Wednesday Night Lesson Recap: Attacking the New Year.

Welcome to a new year, 2012.  This is supposed to be a big year.  We have the presidential election that is taking place in November and then by December the Maya predict the end of the world, so that could be exciting.  This is the time of new year’s resolutions and parties and staying up until midnight watching really bad bands on TV.

In Numbers 13: 1-3, 25-33 (suggested reading) Moses and the Israelites have approached the land God promised them, Canaan.  Moses sends spies to check out the land and at the end of forty days they come back with a report.  The land is amazing!  It is rich and full of good ground!  But there is a problem, the people who are currently living there.

Now let's pause for a moment and think about new year resolutions.  Why make them on new year?  Perhaps it's because it's a great time for new beginnings.  People make new year resolutions all the time, but less than 20% of them actually follow through.  We chase them but can never catch them much like Wile Coyote from the cartoons.  He spends his life chasing that bird, but no matter how hard he tries he never catches him.  

Lesson 1: Chase after the Right Things.

So this new year what are you chasing?  Is your resolution to become more popular; to get that girlfriend or boyfriend.  Is it to get rich?  Many times we are chasing the wrong things, things that we will never catch and things that won't actually satisfy.   John D. Rockefeller, one of the richest men of history, when asked the question, “how much money is enough?” he responded by saying, “just a little bit more.”  His net worth is estimated at $663.4 billion today. He never caught what he was chasing.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."(Matthew 6:33)  We need to be chasing after God and what he desires for us and our needs will be met.  

Now, going back to our story.  The Israelites had a chance for a fresh start, a new beginning in this new land.  But if you read Numbers 14:1-4 you see that they are scared of the foreign enemy and choose not to take the land God gave them.  

Lesson 2: Be Willing to Take the Risk.

God is not asking for empty resolutions makers; he asking for adventurous risk-takers.  The journey into the Promised Land would not be easy, but it was what God wanted.  The people were just unwilling to take the risk.  God rarely uses people who are only wanting to watch from the sidelines, he uses those who are willing to be a little uncomfortable in order to bring him glory. That risk could be sharing your faith, or it could be singing in church, praying out loud, ministering in some way.

But what if you find yourself this new year thinking, "I'm too far gone to be of any good to God."  "I've done too much wrong."  Or, perhaps, you have had a great deal of wrong done to you.  "I'm damaged goods" you say to yourself.  Well I'm here to tell you that Jesus makes all things new.

Lesson 3: Remember That Jesus Makes All Things New.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says "whoever is in Christ is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come."

Jesus is greater than any wrong, any sin and any injustice that you have done or that has been done to you.  He is able to take the broken pieces and not just tape them together, but to make it new again.  Allow God to heal you and then begin chasing, risking and becoming a new creation in Him this year.

Questions to Ponder.

Am I chasing after the right things?  Do I need to change course?

Am I willing to be a little risky in order to be used by Christ?

How can I step out to serve God this year in my church, school, or family?

Am I allowing Christ to continue to make me knew or am I holding on to the past even though he is willing to let it go?