The God Of New Beginnings

The God of New Beginnings

Pastor Glenn Newton Feb. 1, 2004 (Kickoff Sunday)

“20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The

life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself

for me.” Gal. 2:20

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has

come! 2 Cor. 5:17

This morning I’m glad your here, we truly have spent many hours in prayer for this

service, and much of that time in prayer was for spent praying that those we invited to

come and worship with us would come, guess what? Your here! Thank You for coming.

There’s a reason that we wanted you to come and be here this morning.... and yes, we did

set a goal to reach 100, but the reason we set the goal was to motivate folks to get out

and invite.... and the reason is this..... We believe with all of our hearts that God is the

God of New Beginnings.... and today, because of His power, His Grace, His Love,

today Can be a New Beginning for You.

You have heard one testimony this morning about the life changing power of God,

how He can take us when were at our lowest, and He can give us New Life... Every

Sunday between today and Easter, we are going to have a testimony of God’s life

changing power in the life of one of our own church family members...

This morning I want to start by telling you a story about Farmer Joe.... maybe this

morning you might be able to relate to Farmer Joe.... Farmer Joe was in an accident....

Farmer Joe decided his injuries from the accident were serious enough to take the trucking

company (responsible for the accident) to court. In court, the trucking company’s fancy lawyer

was questioning farmer Joe. "Didn’t you say, at the scene of the accident, ’I’m fine’?," questioned

the lawyer.

Farmer Joe responded, "Well I’ll tell you what happened. I had just loaded my favorite mule

Bessie into the..."

"I didn’t ask for any details," the lawyer interrupted, "just answer the question. Did you not

say, at the scene of the accident, ’I’m fine’!"

Farmer Joe said, "Well I had just got Bessie into the trailer and I was driving down the road..."

The lawyer interrupted again and said, "Judge, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the

scene of the accident, this man told the Highway Patrolman on the scene that he was just

fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a

fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question."

By this time the Judge was fairly interested in Farmer Joe’s answer and said to the lawyer, "I’d

like to hear what he has to say about his favorite mule Bessie."

Joe thanked the Judge and proceeded, "Well as I was saying, I had just loaded Bessie, my

favorite mule, into the trailer and was driving her down the highway when this huge semi-truck

and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my truck right in the side. I was thrown into one ditch

and Bessie was thrown into the other. I was hurting real bad and didn’t want to move. However, I

could hear ole Bessie moaning and groaning. I knew she was in terrible shape just by her groans.

Shortly after the accident a Highway Patrolman came on the scene. He could hear Bessie

moaning and groaning so he went over to her. After he looked at her he took out his gun and

shot her between the eyes. Then the Patrolman came across the road with his gun in his hand

and looked at me. He said, "Your mule was in such bad shape I had to shoot her. How are you

feeling?"

It was then that I said, "I’m fine." (Sermon Central Humor)

There’s times in our life when we are in pain..... in fact we are really hurting... but because

were not sure where to turn for help we don’t admit it.... Or in Farmer’s Joe’s case, He

wasn’t sure if he was going to like the treatment for His Pain.

I think were like that sometimes, we know were hurting, we don’t like our situation, we

have heard that God has something better for us.... but were not sure we will like what He

wants from us in exchange......

This morning I want to talk to you about a God of New Beginnings..... Let’s look

at our Scripture this morning and see what God wants to tell us through His Word.

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has