Speaker 1: Hi, everybody.
Speaker 2: Before we look at God's word today, I'd like to
Speaker 2: speak to all of our Southern California saddle back campuses
Speaker 2: about the COVID nineteen pandemic going on here. As you
Speaker 2: all know, we'd hoped that in this new year it
Speaker 2: would be over. Well it's not over. Instead, the fection
Speaker 2: rate in America is the worst it's ever been, and
Speaker 2: California is leading the list of having the most infections,
Speaker 2: and our five Southern California counties are leading California with
Speaker 2: the worst rates of infection. Now, of course, the big
Speaker 2: question on everybody's mind is when are we going to
Speaker 2: get to be able to have worship services in person again?
Speaker 2: And the answer still is as soon as it is safe.
Speaker 2: I really miss you, guys, and it is so frustrating
Speaker 2: to me as I'm sure it is to you. But
Speaker 2: let's just look at the facts, not how we feel,
Speaker 2: but the facts. Although some people still deny that this
Speaker 2: pandemic is serious, they need to talk to the families
Speaker 2: of the three hundred and ninety three thousand Americans who've
Speaker 2: died so far. That's almost four hundred thousand deaths. And
Speaker 2: although we have the good news of vaccine arriving, tens
Speaker 2: of thousands more will die before everybody can be vaccinated.
Speaker 2: So let me put this in perspective. In all of
Speaker 2: World War Two, four hundred and five thousand Americans died.
Speaker 2: That's all in World War Two. That means we're only
Speaker 2: twelve thousand deaths away from having more Americans die from
Speaker 2: COVID nineteen than died in all of World War Two.
Speaker 2: And we will pass that sad marker sometime this next week. Now,
Speaker 2: this pandemic may not make you sick, but it's killing millions.
Speaker 2: Do you remember when we first passed the rate of
Speaker 2: one thousand deaths a day to COVID? I reminded you
Speaker 2: that three thousand people died on nine to eleven crime
Speaker 2: and that this past year we were having a nine
Speaker 2: to eleven.
Speaker 1: Every three days.
Speaker 2: But then the rate jumped two thousand deaths to day,
Speaker 2: and then to three thousand deaths to day in November
Speaker 2: and now in January, COVID has been killing Americans at
Speaker 2: a faster rate than any other time in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: In fact, deaths are two hundred and seventeen percent higher
Speaker 2: than they were in the fall. Now I haven't seen
Speaker 2: today's report, but a couple of days ago. Four thousand,
Speaker 2: three hundred and twenty seven Americans died of COVID on
Speaker 2: a single day four thousand, three hundred.
Speaker 1: And twenty nine.
Speaker 2: Now I've said this before, but I think it's worth repeating.
Speaker 2: I'm not willing to gamble your health and the health
Speaker 2: of our members simply because I'm frustrated and impatient. I
Speaker 2: love you, and I love all of our members, and
Speaker 2: I'm called by God to protect you and to protect
Speaker 2: them as a good shepherd. I'm just not willing to
Speaker 2: be responsible for the death of a single one of
Speaker 2: our members. I'd rather resign than be responsible for the
Speaker 2: death of a saddle back member. So if anybody is
Speaker 2: upset or angry with me about my caution, I just
Speaker 2: have a simple question for them. Are you willing to
Speaker 2: be responsible before God for the death of any brothers
Speaker 2: and sisters in our church family? Are you willing to
Speaker 2: be responsible for it? I'm sure you're not. Now I'm
Speaker 2: going to write you more about this next week, but
Speaker 2: let's just pray that we all just keep loving and
Speaker 2: keep being patient. Because God is in control. God's not
Speaker 2: worried about his church. You don't need to worry about
Speaker 2: it either now. I'd also like to thank all of
Speaker 2: you for your wonderful letters and notes of support and encouragement, because.
Speaker 1: They mean the world to me.
Speaker 2: This past year was incredibly difficult, and you really are
Speaker 2: an amazing group of people. I can't tell you enough
Speaker 2: how much I love you, how much I pray for you,
Speaker 2: and how much I thank God for you every day.
Speaker 1: And of the thousands of you.
Speaker 2: New Saddleback people who have joined us this past year,
Speaker 2: you know, our Attendant's actually doubled in worship online those
Speaker 2: thousands of you who've joined us while we've been gathering online.
