All Things New (Week 1)

I am excited to be with you today. I am excited to celebrate with those going public through baptism this morning, and for our celebration together after service.

As I prayed for our service today I began to think about areas of my life where my efforts actually made matters worse.

Fixer Upper: How many of have ever watched the show Fixer Upper? Chip and Joanna Gaines can take a cardboard box and make it amazing. Candi and I have (not jokingly) talked about how awesome it would be to get them to help us get a house for our always growing family. I love to watch Chip and his ability to take something that is need of serious renovations (some properties even condemned) and make it beautiful. And of course they always include a little shiplap or Chiplap as I like to call it.

I could tell countless examples of how my attempts to fix or improve something at our house has done quite the opposite. I am not proud of this fact, but it is what it is. That’s not the way I am natural gifted and wired. I didn’t grow up learning to build and work on cars.

So when we had a leak just above our kitchen I became determined to track it down and figure out how to seal what was all of a sudden leaking. ELABORATE

Recently, Candi and I looked at a house that had been remodeled beautifully, so beautifully that we almost didn’t realize that there wasn’t a bathroom downstairs. Or an additional shower at all that wasn’t in a bedroom. WEIRD, right? They added texture to the wall so you didn’t know the blemishes of a nearly 100 year old home or the strange way the walls sloped instead of showing level, straight lines. Sometimes the modifications, the fixes if you will, are no more than putting lipstick on the pig. It is veneer distract from lack of substance, at times.

House we recently looked at that was remodeled beautifully, so beautifully that we almost didn’t realize that there wasn’t a bathroom downstairs. Or a additional shower at all that wasn’t in a bedroom. WEIRD, right?

But when I look at what God wants to do in our lives and what He does do when we welcome Him and allow Him in IS SO MUCH MORE.

DISCLAIMER: While I use the analogy of the show FIXER UPPER and how terrible I am at renovations both in my house and in my life, YOU ARE NOT A PROJECT. YOU ARE A PERSON. And when God makes ALL THINGS NEW He isn’t working on a project but unlocking who He created you to be all along. AMEN!

TRANSITION: I think so many of us, myself included, try to fix ourselves. I will attempt some modifications and mostly just add some veneer to some really nasty things I don’t know how to change. We attempt to fix what God wants us to surrender. And you need to know that this place you are in today (Emmanuel) isn’t a place you come after you get it all figured out. If that’s the case, then I better be the first to walk out the door. But what I see when I look at Scripture is a God who isn’t waiting for us to get it all together but to give it all to Him and just walk together.

Let Him be with us.

Let Him take each step with us.

Let Him unfold the path in front of us because that is what He does, that is who He is.

SCRIPTURE: Since the beginning, really right after & the Fall, God has been writing a story where He is redeeming mankind and all of creation. He has been on the journey of making all things new. His original design for all of us is seen in those first few chapters of the Bible.

God created us. Male and female, he made us, in His likeness/image.

He didn’t want us to be ALONE. So, a help mate was given to us.

All the while, He dwelt among us and had real relationship with us (no fig leaves, who told you that you were naked).

God’s desire is visible again in as He is establishing Covenant with Israel in Leviticus.

Leviticus 26:11–13 NIV

11 I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

He attempts to make covenant with the Israelites, that He might dwell among them, that they make be His people and He their God.

This is the first purpose we see: that they might KNOW GOD.

But they forfeited this because of their waywardness of heart.

The second thing He would do as they began to walk in relationship with God was to group them.

vs. 12 “and you will be my people.”

vs. 13 This is a key part of the Lord bringing freedom to the Israelites. It was supernatural, something only He could do, but was done in community. The supernatural and the communal nature of what God was doing couldn't’ be separated; the Israelites were FINDING FREEDOM.

God said, “I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.” He is still wanting us to FIND FREEDOM and DISCOVER the PURPOSE He created us for.

We fast-forward to the end, to the Book of Revelation, and the same vision and purpose is given.

Revelation 21:3–5 NIV

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

vs. 3 God’s Word shows us from beginning to the end about His quest to dwell among us again (KNOW GOD), making us His people (GROUPS).

vs. 3-4 Using our relationship with Him and each other as part of the process to bring healing from our past (FIND FREEDOM).

I have a good friend, a fellow pastor and outreach ministry leader in town, named Paul Harris who says this, “It is hard for a child to dream about their future, when they are worried about eating today.”

