How to Experience a New Beginning
Billy Graham
Can’t you just sense that spring is getting closer? When I look at my backyard at my garden boxes, I see last year's plants all dried up, looking more like iron weeds than tomato plants. For me, spring is a reminder that it is time to start cleaning out my garden boxes and put some root vegetables in the ground. I love springtime because everything begins to come alive again. The other day I saw several V shaped flocks of Geese flying overhead heading north. I also have this Robin that continues to visit my back porch. All of this reminds me that winter is closing its door and spring is coming. Spring is always a sign of new beginnings.
This is what I want to talk to you all about this morning. I want to talk to you about how you, or how you can share with friends and family about having a new beginning in life.
Jesus said in Revelations 21:5, “He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new’.”
Folks, as some of you know and understand, Jesus is in the business of changing people from the inside out. He is in the business of taking the old and making things new….
He can bring out that person that God made you be. And we were made to love Him… as well as people.
So God’s promise is true: “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)…… So this means if you have Christ in your life you are a new creation… Whether you feel like it or not. But the question is: what does this “New Creation” mean? What happens to us when we choose to believe in Christ?
Transition: Let me share some of what happens when you commit your life to Christ…The first thing that happens is you receive a
I-New Connection with God..
But, before this new connection happens, there is a disconnection happening from God, all because of your sin. Sin distances us from the One who loves us unconditionally. We are disconnected because He is holy, and sin causes us to hide from God, just like it did to Adam and Eve in the garden. Sin also shames us, and even haunts us. And sin if continued leaves us without much hope.
Sin does a lot of sad things to us. It tends to make us believe that God does not exist, and we begin to believe everything that this world wants to teach us to be factual and distances father and father away from God…… And then we fall victim to the world’s beliefs.
Like the deist will say: “God could be real, but where is He.” Or the humanist will say, “If God is real why is the world in such a mess. We can fix the problems ourselves.” Or, as the atheist would say, “This is all there is. Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow you are worm food.”
But even when we were, or maybe are in that place of disconnection with God, and maybe struggle with belief in God… God never stops loving us…. He is a God of love…. But, when it comes right down to it, sin… is… against… God!
Ephesians 2:12 says we were, “You lived in this world without God and without hope.”
So the first thing that happens when you connect and committed your life to Christ,… God gives you a new relationship. He is now your loving heavenly Father, and you are now His child, spiritually reborn into His family. Just as.
John 1:12-13 says, “To all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.”
Folks, Jesus made it clear that a new change must happen for this spiritual connection to take place. Jesus said, in John 3:3, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he can not see the kingdom of God.” Born spiritually through the power of the Holy Spirit.
So, when we hear the gospel’s message, and when we repent and confess our sins to God and believe that Jesus did indeed die upon the cross for our sins, and repent, and believe that He rose from the grave, at that moment. a miracle happens. We are spiritually born into God’s family. Bur. it needs to be sincere… It needs to be real… It needs to be honest that you are ready for God to come into your life and make some radical changes….
And if it is, at that moment we become a child of God and co-heir with Christ of everything in God’s kingdom for all eternity….. Folks, it really is a miracle that is hard to explain, but so many of us can testify that it is true.
Transition: Now the next thing that happens when you give your life to Christ is:
II- You receive a new Citizenship…
On the nightly news we see all these people coming to the borders of America. And I truly feel remorseful for them. I do not know about you, but if I lived in a poverty-stricken, socialistic dictator-ruled country, I would be wanting to leave as well. I would want my family to have a better life.
However, America is a country of laws, and thankfully it is. By law, you just cannot come to this country illegally, “anyway that is what the law says.” But you need to seek citizenship, and then you are welcomed in as to this country. That is how this nation was built. And that is what makes America the land of the free…
And it’s pretty much the same worldwide in all countries. They have similar policies. Down in New Zealand, you need to give New Zealand $100,000.00 dollars to live there.
Now with God’s Kingdom, when you cross over from this world to God’s Kingdom you become a citizen of the Kingdom of God. And there is only one way to get into God’s Kingdom, only through Jesus. He is the border control officer and the judge… Jesu said, “I am the way, the truth, and the light no one comes to the Father except through Me.”
