Scripture Reading
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Sermon Text
See! New Creation!
Oh, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has passed away. See everything new. Everything has become new. The old is gone. See, the new has come. I’m going to explore that a little bit today. I mean, it is exciting to have a new year it’s a brand new year. Send away the old and welcome the new of all the 365 days, what better day will there be? Will it be to think about sending away the old and welcoming the new the first day? So today that is the best time for you to think about sending away the old and welcoming the new. You know, human beings are so smart.
Reorganizing for Change
I think that they are really, really smart. I mean, they created the calendar. They made new year, you know, as far as time is concerned, there is no new year. Time is just continuous flow, December 31st January first or July fifth, it doesn’t matter, it’s just same time, time just flows continuously. But we human beings created organized time in such a way that this is January first and this is 2017 and we are starting a new day. So I think they’re very, very smart and I liked that in that way it is much easier to organize my life by having the new year we can start fresh and new. So every year you have new opportunity almost. So you, you use that, you use that opportunity every year. I think that this is a new year and then you are given a new opportunity. We can make a closure to our past 2016 and we can open the door for the new year. 2017. You know, when I was young my parents always bought clothes and shoes on December 31st and then they put on top of our bed, and the next day we could wear the new clothes and new shoes. I was so excited to, you know, wait for the next day to wear the new and new shoes and I asked my brothers and he didn’t remember just vague memories, so either I liked it so much that I fantasize that I had that history or they just gave me. Sorry brother.
That’s life. I mean it is a wise thing to do, to use the new year to reorganize our lives instead of treat instead of treating January first as just another ordinary day, treat it as a special day. This is a new beginning for my life. At least I want to begin the new life in 2017. What are some of things that you want to achieve? What are some of things that you want to change? What are some of things that you dream about? You have vision about? I hope that you can really expand your dreams and vision this year and you can start always, the new life. I mean resolutions. We always break within three days. We break them, but still, even though you break them, make some resolutions instead of just having another day, make some resolutions. What do you really want to do this year and then make concrete changes.
Do Not Repeat Past Mistakes
Don’t just think about being a new person. To be a new person, what do you need to change? Concrete change that you have to make. Albert Einstein had a very interesting definition about insanity. He said, “Insanity. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” That’s insanity. Doing the same thing and you expect something different. I mean, I hope that this year, instead of living out the insanity, I hope that all of you make some concrete changes to something differently this year, whatever it is, and then you will see something different new year, but new year does not give you change. Automatically, new year does not make you a new person automatically. Doing exactly the same thing and expecting different results is insanity. So do something differently. Since my birthday’s in January, whenever new year comes, I think about aging and these days, I realized that aging is not just getting old.
Do Not Get Old, Become Renewed
I don’t even know what my age is anymore. I don’t count that too many to count, but aging, I realized that it’s not just getting old. Aging is being renewed. Aging is being renewed. By aging, we don’t just become old, but we become renewed. I, I like to look at aging in that way. Every year I get renewed rather than getting old. And this is not what I said. This is what Saint Paul said, “Though our outer self is wasting away.” In other words though, you get old, you get aged, but our inner self is being renewed day by day. Your outer self may be wasting away, but your inner self should be renewed everyday, every month, every year, since it doesn’t matter the age, whether you have this renewal within you or not, that’s what’s important.
