"happy Renew Year!"

WHY IS IT SO EXCITING FOR US? Because of two reasons:

(1) By nature we always like new things, it is exciting when we get:

• A new car

• A new suit of clothing

• A new home

• A new child or grandchild

But it is also exciting as we anticipate entering a New Year.

WHAT MAKES THE NEW YEAR SO EXCITING?

(2) The old year we have had has brought some very difficult times, such as:

• Some have lost loved ones this year

• Some have had to endure great sickness throughout the year

• Some have lost jobs this year

• Some have lost friends through death or betrayal

• Some have had financial setbacks

Those who have had to endure these things look forward to a New Year, and they are more than happy to close out the Old Year and send it to the history books.

Those who have had difficult times this past year may feel that WHEN IT COMES TO FACING THEIR PROBLEMS, THEY ARE OUT OF SOLUTIONS!

Illus: These remind us of the woman who walked into a convenience store.

• She walks straight to the manager and asks, "Do you have any small notebooks?" "Sorry," says the manager. "We're all out."

• The woman shrugs, and asks, "Well, do you have any mechanical pencils?" "Nope, don't have those either," says the manager.

• The woman feels her stomach rumbling and asks, "Do you have Doritos? Nachos?" The manager shrugs, "Sorry."

• "How about Chapstick?" says the woman. "Nope. Don't have that."

"Well" the woman says, "If you don't have anything, why don't you close the store?"

The manager shrugs, "Can't. Don't have the key."

For many, life seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place. They can not find the key to the problems they face. But the solutions to their problems is to turn to the Lord Jesus who can help them.

Notice that Lamentations said, “TURN THOU US unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; RENEW our days as of old.”

The homes, communities and many of the churches in this country are in a mess. The solution is to RENEW OUR DAYS AS OF OLD.

There are three areas I want us to look at today as we consider a year of renewal.

I. WE NEED TO RENEW OUR MINDS

Rom. 12:1 2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but BE YE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Look at the word “RENEWING”. This word means to restore. It speaks of renovation.

We all know that with the daily wear and tear of things, we have to RESTORE some things in our homes from time to time. Sometimes we have to have the whole house completely restored because things have gotten so bad.

As Christians, a lot of damage is done to our mind through wear and tear of daily activities. One of the things that we need today is to have our minds “renewed”.

Illus: A family became very sick and they did not know what was causing the problem. They were shocked to later find out that their pump was too close to the septic tank and that it was running into their well water. They had no idea that they had been drinking sewage. This was taking place each day as they drank from their well.

Many Christians today are not conscious of the fact that, every day, the devil is pumping pollution and corruption into their minds. This is why the world in which we live is so messed up. All this garbage is being pumped into people’s minds daily.

For example, why are people today so filthy in their daily conversations? We have always had people with “sewer mouths”, but never as much as we have today.

• It used to be that men would see a woman or a child walk into a room, and one of the men, out of respect for women and children, would say, “Watch your mouth, here comes a child or a lady.”

• It is used to be that men and women would not talk about certain things that were private matters in their life, but now there is nothing they will not talk about publicly.

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? The problem is that men, women and children listen to all the garbage that flows from the television programs they watch each day.

Listen, our minds are like computers, that is, "if garbage goes in, garbage come out".