Speaker 2: We welcome you, and we thank God for you, and
Speaker 2: we promised to love you in our family. We're not
Speaker 2: a perfect church, but I will tell you this, I
Speaker 2: seriously doubt that you'll ever find a more loving church,
Speaker 2: a more flexible church, a church more willing to tackle
Speaker 2: big problems in faith, or a more compassionate church. Thousands
Speaker 2: of you are serving the community during COVID nineteen. Now,
Speaker 2: one of the emails that passed on me last week,
Speaker 2: I had a line in it at the end that
Speaker 2: really caught my attention, and it's what I want to
Speaker 2: talk about today. It ended by saying Pastor Rick, I
Speaker 2: don't know how I would have made it through the
Speaker 2: chaos this last year without our weekend services online. They
Speaker 2: have been a lifesaver in this storm and anchor of hope.
Speaker 2: So thanks to all of our leaders and elders for
Speaker 2: protecting us and thinking of us first with all the
Speaker 2: craziness out there. I'm grateful for solid Bible teaching that
Speaker 2: calms my anxious heart. And then she said this, I'm
Speaker 2: glad we made it through twenty twenty together, but I'm
Speaker 2: hoping to get a fresh start this new year. You know,
Speaker 2: I've thought about that last phrase over and over in
Speaker 2: my mind this week. I think it speaks for many
Speaker 2: of us. I'm hoping to get a fresh start in
Speaker 2: this new year. So today, as I share part two
Speaker 2: of the series The Awesome Power of Vision, I want
Speaker 2: us to look at what God tells us to do
Speaker 2: whenever we need a fresh start. Now, both the Old
Speaker 2: Testaments in the New Testament in the Bible are filled
Speaker 2: with examples of God giving people fresh start. Because God
Speaker 2: is the God of second chances, He's the God of
Speaker 2: new beginnings, He's the God of starting over, He's the
Speaker 2: God of beginning again.
Speaker 1: He's the God.
Speaker 2: Who specializes in giving people fresh starts. Now, when we
Speaker 2: look at this theme in scripture, the theme of fresh starts,
Speaker 2: I particularly like to use the Message translation of the
Speaker 2: Bible because when other translations use the phrase made new,
Speaker 2: the message always translate that as fresh start. It's the
Speaker 2: same thing. So let me just show you a few examples.
Speaker 2: Here's the first one, Zachariah ten six, from the Message.
Speaker 2: God says, I'll save the people of Joseph. I know
Speaker 2: their pain, and I'll make them as good as new.
Speaker 2: They'll get a fresh start as if nothing ever happened.
Speaker 2: Why Because I am their God and I'll do what
Speaker 2: needs to.
Speaker 1: Be done for them.
Speaker 2: What an incredible promise. Aren't you glad that God knows
Speaker 2: and cares about all the pain you go through? He
Speaker 2: felt everything you went through this past year. And aren't
Speaker 2: you glad that no matter what happens in your life,
Speaker 2: he can make everything as good as new. And aren't
Speaker 2: you glad that God says I'll do what needs to
Speaker 2: be done to give you a fresh start. You almost
Speaker 2: can't count the number of times on the Bible that
Speaker 2: God gave his people Israel a fresh start after they
Speaker 2: messed up. Let me show you another example Hoseiah fourteen
Speaker 2: to five in the message, where God says I will
Speaker 2: make a fresh start with Israel. They will burst into
Speaker 2: bloom like a crocus in the spring after a season
Speaker 2: of cold and darkness. He says, they're going to blossom
Speaker 2: with new beauty, like spring flour. That's what I'm praying
Speaker 2: for our church as we end in COVID nineteen. Now
Speaker 2: you may be thinking, well, that's great for Israel, but
Speaker 2: what about me? Well Saw one forty five fourteen says this.
Speaker 2: In the message, it says God gives a hand to
Speaker 2: those who are down on their luck, and he gives
Speaker 2: a fresh start to those who are ready to quit.
Speaker 2: Have you felt like giving up? Have you felt like quitting?
Speaker 2: You felt like throwing in the towel? Then you picked
Speaker 2: a good day to worship with saddleback, because that's what
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about today.
Speaker 1: It is always too soon to quit.
Speaker 2: You know this, Coming Monday, we're gonna observe Martin Luther
Speaker 2: King Day and doctor King is best remembered for his
Speaker 2: famous I have a dream speech. But what made King
Speaker 2: so great was that he couraged, courageously went after that dream.
Speaker 2: You didn't just dream it, he started going after it.
Speaker 2: What dream is God given you? When are you going
Speaker 2: to get started on it? He said, Well one of
Speaker 2: these days, one of these days is none of these days.
