The Bible talks a lot about God making things new.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Isaiah 43:18-19
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
2 Corinthians 4:16-17
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
Lamentations 3:22-24
Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Revelation 21:5
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
We serve a God who is in the business of making things new.
Jesus came and made a NEW COVENANT with us. Under the new covenant which says:
Hebrews 8:12
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
It is not now “do and live,” but “live and do”.
“A new and higher motive sways us now; for we seek not self but God. Another hand grasps the tiller and steers our ship in a new course. New desires are felt to which we were strangers in our former state. New fears are mighty within us,-holy fears which once we should have ridiculed. New hopes are in us, bright and sure, such as we did not even desire to know when we lived a mere carnal life. We are not what we were: we are new, and have begun a new career. We are not what we shall be, but assuredly we are not what we used to be.”
-Charles Spurgeon 1885, England
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Don’t live like your old self!
When we surrender our lives to Christ we should be living new. and living new means we lean on God to help us change.
-If you’re anxious this year, God invites you to lean into his tenderness that brings peace.
-If you’re fearful this year, God invites you to lean into his strength that brings power.
-If you’re addicted this year, God invites you to lean into his faithfulness that produces hope.
-If you’re complacent this year, God invites you to lean into his plan that brings adventure
Don’t live like your old self…be the new creation He has made you to be this year and lean on Him in every season.
Revelation 21:1-5
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
We read this passage as believers filled with HOPE for the future coming of Christ. But not everyone lives as we do.
CHURCH! Rise up!
If we respond in silence in this moment, the future of the church is doomed for sure.
