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NEW BEGINNINGS

Introduction

How many times have you really messed up or had something in your life go terribly wrong and imagined what it would be like to just start over—i.e. to have a new beginning in life?

We usually give up on the idea of getting a new beginning because we think a new beginning only happens in our dreams.

Did you know that when we’ve really messed up with the Lord, a new beginning is possible. He made it possible through the blood of Jesus Christ.

As the first chapter of Acts opens, we see a new beginning in progress.

The disciples are still trying to cope with their misunderstanding regarding Christ’s ministry.

The disciples are still trying to cope with their failures and desertion of Christ.

The text tells us that Jesus has just spent forty days with his disciples after his resurrection.

Up to this point, His disciples have mostly been weak, self-centered, and faithless. But we see here that Jesus is seeking to move them into a new beginning.

During the forty days He was with them, He explained the message of the kingdom of God. Luke 24:44-49

Jesus is depending upon this group to turn the world upside down with the message of salvation. That would certainly be a new beginning.

But there were some keys to the disciples’ a new beginning that we need to see that are important for ourselves, and for our Church.

I.      WE SEE THE DISCIPLES HAD TO TRUST IN GOD’S PLAN.

The disciples were able to do what they did on Pentecost and throughout the book of Acts because they trusted in the plan of God.

No one said it was easy, but it is simple.

Sometimes we make it difficult because we don’t understand God’s ways. And because of our lack of understanding, we often refuse to obey God.

               Fear of not knowing what God is going to do holds us back.

We are afraid of new beginnings sometimes because we don’t understand all the details of God’s plan.

               Read Acts 1:6-9

Jesus told His disciples here that God had a plan, and though that plan might be contrary to what they were hoping for, nevertheless, it included them!

In Luke 24:47 we just saw that Christ told them that “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

Not only that, but in Luke 24:49, Christ also told them to wait in Jerusalem until they were “endued with power from on high.”

In verse 8 of the account here in Acts, Christ told them they would be “witnesses in Jerusalem., and all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Now remember, Jerusalem was the place where Christ had been arrested, tried, and crucified.

It is the same place where Peter had denied Christ. The same place where they all had forsook Jesus and fled in fear.

It stands to reason from a human standpoint that they might be fearful to go back to Jerusalem. But they weren’t. (Luke 24:49-53)

You would think they might be a bit concerned with the prospects of having to take the Gospel into Samaria as well as possibly other places in the world because of the racial tensions.

But being with the resurrected Christ had made a difference in the disciples!

And after the two messengers in white apparel got their attention as they were just standing around gazing into heaven where Jesus ascended, they realized it was time to put God’s plan into action.

God’s plan had to be put into action, for there was no backup plan.

The first century disciples experienced a renewal and a revival when they followed God’s plan. Listen to me, you can’t go wrong if you seek to build your life on God’s plan!

Through the rest of the book of Acts, we see the disciples seeking to follow God’s plan.

                1.          They returned to Jerusalem to wait! Because that is what Jesus told them to do!

               2.     So, what do you do while you are waiting upon the Lord?

                            (Vs 14) You do what you can to follow God’s plan!!!

You do what you know to do in the present without fretting over the obstacles in your future path. That’s what they did!

               4.     God has a plan! But, it’s not essential for us to understand all the details of His plan!

All we have to do is follow the plan—God will work out the details!

               5.     For many waiting is a terrible thing. But waiting on God doesn’t mean idleness. We see the disciples spent their time waiting by preparing for the command to move. (Vs 14)

In waiting on God, we must spend time preparing ourselves for the moment when God does give us clear direction.

Nothing happens by chance. We must believe that God has a plan that will work. The apostles discovered a new direction by getting themselves in tune with God’s plan.

We need to make sure our plans don’t interfere with God’s plan.

We read in Acts 16:6-15 where the Apostle Paul had a plan for preaching the Gospel to a lost world, but he changed his plans when he received the Macedonian call.

The Scripture says that Paul wanted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of God wouldn’t allow them it. So he went to Troas.

               It was then that God called him into Macedonia.

When he arrived in the Roman colony of Philippi, he discovered that God was opening some hearts to receive the message.

