“Remember who you really are” New Year Message
One of sermon 2024 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 17 viewsWhat does the new really mean? is it all about making goals about the new you, you want to be but you have been here before and said these words “This year I am going to be different” or you say “well this is just another year” no matter what your responce is nothing is really changing. What if the new year is about us Remembering who we really are and being who God has made us to be rather than trying to be something we are not.
Notes
Transcript
If you could change a few things about yourself what would those things be?
I know.. I know it is like opening a can of worms asking this kind of question but seriously what would you change?
Maybe… your looks I know I would like new 6 packs please!, maybe you have a bad habit you just want to get rid of, be a more kind person, go to the gym more, eat healthier, be a better husband or wife and a better friend and the list can go on and on and on.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if one day you woke up and all these things on your list just came true and you won’t even need to force yourself to be all these things it will just come with ease.
Only 2 days go until new year begins , most people are planning the next year with dreams they have and goals and for others it is just another year what’s the big deal right?
weather you celebrate new year or not A New Year is coming weather you like it or not.
“What if new year is not about making more promises we know we can’t keep but what if the New Year is about us “Remembering who we really are.”
Within judaism the New year is called Rosh Hashanah meaning “Head of the year”. It is an important day on the jewish calendar. which happens usually in September or October according the Jewish calendar.
Head of the year
Head of the year means - what you do at this small window of opportunity will affect the whole year ahead.
What does it involve?
Synagogues around the world celebrate Rosh Hashanah, they reflect on what kind of year the’ve had with also eating and tasting of foods and blowing a Ram horn trumpet called the shofar. ( Not a Sofa but a shofar, blame Simon for this terrible joke ).
Play Shofar Sound.
They also take time to remember what Yawheh has done for them many years ago.
The Rabbi blows the horn trumpet 100 times to signal the beginning of the head of the year. Each blast of the shofar becomes louder than the last to create sensory-overloaded experience that’s hard to ignore.
The first mention of The Head of The Year in the Bible is in Leviticus 23:24
‘Say to the Israelites: “On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.
I love this God is commanding Israel to rest and celebrate.
If you really want to know who invented mental health day God did!
why rest and blow trumpets?
What a strange way to spend your new year.
“What if the new year is not about trying to be a new you but It is about all of us remembering who we really are in Christ Jesus”
We read this strange account:
“When the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, Moses was speaking and God was answering him with a voice. …And God spoke all these words: I, the LORD, am your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.” Exodus 19:19, 20:1-2 (Bible Project Translation)
Israel’s Journey so far
Yahweh rescues Isreal free by defeating Pharaoh with the 10 plagues
Yahweh rescues Isreal from Pharaoh army by splitting the Red Sea§ ( Sea of reeds ) so Isreal can cross and then drowned the Egyptians in the waters.
Fish at the red sea joke
Yahweh miraculously provides water and food in the wilderness
1. You have been set free
We need to remember that we have been set free in Christ Jesus.
Question - You say we have been set free in Christ but I am still struggling?
“You may still be struggling with certain things but you can say you are struggling with less things that you used to struggle with and also as you keep walking with Jesus you will experience more freedom in him. “
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Ga 5:1.
You went from the house of kingdom of darkness and into the house of the Kingdom of Light.
As we go into the new year we need to remember this because there will be challenges we will face but take heart we have already overcome this.
In Pharaoh’s house you are told you could done better in 2024, you need to work harder but the house of God the father he says “Look at all you have overcome through me this year and greater things you will see in 2025”.
Context of the sounding of the Ram horn
2. On The Edge Of Something New
On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. 2 After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. Ex 19:1–2.
Isreal were on the edge of something new they have gone through a difficulty journey but its also been filled with miracles and Yahweh’s presence being with them the whole way.
So it is the same for us we are on the edge of something new 2025 is somewhere we have never been before, we have seen what 2024 has been so far yes there has been very challenging times but wow has it been an incredible time as well the miracles we have seen, I pray we see more of it in 2025 in Jesus Name!
Share one thing that God has done this year that you are thankful to God for? After 3 years Sarah is fully down here in Glasgow.
