POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON – New Year – New Life

POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON - New Year - New Life

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It seems like a good place to start a new way of thinking – an ending for a beginning. I’m going to read from the end of our Bible, Revelation 21:1-7, but I’m only going to read to you the first two verses to begin.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

The writer of Revelation speaks of a new heaven and a new earth for us. I can’t think of a better way to begin a new way of thinking than to think about the new heaven and the new earth, and what it means for each of us; whether it means a new heaven and a new earth in the literal sense, or whether it means a new heaven and a new earth within us – new thoughts, new feelings, a new past, a new present.

The old life CAN pass away. There can be a new past, a new present, and a new future. I believe that the words that the writer of Revelation was speaking to us are words for us – each one, individually – a new heaven and a new earth; not just figures of speech, but a reality for you and for me.

As I mentioned earlier, I know that there are people in this church who have things in their past that they hope they never remember. Yet, they are constantly remembering things that are tugging at them and holding them and making their lives more difficult to live. These are things they wish had never happened, or that somehow they could eliminate from their thinking.

I know there are others, when they look into the future, that picture made them not want to get up in the morning; it made them not want to go to bed at night because they knew that the next morning they were going to have to get up and face whatever it is that they have to face, but don’t want to.

Listen because there is a new heaven and a new earth for you.

We all can live a better, more full, more complete, happier, more peaceful life in which we can have memories that don’t hold us captive; a life in which we look forward to the future. The key to that life is within us, new life is a continuous gift from God.

I’ve never met a person, that I could not see God-given possibilities in them. I do not care how much a person may consider himself or herself a failure, I believe in them for they can change the thing that is wrong in their lives any time they are ready and prepared to do so with God’s help. Whenever they develop the desire, they can take away from their lives the thing that is defeating it. The capacity for reformation and change lies within, it is in each one of us from the Creator.

Where does this new Jerusalem, this new heaven, this new earth come from? According to the writer of Revelation, it comes down from heaven which means it comes from within. Where is heaven? Is it a place in the sky? Jesus Christ said the kingdom of heaven is within you. Heaven is a state of consciousness in which God resides. And the new Jerusalem comes from that state of awareness.

It is a special state of spiritual consciousness. It has to be prepared like a bride for her wedding day, which means that our thoughts must be pure and committed to one idea, to one bridegroom – the Christ. We must be committed to God.

The key is this: “Take my life and let it be consecrated wholly to Thee.” Give your life, your mind, your heart to God.

Revelation 21:3 says: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his people, and God himself will be with them.”

It’s not about God coming to us. It’s not about God somehow coming out of the heavens and coming into our lives. It is about us giving our minds and our hearts into an attitude, a place, where God is already. It is aligning our hearts and minds with God – the Christ within, that which is already within us, that which is already a part of us.

It is about focusing on an idea: the Truth that God is with us right now, to help us in our every need.

God is not only with us, but is in every cell of our bodies, within our positive thoughts, within our faith, our hopes.

God is there in all of it.

Think about it. If God is good, and the movement of God is toward good and growth for all of us in the world, and if God is in both the good and the seemingly bad experiences in life, then might there not be something good to be taken from even the worst of times?

Even in the midst of tragedy we can find God, and therefore we can ultimately find some meaningful purpose for our lives.

I want to tell you a story about a wonderful, successful man I know who lost everything. He has never forgotten that he lost everything, but his world today is a wonderful place. His world today has more meaning and more purpose even after a list of seeming tragedies.

I am going to call my friend Mark. I am going to say he lives in Texas. By most people’s standards, Mark had a very rough life, especially as a young married man, an entrepreneur, a businessman. He seeming had everything going for him, and then one day he got the news that his 8-year-old son, the light of his life, had died.

Mark felt as if his life was over. His son was his everything. All of a sudden, everything he lived for was gone.

In the midst of this all-consuming tragedy, his marriage dissolved. It could not stand the weight of this tragedy. And in the midst of that tragedy, his business came apart because it needed his attention, and he could not give his attention to anything but the problems and the sorrows of his life.

He was about as far down as any person could be – mentally and emotionally. He wasn’t just hurting; he could not stand the thought of getting up in the morning knowing that he had to face the memories that affected both his past and future.

