Welcome to the
Crestview Church of Christ
Marshall, Texas
A New Beginning
Last week, we looked at how to have the Presence of Christmas all year long:
Luke 2 says that the presence or Spirit of Christmas and the birth of Christ is found in
1. Peace on Earth
2. Good Will toward men
3. Good News of Great Joy
We DO NOT need to wait for a season or a day to have these things. They can be found in three gifts we can give each other every day and never tire of:
1. Freely giving our Forgiveness brings Peace on earth to us and those around us.
2. Freely giving our Encouragement brings Good Will toward us from those around us
3. Freely giving our Attention brings Great Joy to us & those around us
That’s how to have presence of Christmas all year round, but what about the New Year?
The NEW YEAR is all about having a New Beginning, a New Fresh start in your life.
If Christmas is a celebration of Christ’s Birth, the New Year should be a celebration of His Gift.
Romans 6:4
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 7:6
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
2 Cor 4:16
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
2 Cor 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Christ came to make all things new. But do we have to wait for a special Day or Season for it?
As the presence of Christmas is found in giving, the NEW BEGINNING is found in taking!
There are THREE THINGS you can take freely that will bring you a new beginning anytime!
You may TAKE these three things as much and as often as you wish.
The MORE you take of these three things, the more your life will be renewed & refreshed.
The sooner you take these things for yourself, the sooner your life will change to something new
As you continue to take these 3 things, your life will continue to be refreshed & renewed!
FIRST: TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
1. What did Adam & Eve refuse to take after they took what was forbidden?
Did they get to start over new & refreshed? Or did everything they had end?
2. What did Cain refuse to take after he had taken his brother’s life?
Did he get to begin again? Or did everything he had come to an end?
3. What did Nathan FORCE David to take after David took another man’s wife?
2 Samuel 12:1 Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said, "There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 "The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. 3 "But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb Which he bought and nourished; And it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom, And was like a daughter to him. 4 "Now a traveler came to the rich man, And he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd, To prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him; Rather he took the poor man's ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him." 5 Then David's anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. 6 "He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion