I set out to do. I’ve failed/fallen/blown it!
I think you know what I mean many times figuratively speaking at the end of the year the car is still on blocks and the exercise equipment is still sitting on the garage floor covered in cob webs..
Our best intentions didn’t get the job done.;
I don’t know about you, but I am thoroughly convinced that I need help if I am going to have the 1998 that I want to have.
And I am equally convinced that God wants me to have a great 98’ and that He is going to reveal some awesome stuff to us in Nehemiah that will help each of our New Beginnings, become a reality.
God’s people in Nehemiah’s needed help as well. They to needed a second chance....
The book of Nehemiah is the last historical book in the OT and it takes place in the years following Jerualems destruction by Babylon in 587 BC. It’s been over a hundred years since that happened and Persia is now the world power and many Jews had returned home.
Nehemiah 1:1-11
PRAYER
The first help we need to embrace in order to have a successful new beginning is;
Help #1; "A Deep Desire For Something Better..."
Now things were going pretty good for Nehemiah personally, he had a good job, an influential position within the Persian empire. He probably had a nice home, a 3 camel garage, a good retirement plan, a key to the executive washroom and a paid membership to the "Sweet Susa Country Club." I mean Nehemiah was a mover & shaker within the most power empire in the world.
Then one day his brother Hanani came to visit him along with some other men from Judah. And while they were visiting Nehemiah asked them, "hey guys how are things going back home in Jerusalem with God’s people."
The answer Nehemiah received was not a good one, they told him, "Things are not going good Nehemiah, the people are having all kinds of trouble. And the whole city is in disgrace because the walls of Jerusalem are still torn down..."
This report devastated Nehemiah, it was not what he wanted to hear, the news of things back home rocked Nehemiah to his knees and he wept and mourned for several days - his sorrow was so great that he didn’t even eat.
Why was Nehemiah so devastated?
What was there about this report that made him so upset that he wept and fasted for days?
Nehemiah was upset because he knew that this was not how God’s people were meant to live. In a trouble city with her walls torn down, a disgrace before all other nations. They were God’s chosen people, Jerusalem was God’s Holy City, they were meant to live in a land flowing with milk and honey, experiencing the blessings of God -- therefore it hurt Nehemiah to hear about how they were living...
Nehemiah had a deep desire for something better for God’s people in Jerusalem. And it was this desire for something better mixed with the reality of how things actually were that drove Nehemiah to such great sorrow.
The first step that needs to be taken in order to be successful in your new beginning is for you to have a deep desire for something better...
You need to be driven by this deep desire for something better - driven by a dream of not only how things ought to be, but how they can be....
And Understand, there is no substitute for desire...
Because without this desire you won’t even get out of the starting gate. You’ll quit long before your hopes are fulfilled or your dreams are realized..
DESIRE IS ESSENTIAL.
Haven’t you ever heard a sportscaster say, "these 2 teams are about the same we’ll just have to see who wants it more"
Charles Lindberg had this kind of desire on May 20, 1927 he flew across the Atlantic from Rhode Island to France. Now he was concerned about a lot things on this trip but his main concern was falling asleep. So he put tobacco under his eye lids to burn his eyes... How badly do you want it...
At the Olympics in Montreal in 1976 we saw this kind of desire displayed again when the 26 year old Bruce Jenner won the grueling ten day decathlon competition and was acclaimed the worlds greatest athlete. This moment of personal victory and world triumph did not come easily and it did not come without desire. Jenner had trained long and hard for the decathlon after he finished 9th in Munich. It was reported by sportswriters that he trained with nonstop dedication for more than 7 hours a day for 4 years.
As a boy Jim Abott dreamed of pitching in the major league, and he did. As a matter of fact Jim Abott even pitched a no-hitter in 1993. What’s so special about Jim Abott? Why is he another example of desire? Jim Abott was born with only 1 hand.
What’s your desire for your life??
Where do you want it to be??
What’s your desire for your; relationship with God
for your marriage
for your family/friends/community
what’s your desire for Central...
Where do you want those things to be?
