If you had 2009 to live over again, how many of you would probably do something differently? The reason we do that is because we fail. We make mistakes.
As we begin this New Year – 2010 – I want us to look at How Do You Make A Fresh Start?
The Bible says that God is very interested in your future. Isaiah 43 “The Lord says, `Forget about what has happened before. Do not think about the past. Instead, look at the new things I'm going to do.'" Forget about what's happened before. He says don't think about the past. It's over. The book's closed on it.
If you don't get anything else I say today, I want you to get this: God is far more interested in your future than He is in your past. Some of you think God is fixated on your past. All He wants to do is remind you of the things you've done wrong. You're wrong! God isn't interested in your past. He's interested in your future.
How do we make a fresh start?
S – Stop MAKING EXCUSES!
If I want to start over, start fresh, I have to stop making excuses for my failures. I've got to stop blaming other people; I've got to stop using rationalizations. I've got to stop seeing myself as the victim of my circumstances.
Let me be clear on this: Other people can hurt you, without a doubt. Other people can harm you, without a doubt. Other people can scar you, without a doubt. But nobody can ruin your life except 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. You don't know what's going to happen in 2010. You have no idea. But you can choose how you choose to respond. The Bible says that the starting point is to just be honest and accept responsibility for my part in the problem.
Proverbs 28:13 says, “A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confess and forsakes them he gets another chance.” He gets a fresh start. He says the starting point to starting over is to be honest and face up to the problems, that most of the problems in my life, most of the failures, are my fault.
That’s pretty hard for us because we like to pass the buck. We live in a society, a culture, that loves to shift the blame. We blame the environment, the economy, the government, our parents, the stars, biorhythms – It's always somebody else's fault. Everything is attributed to something else. But God says, Most of your failures you caused. Own them and move on! Quit playing the blame game – stop making excuses!
T - Take STOCK OF MY LIFE!
If you want to make a fresh start in 2010, you need to set down and do an evaluation in your life and take stock of your experiences. Regardless of what's happened in 2009, one of the things you still have – in fact, one of the things you have today in 2010 that you didn't have last year, is more experience. God wants you to use those experiences. He doesn't want you to waste them. He wants you to learn from them and capitalize on them.
Galtians 3:4 says, "You have experienced many things. Were all those experiences wasted? I hope not."
He uses personal experiences to shape you. He uses vocational and educational experiences to shape you. He uses spiritual experiences to shape you, like coming to church, going on a retreat or reading your Bible, having a quiet time.
And most important of all, He uses painful experiences to shape you.
And guess what? God wants to use those experiences to help you grow – to help you become the person He wants you to be – to become the person he created you to be. So, take stock where are you really? Who are you? What has God made you to do? What is His purpose and plan for you? Take Stock – examine your life.
A - Act IN FAITH!
This is the third step in getting a fresh start. Act in faith. The Bible says that the key to changing anything is faith. If you want to change your circumstance, it takes faith. If you want to change your personality, it takes faith. If you want to change anything in your life, you have to have some faith.
Jesus says this in Matthew 9. "According to your faith it will be done to you." That is a very simple statement but it's very powerful. “According to your faith it will be done to you.” That means we tend to get out of life what we expect.
What are you expecting in 2010? "I think it's going to be another tough year, depressing, rigorous. It's going to be a real bummer." Guess what your year is going to be? A real bummer!
So, I am going to challenge you to set some goals this year – make some plans. Discover what God has for you in 2010.
There's one thing that will keep you from acting in faith in 2010. It's worrying about what other people think. When you start worrying about what other people think, the Bible says that is a trap. "The fear of man is a snare." It's a trap. When you worry about what other people think, you're not going to do what God wants you to do. You're going to do what's the convenient thing to do, what everybody’s doing.
Where do you need to act in faith today? Where do you need to take steps of faith to start over?
Six years and two days ago was my last day pastoring at a church in Danville. I resigned two months earlier, believing – no, knowing God had called me to preach and be the lead pastor in a church. Some people said, "You're foolish, stupid, dumb. You had it made here." But God said, Go. If I'd listened to other people I would have missed the greatest adventure of my life.
You need to step out in faith. Proverbs 29:25 "Being afraid of people can get you into trouble." Don't make that mistake in 2010.
R – Refocus MY THOUGHTS!
