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To the class of
2006,
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Let me remind you
about the year in which your high school graduating class made their debut into this world:
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Bobby McFerrin tells everyone "Don't worry, be happy" with his chart-toping pop song.
CDs outsell vinyl for the first time ever.
Jimmy Swaggart admits
to having sexual relations with prostitutes.
Summer Olympics
in Seoul,
South-Korea; Ben Johnson caught for steriods after setting a World Record in the 100 meter dash.
Pan Am Flight 103
explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland;
Lybian terrorists are suspected of planting the bomb.
Prozac is introduced
as an anti-depresent.
Sonny Bono becomes
Mayor of Palm Springs.
Robin Givens files
for divorce from Mike Tyson.
Michael Dukakis
loses to George Bush for the Presidency; he's never heard from again.
Long
Island beaches close due to medical waste coming ashore on July 6th.
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The Netherlands becomes the second country to get connected to the Internet
Al-Qaida is established
by Osama bin Laden
Los Angeles Dodgers
win the World Series
Washington Redskins
win Superbowl XXII
“Rain Man” is the top grossing film
"Faith" by George
Michael spends the most time at the top of the US
charts
Source: blogthings.com
You came into the
world with a life expectancy of 74.9 years (infoplease.com)
Life never stays
the same. It always changes. Look
where we’ve been and where we are.
“This too
shall pass”…the good and the bad
As things begin
new, as things change, we have choices to make.
Change always brings
choices.
Let’s take
some time to talk about some types of new beginnings.
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I. There is a new beginning that comes through Salvation.
John 3:1-4, 14-16
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Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.
2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the
miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time
into his mother's womb to be born!"
14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone
who believes in him may have eternal life.[e]
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[f] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send
his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned,
but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
2 Corinthians 5:17.
Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
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II. There is a new beginning that comes with repentance.
Luke 15:11-22.
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This is the story of The Prodigal Son
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It is important to know that are sins were already forgiven on The Cross
o All we have to do is return to Him
§ In order to return to Him we must turn from our sins.
· (Turning from our sins is true repentance…we have to leave our sinful life behind
just as the prodigal son did
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Also, just as the Father in this story did not hold His son’s past
against him, (he was happy to receive him back), God does not hold our past against us…He is happy to receive us back!
He Wipes our sins
away- He gives us a clean slate and puts us back on our feet again!
1 John 1:9.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Hebrews 8:12.
For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
Psalm 103:11-13.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great
is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he
removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the
LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
There are new beginnings that come because of crisis.
Let’s have
a family conversation
OUR CHURCH
CRISIS BRINGS ABOUT
CHANGE
PEOPLE HAVE TO BE
BROUGHT TO A PLACE OF CRISIS BEFORE THEY MAKE CHANGES.
CRISIS IS NOT ALWAYS
BAD. IT IS JUST A REALIZATION THAT THINGS WONT WORK THE WAY THEY ARE CURRENTLY
BEING DONE.
THERE IS NO TIME
TO WASTE. WE MUST DO SOMETHING NOW.
EXAMPLE: LEAKING
PIPES CANT WAIT. YOU CANT TAKE A SHOWER WITH THE WATER SHUT OFF.
What to do with new beginnings?
…Once we graduate,
once the pipe breaks, once we get sick, once we’ve made that mistake, once we’ve gotten ourselves in over our
head, once we have hit that wall and there is no way out (or so it seems)…
This is not the
only thing we need to do, but it is essential part of what we do when we start new, start over…
Philippians 3:12-14.
12 Not
that I have already attained, (Heaven) or am already perfected (who
Jesus wants me to be); but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ
Jesus has also laid hold of me.
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We are to press on towards Heaven
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We are to strive to be more like Christ
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We are to have an eternal focus
13 Brethren,
I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are
ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God
in Christ Jesus
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We press on toward the upward call of
God in Christ Jesus
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The call He has on our lives to be more like Jesus
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The call He has on our lives to keep eternal things in focus
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The call (purpose) He has specifically for us as individuals
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The call (purpose) He has for our specific church
God’s calling for our church….What we are pressing towards
Acts 13:47. God
has commanded us to be a light to the Gentiles
We are a church
in the midst of new beginnings.
So what are we going
to do.
We are planning
on making some more changes.
These changes we
will be making will have the specific purpose of reaching Gentiles in our community.
I don’t want
to surprise you. I want to communicate with you what is going on and I want to
ask you to be a part of it.
We are going to
be a church that reaches out to those you know personally but don’t know Jesus.
What are the people
like that you know that don’t know Jesus? What would it take for us to
get Jesus to them...
how will they believe
if they have not heard, we have got to get them to the point where they can hear the message and understand.
I have some ideas…….about
what it takes to reach the lost for Jesus
How about you???
What are your ideas?
I’m not talking
about what do you like to see in a church, I want to know what works to bring people to Jesus.
What works to bring
people through our doors so they can hear the Message?