—Paul Harris, Knoxville Dream Center

Knoxville Dream Center

We could say this is true for just about any area of our life. It is hard for us to dream about our tomorrow if we haven’t dealt with our yesterday. Some of us still hold onto hurts that are really only hurting us. Someone did you wrong. They might have been a relative, a boss, a person in the church that should have known better…but there you were in the cross-hair of the enemies arrows and you caught one in the back. You were wounded. You were wronged. You were hurt. I am not saying it wasn’t real or didn’t happen. But now you can’t figure out your tomorrow, your next step in rhythm with any type of passion or revelation from God because you haven’t deal with that yesterday. God is wanting to bring you into freedom. He is wanting to walk with you through the process of forgiveness. He want you to KNOW HIM/KNOW YOURSELF. He is wanting to silence the lies of the enemy that have only pushed you toward isolation instead of community with people. The enemy has told you that you will just get hurt again. It’s not worth it to trust again, hope again, have relationship again. But I am here to tell you that is not God’s plan for you. What happened doesn’t have to cripple you. What happened in your yesterdays doesn’t have to determine your tomorrows.

Are you ready for FREEDOM!?! I am!

vs. 4 “He will wipe away every tear from your eye.”

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 13: Hebrews–Revelation (Revised Edition) Commentary

Thus the Holy Jerusalem is not only humanity’s eternal home but the city where God will place his own name forever. God’s presence will blot out the things of the former creation. In a touching metaphor of motherly love, John says that God “will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (cf. 7:17; cf. Isa 25:8). These tears have come from sin’s distortion of God’s purposes for humankind. They are produced by death and mourning for the dead, by crying and pain. An enemy has done this to the old order. Now God has defeated the enemy and liberated his people and his creation.

vs. 5 Then the One sitting on the throne declares that He will make all things new. It is this One, who after we know Him, are grouped together, that He begins to show us our PURPOSE.

He says, “I am making everything new!” We begin to discover the reason we are here. We begin to discover the purpose He has for our lives. We begin to not only recognize who He is, connect to His people, but walk in the design and purpose He has us here.

Revelation 21:3–5 NIV

vs. 5 He continues in this verse saying, “Now pass this on. Take what I have done in you and through you, and pass it all on.” “Write it all down.” MSG

But when I look at what God wants to do in our lives and what He does do when we welcome Him and allow Him IS SO MUCH MORE.

HE MAKES ALL THINGS NEW.

Those hear this morning and those listening online, we are going to move past our pattern of turning to God when everything seems to be hitting the fan.

So the first thing we just talked about is step one for me in God making ALL THINGS NEW.

Recognize our need.

Typically, we look to God to make things new when we have exhausted all our other options. We tried to fix the problem (as before) and only made things worse. And instead of only turning to God in these moments of crisis, what I call Crisis Christianity, we are burning our bridges and leaving now outs.

I mentioned recently that we were never intended to live from crisis to crisis and our prayer to God isn’t to be ONLY the crisis intervention hotline, though He is there for us. He desires to be so much more. So we begin to KNOW GOD and He begins to KNOW US (we become open and vulnerable before the Lord), allowing Him to speak into the deep places of our heart (walking each and every moment out with Him).

So how do we do this?

Recognize our need.

Acknowledge what He has done.

Let Him do it.

Share our story and hope with others.

Rev 21:

Revelation 21:3–5 NIV

We can give testimony, telling others about the One we now know, who has erased and is healing our past, declaring HOPE through His death. So, today we will declare it through BAPTISM. We will celebrate the newness that Christ brings into our lives, to the world. We will celebrate it with those in our family, at this house, with those who have experienced His new life.

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Paul writes to the Church at Rome:

Romans 6:1–11 NIV

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:4 NIV

4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

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l things.

PRAY

Ezekiel 36:25–26 NIV

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Today, we have an opportunity to KNOW GOD.

Romans 6:7 NIV

7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Romans 6:4 NIV

4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

We have an opportunity to FIND FREEDOM.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

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

We have an opportunity to DISCOVER our PURPOSE.

God is addressing the brokenness in this world. He’s bringing about a new day.

We have an opportunity to MAKE A DIFFERENCE in the lives of those around us.

As people who have been rescued from sin and death by the love and mercy of God, we take seriously our call to join God in his ongoing work. He’s made us in his image, so that we can join him in his mission to address the brokenness in this world, and make all things new.

This is God’s will for each of us. This is His original design for us; His original plan for us.

PRAY

God has placed his creative and compassionate force within us. We are people of calling and purpose.

We are recipients of God’s kindness and love — and we embrace our mission to not only receive those gifts, but also to distribute them to those around us. For the Glory of our King and the good of his creation, we are joining God in the renewal of all things.

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