Speaker 2: God's word gives us the simple steps for getting started
Speaker 2: on a fresh start. So, just for fun, you know
Speaker 2: what I did. I put these steps in a simple
Speaker 2: cross stick S T A R T. You go, oh,
Speaker 2: come on, Rick, Yeah, I did. I put him in
Speaker 2: acrostic start. So let's get started on your fresh start.
Speaker 2: Now here's the first step in a new year and
Speaker 2: a fresh start. The first step is always this s.
Speaker 2: Stop making excuses for not starting. Stop making excuses for
Speaker 2: not starting. Have you ever been around somebody who makes
Speaker 2: excuses for everything? You've probably noticed that people who are
Speaker 2: good at making excuses are rarely good at anything else.
Speaker 2: The biggest barrier to my success and your success are
Speaker 2: my own excuses, your own excuses.
Speaker 1: Write that down.
Speaker 2: The biggest barriers to my success are my own excuses.
Speaker 2: Now let me show you what God says about four
Speaker 2: common excuses. You've heard these, you've probably given all four
Speaker 2: of them. Excuse number one for not starting. I don't
Speaker 2: have what it takes. I don't have what it takes
Speaker 2: to go after the dream. You know, in the Bible,
Speaker 2: Moses and Jeremiah and a lot of other people tried
Speaker 2: to use this excuse.
Speaker 1: On God when he had an assignment for them.
Speaker 2: But my favorite example of it of I don't have
Speaker 2: what it takes is Gideon. God told a young man
Speaker 2: named Gideon, Gideon, I want to use you to liberate
Speaker 2: my people from the enemy that's oppressing them. And Judges
Speaker 2: chapter six, verse fifteen and sixteen tells us how Gideon responded.
Speaker 2: It says this, Then Gideon started making excuses. God says,
Speaker 2: I'm going to use you. He said, MOI not me, Lord,
Speaker 2: he said. Gideon started to make excuses. He said, but Lord,
Speaker 2: how can I save the nation of Israel. I belong
Speaker 2: to v Nasa, the smallest tribe, and my family is
Speaker 2: the weakest and poorest family.
Speaker 1: In that tribe.
Speaker 2: And I'm the youngest and least important person in my family. Okay, God,
Speaker 2: you got the wrong guy. But the Lord replied, I
Speaker 2: will be with you.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Here's the answer to your insecurity. When you say I
Speaker 2: don't have what it takes, You're not gonna do this
Speaker 2: by yourself. God says, I'm going to be with you.
Speaker 2: And if I'm with you, that means you can rely
Speaker 2: on my power. You can rely on my presence, you
Speaker 2: can rely on my promises, you can rely on my protection.
Speaker 2: There's nothing to worry about. One plus, God is a majority.
Speaker 2: Let me give you a second common excuse that a
Speaker 2: lot of people use for not taking a fresh start,
Speaker 2: and it's this, I have failed in the p Yeah, well,
Speaker 2: welcome to the human race.
Speaker 1: Everybody's failed. You are product. Listen to me.
Speaker 2: You are a product of your past, but you're not
Speaker 2: a prisoner of your past. Your product your shape by
Speaker 2: your past, but you're not a prisoner of your past.
Speaker 2: You have a choice. You're not a victim unless you
Speaker 2: choose to be.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I know without a doubt that in your past other
Speaker 2: people have hurt you, and other people have harmed you.
Speaker 2: Maybe even other people have scarred you. But nobody can
Speaker 2: ruin your life except you. Your past is past. It's over,
Speaker 2: it's water under the bridge. It doesn't have to control
Speaker 2: you anymore. And by the way, did you know that
Speaker 2: God is far more interested in your future than your past.
Speaker 2: In Isaiah forty three, eighteen and nineteen t ev version
Speaker 2: says this, the Lord says this, Do not cling to
Speaker 2: the events of the past, and he says, do not
Speaker 2: dwell on what happened long ago. He says, Watch for
Speaker 2: the new thing I'm gonna do. It's happening already, just
Speaker 2: look and you can see it starting now. He say, well, okay,
Speaker 2: but what about all my failures in my past? Well,
Speaker 2: God just says, just admit your mistakes, confess your sins,
Speaker 2: move on. Proverbs twenty eight thirteen says this, a man
Speaker 2: who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful.
Speaker 2: But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance.
Speaker 1: That's fresh start.
Speaker 2: Now here's the third common excuse for not starting right
Speaker 2: now on your dream. There are things I can't control. Well, duh,
Speaker 2: of course, there are things you can't control. In fact,
Speaker 2: most of the things in life are beyond your control.