So as long as we are on this earth, and if you are a son or daughter of God, you possess dual citizenship. On earth we owe allegiance to our nation, “America”, and are called to be good citizens… But we are also citizens of the Kingdom of God, that invisible kingdom of which Christ is the King. Who is the King of kings.
And our supreme loyalty is to Him, and if someone demands we do wrong such as going against God’s Word, “We must obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29).
And someday, the Bible tells us, the world’s kingdoms will become as Revelations 11:15 tells us, that “The Lord’s Kingdom, And He will reign forever and ever.”
Now the next thing that you will get when you are in Christ, is you will get…………………
III-A New Family.
You aren’t just related to God; you are now related to other believers. Everyone who genuinely believes in Jesus Christ, is now your spiritual brother or sister.
This is one reason why you are never alone if you know Christ. You are part of God’s family, with brothers and sisters in Christ who love you and want to help you, if you will let them.
And as a family, we need to learn to love one another and care for each other the way that God loves and cares for us.
1 John 4:20 states, “If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?”
I would say, that is a straightforward statement from the Lord. God says that we need to love each other. We are to stop finding fault. We are to stop causing division within His family. We are to love each other and when issues come up, we must resolve them. That is why Jesus said “Love one another.”
And when you belong to the King of heaven, the old way of doing life should be dissipating. And when you belong to Jesus He will bring also into your life………
IV-New and Real Purpose.
Some people are extremely focused, using all their energies to reach their goals… Others drift through life with little purpose or direction, living for the moment and never thinking about where they are headed…. And most people probably live somewhere in between. But they all have this in common: They are living only for themselves and their happiness.
But when we come to Christ, God gives us a new purpose.
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, discovered the futility of life when it is lived only for this world. He gives these concluding remarks in the book of Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 it says,
“Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil”.
So, Solomon says one day we will stand before God in judgment. And part of our purpose in life is to fear God and obey Him.
Jesus also brings into our lives …..
V-A New Power…..
God has given us a NEW PURPOSE − but without a NEW POWER, we will never be able to achieve it. One of the Bible’s most comforting truths is that when we come to Christ, God Himself comes to live within us by His Holy Spirit.
So, Jesus promised us in Acts 1:8, “You will receive the power when the Holy Spirit comes on you”.
Folks, we were not meant to live the Christian life in our strength, but God has provided His Spirit to help us endure the pressures and obstacles of this world. And we need to call upon His help (The Holy Spirit’s Help) in times of need and the Holy Spirit will provide.
Now Jesus also brings to us …………….
VI-A New Destiny……
The word “Conversion” is a church word, and we don’t use it much. But when a person comes to Christ this is what happens. I will use this terminology. The word “conversion” means “change” and the most radical change of all is when we come to Christ, and God gives us a new destiny. Once we were headed for hell; now we are headed for heaven. Once we had no hope of eternal life; now we do.
The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death. but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Folks trust this: During life’s problems and heartaches, never forget: This life is very temporary…. You do not know what tomorrow will bring. But there is a day that is coming when all our burdens will be cast aside, and we will be with Christ forever.
But,….. you need to belong to the Jesus of the Bible… Before us is a new destiny when we belong to Him. And incredible destiny…. forever and ever….
And finally, and most exciting, Jesus brings us………
VII-A New Journey…..
Remember: When we come to Christ, God gives us a whole new life: a new relationship, new citizenship, a new family, a new purpose, a new power, a new destiny,………….
But brothers and sisters, don’t ever take lightly what Christ did for you on the cross. And don’t ever take lightly what God has given you if you have turned to Christ in repentance and faith.
But this isn’t the end of His giving, for God also gives us one final gift: A NEW JOURNEY. He gives us a whole new path to follow until the day He takes us to heaven. It a narrow path….and it not an easy path, but it is a path that brings so much peace and joy to us. Remember your decision for Christ isn’t an end, but a beginning.
The beginning of a whole new life………………
Billy Graham said, “We aren’t only called to become Christians;…. we are also called to be Christians.
The Christian life is a new journey, one that will take us the rest of our lives to complete. But with God’s help, we will finish what He has begun in us.
Philippians 1:6 says this to us: “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”