Baggage of Our Past Weighs us Down
With the new year, you become one year older, but don’t just get old, be renewed every year. You should be renewed, but you know, I think change is rare, I was thinking, I was reflecting. Why doesn’t, why change doesn’t happen, why people are the same, exactly the same. Old self, I reflected on that and realize that it is a baggage. The baggage that we have, the past old baggage that we have, that baggage weighs us down. It blinds our eyes. It blocks our site. We all have baggage and we let the baggage pull you down instead of being renewed. So this baggage just keeps us not from being changed. Therefore, because of this baggage, we cannot see beyond what we have seen. No imagination, no vision. You know when I have a conversation with people, they’re smart. It’s not because they’re stupid, they’re smart, but they can’t think beyond, why? Because I realized that they have a lot of baggage within them, and so with that baggage, the vision and the way they see the world is limited in certain way. Instead of having a freedom to think about big thing, they are limited because of that bag. They cannot see beyond what they have seen. That’s what I realized. Our eyes are so fixed in a certain way that we cannot see things in the new way. Spouses are just nagging nuisance always. Parents are people whom you don’t, you want to leave a certain distance, not too far, not too close. Those we see each other the way we see ourselves have to change the way we see it has to change. Our understanding is very limited.
Open Your Eyes to Change
Change is not doing ‘A’ and then you do ‘B’. That’s not what change is. Change is not just doing different things. Change is, you open your eyes and now you can see something in a totally new way. That’s what change is. Change is, not just doing one thing and then the next one doing something else. change is your eyes are totally open. You can embrace and you can see things in a very radical new way. That’s what change is. So if that is a real change that the first thing that has to go for you is the baggage. There all kinds of baggage; Hurt, pain, insecurity, but that baggage has to go. How can we let go of our baggage though?
New Creation through Spirituality
Is it more psychological or philosophical? It is spiritual. Baggage can be let go only through forgiveness. Forgiveness is not what you do. Forgiveness is what God does. You only receive forgiveness so he’s not any more psychological. You’re not psyching yourself to let go of your baggage. It’s not logical. It’s not philosophical. It’s spiritual. Only God can take away your baggage through forgiveness. That’s was what Saint Paul said in the scripture, “so if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. The first part, the sustainment. If anyone is in Christ, you are a new creation and the next sentence is a process. What’s going on within it? How can you become a new creation?” He says, “everything old has passed away. See, everything has become new.” That’s a three process. Everything old has passed away, that means, your burdens are removed. Your baggage is removed. If you’re in Christ, through forgiveness, that baggage is removed from you. when the baggage is removed, what happens? Your eyes are open now. That’s why St Paul say, see, behold, because now now you’re able to see your eyes, open. Baggage is used to blind your site and then as the biggest baggage is gone, your eyes are open. Now, see, that’s what Saint Paul says,
and then third, everything new has become new. In other words, Now when you see everything, you can see it in a new way. All your past mistakes, failures, damages done to you. Your shortcomings will not be able to bind you anymore. When you are in Christ, God has forgiven you. The old is gone. Now Open your eyes. You can see it and see the world. See Yourself, see others in the new way. That is the power of forgiveness, my friends how forgiveness is possible? Only when you believe, I don’t know what else.
Forgive yourself to be Renewed
When you believe that forgiveness is possible, when you see yourself, when you see baggage within you, you know what that baggage does to you? And with a sincere desire to remove those baggage. You come to God? That is repentance, and then when you believe. then God lifts up your baggage through forgiveness, so repentance and belief that desire to want that baggage to be removed, that is repentance, and now you believe, then by forgiveness becomes complete and the damage that the baggage has done will be crucified with Jesus Christ on the cross. Only then new life is possible.
It is not psychological or logical philosophical. It is spiritual. I hope that this year, New Year, this forgiveness becomes real to all of you. I hope that you all become free from the baggage that enslaves you. Don’t bring the baggage of 2016 into 2017. That’s dumb. Don’t do that. Start the new year with forgiveness, be forgiven. We Christians have this amazing system, that system of forgiveness. We don’t just live our lives. We live our lives forgiven. If you come to God, God is willing to forgive you. When you have a sincere desire to be changed, God will forgive you and will change you. That’s the power of God. That’s the power of forgiveness. I don’t know how else I can explain to you about forgiveness, about being forgiven. Trust. Good God, when you come to him, he will forgive you and make you free. Make you a new person. You deserve to live a good new life. 2017, maybe the year you start something new for yourself.
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