No.1 - A A New Beginning
When God created, He made something new.
From nothing He created that which He called
“very good”. God provided all that man would ever
need or want. Everything was for man and
nothing was held back from him.
Man was blessed with the ability to choose and en
joy all of Gods’ creation including the “Tree of
Life” which provided the blessing of l
ong life free from sickness and death.
You see, death was not in this
creation of God. It was held b
ack by Gods’ protection and loving
care.
Only one boundary existed, the command to not eat of the “Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and
Evil” for it was that one rule, th
at one boundary which by design made man more than a robot. It
made man by design, with
the ability to choose.
All of mankind has had this ability. It is one part
of our design that sets us apart from all of the
other living things in this creat
ion. As the first man choose to
push the limit of his freedom so
we also today choose to do that
same thing when we see “how
far we can go” before breaking
the rules of society.
When man chose to disobey Gods’s command ev
erything changed. The introduction of the
“Knowledge of Good and Evil” became part
of mankind and the cr
eation was affected.
Because of the sin of man, death entered into
the world. However, even before man’s
disobedience and fall God knew wh
at man needed, “a new beginning”.
Throughout the scriptures we can see the revealing of God’s plan
and the provision for that new
beginning, a new beginning that woul
d provide what man lost when disobedience, sin and death
entered. Time after time God shows man throughout
history how He provi
des if only man would
observe, hear and choose God’s provision.
In Genesis 3:15 we can read the prediction about the seed of
woman regarding a great conflict
that would result in the redemption of man, the pr
ediction that the offspring of the woman would
be victorious yet must receive an injury. Bu
t the serpent, with whom this conflict would
manifest itself would be crushed
with a final blow to the head.
Later in Genesis 6 we read about Noah the faith
ful man who was used by
God to prepare for the
preservation of a remnant, as God planned to de
stroy the whole world with
a great flood of water
because mankind had chosen to become very sinful following the desires of their own minds
rather than the commandments of God.
Once God cleansed the world of evil in the flood there was a new beginning for man and the
creation. God placed the rainbow in the heavens as a sign.
Abram in Genesis 12 was called by God out of his
homeland to travel to a new place where God
would have a new beginning for a new fam
ily tree called the children of Abraham.
As time passes in the lives of Abraham’s children,
God works a plan to preserve and grow this
small family into a great number of people that one day would inherit the new homeland God
had promised Abraham.
But again as God is always working throughout hi
story in the lives of mankind, we read in the
book of Exodus of Moses, a man called by God to l
ead the children of Abra
ham out of slavery in
Egypt to a new land, a new nation, a new law and a new hope.
Time after time these people God was blessing turned their back on God, the God who always
provided all they needed just like He did for Adam and Eve in the
garden. They c
hose to look to
themselves and follow their own desires rather than the commandments of God. So we read in
the Book of Judges seven times, seve
n cycles, that God provides a
deliverer to give them a new
beginning.
You might think that these peopl
e would learn and remain faithful to God, but not so. The
prophets, preachers, are sent to the people by G
od with a continuing message that sounds like a
broken record - Repent of your evil and rebelli
ous ways and return to me and I will bless you
with a new beginning. No, No, No,
they continue to do just as th
ey desire rather than obey the
commandments of God.
All these examples and more we can read about
in the Bible of how
God’s patience was long-
suffering because He had a plan
that was bigger and beyond the si
ght of man, the ultimate new
beginning, the reunion of mankind to the tree of life.
In the fullness of the time, at the right time, Go
d sent His son to be bor
n in the world as a man
with the mission to redeem or buy back mankind
so that we, mankind, might have the hope of a
new beginning.
Today, as in the past, God is providing redemption and a new beginning
for man. Man needs
this redemption because, as in the past, we by our own choice sin and separate ourselves from
God and His glory. We all choose to disobey
God and follow our own desires and refuse to
follow the commandments of God.
In Hebrews 8:6 we read, “But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the
covenant of which he is mediator
is superior to the old one, and
it is founded on better promises.”
(NIV) We have a new promise
with a new and better covenant than the one given to Abraham
and Moses.
Our new beginning is possible because of ou
r new power found in the person of Jesus
Christ.
Heb 9:11-22
11 When Christ came as high priest of the good thi
ngs that are already here, he went through the
greater and more perfect tabernac
le that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this
creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood
of goats and calves; but he entered the Most
Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtai
ned eternal redempti
on. 13 The blood of
goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sp
rinkled on those who are
ceremonially unclean
sanctify them so that they are outwardly
clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our
consciences from acts that lead to death,
so that we may serve the living God!
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of
a new covenant, that those who are called may
receive the promised eternal inheritance — now that
he has died as a ransom to set them free
from the sins committed under the first covenant.
