How to Have a Fresh Start

Introduction

Do you wish that you could have a fresh start?

Faith is the pathway to a fresh start.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

How can you have a fresh start?

I. Hear From God

Genesis 12:1 NKJV

Now the Lord had said to Abram:

A. Revelation

Revelation means “uncovering”.

Often you’ll hear, “I was blind but now I see!”

Romans 10:17 NKJV

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

1. The Living Word

Jesus is the Living Word!

Hebrews 4:12 NKJV

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Jesus calls Himself the same thing that the Scripture calls this collection of Holy Books, He calls Himself the Word of God.

Revelation 19:13 NKJV

He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

That is why, no matter where we are in the Word of God, we can make a beeline directly to the Lord Jesus. Not everyone thinks that you can, but I know that you can because He is the Word of God.

When the Bible says that the Word of God is living and powerful, it is saying that God’s Word does what it promises it will do. So, when we read God’s word, we can know that it will really happen, just as we trusted that the Lord Jesus will deliver us from sin and shame.

2. The Written Word

Just as the Lord Jesus is the Living revelation of God, the Word of God is the written revelation of God.

God has revealed Himself to the entire world through His Son and through His Word!

II. Respond to God

Genesis 12:1–6 NKJV

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.

Faith requires a response. Without a response it’s not faith.

A. Repentance

Genesis 12:1 NKJV

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.

Genesis 12:4 NKJV

So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him

Ur of the Chaldeans was a place filled with idol worship.

The truth of repentance is that we cannot stay where we are and say that we worship God. If we are getting a fresh start, it also means we’re walking in a new direction.

Repentance means to turn from sin, idolatry, and rebellion towards God in faith.

True repentance involves “godly sorrow” for sin—a turning around and going in the opposite direction that leads to a fundamental change in a person’s relationship to God

B. Realignment

Genesis 12:1–3 NKJV

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out…To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God give us a new direction in life, and He gives us a new purpose.

We go from getting to giving. God has given us a fresh start, and now He wants us to give others a fresh start.

How do we give?

1. Sharing the Gospel (Good News)

2. Financially Through the Local Church

-There is something called a “tithe”. That word means 10%.

-Abraham established this principle long before the 10 Commandments were written.

Genesis 14:18–20 NKJV

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.

When we give faithfully to the local church, we are ensuring that the Kingdom of God is still expanding here on earth.

We fund missions, we maintenance our buildings, we ensure we have enough space to meet, we buy microphones so the people can hear, and so on and so forth. Without the collective giving of the people, the church cannot go on.

3. By Giving Hope and Encouragement

1 Thessalonians 5:11 NKJV

Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

III. Walk With God

Genesis 12:7–8 NKJV

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

A. Relationship

Genesis 12:7 NKJV

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.”

This thing called Christianity is more than just a religion, it is a relationship with a loving God.

Ephesians 1:1 NKJV

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

Do you know how wonderful it is to be in Christ Jesus?

1. You are Spiritual People

2. You are an Accepted People

B. Reverence

Genesis 12:7 NKJV

And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

This means that Abraham worshipped God in reverence.

To be reverent towards something means to be somber or to take it seriously.

This is why we gather in the church.

Worship Through Son

Worship Through Giving

Worship in the Word

Worship in Action

C. Reliance

Genesis 12:8 NKJV

And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

“pitched his tent”

When the Bible talks about someone pitching their tent, it is referring to the direction that they are moving and the direction that they are facing.

Abraham has his tent pitched with Bethel on the west (House of God) and AI on the east…and he built an altar there. This means that as Abraham was walking and taking his life’s journey which God has called him to, he was openly declaring that he was living for the Lord.

Conclusion