Speaker 2: You can't control the weather, you can't control the economy,
Speaker 2: you can't control other people, you can't control how long
Speaker 2: this pandemic will last, and a million other factors. And
Speaker 2: what's worse, And I really hate to tell you this,
Speaker 2: but you'll never be able to control them. You have
Speaker 2: to live your life for God and do whatever he's
Speaker 2: called you. To do in the middle of uncontrollable circumstances
Speaker 2: and problems.
Speaker 1: So what do you do? What do you do?
Speaker 2: You control the controllables and trust God for the rest.
Speaker 2: Control the controllables and trust God for the rest. I've
Speaker 2: told you that before. So what can you control? You
Speaker 2: can control your attitudes, you can control your reactions. You
Speaker 2: can control how much you choose to trust God. That's
Speaker 2: your choice. These are things that are your choice.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Over the past year, I've talked to a lot of
Speaker 2: people who've put everything on hold in their life during
Speaker 2: the pandemic. They act like they're in limbo, so they
Speaker 2: do nothing. They're just waiting, and they're the ones getting
Speaker 2: the most frustrated. Yes, of course, we can't do everything
Speaker 2: we'd like to do right now, but that doesn't mean
Speaker 2: we can't do something. It doesn't mean we just coast
Speaker 2: passively and waste these days during the pandemic. You know,
Speaker 2: while our church has been unable to meet for worship,
Speaker 2: we've actually been more active and more effective and more
Speaker 2: successful in our other four purposes of our church. Our
Speaker 2: church has five purposes. If worship is curtailed right now,
Speaker 2: we can do the other four and we have been.
Speaker 2: We're not just sitting around. For instance, in just one
Speaker 2: of our purposes ministry and feeding people. Over thirteen thousand
Speaker 2: of you have been volunteering, feeding over a half a
Speaker 2: million people. And yes, we couldn't have, for instance, sixty
Speaker 2: thousand people at our normal Christmas services. So you know
Speaker 2: what we did and said, we didn't do nothing. Instead,
Speaker 2: we turned over one thousand volunteers into staffers of our
Speaker 2: Light of the World through Christmas Drive Through, and we
Speaker 2: impacted double the number of people. Over one hundred and
Speaker 2: thirty thousand people came to Christmas at Saddleback this year
Speaker 2: in a pandemic. Limitations are just opportunities for creativity.
Speaker 1: You know what happened. It ended up being the twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: Was our church's greatest year for starting small groups, for
Speaker 2: launching ministries in the community, for reaching more non believers
Speaker 2: than we've ever reached before last year, and for developing disciples.
Speaker 2: Why because the church is far more than just a
Speaker 2: worship service. It's family, and it goes all day, every
Speaker 2: day of the week, and even our worship service attendants
Speaker 2: doubled online. Proverbs twenty four, verse ten says this, don't
Speaker 2: give up and act helpless in times of trouble. Don't
Speaker 2: give up and act helpless in times. You need to
Speaker 2: write that one down on the cart and put it
Speaker 2: on your refrigerator. Now, during these times, have you stopped trying?
Speaker 2: Have you stopped trying? You know, during trying times, you
Speaker 2: got to keep trying. Yes, there's a lot of trouble
Speaker 2: in the world right now, but you're not helpless.
Speaker 1: You know what I've noticed.
Speaker 2: I've noticed that the people during the pandemic who are
Speaker 2: complaining the most of the ones not serving others. They're
Speaker 2: just complaining because they're once aren't being met. Here's a
Speaker 2: fourth common excuse for not starting now, not doing something now,
Speaker 2: even though you can't do everything. I don't know what
Speaker 2: the future holds. Well, of course you don't. Again, you're right,
Speaker 2: but you're never gonna know what the future holds. An
Speaker 2: Ecclesiastes eleven to four says this do living translation, if
Speaker 2: you wait for perfect conditions, you'll never get anything done.
Speaker 2: So the first thing you do, if you want a
Speaker 2: fresh start in a new year, you stop making excuses
Speaker 2: for not starting now. The next word is t take
Speaker 2: stock of what I have. Take stock of what I have.
Speaker 2: That's the second step.
Speaker 1: In being.
Speaker 2: Moving ahead and getting a fresh start take stock. And
Speaker 2: what I mean is you list and you evaluate what
Speaker 2: you've got to work with, do a personal inventory. So
Speaker 2: how do I do that? Well, let me give you
Speaker 2: three questions. Okay, you might write these down. Three questions
Speaker 2: to ask yourself in making a fresh start this year
Speaker 2: and taking stock by doing a personal inventory. Okay, here's
Speaker 2: the three questions. Write these down. Number one, what are
Speaker 2: my assets? What are my assets?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 2: You look at your own God given shape. We talked
Speaker 2: that in class three oh one, your spiritual gifts, your heart,
Speaker 2: your abilities, your personality, your experiences. You look at your
Speaker 2: physical assets, your educational assets, your financial assets, and of
Speaker 2: course remember your spiritual assets. As a child of God.
