A brand new beginning. We’ve heard preachers preach this portion of scripture many times. It’s been used for funerals a lot. There are many reason God leads us to this. It reminds us there is hope in Christ, there is comfort now, and that God is trustworthy. 2018 is coming up and we know God will never do anything to cause us to lose our trust in him. Others do things causing us to do that, but the Lord never will. The Lord blesses us every day for the rest of our lives giving us a new beginning each day.
Jesus told us these things about this many times. There is one story of an unfruitful tree in which the servants couldn’t get it to bear fruit. They said to their master that it needed to be cut down. He told them to dig around it and give it one more year. They did as he said and it bore fruit. That teaches us to never give up. Has the Lord ever told any of us to give up? Never! We all come short and sin every day. There are sins of commission which means we commit—or do—thing that we shouldn’t. There are sins of omission which means we come short—or don’t do—what God wants us to do. Yet God doesn’t give up. He’s dug around me a lot trying to get me to produce fruit. One time ground hogs were messing in my garden. Someone told me to get some ammonium nitrate and put down. The same thing that helped the plants grow also got rid of the pests. Those ground hogs were done.
Don’t let the ground hogs dig up your new year. God has given us what we need. All this will pass away and God will cause us to have a new beginning. Genesis starts with “in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Did God begin then? No. He was already there. Beginning and ending are times to us. Before time as we know it came into existence there was God. People say the end of time is near. That means the end of everything thing will happen. Everything but our eternal soul will pass away. Look back in Revelation 20:11-15. God will wad up creation. That means he’ll wad up this body and give us a new one. Think of all the pain of 2017. We’ve changed a lot and lots of things have changed. The only things that remained unchanged are the Word of God and the things of God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
The new beginning will be greater than the creation of heaven and earth. In six days God made everything. Stars, planets and galaxies were made and the earth was placed in its galaxy. It was placed in perfect position to be neither too hot nor too cold. What a mighty God we serve! Everything has a beginning and it didn’t start by itself. It wasn’t by accident. All creation testifies and validates the existence of God. Scientists can say all they want about a big bang but someone had to light the fuse and provide the dynamite!
This won’t go on much longer. God will make all things new. The new forever is coming. We won’t carry sorrow or pain into this new realm. God will wipe away all tears. That’s something to look forward to. Let’s have a funeral on 2017. Thank the Lord for seeing us through. Don’t worry about what’s coming. God will bring an end to the bad and he’ll be with us no matter what is coming. Put the year behind you and go on with a new beginning.
We can’t go back. It’s gone. We have to move forward. Every day is a new beginning because The Beginning is with us. Satan knows his day is coming. It’s time to get people to God. If we have failed before in that area don’t let that stop us from a new beginning. Begin again. We don’t know how many days are left but each day will be new. God will be with us in each one. This year is behind us. Let’s go forward to the new beginning. There will always be one.
Winter is here and is hard on some of us. It will be over. Spring and summer will come. In order for them to come, winter must end. God is God whether it is winter, spring, summer or fall. He’s always the same and we can make it. God is waiting for us tomorrow. We have hope and reason to keep going on. Through Jesus Christ we have everlasting life. When he says all things are become new, he means it!
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 