Starting Fresh

Today we ended 2024 with a baptism—what a wonderful and symbolic way to close a year and look forward to new beginnings! Baptism reminds us that out of death comes life, just aToday, we ended 2024 with a baptism—what a beautiful and symbolic way to close the year and look forward to new beginnings! Baptism reminds us that out of death comes life, just as the birth of Christ marked the dawn of a new covenant and new hope for the world.

Christmas always gives way to the New Year. It's wonderful because it signifies both an ending and a new beginning. Similarly, the birth of Christ came at the end of something—the silence of centuries, the corruption of Israel's religion, and the fading strength of ancient Rome. It was into this world, longing for renewal, that Christ came, bringing new life and hope. Out of the death of the old, God brought forth something new.

In Isaiah 43:19-21, God promises to do something new—to make a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. This prophecy reminds us that:

Isaiah 43:19–21 ESV

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.

New Life is the Work of God

Now if you’re an english teacher, you know the importance of the Subject of a sentence. It tells you who is doing the action. And in this text God says, “Behold, I am”. God is the one performing the actions:

"I am doing a new thing"

"I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert"

Even though the sentence includes other elements like "a new thing" and "it," they are not the doers of the actions; they are the objects or results of what God is doing.

And this tells us something important about the new life God is going to bring to Truitt Baptist.

God must reveal it. (v. 43:19a)

We can’t come to it on our own. It’s not something we can manufacture. New life is the work of God. It’s something he shows us. “Behold.”

God must prepare the way for it. (v. 43:19b)

Not only that, but the work of true New Life is a spiritual work. So we need to be on our knees in 2025 like never before. Not only do we need God to reveal His will for Truitt, but we need him to make what can happen happen. God is inviting us to get on HIS TEAM this year.

Matthew 16:18 ESV

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Christ builds his church, not us. We’re looking to see where he’s working and get on board.

God preserve it. (v. 20)

This next year we are moving into a time of great spiritual warfare as a church. What Satan hates more than anything else is when God’s people are activated to do what they are called to do. A complacent church is unimportant to the enemy, but a church focused on Christ’s mission is a challenge.

New Life brings glory to God (v. 21)

Earlier we said that Christ builds his church, and when his church is build something amazing happens.

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

When the church is built it brings glory to Christ

Mark Clifton rightly says, "Nothing about a dying church brings glory to God." So:

What kind of church brings God glory? One that is alive, thriving, and actively fulfilling His mission to make disciples.

Now we aren't dying, quite the contrary, we're growing, and not just growing, but thriving right now, but with growth comes a challenge: How do we grow well?

This year I challenged us to see growth as a church not just numerically but also spiritually, and for us to prepare our hearts for revitalization. This year, in 2025, we're going to press into this process of revitalization. I believe that just as God was preparing to do something New in Israel, God is ready to do something New at Truitt.

2025 is the year of opportunity for us to step out and trust God to do big things as we seek to accomplish our purpose.

Let's read it together:

Answering the call to transform lives, make disciples, and change our city and world for Christ.

Now let me ask you a question: What part of that can we do? The answer according to the passage we read is nothing. All of that is God's work, but God is inviting us in 2025 to join him in his work of transforming lives, making disciples, and changing our city for Christ.

In 2025, we will focus on intentional discipleship, revitalized ministry efforts, and reaching out to our community with the love and truth of Christ. This is our year of opportunity to lean into God’s work of renewal among us.

It's been said that what you celebrate is what you become, with that in mind we're going to celebrate in several ways in 2025:

1. Seeing people come from death to life is essential, so we're going to celebrate people's lives being transformed in 2 ways. The first is with these ping pong balls and this vase. We're going to each Sunday celebrate: 1) Praying for the Lost, 2) Sharing and Inviting the Lost, 3) Winning the Lost. These three colored ping pong balls represent each of these things. When you come in each Sunday in 2025, we want you to grab a ping pong ball and write on the white ones the names or initials of people you met this week that you're praying for to come to know Christ. We want you to take the yellow ones, that represent the light of the good news, and we want you to write the names of those people you shared your testimony with, shared a tract with, or invited to church. And then the blue ones that represent baptism, we want you to write the names of those who came to know Christ as we celebrate their New Birth!

Then we're going to celebrate another way by making our baptisms a celebration of God's goodness and grace!!!

In anticipation of what God is going to do through you we're going to start filling our baptistry up EVERY SINGLE last Sunday, expecting God to draw people to himself.

What we can do is pray, share, and celebrate, God does the rest.

2. We want to make disciples. So this year we are going to celebrate and highlight disciplemaking. Our Revitalization Team will be working toward a simple, reproducible discipleship pathway that we will share at the end of the year, but until then we want to challenge our members to see disciple making as something for all people. But until then, we have a resource prepared by our pastor called Simple Discipleship. It's a very simple discipleship resource you can use to start meeting one on one or one on some with two or three others in the church. We also have our grow groups, which are an amazing way to begin walking in the Lord.

Finally, we are going to share testimonies of how discipleship has changed lives this year and in the past.

3. Transform our City and World. We are going to press into missions this year. Once again, our revitalization team will be working towards some specifics, but we are going to seek ways to impact our city and celebrate how we are doing this. This will be through testimonies and times of celebration for how we loved people well around us. We're also going to work toward partnerships that will offer us the opportunity to make a difference.

So what can you do?

Commit to Pray, Share, and Celebrate

The congregation is encouraged to participate actively in praying for the lost, sharing the gospel, and celebrating new life in Christ. This is symbolized through the use of colored ping-pong balls:

White: Write names of those being prayed for.

Yellow: Represent sharing the gospel or inviting someone to church.

Blue: Celebrate those who come to Christ through baptism.

Call to Action: Commit to making evangelism a weekly priority by praying, sharing, and celebrating God's work.

Make a disciple

Members are challenged to engage in intentional discipleship through available resources like the Simple Discipleship guide or by joining Grow Groups. They are also encouraged to begin one-on-one or small-group discipleship relationships.

Call to Action: Actively pursue spiritual growth and help others grow by taking part in discipleship efforts, using the resources provided by the church.

Both actions highlight the importance of joining God’s work of transformation within the church and the community.