Speaker 2: Colossians two ten says this in the Living Bible. You
Speaker 2: have everything when you have Christ.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of assets.
Speaker 2: You have everything when you have Christ and you're filled
Speaker 2: with God through your union with Christ. He's the highest
Speaker 2: ruler with authority over every other power.
Speaker 1: Now that's an asset.
Speaker 2: It means you don't have to know the key men
Speaker 2: if you know the man who holds the keys, okay,
Speaker 2: because he has authority over everything else. Say ask what
Speaker 2: are my assets? Number two ask what have I learned?
Speaker 1: Go back over? What have you learned from this last year?
Speaker 2: Sit down and write down some lessons that you extracted
Speaker 2: about life, about yourself, about family, about God, whatever about
Speaker 2: your career. What write down the lessons that you extracted.
Speaker 2: That's a thing to get you in the fresh start.
Speaker 2: Galatians three four says this, you have experienced many things.
Speaker 2: Were those all or were all those experiences wasted? I
Speaker 2: hope not. Don't waste your experiences now. You want to
Speaker 2: especially pay attention to your painful experiences, because God never
Speaker 2: wants you to waste to hurt. It's gonna don't waste
Speaker 2: the pain. Don't waste the hurt. Quit having a pity party.
Speaker 1: Poor me.
Speaker 2: Life is unfair. Things aren't going the way I want
Speaker 2: them to go. And instead, learn from your pain. Write
Speaker 2: down the lessons. Also, learn from your mistakes. Stop rehearsing them,
Speaker 2: stop regretting them, start learning from them. Why Because innovation
Speaker 2: is always built on failure. It's how we learn, It's
Speaker 2: how we learn what doesn't work. So whenever you have
Speaker 2: a mistake or you have a failure, don't call it
Speaker 2: a failure, call it an education. Some of us are
Speaker 2: highly educated. Now you also can review what you learn
Speaker 2: through Bible teaching, like what I'm doing right now. Two
Speaker 2: Timothy three fourteen says this, You should continue following the
Speaker 2: teachings you learned. You know they're true because you trust
Speaker 2: those who taught you. So what are my assets? What
Speaker 2: have I learned? Here's a third question, asking in taking stock?
Speaker 2: Who could help me? Who else could help me in
Speaker 2: my fresh start? Proverbs fifteen twenty two. Get all the
Speaker 2: advice you can, and you'll succeed. Without it, you're going
Speaker 2: to fail. One of the most common reasons people fail
Speaker 2: to reach their dream is ego, arrogance, hubris. They're too
Speaker 2: proud to ask for advice. I think I can figure
Speaker 2: this out by myself. I got a dream, I'll figure
Speaker 2: it out myself. The Bible says pride leads to destruction.
Speaker 2: It also says that God gives grace to the humble.
Speaker 2: Why because the humble are teachable. You're never gonna get anywhere.
Speaker 2: You're never gonna have a fresh start if you act
Speaker 2: like you've already arrived. So I want to encourage you. You
Speaker 2: might just near recruit a personal brain trust of advisers
Speaker 2: to help you with your dream. Okay, stop making excuses,
Speaker 2: take stock of your life. Number three, the a in
Speaker 2: start is act in faith. I've told you before that
Speaker 2: God has not moved by our complaints, but he is
Speaker 2: moved by our faith. And in Matthew nine twenty nine
Speaker 2: it says, according to your faith, it will be done
Speaker 2: to you. So you say, Okay, Rick, how do I
Speaker 2: know if I'm acting in faith? You know you're acting
Speaker 2: in faith when you attempt to do something that you
Speaker 2: know you couldn't do in your own power. You know
Speaker 2: you're acting in faith when you're attempting to do something
Speaker 2: that scares you. It will scare you, it will force
Speaker 2: you to rely on God. Now, maybe you've never realized
Speaker 2: that goal setting is actually an act of faith. When
Speaker 2: you set a goal, it's saying, God, with your help,
Speaker 2: I'm expecting to accomplish this specific task by this specific date.
