THOUGHTS ON NEW BEGINNINGS

Dear Pastor,

I praise God for your faithfulness and your steadfastness to the call and the purpose to which our Lord has called you.

As the clock and calendar turned to 2020, the year 2019 became history and a New Year and a New Decade is before us. A new season, so to speak, has been birthed in our lives. As we enter a new

season of life it may be a time of wonderment or maybe a time of apprehension, not knowing what the future holds. Yet one thing we know, and have faith in the One who holds the days in His hand. The New Year is an opportunity for New Beginnings. The things of last year, the heartaches, the disappointments, the victories, the defeats, the successes, the failures, the challenges, and the issues of life we will leave behind. Indeed, our Lord is a Master at using the circumstances of life to transform us day by day into the image of His Son. Pastor, are we carrying unresolved conflicts, or broken relationships from the past into the year of New Beginnings? Now is the time to bring them to our Lord.

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, seems to grasp that he must let go of the past. For the past, if permitted, can be a heavy weight for us to carry. In Philippians 3:12-14, Paul is saying I have not arrived or completed my journey, (my calling), but I must forget and leave behind those things which are behind and reach forward to grasp that for which Christ Jesus has purposed and called me. Paul is saying it is a new day, a new season in my life. My Lord and Savior is going up to Zion (the place of Worship) and I want to be free to go with Him. I will not be hindered or pressed down by my past, but leaving those things behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I push forward to embrace that for which Christ has called and anointed me to accomplish and Paul also looked forward to the reward of completing that upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Abram, by faith and a promise, left Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. (Genesis 12:2-4) A New Beginning! This is also covenant language. If you will go I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you abundantly and you will be a blessing. God has always dealt with His people by and through covenant. In essence, He is saying, 'I will if you will'. This same covenant was carried forward with Isaac and Jacob and ultimately was concluded with the final covenant between Jesus and His Father at the cross with the shed blood of our Lord and Savior. A New Covenant. (Hebrews 9: 15) Whosoever believes in me and embraces and accepts me will be saved!

We become followers of Christ when we accept His shed blood on Calvary for the remission of our sins. Remission speaks of release from bondage or imprisonment, dismissal, sending away, and forgiveness. There is an added quality of canceling all judgment, punishment, obligation, or debt. With the remission of sins, we are beginning a new life in Him and with Him. (A New Beginning!) God's Word says our sins are not remembered. (Hebrews 8:12) The old covenant was replaced by a New Covenant that provides us a New Beginning in Christ.

Second Corinthians 5: 17 speaks of our becoming one in Christ, (a follower), as a new creation, the old has passed away! Another New Beginning!

There are many references in scripture to New Beginnings:

Paul on the Damascus Road

Peter after his denial of Christ

Moses to lead the children out of Egypt

Joshua to lead the children into the Promised land

The disciples had New Beginnings when called by Jesus.

Pastor, in and through the power of the Holy Spirit may we leave 2019 behind and press forward into 2020 with a Christ-led life full of grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Our God is a God of New

Beginnings. Does He not say in Isaiah 43: 19, "Behold I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." I pray that 2020 will be a New Year of New Beginnings with fresh vision and great joy.

Grace and peace to you, your family and your church to whom God has called you to Shepherd

Gene Lamberth

ServingHIM Prayer Team Lead