New means New

I like to hear what’s in a name

Why do we have the name New Day?

We were almost named The Well, Catalyst, Synergy, all kinds of names were put out there.

Back in 2007, New Day began with 2 churches coming together Reflection, and Harmony.

We came up with the Name during a meeting of compiling a list of names we received on slips of paper but none of them were the one than Gary came up with it.

Its come to mean something to me, a vision and desire God is calling us to have for ourselves and others. It just flows from the name. Something completely different. New.

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

As we talked about last week we had blessings in 2020 but we can all agree we are ready for a New Day.

I’ve been reading stories about people who have taken time in this pandemic to discover they needed to do totally new things in there life.

move cities

change jobs

realize they had real problems that were not caused by a lack of time but had other issues.

One person realized they weren’t a social drinker, they were an alcoholic.

2020 could have been a year of change, could have just been a year of seeing problems with yourself and New Years time can be a time of change or just a time of hopeless seeing problems in yourself.

If you want real change, if you want new, new means new so that requires some things.

A lot of people talk about change, root for change, agree to change but do not change.

If we are New Day, then we should be a people, a group, help ing people due this change, that is exactly what God calls us to do.

2 Corinthians 5:18 CSB

18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

Reconciliation is a relationship term meaning to make something new, totally different than what was before.

New Day Church are a people who change and who help each other change to be more like Jesus.

I met a preacher friend who had said he lost faith that people actually change/ That people actually repent and get reconciled to God.

Good people getting good-der

Hit a high note and move back to their old way

But the story of Jesus is about reconciliation; its about people coming to God and being transformed.

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

There were many blessings in 2020, and I hope reconciliation to God leading to transformation was a blessing in your life.

But how many of us know people who say I have changed and your like, the thought counts in Christmas gifts it doesn’t count in changing. Changing requires that we go beyond just thoughts.

Just saying you’ve changed doesn’t mean much does it?

Jesus showed us thy way to change. Because He is at the Head of Change. We change by repentance, that's the word that Jesus used, in the Bible the original word was written

Meta-No-Eh-O

Means repentance which is a turning of mind but more than that it means a turning the mind and the will and the hands to something else.

What do I mean?

Head-Heart-Hands

Thinking - Head; Desire - Heart; Hands - Actions, the doing

Repentance is Thinking differently, desiring something new, and doing the new.

Head - Thinking Jesus is God of my life, Heart - Desiring to by like Jesus, Hands - Doing things like Jesus

We can see an example of real change in a great story written by Charles Dickens, hopefully you got to see it over Christmas time.

Christmas Carol

Description of problem

Sees 3 ghots

Wakes up on Christmas Day

Scrooge: Head - Loving Others is Most Important Heart - Desires to Love others generously Hands - Buys the goose, donates to charity, raises Bob Kratchit’s salary.

You see the word repentance is seen in this story and can be seen in your life and others life too. For a better understanding, Two authors, Moulton & Milligan helped us understand metanoia - a coming to one’s sense resulting in a change of conduct.

I ask you.

What has to change?

Have your habits have become addictions?

Is your heart set on something other than Jesus?

Are you seeking truth or what makes you happier?

Are your hands for a higher purpose or your own selfish purpose?

Whom do you live for?

Pray with me,

Lord Jesus, we lay our life before you, to search our heads and our hearts, and make us aware of our need for repentance.

Lord let us follow you with courage to do exactly what you are calling us to do.

If you prayed that prayer today, God will answer your prayer. God is already answering your prayer. You are already becoming aware of what you need to do.

First step to change is realizing Jesus Christ is God and over your life.

Second is realizing that the best way is for your hearts desire to be the person and the way of Jesus.

God answers that prayer today by coming close to you, by bringing up in your head and heart what needs to change.

Sometimes I need to know what it looks like. How can others see it? How can I know it. That is exactly where Hands in Head-Heart-Hands comes in.

“Hands” are the actions that show repentance.

The Bible showed us exactly what this looks like.

Here are some examples, not the whole list, but some examples of things that might

Ephesians 4:25–29 CSB

25 Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. 26 Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and don’t give the devil an opportunity. 28 Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. 29 No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.

Those are character practices but there is change in all of who a person is and there are stories of what that looked like in people’s lives.

Along with many others, there is one particular popular story of repentance, or Meta-No-Eh-O

There was a short guy in the Bible who lives this out for us.

Takes place in

Jericho

Sycamore Tree

Zacchaeus was rich and short. The most important thing was he was a chief tax collector.

He worked for an occupying power.

Not likely that he was a cheat.

But certainly lived for himself

He climbed up the sycamore tree

Luke 19:5 CSB

5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.”

Luke 19:8 CSB

8 But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, I’ll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord. And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I’ll pay back four times as much.”

He saw Jesus wanted him, Jesus loved him, He was immediately confronted with the Head knowledge he was living for himself

The first step of Change is to admit, Jesus is Lord. The second is to desire the same as Jesus, then act as Jesus leads.

He responded with a heart change of generosity

He had a hand change , generous living, living for others would be his lifestyle, as he followed Jesus

Repentance a new way of life that can be seen in new conduct.

It results in a stories! of the actions of our hands in the world

Jesus replied

Luke 19:9–10 CSB

9 “Today salvation has come to this house,” Jesus told him, “because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

Jesus is about bringing a New Day for people. A new life in Him, new days all the time as we grow to be like him.

What an amazing sight to see people change.

See my friend said his church is like that now, God is creating change in people. People are being delivered like Zacchaeus. It’s not just good people getting better or good-er but people becoming something completely new.

it’s Scrooge waking up on Christmas Day, It’s Zacchaeus coming down from the tree.

But if we are going to truly live up to our name, we must be loving to others, searching out others, and never acting like the people who forced Zacchaeus in the tree.

See when Jesus said he was going to Zacchaeus house, this is what happened.

Luke 19:6–7 CSB

6 So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully. 7 All who saw it began to complain, “He’s gone to stay with a sinful man.”

Let us always be a place where people who do not know Jesus can encounter being loved, generosity, and safety, to hear God say to them, I’m coming to hang out with you today.

If you have found yourself excluding others in your heart, in your mind. If you have found yourself avoiding your church family, or only going with those who made your comfortable, if you have sought ought people who benefit you, what difference is their in your selfishness over the selfishness of Scrooge or Zacchaeus?

Repent, because the Kingdom of Heaven is made up of those who are living for Christ and loving others.

Remember repentance, means recognizing God’s is God, His way is best, Desiring God’s ways, and then doing the action that comes with it.

If you’ve been selfish and judgmental to others, love others generously, root for them, pray for them, befriend them, and go out of your way for them as they are children that Christ died for as well.