It was about that time that a friend of his, trying to help and console him, invited him to come to church. What he heard that day, many years ago, changed his life. What he heard was at first foreign to him as a message of hope and Truth, and yet it made sense.

What he heard was this: His future, would be a product of his own thinking. And so together, he and God, were co-creating his life. He heard of positive message, only God could heal his life now – but only if he were willing to begin anew. It was God who was helping him to live whatever he chose. Mark was in charge of the process. He was the one who was choosing what he would think, how he would respond, and what his reactions would be to the events of life.

Over time, he began to put the principles that Jesus taught to work in his life. He has done this so successfully that he is now an extremely happy man with a lovely wife, three beautiful children, a highly successful business and ample money.

With God’s help, Mark reinvented himself, and started the new life.

Mark decided to look for the gift in every event of the past, and he decided to look for the positive potential in the future.

What he found was that he started finding what he was looking for. He started finding the gifts from the past. He started finding the positive potential in the future. It was from that that he started the trek out of the negative and into the positive.

He got to the point that he could think about his son and smile thankful for the experience that he had during the good times.

Now he has devoted a part of his life to helping others with children in crisis. He’s been instrumental in helping to found an organization for that purpose. He decided to use his failed marriage as a learning tool to become better, stronger, and a more compassionate and understanding husband and father. He has taken the seeming failures of the past and turned them into the steppingstones of success. He says that his past has made him a better man in the present.

He looks to the future with a sense of hope and promise, knowing that life cannot present anything to him that he and God working together cannot turn into something positive; an opportunity for growth, good, and success. He did all of this from a single thought – the recognition that God is in every aspect of his life; he is never, ever alone.

I want to read the rest of the passage from Revelation [21:4-5, 7]: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also, he said, “Know this, for these words are trustworthy and true … . Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”

One simple, yet profound turn in spiritual consciousness can mean the difference between the old Jerusalem and the new, being stuck in fear, hurt and anger or being free to be all you are created to be.

This is a wonderful moment; a moment to decide for God and for good in our lives. This is a time of changing the past and changing the future by changing our thinking and our focus to God and good and a positive approach to life right now.

What an incredible change that would make for every one of us. It is worth thinking about. It is worth doing. You, too, can change your past and change your future to something beautiful, meaningful, and positive now and forever.

God bless you!

PRAYER / MEDITATION________________________________

Relax now, totally, and completely. Release everything into God’s care. God is there. Let us begin this day by saying to God: “Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord, to Thee. Take my all.”

In the silence of prayer, God is there … .

(Silence)

Right here, right now, right where you are, God is with you. Wherever you are, whatever the circumstances, God is there. There is nowhere you can go, where God is not.

Rest in the silence of prayer …

Say this out loud with me in prayer, TOGETHER- “Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord, to Thee. Take my all.”

Let the Spirit of God move freely through you, your thoughts, your feelings, your angers, your hurts, your fears, and your doubts. Let God move freely, taking it all away, and let go and let God be God in your life. Let God heal you.

The warmth of God’s joy shines in and through you. You radiate happiness and good cheer wherever you are, wherever you go.

No situation or person has the power to take away your joy or hinder its expression. In God, you have a legacy of joy, for it brightens all your days and lightens all your tasks. The joy you feel comes from the Spirit of God within you. Joy wells up from within, filling your heart with good cheer and flooding your soul with perpetual light. Thank You God, for filling me with the joy in this hour. Thank You for the realization that Your spirit within me is unabated and the eternal source of help. Thank You, God, for showing me ways to let your presence overflow into every area of my life.

Rest in the silence of prayer …

Hold nothing back. Be not afraid, for there is new life, new light, new peace, new joy, a new heaven and a new earth awaiting you right now in the silence of your heart and mind. As you let go and let God, you are free to be that which you are created to be free to live the unencumbered life that is yours to live.

Feel the freedom that comes from within, that comes from the Christ as you let go and let God be God in and through you now and forever more.

Rest in the silence of prayer …

Dear God, You have my life, it is consecrated to you. You have my faith and total commitment.

And so it is, in the name and nature of Jesus Christ … Amen.

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GOD BLESS YOU, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Christopher Ian Chenoweth