What are your goals, hopes, dreams and desires for 1998?
I’d like to encourage you to give those questions some real thought and to use the New’s Year Letter to God form from last week - there are more on the back table, use it to articulate exactly what your desires for your spiritual life/your personal life/your family life and for your church are in 1998.
Go ahead and dream about it and don’t be afraid to dream big -because dreams do come true!
Brothers and sisters you need a vision for your life - The bible says that "without a vision the people perish" - that’s true - and it is also true that without a deep desire your new beginning will perish. But with that desire - even what seems impossible at the moment can happen...Never underestimate that power of a dream and a desire.
In 1870 the Methodist held their annual conference in Indiana. the guest speaker was a young college president. In his speech he said, "I foresee the day when men will fly." The Bishop got up later and said, "we have heard heresy today - we know men won’t fly. the bible says there are 2 things that fly angels and birds. And after saying that the Bishop went home to his wife and 2 sons Wilbur and Orville. (Dec 17, 1903 they flew for 59 seconds).
In order to have a successful new beginning you must have a deep desire for something better. A passion to see those dreams for your marriage, family, church, community, spiritual life fulfilled.. W/O that desire you simply won’t do the work, pay the price, finish the race.
Let me share with you 1 of my desires as I set sail for my new beginning. It has to do with my deep desire for my own spiritual life. As I sat in the office this past tuesday morning and wrote the date in my spiritual journal I realized that it was 18 years ago to the day that I became a Christian... I was immersed into Christ on December 30th 1979 (I was 19).
And this thought quickly sent me into some deep reflecting on my life... I thought of some of the great victories I’ve had, and some of the defeats I’ve suffered.. I thought how after 18 years of being a Christian I would like to have been much further along in my journey with God.
I also thought as I prayed to God, about how at this moment I am poised like never before to be used of Him... And I prayed to God to increase that passion and desire to be used by Him.
Then I asked God to lead me to the right scriptures to read, and as I was praying -- I felt led to start reading in Philippians from the message bible.
And here is what God said to me...
"There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears..."
My desire this year - God’s desire for me this year is to rock my spiritual walk - to bring me to new depths of spirituality. To bring me to a new level - for His Spirit to take me where I have never gone before...
Sure I’ve missed up in my past - but God is not through with me yet - in fact He’s till working on me...
(I was stationed in SC from 1980-1983 and one sunday at church a little girl about 6 got up and sang this song... Se really had a country accent... "He’s still working on me - to make me what I ought to be -- it took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars, the earth and the sun and Jupiter and mars, how loving and patient He must be cause He ’s still working on me..."
God is still working on me...
And my desire is to have that work flourish in 1998
And do you know what, that is also God’s desire for your spiritual life in 1998 too.
This verse from God is not mine alone it is yours as well...
"There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears..."
Brothers and sisters year could be the year that you and I finally discover and truly become the person that God always intended us to be (not what we our others want) but what God wants us to be -- it can and will happen if we desire it.
Do you want a new beginning
Then Formulate in your mind a dream of where you want:
> your spiritual walk with God to be
> your marriage to be
> your family to be
> your life to be
yes formulate a dream and then ignite a desire/ a burning passion to see that dream become a reality...
> Can you see it? feel it? taste it?
> Just how bad do you want this new beginning?
Well, we’ll just have to wait and see...
This is the first help you must embrace in order to have a successful new beginning....
A DEEP DESIRE FOR SOMETHING BETTER.....
Help #2; Next You Need to Develop a High View of God
When you DREAM big dreams, when you have big desires you need a big God... Nehemiah had a strong desire and he had a big dream... For you see, to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem was not an easy task, after all for over 140 years no one else was able to get the job done. So what made Nehemiah think that he would be able to do it?
(and as we will find out later once Nehemiah got the project going in just 52 days it was finished!) The reason Nehemiah knew that he could do it was because Nehemiah had a big God....
Listen to how Nehemiah starts off his prayer in Nehemiah one.
"O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God..."
Our God is Great!
And our God is Awesome!!