Speaker 2: And that kind of goal is a statement of faith,
Speaker 2: and God honors faith. Most people never set goals for
Speaker 2: their life. Less than one percent of people set goals
Speaker 2: for their life. Why because of the fear of failure
Speaker 2: and a lack of faith. That's the reason most people
Speaker 2: never set any goals for their life. Now you may ask, Okay,
Speaker 2: how can I set goals when I don't know how
Speaker 2: long this pandemic is going to last. It's a legitimate question.
Speaker 2: How can I set goals for this new year when
Speaker 2: I don't know how long the pandemic's going to last. Well,
Speaker 2: you can do two things. First, you can do what's
Speaker 2: called scenario goal setting. Scenario goal setting and scenario planning
Speaker 2: means that you set up multiple goals and plans depending
Speaker 2: on what scenario happens. And it's like, Okay, I will
Speaker 2: do this, and I will by this date if this happens.
Speaker 2: But on the other hand, I will do that by
Speaker 2: that date if that happens. That's called scenario planning. You
Speaker 2: can do that. You can have different scenarios. If this happens,
Speaker 2: I'll do this, and if that happens, I'll do that.
Speaker 2: That scenario goal setting. Proverbs sixteen nine says this, we
Speaker 2: should make our plans counting on God to direct us
Speaker 2: in the living Bible. So that's one of the ways
Speaker 2: you can do it not knowing when the pandemic is
Speaker 2: going to end. Second, you can focus listen on character
Speaker 2: goals rather than activity goals.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can.
Speaker 2: Focus on activity goals if you know the future, you don't,
Speaker 2: But you can focus on character goals anytime. In other words,
Speaker 2: you can set goals on what you want to be,
Speaker 2: what you want to be goals instead of what you
Speaker 2: want to do goals. You can ask yourself right now,
Speaker 2: what kind of person do I want to be by
Speaker 2: the end of this year? How do you want to
Speaker 2: be different? How do you want to be more like Christ?
Speaker 2: What weakness is it that you want to work on
Speaker 2: in your life? You've got complete control over that doesn't
Speaker 2: matter how long the pandemic lasts. What kind of character
Speaker 2: do you want to have? What are your character goals?
Speaker 2: And by the way, God is more interested in what
Speaker 2: you become than what you do. God is far more
Speaker 2: or interested in your character then in your conduct. Why
Speaker 2: because you're not taking your career to heaven, but you
Speaker 2: are taking your character. Hebrews eleven six says this, without faith,
Speaker 2: it is impossible to please God. That's why the third
Speaker 2: step and a fresh start is you have to act
Speaker 2: in faith. My question to you is this, what faith
Speaker 2: goals for this next year? Will you set this next week?
Speaker 2: That's your homework. What faith goals will I set for
Speaker 2: this next year this next week. Now we go to
Speaker 2: the fourth Biblical step to a fresh start. That's the
Speaker 2: r in start, and it's this refocus my mind. If
Speaker 2: I want a fresh start in life, I have to
Speaker 2: do the first three things, and then I have to
Speaker 2: refocus my mind. If you want to change your life,
Speaker 2: you got to change the way you think first. Changing
Speaker 2: your thoughts is the key to a fresh start in
Speaker 2: any area, in a hobby, in a career, in a relationship,
Speaker 2: in a marriage, in parenting. Changing your thought is the
Speaker 2: key to a fresh start in any area.
Speaker 1: Let me show you some verses.
Speaker 2: Phesians four twenty three in the Amplified says, this, be
Speaker 2: constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind.
Speaker 1: That's changing your mind. Change the way you think.
Speaker 2: Be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind, having
Speaker 2: a fresh mental attitude and a fresh spiritual attitude. So
Speaker 2: what is a renewed mind. A renewed mind means you
Speaker 2: have fresh thoughts and you have fresh attitudes. Frankly, some
Speaker 2: of your attitudes suck, so do mine. Some of your
Speaker 2: thoughts are wrong, so do mine. So how do I
Speaker 2: refocus my mind? Well, sorry, but that's an entire seminar
Speaker 2: but let me give you a couple tips. Write these down.
Speaker 2: Listen more to God's word than the world. That's one
Speaker 2: of the ways you renew your mind. Listen more to
Speaker 2: God's word than the world. Psalm one one to three
Speaker 2: says this happier those who are always meditating on God's word.
Speaker 2: They're like trees along the river that do not dry up.
Speaker 2: They succeed in everything they do. Would you like that
Speaker 2: to be true in your life this next year? Meditate
Speaker 2: on God's word every day. Think about God's word. And
Speaker 2: then here's a second tip. Think about what I think about?