I need to refocus my thoughts if I want to change my life. If I want to get going again, if I want a fresh start, I need to rethink the way that I think. I need to change my mind about a number of issues. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Be careful how you think. Your life is shaped by your thoughts." The way you think, determines the way you feel. And the way you feel determines the way you act.
Don't ever try to just change your feelings, because you can't force a feeling to change. It's like saying, "I'm going to force myself to feel loving toward you!" You can't do it. It's like you spank your child and then say, "Now, I want you to be happy." You can't force a feeling. You have to go in the back door by changing your thought then your actions and then that changes your feelings.
The Bible says in Romans 12 "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." How do you do that?
Refocus your thoughts! What's the best thing to focus on? God's word. The truth. Psalm 1 says, "Happy are those who are always meditating on God's word. They're like trees along a river that do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do." Notice the words "happy" and "succeed". Those are the two things that everybody wants in the new year. We all want to be happy and we all want to succeed. The antidote, the answer, the way we get those is the phrase right in the middle -- "... meditating on God's word."
As you fill your mind with God's word, it begins to change your mind. You begin to stop seeing yourself as other people see you or as you have seen yourself and begin to see yourself as God does. That's where the change takes place. That's the power to start over.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Jonah 3:1. You know the story of Jonah. God told Jonah to go one direction and do something. He decided he’d do the exact opposite of what God wanted for his life. So God had to take him on a little Mediterranean cruise. After that cruse was over in Jonah 3:1 it says “And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah a second time.” I’m so glad for that verse.
Aren’t you glad we serve the God of the second chance? And of the third, the fourth, the fifth and the tenth, and the 25th and the 100th. He is the God of grace who says, “Come to Me with your brokenness, come to Me with your failures, come to Me with your shame, come to Me with your guilt, come to Me with the messed up things you’re done in your life and I can turn them around. Because I love you and I made you for a purpose. That purpose has never, ever changed.”
So we come to the fifth step.
T – Trust GOD TO HELP!
Trust God to help me succeed. Depend on Him. Don’t depend on yourself. Some people just don’t get it. They stumble and fall and then they get up and say, “I’ll just try harder!”
That’s the definition of insanity – doing the same over and over and over and expecting different results. Some of you are trying to love someone and it isn’t working some of you are trying to break a habit and you keep failing – falling short and you ask “Why doesn’t this change?” Because you can’t change on your own. So some people just don’t get it. When they stumble and fail, they just try harder. Make some new resolutions. Will power won’t do it.
You don’t get a fresh start by trying. You get a fresh start by trusting.
Zechariah 4:6 says, “`You will not succeed by your own strength or power but by My Spirit, says the Lord.’” The secret of success is not by trying but by trusting – in God and His word! Would you like a fresh start 1n 2010? Trust God with you life – your future!
2 Corinthians 5:17 says “When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!” God specializes in new beginnings. Jesus Christ has the power to do that. It’s called being born again. It just means the chance to start over. A fresh start. God says, “I don’t want you to turn over a new leaf. I’m going to give you a whole new life.”
SO WHAT? (What will I do with what I have read today?)
Set some BHAGS. (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) Luke 2:52 says “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.” Set goals in four areas of your life. Intellectual – physical, spiritual and social. Then over the next 50 days – 50 days of faith I am calling them, let’s see how God begins to change you and me – really change us!
Want to seal the deal?
Pray this prayer: “Dear God, only You can fully know the hurt in my heart. You’ve seen me stumble. You’ve watched me fall. You’ve watched me fail. You know the areas of my life that I’m ashamed of. You know where I’ve hurt others even when I didn’t know I was doing it. Father, You also know how I’ve been hurt by other people. Today, as I begin the New Year I ask You to give me a fresh start.
First I accept responsibility for my part of the problems in my life. I’m going to stop making excuses. Forgive me for not listening to You. Forgive me for thinking that I knew better.
Help me to take stock of the good that You’ve brought into my life. Help me to learn from my experiences. Today I want to act in faith. In this simple prayer, I open up my life to You. I ask You, Jesus Christ, to be my savior. I ask You to forgive me and to guide me from here on out. Help me to focus on You and Your word. I want to trust You to give me the power to start over and to do the right thing from here on. Come into my life and be in charge. In Your name, I pray. Amen.”
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