Nehemiah knew that if God was able to create this world... If He brought it into being by simply speaking a word... Then nothing was too big for God... Do you believe that?
(close your eyes and visualize a problem or obstacle that you feel will ruin your new beginning -- now visualize God -- whose bigger?) You see, God is not only powerful - He is all powerful
God is not only knowing - He is all knowing
And since Nehemiah had such a high View of God he knew that rebuilding some walls around a city would not be hard at all for Almighty God.... God knew how to do it - and he had the power to do it.
Do you have a high view of God...?
Brothers and Sisters our God is the one true Almighty God -- He has always existed and will always exist... There is nothing that He can not do....nothing
Your God can handle bringing about the good desires in your life....
For example do you desire to have your marriage be the kind of Marriage that God wants it to be...
Well God knows what to do and he has the power to do it.
"with man it may be impossible but with God all things are possible.." Mt 19:26
God is able.
Listen to these powerful words of scripture;
"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen!!!"
Circle --------
I understand Nike has a new slogan to replace "Just Do It" I believe the new one is "I Can"
Well, I don’t really know if I can, or even if you can, But God certainly can! God Can!!!
If you really want a New beginning in 1998...
If you really want this year to be the year where it all comes together..
Then the first 2 things you need is to embrace is a deep desire for something better (a tobacco under the eye lid kind of desire.and a high view of God... God can!!
Before we go today - let me give you 2 quick hindrances that you need to avoid
HINDRANCE #1; SELFISH DESIRES
Remember as we said earlier Nehemiah’s life was going pretty good when he got the news about how conditions were back home... But even though things were good for him Nehemiah’s desire was for his people to also have a better life.
And here is the principle, If all of our desires for the New Year for our New beginning are selfish - if they are all for us, this will greatly hinder your New Beginning...
Suppose your desire for 98’ is a better marriage - why do you desire a better marriage? for selfish reason’s only? or do you desire a better marriage for your spouse as well, so that he or she can also have the kind of marriage that will bring them contentment, joy and happiness, helping them become the best they can be....
We must avoid the temptation of having selfish desires.
Perhaps it would be helpful to use that acronym for joy would apply when setting out our desires for a new beginning
J - Jesus
O - Others
Y - yourself
I have a picture in my office that reads; "you can succeed best nd quickest when you help others to succeed."
And church even though life may be pretty good for us -- we are saved, justified, sanctified and headed for heaven... And we may have good homes, relationships and are fairly content >> there is a world full of people who are in another boat all together... maybe even some who come here...
There we as a church must resist the temptation as we move Central forward for God to build and grow with only our desires in mind...
Christ’s desire for us to "preach good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind to release the oppressed.
If we want a successful new beginning we need to avoid selfish desires...
HINDRANCE #2; THE PAST
If you are not careful the past can quickly trip you up as you head out for your New Beginning.
The people of God in Nehemiah’s day like most of us did not have the greatest of pasts... Listen to how Nehemiah describes it in His prayer.
"I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you. We acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses." (Neh 1:6,7)
But not only did Nehemiah know about his people’s past he also knew that if they shut the door to their past that God would open a door for a new beginning...
Listen again to Nehemiah’s prayer;
"Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses saying, `If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, BUT if you RETURN to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them form there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for My Name."
-- Neh 1:8,9
As you start your New Beginning don’t let your past failures trip you up. You may have failed a lot. You may feel like your down for the count right now..
You asked God to forgive you but find it hard to believe and so you never really close the door to the past.
But remember that God is a master at cleaning up and forgiving our past...
He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities...as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us..." Ps 103:10,12
Understand that many times the reason that God can’t open the door to a new beginning is because we haven’t really closed the door to the past...
But if you come to God and shut the door to the past - He will lock and open a new door to a new beginning...
Some of you have been carrying around the baggage of past failures for too long -- let them go - it’s time to put them down...
God said if we asked he would forgive - and he would not have said it if he didn’t mensa it.
Do you really want a new beginning in 1998?
Then kindle anew a deep desire for something better
develop a high view of God
Avoid selfish desires
and close the door on the past...
"But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus..."