Speaker 2: You say, what do you mean by that? Think about
Speaker 2: what I think about I'm saying. When you think about
Speaker 2: what you think about, you don't automatically thought. Except every
Speaker 2: thought you have you challenge them. When you have a thought,
Speaker 2: you challenge it. You think about what you're thinking about
Speaker 2: and go, do I want to think about this?
Speaker 1: You say?
Speaker 2: Do I want this thought? When you have a thought,
Speaker 2: you ask yourself first, is this really true? I can't
Speaker 2: tell you how much that question will change your life.
Speaker 2: When you get a thought, you need to ask yourself,
Speaker 2: is this really true?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 2: I am so this and that? And then you're playing
Speaker 2: old tapes. If you'll just ask the question, is this
Speaker 2: really true? It'll change your life? Is this helpful? That's
Speaker 2: another question to ask, is this helpful? Is it true?
Speaker 2: Is it helpful? Do I want this thought? In other words,
Speaker 2: how does it make me feel? And do I want
Speaker 2: to feel that way? All your feelings are caused by thoughts.
Speaker 2: And if you don't like the way you feel, change
Speaker 2: the way you think. And if you don't like the
Speaker 2: thing you're thinking, will then just replace it with a
Speaker 2: different thought. Let me tell you a little secret about
Speaker 2: your mind. You don't have to believe every thought you have.
Speaker 2: That's a choice, because not every thought you have is true.
Speaker 2: Proverbs four twenty three says this, be careful how you think,
Speaker 2: because your life is shaped by your thoughts. And finally
Speaker 2: we come to the last step the tee in start trust,
Speaker 2: write this down. Trust that God knows what he's doing.
Speaker 2: That's the fifth step to a fresh start in life
Speaker 2: and a fresh start in a new year. Trust that
Speaker 2: God knows what he's doing. You don't know what he's doing,
Speaker 2: but you can trust that God knows what he's doing.
Speaker 1: He's a good God.
Speaker 2: You see when God is working in your life and
Speaker 2: when he's preparing you for a fresh start, you often
Speaker 2: can't see it. Or if you can see it and
Speaker 2: you can see what he's doing, you still may not
Speaker 2: understand why he's doing it. You can see what he's
Speaker 2: doing in your life, but you can't see why he's
Speaker 2: doing it. But God's plan and God's intention for your
Speaker 2: life are always good. You can trust him. Trust that
Speaker 2: God knows what he's doing, even when you don't understand
Speaker 2: why things are happening the way they are. I want
Speaker 2: to close with the principal and a promise. Here's the
Speaker 2: background of the principle. One day God told the prophet
Speaker 2: named Jeremiah. You thought Jeremiah was a bullfrog, but actually
Speaker 2: he was a prophet. One day God told a prophet
Speaker 2: named Jeremiah to go to a potter's house and watch
Speaker 2: that potter making clay potts on a pottery table, you know,
Speaker 2: one of those turntables. And God says, I want you
Speaker 2: to go to this potter's house and watch what's going on,
Speaker 2: and I will give you a message there. So Jeremiah
Speaker 2: did that, and he goes and finds the potter's house,
Speaker 2: and sure enough, the guy's sitting at his potter's wheel
Speaker 2: and it's turning, and he's taking a lump of clay
Speaker 2: and he's molding it, fixing it.
Speaker 1: And then he noticed something.
Speaker 2: And this is in j Wheremiah eighteen, verse four. Jeremiah
Speaker 2: eighteen fources this. When the clay pot that the potter
Speaker 2: was forming on the wheel didn't turn out the way
Speaker 2: he intended, he simply started over, using the same clay
Speaker 2: to make a new pot. Jeremiah notices three things. Sometimes
Speaker 2: things don't turn out the way you intended. That's true.
Speaker 2: Number two. When that happens, the potter just starts all
Speaker 2: over again. Number three, But.
Speaker 1: He uses the same clay. He doesn't throw it out.
Speaker 2: He just takes the same clay that he tried to
Speaker 2: make something and didn't work out the way intended. He
Speaker 2: takes that same clay and reshapes it. And after Jeremiah
Speaker 2: saw this object lesson, God explained it in Jeremiah eighteen,
Speaker 2: verse five, seven, six. Then God said to Jeremiah, Jeremiah,
Speaker 2: cannot I do the same with you as the potter does,
Speaker 2: Just as the potter works the clay in his hand,
Speaker 2: so you are in my hand and I am working
Speaker 2: on you. That's both the principle and the promise. Now,
Speaker 2: I don't know, but this last year or even before that,
Speaker 2: you may have really made a mess of your life.
