Houston Congregational Christian Church

Pastor James Manuel
4883 Russia-Houston Road
Houston, OH  45333
Phone:  937-295-3591
Email:  click here

Message Title:  "A New Beginning"

Call to Worship:   Hosea 10:12

Scripture Reading:    Philippians 3:13-14

Prayer:   May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable unto You O Lord on this Your day.

What a difference we hope one evening will make.   The sun sets on Dec. 31 and when it has risen the next morning a new year has begun.    All that was of the year past has gone and the New Year is here.     New Beginnings,    new possibilities,   new hopes,     new ideas and dreams.   God tells us in Rev. 21:5,  ‘I Am making everything new.’     With the morning of Jan. 1 comes not only a new year    but for many of us a hope of a new  ME. 

What I would like to suggest to you today is for a New Beginning.    If you’ll make several commitments that God    in His word encourages you to make,   I’ll guarantee you that the start of 2009 could become one of the most significant events in your life.     If you’ll follow God’s advice   could become a new way for you to have a better life.

First I would like to suggest that you commit yourself to forgetting your failures.   The Apostle Paul gave us this advice in Phil. 3:13-14 as he said ‘Forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.   I press on towards the goal for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.’   And may I say that advice from God’s Word has stood the test of time.  I don’t know of any more relevant and practical advice for us at the start of 2009. 

God is here so that you do not live your life imprisoned by your past.  You know the big stories of 2008---failure of banks,  auto industry,  housing market.   But if we are completely honest we know its not only these groups who’s going to enter this new year remembering their failure of last year.     All of us have failed in some way in our lives over the last year.    We probably won’t see our failures recorded for history on TV,  Newspapers,   but they are recorded in our hearts and minds.

For many of us our failures are failures are painful memories.    Maybe for you it is a memory of how you failed in a relationship.   You made the wrong decisions,   said and did the wrong things.     Some of you may have failed your children in some way,   or as children we feel we may have failed our parents,     and many of us realize that we have failed ourselves in some way.  

What God’s Word is saying is that we must not allow ourselves to be bogged down by our past failures.    That we don’t dwell on our past so that it stops us moving forward into the future that God has for us.   After all God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11,  ‘That He knows the plans He has for us,  plans to prosper us  and not to harm us,   plans to give us hope and a future.’     God is telling us to forget our past and not allow it to hold us back.   God knows what lies ahead for us and He wants us to trust in Him to lead us.     

I think that the start of 2009,  the New Year,  is a good time for you to rise to that challenge.   To say to yourself   I’m going to   with the help of God forget my past.   I’m going to stop torturing myself about what I did   or didn’t do.    This New Year is a good time to stop being chained to your past failures.    God is saying here in His Word that He doesn’t want you to go through your life branding yourself as a failure.

Jesus died on the Cross so that He could forgive.   When we become Christians that forgiveness becomes reality in our lives.  When we have received Jesus’ forgiveness    it allows us to forgive ourselves and forget our failures.    Do you need to do that.    Right here this morning do you need to accept Jesus’ forgiveness and then forgive yourself? 

Next we need to commit ourselves to giving up our grudges.    Listen to these words God is saying to us in Colossians 3:13,  ‘Bear with each other and forgive each other whatever grievances you may have against one another.   Forgive as the Lord forgave you.’    Did you catch that challenge?    God in those words is challenging you directly and personally to give up your grudges.   That is what He means when He says forgive each other whatever grievances you may have against one another.         So what is a grudge?    A grudge is a deep ongoing resentment that we cultivate in our hearts against someone else.   A grudge is an unforgiving spirit that leads to unforgiving attitudes and unforgiving actions.  

Harboring a grudge is about nursing a dislike for someone.   What you need to know is that grudges are dangerous because they are destructive.   Grudges destroy marriages.   Grudges break up families. Grudges ruin friendships.   Grudges split churches.   Today is you know you are holding a grudge against someone then God has something to say to you.   He says---to give it up.         Also I want to remind you that grudges are not just destructive     they are also self-destructive.    When you hold a grudge against someone you will hurt yourself as much and perhaps more than you will hurt the other person. 

God is saying to us---set yourself free,   give up your grudges    and  ‘forgive each other whatever grievances you may have against one another.’ Col. 3:13       According to God’s Word the way to give up a grudge is to forgive a grievance.    Notice what God is saying here.   God isn’t asking you to ignore whatever the person has done to you.    He isn’t asking you to pretend it didn’t happen.    He doesn’t ask you to condone it,  to pretend it doesn’t matter.    What God is asking you to do is to forgive the person.    And that means to acknowledge how wrong and painful   what was done to you was    but to decide to forgive the person who did the wrong to you.  

I’m sure that there are people here today who need to give up their grudges and forgive the grievance they have against someone else.    Some of you need to forgive the grievance you have against your parents for what they did or didn’t do.     Some of you need to forgive your children for the same reason.     Some of you need to forgive a partner for emotional or physical abuse.   Some of you need to give up the grudge you have against someone at work because of the way they have treated you.      Some of you need to give up the grudge that stems from an argument you had with someone.      Some of you may even need to give up grudges you have against other people in the Church.       God says that   that deep-seated resentment you have against someone has to go.   And what better time to make that difficult decision to forgive   than the start of a New Year,   A New Beginning.  

Now don’t tell God you can’t forgive,    because what you really mean when you say that is that you won’t forgive.   If Christ can forgive us,  Luke 23:34 Jesus says,  ‘Father forgive them.’    If Christ can forgive you your sins despite it involving the pain of the cross    then surely you can give up your grievance against someone else.

Make no mistake about it,  it will be hard to do.     But one of the most significant things you can do to mark the New Year with a New Beginning is to admit your past errors in relationships and humbly seek forgiveness from the one you have hurt.   

My friends it all boils down to this.   Will this New Year be just a calendar changing event for you    or are you willing to rise to these challenges from God’s Word and make these commitments and so make it a life changing event.

Commit yourself to forgive your failures.    Commit yourself to give up your grudges.     Commit yourself to restore relationships.      This New Year,  2009,   will really be something to celebrate if you’ll make Forgiveness the heart of what it’s all about for you.   

God is saying to you this morning-----Forgive yourself and forget the past.    Forgive others who have hurt you.      Ask forgiveness from those you have hurt.  Ask for God’s forgiveness and His help for a New Beginning in 2009.    As Hosea 10:12 says,  ‘It is time to seek the Lord.’