Title: Believing The Impossible

Date: 2009-01-04

Reference: Matt.. 9: 27-31

""At this time of new beginnings: a new year, a new month, a new week and a new day. We leave behind the past. We leave behind our bad memories and past mistakes, our old animosities and painful failures. We look to Jesus Christ our guide who will lead us with joy and confidence into the future. In some ways it’s hard to believe another year has come and gone. Someone has said: “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.”

There has always been something therapeutic and hopeful about a new beginning. A new year allows us to take stock of life and to make plans for the coming year. In some cultures people burn effigies on the last day of the year to wipe away tragedies and disappointments of the past year as a new year begins. Some burn fires and make loud noises to frighten away evil spirits. Others burn yule logs from fruit trees, hoping to bring a good harvest in the coming year. People eat special foods to insure good fortune. I’m not superstitious at all, but this last Thursday we ate our black eyes peas. All of these traditions illustrate the hope people have for a fresh start in their lives.

Shortly after the death of his wife, in one of his last public sermons, Billy Graham said: “We think we know what the future holds. We think we can predict the future, and then things turn out differently. Our world is constantly changing. But the needs of our hearts remain the same. And so does God’s power to transform our lives and give us hope for the future. Time goes on, the world changes, but our need and Christ never changes.” A good reminder at the beginning of another New Year.

The best way for Christians to celebrate this new year is to resolve to live more like the new creation the Apostle Paul says we are. Paul said: “Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten and everything is new.” (2 Cor. 5:17)

When we enter into relationship with Christ he gives us a new heart, a new outlook, and a new hope. Our outward circumstances may not change but the way we view them and deal with them changes. The Bible promises when a person becomes a Christian, he or she becomes a new being. The past sins and mistakes are forgotten. As recorded by the prophet Jeremiah, God says: “For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.”

I actually stayed up until midnight on New Years Eve to see the New Year in and celebrate a new beginning. But we all know our situation did not change overnight. The challenges, disappointments, frustrations, and shortcomings of life did not vanish at 12:01. The New Year is a symbolic new beginning. We carry into the New Year the same challenges we had in 2008. This holiday is a symbolic reminder of the power of god to make all things new. In the 21st chapter of Revelation God says: “I am making everything new.”

God only knows for sure what the next 12 months will hold. Sometimes we are surprised even blind sighted by the events of life. At his last press conference, former Denver Broncos Coach Mike Shannahan spoke of his firing saying: “To be honest I didn’t see this coming.” A friend of mine is preparing to move on to a new ministry setting. As he said: “This was the very last thing I had expected to be doing in a new year.”

Even though he was surprised by this move he is excited by the possibilities of a new start in a new place. We begin a new year trusting in God’s leading and in God’s knowledge of the future. Things may not unfold the way you think they will when you’re following God.

During the next 12 months we will celebrate birth and grieve death. We will experience ups and downs, blessings and challenges. It is all a part of life. One man said: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy planning more important things.” Another said: “I try to take one day at a time; sometimes several days attack me at once.” My favorite New Year’s Quote of all is: “Life is like a high school Math Class. Every time you get one problem solved, the teacher is waiting to give you another.”

This is a good time to pause and reflect, to deal with unresolved issues, and to plunge ahead with confidence. Life, in many ways, becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. We become what we believe. We also know god is able to work a new miracle in life. I faced a string of personal challenges at the end of the year. God promised me a future and a hope. I love the 121st Psalm: “He will not let your foot be moved.” As I began to worry about obligations that were quickly piling up, God began just as quickly to open doors and to provide options. God is faithful to His people. As we live our lives in relationship with God we should learn to expect the best from God. Again as the Psalmist said: “I look to the hills. Where will I find help? Help will come from the Lord who created the heavens and the earth. The Lord is your protector and He won’t go to sleep or let you stumble. He is there at your right side to shade you. He will keep you safe from all dangers. The Lord will protect you now and always wherever you go.”

We must learn to trust God. In today’s reading two blind men heard Jesus was passing by. They had faith Jesus could change their situation. As Jesus passed by they called out to him with loud voices. Jesus stopped and asked: “Do you believe I am able to do this?” They answered: “Yes we believe you are able and willing to change our lives.” Jesus honored their faith. The Message, a biblical paraphrase says: “Because of what you believe, it will be done unto you.” We will become what we believe.

I believe God will honor the faithful lives of His people. I believe God will not let our foot be moved even in the midst of the tragedies of life. I believe the best is yet to be. Speaking of the past someone has said: “You can’t unscramble eggs.” And that is true. The past is what it is. But God can take scrambled eggs and make a wonderful meal. Nothing is too hard for God.

Today, on this first Sunday of a New Year, we must stop mourning over the past and concentrate of God’s gifts today. The Bible reminds us how: “The mercies of God are fresh and new ever single day.” The Apostle wrote from a prison cell saying: “I forget what is behind and I struggle for what is ahead. I run toward the goal so that I can win the prize of being called to heaven.”

We have all had negative, unfair things happen. We have all been taken advantage of by others. We have all gone through things nobody deserves to experience in this life. We cannot do anything to change the past, nor can we live in the past, or use the past as an excuse for being unhappy and making poor choices today. We should make a conscious decision not to poison the present and the future with the pain of the past. We do learn from the past and in hope we move on.

A new year is about our desire for another chance. A chance to make a fresh beginning and to blot out mistakes and change failure into success. We don’t need a New Year to make a new start. We need only a deep desire to try with all our hearts to live a little better. We must never give up in despair, there is always tomorrow and a chance to start over. Whenever we are in crisis, and everything appears hopeless. We can never be defeated as long as our faith in God endures.

Today we bring our situation to Jesus. Jesus asks the same question he asked the two men in our Scripture lesson. “Do you believe I can do this?” His answer to our faith is always the same..”Your faith shall not be disappointed.”

I do believe we become what we think. As individuals, as families, as a church family we become what we think. There are days when we dwell on our challenges. God knows our challenges. God has also promised our foot will not be moved. Whenever we become discouraged, overwhelmed, angry, frustrated we should rush to Jesus and ask for a fresh vision. We ask to see as the two blind men asked to see. Jesus will ask the same question: “Do you believe?” Do you believe I have your best interest in heart? Will you trust me through all of life’s Peaks and Valleys?

In these next twelve months we will be much happier living life one day at a time, one challenge at a time. A Sanskrit Proverb says: “:Look to this day. For it is life. Yesterday is but a dream. Tomorrow is only a vision. Today well lived, makes yesterday a dream of happiness and tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well to this day.”

We are certain only of today. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is always coming. Whatever life holds, God is faithful to see us through.

This is more than a pleasant thought, or nice sounding words. This is our faith. E. Stanley Jones once said: “Put your hand in the hand of God as you start the New Year. Then the new year will be a fresh adventure every morning and a quiet benediction every night. You will be alive in every portion of your being. You will be aware of God and of each other.”

May we start this new year believing in God’s goodness, experiencing God’s Grace, ans walking hand in hand with the One who loves us.

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