Speaker 1: And it may have been marred.
Speaker 2: It was marred by the decisions of others and the
Speaker 2: actions of others, or it had been marred by your
Speaker 2: own decisions and actions. And your pot who you are,
Speaker 2: is scarred from poor decisions that you made and things
Speaker 2: that were done to you. And as a result, your
Speaker 2: life has not intent turned out as you intended.
Speaker 1: But you're not the potter. God's the potter. You're the clay.
Speaker 2: And just like the potter, God doesn't throw out original
Speaker 2: clay that's been misshapen by circumstances, scarred, misshapen, didn't turn
Speaker 2: out the way intended. God doesn't waste all of the
Speaker 2: pain that you've been through. No, And he doesn't throw
Speaker 2: out the unique personality and the essence of you that
Speaker 2: he gave you, the clay, the stuff that made you
Speaker 2: that he made you with.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: Instead, he takes every part of you, all of you
Speaker 2: that includes the good and the bad and the ugly,
Speaker 2: all that in the clay and everything you've experienced up
Speaker 2: in life up to this point.
Speaker 1: You know what does.
Speaker 2: He puts it in his gentle but strong hands. And
Speaker 2: once you're in his hands, God starts over fresh start
Speaker 2: on shaping your life. And he begins to work on
Speaker 2: you lovingly but firmly, like a potter, and he begins
Speaker 2: to reshape you, applying pressure at just the right places
Speaker 2: to mold you and remake you into a beautiful, priceless
Speaker 2: piece of art. And that brings glory to Him, and
Speaker 2: that brings glory to you. That's what happens when we
Speaker 2: surrender ourselves completely to God's loving hands, and we trust
Speaker 2: that God is the master potter who creates masterpieces. This
Speaker 2: is what it means to get a fresh start. Jesus
Speaker 2: called it being born again. Two Corinthians five point seventeen
Speaker 2: says this, when anyone becomes united to Christ, he becomes
Speaker 2: a new person in solfe. That's fresh start. He becomes
Speaker 2: a new person inside. He's not the same anymore.
Speaker 1: His old life.
Speaker 2: The old life is gone and a fresh new life
Speaker 2: has begun. I said it at the start, and I'll
Speaker 2: say it at the end. God specializes in new beginnings
Speaker 2: and fresh starts, and you can have one today if
Speaker 2: you begin taking these steps.
Speaker 1: Had he get started. Well.
Speaker 2: You can start with the prayer that King David prayed Psal.
Speaker 2: I'm fifty one, verse ten, and the message says this, God,
Speaker 2: make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week
Speaker 2: from the chaos in my life. I love that God
Speaker 2: make a fresh start in me. Will you pray that today,
Speaker 2: shape a Genesis week.
Speaker 1: From the chaos in my life?
Speaker 2: You know, earlier I said it's always too soon to quit,
Speaker 2: but I also want to say it's never too late
Speaker 2: to start over. Never too late. If your heart's still pumping,
Speaker 2: it's never too late. Start over now. If you would
Speaker 2: like that, it would be my privilege to introduce you
Speaker 2: to Jesus Christ and lead you in a simple prayer
Speaker 2: for salvation and a fresh start. Would you bow your
Speaker 2: heads with me right now? Would you just pray with me?
Speaker 2: Why don't you just say these words in your heart?
Speaker 2: You know you can just say as I say the words.
Speaker 2: You can say God me too. Just say something like this,
Speaker 2: Dear God, Dear God, I want a fresh start. Dear God,
Speaker 2: I need a fresh start, and today I've realized that
Speaker 2: only you can make that happen. I want to stop
Speaker 2: making excuses. I want to act in faith. So I
Speaker 2: ask you, Jesus Christ, to put your spirit inside my
Speaker 2: life and fill me with your love.
Speaker 1: Just say that to God.
Speaker 2: Put your spirit inside my life, Jesus, and fill me
Speaker 2: with your love. I ask you to forgive everything I've
Speaker 2: ever done, clean the slate with your mercy and grace,
Speaker 2: and I ask you to make me a new person,
Speaker 2: the person I was always intended to become. God, I
Speaker 2: recognize that you're the potter and I'm the clay, and
Speaker 2: I'm asking you.
Speaker 1: Today to begin.
Speaker 2: Reshaping my life. Thank you for loving me. And when
Speaker 2: tough times come and I feel under pressure, help me
Speaker 2: to trust you, knowing that you're a good and wise God.
Speaker 2: And I humbly ask you to accept me into your
Speaker 2: family because Jesus died for me.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Amen,