16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove
the death of the one who made it, 17 because a
will is in force only when somebody has died; it ne
ver takes effect while the one who made it is
living. 18 This is why even the first covenant
was not put into effect
without blood. 19 When
Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the
law to all the people, he took the blood of
calves, together with water, scarlet wool and br
anches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all
the people. 20 He said, "This is the blood of
the covenant, which God has commanded you to
keep." 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with
the blood both the tabernacl
e and everything used
in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires th
at nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and
without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (NIV)
Jesus Christ is our mediator of this ne
w covenant, our new beginning, based upon His
priesthood (v11) and Hi
s blood offering (v14).
The blood of Jesus which was poured out on
the cross was the value that purchased the
church.
Acts 20:28
28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the fl
ock of which the Holy Spirit has made you
overseers. Be shepherds of the church of G
od, which he bought with
his own blood. (NIV)
The scriptures reveal the church as the body
of Christ of which Jesus is the head.
Eph 1:22-23
22 And God placed all things under
his feet and appointed him to
be head over everything for the
church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (NIV)
Through His blood Jesus reconciles sin burdened, lost man to the father.
Col 1:15-23
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the fi
rstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things
were created: things in heaven
and on earth, visible a
nd invisible, whether
thrones or powers or
rulers or authorities; all things
were created by him and for him. 17
He is before all things, and in
him all things hold together. 18 And he is the h
ead of the body, the church
; he is the beginning
and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in
everything he might have the supremacy. 19
For God was pleased to have al
l his fullness dwell in him, 20
and through him to
reconcile to
himself all things, whether things on earth or
things in heaven, by making peace through his
blood, shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were
enemies in your minds because of your evil
behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present
you holy in his sight, without blemish and free
from accusation— 23 if you continue in your
faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope
held out in the gospel. This is the gospel
that you heard and that has been proclaimed to
every creature under heaven, and of which I,
Paul, have become a servant. (NIV)
With our new beginning there is a new position
grounded in the person of Jesus Christ who
is our new hope.
Rom 6:3-4
3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptiz
ed into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? 4 We were therefore buried with him thr
ough baptism into death in order that, just as
Christ was raised from the dead through the gl
ory of the Father, we
too may live a new life.
(NIV)
With our new beginning we are brou
ght near by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:11-22
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who
are Gentiles by birth and
called "uncircumcised"
by those who call themselves "t
he circumcision" (that done in
the body by the hands of men)—
12 remember that at that time you were separate
from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel
and foreigners to the covenant
s of the promise, without hope
and without God in the world. 13
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far aw
ay have been brought n
ear through the blood
of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the
dividing wall of hostility, 15 by ab
olishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and
regulations. His purpose was to create in himsel
f one new man out of the two, thus making
peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of
them to God through the cross, by which he
put to death their hostility. 17 He came and pr
eached peace to you who were far away and peace
to those who were near. 18 For through him we
both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and
aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people
and members of God's household, 20 built on the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, with
Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21
In him the whole building
is joined together and
rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22
And in him you too are being built together to
become a dwelling in which G
od lives by his Spirit. (NIV)
With our new beginning we are a new creature in Christ.
2 Cor 5:17-21
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gon
e, the new has come! 18
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world
to himself in Christ, not counting men's
sins against them. And he has committed to us
the message of reconcilia
tion. 20 We are therefore
Christ's ambassadors, as though God were ma
king his appeal through us. We implore you on
Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made
him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that
in him we might become the righteousness of God. (NIV)
With our new beginning we h
ave a new walk to begin.
Eph 4:17-24
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do,
in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are da
rkened in their understanding and separated from
the life of God because of
the ignorance that is in them due
to the hardening of their hearts. 19
Having lost all sensitivity, they have given them
selves over to sensuality so as to indulge in
every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that
way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were
taught in him in accordance with th
e truth that is in Jesus. 22 Y
ou were taught, with regard to
your former way of life, to put off your old self,
which is being corrupted
by its deceitful desires;
23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
24 and to put on the new self, created to be like
God in true righteousne
ss and holiness. (NIV)
With our new beginning we have Jesus as our new motivation.
1 Peter 2:1-10
2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of
all malice and all de
ceit, hypocrisy, envy, a
nd slander of every
kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crav
e pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your
salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4 As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen
by God and precious to
him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being bu
ilt into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood,
offering spiritual sacrifices accepta
ble to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For in Scripture it says:
"See, I lay a stone in Zion, a c
hosen and precious cornerstone, a
nd the one who trusts in him will
never be put to shame."
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.
But to those who do not believe, "The stone the
builders rejected has become the capstone,"
8 and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble
because they disobey the message — which is
also what they were destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthoo
d, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that
you may declare the praises of
him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10
Once you were not a people, but now you are th
e people of God; once you had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy. (NIV)
In order to have a new beginning that is lastin
g and purposeful, Jesus must take first place.
Jesus must be the foundation on which we
can build a life with eternal security and
blessings. Today, now, is the
time for a new beginning. We must
choose to draw near to the
person and the cross of Jesus Christ. It is th
e only way to start on a new journey with
heaven as our destination.
- EEHealy
July 7, 2007