Sarah and I almost went up Mount Sinai.
The New Revised Standard Version (The Israelites Reach Mount Sinai)
Then Moses went up to God; the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: 4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6 but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”
Yawheh is reshaping Israel’s identity here he is saying you belong to me out all the world you are my special possession and then he said you are to be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.
What a calling! this is Yawheh calling back the calling Adam and Eve had they were selected and created in a special way and they were meant to fill the earth but failed and so Isreal here is being called a special people selected to be an example to the nations.
As we are going into the New year we need to Remember the calling that is on Love Church and our lives is greater than anything we can think or imagine.
Isreal says yes to this calling which is wonderful news!
So Yahweh says get ready -
When Moses had told the words of the people to the Lord, 10 the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate (be holy, removed from common use; subject to special treatment, forfeit to the) them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and prepare for the third day, because on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 You shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Be careful not to go up the mountain or to touch the edge of it. Any who touch the mountain shall be put to death. 13 No hand shall touch them, but they shall be stoned or shot with arrows; whether animal or human being, they shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they may go up on the mountain.” 14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people. He consecrated the people, and they washed their clothes. 15 And he said to the people, “Prepare for the third day; do not go near a woman.” New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition. 2021. Friendship Press.
Remember preparation day - Craig a while back ago shared a very important message called preparation day all about how do we do as believers prepare ourselves before Sunday.
Yahweh here is calling Isreal to himself but before they go up the mountain but they need to consecrate themselves (be holy, removed from common use; subject to special treatment, forfeit to the).
I deleted all the music and movies I downloaded illegally.
How are you preparing yourself for new year?
What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?
I really encourage us to ask the Holy Spirit is it things in our lives he wants us to set aside so we may receive what he has for us.
“New year is not just about taking up new things on but it is also about letting old things go.”
Isreal is called to go up to the mountain -
New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition (Exodus 19)
On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain and a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now all of Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the LORD had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. 19 As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder.
20 When the LORD descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, the LORD summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 21 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to see the LORD; otherwise many of them will perish. 22 Even the priests who approach the LORD must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against them.” 23 Moses said to the LORD, “The people are not permitted to come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and keep it holy.’ ” 24 The LORD said to him, “Go down, then come back up and bring Aaron with you, but do not let either the priests or the people break through to come up to the LORD; otherwise he will break out against them.” 25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.
This moment leaves us with many questions but i want us to focus one big question, did Yawheh want Isreal to ascend the mountain or did he want them stay at the foot of the mountain?
What would you do if Yawheh showed up in a thick cloud, smoke, fire and to top it off with some thunder in the mix and all you see Shenna standing there with such confidence before Yawheh and she’s speaking with Yawheh and he is answering her back.
What would you do? This is all the things that our natural instinct would say RUN!
But i need to say this Our God is not a natural God but a supernatural God and he is in a sense calling us up to the mountain.
Sometimes Yawheh will call us to do something which in the natural does not make sense but by doing what he is asking of us we find life at the end of it.
Are we willing to surrender our version of life and receive God’s life.
Remember the transfiguration on a high mountain with Jesus, Peter, James and John
There is something about when we encounter the glory of God all we can do is worship and listen to the voice of the father.
3. Draw near to God
Isreal did not go up at the trumpet sound so God said to Moses tell them not to go up the mountain.
Isreal missed their chance to draw near to God in a deeper relationship with him.
John bevere’s not going to pray story.
How many chances do you think we have missed this year to draw near to God?
But God is so patient with us in every way always giving us another opportunity to draw near to him.
But Isreal stood at a distance.
When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.” Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
But Moses drew near.
That trumpet sound is still sounding in a different with the gospel of Jesus Christ echoing through john 3:16
But there is coming a day when we the last trumpet blast will come -
Behold, I tell you a mystery: we will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
There is a last trumpet coming.
So let us this new year remember who we are
We have been set free in Christ
We have been called to rule and reign like a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.
We have been called to draw near to God and he will draw near to us into a deeper relationship with the father.
