A Fresh Start

Introduction

Any DIY fans in the room? I am awful at it. Craig gets cold sweats every time I do it here on account of how many times I’ve almost killed him or myself.

A few weeks ago, I attempted another DIY exploit. A new laundry basket cabinet.

it took me an hour before it was ready to be stood up. As I lifted it up, I suddenly heard drop of screw. Somewhere a screw had fallen out. Oops. So I picked up the screw gazed it and realised that no revelation was coming to me straight away. I cried and I prayed and I begged and I pleaded up with the Lord but no revelation came. After I had battled the urge to throw the entire thing out of the window, I knew I had to go back into the cabinet and this meant starting all over again so I placed the cabinet back down on its front screwed everything else and realised that there was just one piece of wood that I put in the wrong way round.

sometimes it’s the only way to fix something is to start all over again. I made a terrible mistake when I was baking, another one of my many what’s the opposite of talent? disasters! I was making cheese scones and and remember to reset the bowl so it went back to 0 put the sieve on top and forgot to reset that. I had what one might describe as an excess of flour. After five minutes of putting my battery fingers all over my phone calculator I remembered that maths is also one of those things that I’m not very good at I had to start again. The scones were rubbish, but I had to start again. There were just some things in life that the only way to fix is to have a brand-new start and tonight we are celebrating baptisms we are celebrating the symbol of of seven people who have received that new start by choosing to have a relationship with Jesus.

Why we need a new start.

Look at this shirt.

Mark The shirt with red pen.

Imagine that we are all born with a bright new shiny shirt on but through life we get stains on it. As we go through life things start to mark us, start to stain our shirt.

Disappointment that leads to bitterness. Hurts that leads to resentment. Fear that leads us to try and control everything and go our own way. That shame that causes us to hide, that regret that stops us from letting go the past. The Bible uses the word sin to describe this: the things that we do, that we think, that we believe that separate us from God - the marks on the shirt represents the sins that hold us back from a relationship with God.

Because of that separation, we begun to feel lost, feel unfulfilled, feel empty, to feel disconnected, lonely, anxious, afraid and insecure. They caused us to live our life like we’re sitting inside with the curtains drawn on a really really sunny day this is effective. Knowing that we’re not quite experiencing the fullness of life.

I didn’t realise all these things before I became a Christian but what I do remember is that feeling that something wasn’t quite right. Like a question in the back of my mind, like a cavity behind the wall, a dream that I keep waking up before I reach the end of, a face I can’t quite picture.

I asked what am I doing? Where am I going? Who am I? What am I why?

I was left unsatisfied, unfulfilled, just not quite right. I was always desperate for that new start and I think all of us can be.

It comes out as a new job or new clothes or new hair and new girlfriend, new adventure, new hobby, new diet, new home, a new therapist, new medication, new self-help book; always trying all of these new things but never quite feeling like they’re doing the trick.

All of those things arent necessarily bad and some of them are great. I love getting new clothes and therapy was so helpful and trying new things is great. This is an exciting part of life but never gonna give us a new start. Never gonna scratch that itch or that feeling of discontent. Its like scrubbing at the stains on our shirt. The stains don’t really go. They might get less vivid but they’re still there and the shirt almost looks less clean. Tried everything even some very extreme things they trying fix that feeling or forget that feeling but what I really needed , was a route needed a new start.

A new shirt!

Siri, this is what Jesus offers us. He offers us a brand-new start. He doesn’t look at the stains on our shirts and say would you like me to get you some vanish? He offers us a brand new shirt!

In 2 Corinthians 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Paul tells us here of the transformation that is an offer when we start a relationship with Jesus Christ no ordinary thing when we start this relationship but a brand-new sta

he takes our shirt and he destroys it in his death on the cross and as he comes back to life, he gives us us in return a brand new shirt. He takes our old life and he gives us a brand-new life.

This is what baptism symbolises. We’re going to watch these guys go into the water symbolising the old being washed away and them being raised out of the water representing the new life that Jesus has given them.

What a new life means

That doesn’t necessarily mean that the externals change when I became a Christian I still have the same family. I still have the same amount of money still at the same job but I had changed fundamentally I had changed. I was on a new wavelength a new mode of being.

Paul tells us in Philippians 4:11-13

Philippians 4:11–13 NIV

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

this new life isn’t about having a new Ferrari higher bank balance and a lower receding hairline. This is not what the new life is about. The new life is about connection with something bigger peace joy Hope fulfilment meaning contentment because I’ve returned to the life that I should’ve always had, a life lived in the fullness of a relationship with a God who loves creates and knows me this is the new start. This is the new life that secretly without us even knowing we were pining for.

and tonight we’re gonna be celebrating seven people who received this new start who are living at this new life with Jesus and just a moment we’re gonna hear their stories and thank God for them but I wanted to give everyone an opportunity to receive this new start right now.

Response

If you wanna know more about this Jesus but you’re not ready to say a big yes then I want to invite you to come along on the adventure of taking an alpha course. This is a great place to ask questions and explore those big questions of life and receive free food, of course, we’re gonna be launching a new course in January and I would love to invite you to go on that journey. A few of those who are being baptised have been on the Alpha course so hopefully they’ll say it’s great!

But if you’re ready tonight to say a big yes to Jesus, to walk in to that new life that he is has already planned and prepared for you then I’m gonna pray a prayer and I’d love for you to pray along with me.

Sinners prayer (give me a new start)

If you prayed that prayer I’d love to chat with you after. Come and chat with me or one of the one of the team here, we would love to pray with you, celebrate with you and would love to give you some gifts that will just help you as you begin this journey of discovering this new life that you have with Christ .

if you’ve given your life to Jesus but feel like you’ve grown a bit weary or disconnected, like a phone on low battery. Put your hands out in front if you want to step into the fullness of God again.

we ready for some baptism stories? Let’s give them a huge round of applause as the come up