(There was Lydia, plus an unnamed damsel possessed with a spirit, and by way of a Philippian jail he found a jailor and his family who received the Gospel.)

               We must trust in God’s plan.

II.         WE SEE THE DISCIPLES HAD TO TRUST IN GOD’S TIMING.

If we are going to trust in God’s plan, then we might as well trust in His timing also!

The disciples wanted to know God’s timing concerning the coming of the kingdom. They were told to wait upon God and trust in His timing.

We know something about timing. Many a business deal has gone sour because of bad timing.

The disciples sought to force the kingdom upon the world, but Jesus said the kingdom would come in God’s timing.

God gave us a plan and we are to just simply trust Him and follow that plan and trust His timing! God will accomplish what He said He would accomplish, but He will do it in His own time.

God’s timing can sometimes be perplexing. (2 Peter 3:8-11)

What was about to happen in Jerusalem on Pentecost had been planned in the mind of God before the creation of the world.

How much easier would it have been for them to wait in that upper room if they had only realized that God had planned for them to be there before the world was created?

Things happen in God’s timing when we follow his plan—but they can’t happen in our lives without following his plan.

               Power Comes To Those Who Wait Upon God’s Timing.

Psalms 130:5–“I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.”

Psalms 27:14–“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

               THE DISCIPLES HAD TO TRUST IN GOD’S PLAN.

               THE DISCIPLES HAD TO TRUST IN GOD’S TIMING.

III.         THE DISCIPLES HAD TO TRUST GOD FOR THE RESULTS.

Again, I want you to understand that the time we spend waiting upon the Lord is meant to be an active time—not a passive time. It is a time where we pray and we work on what is at hand, rather than idly dreaming of what is to come.

I saw a news sound bite revealing the tedium of a Marine’s duty in Afghanistan. He was encamped watching the horizon for escaping Taliban. But the Marine was shown cleaning the barrel of his rifle with a brush. The sand in Afghanistan can play havoc in the operation of a firearm. That Marine spent the present making sure he was ready for any life and death struggle that might present itself in the future.

We are much like that Marine; in that we are following a God given plan for the moment, but we are trusting in God for the results.

               Acts 1:12-14; 24

The apostles were following God’s plan, they were trusting in his timing, but they were also trusting God for the proper results.

That’s a powerful message for a person seeking a new beginning!

               It is powerful message for a Churches seeking a new beginning!

Scripture says, “They continued in prayers and supplications.”

               i.e. They were depending upon God to supply the needed results.

We can have a drawer full of blueprints, but blueprints alone can’t make anything happen. It takes action.

               The disciples knew some things that Jesus told them:

               1.     They knew they had to be in Jerusalem.

               2.     They knew that they would receive power from Holy Spirit.

               3.     They were greatly anticipating how God would use them

               4.     But they knew that God’s blueprint was powerless without prayer.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed through blood sweat and tears. He knew His Father’s plan, but he prayed for the strength to carry it out. Matthew 26:39–“And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

When we pray for God’s will to be done in our lives it is always a prevailing prayer.

Prayer gives us a new lease on life by directing our focus on the willingness of God to accomplish what we can’t.

The disciples confessed their inability to choose a man to take Judas’ place. So they left the results to God as they prayed and cast the lots.

The Bible says in 1 John 5:14–“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:”

The disciples had sought their own self-centered plans throughout Christ’s earthly ministry. Now they found themselves on center stage.

But it’s not the center stage they had in mind, but the one Christ had for them.

               Someone wrote these words:

                            I asked God for strength that I might achieve;

                            I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.

                            I asked for health that I might do greater things;

                            I was given infirmity that I might do better things.

                            I asked for riches that I might be happy;

                            I was given poverty that I might be wise.

                            I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;

                            I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

                            I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;

                            I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

                            I got nothing I asked for but everything I hoped for;

In spite of myself, my prayers were answered - I am among all men most richly blest.

Conclusion:

Breaking free from ourselves is not just difficult—it’s impossible for Christians to do so without God’s direction and help.

Just like the disciples,

               We must trust in God’s plan.

               We must trust in God’s timing.

               We must trust in God for the results.

These are only possible when we know that apart from Jesus we can do nothing.

It is only then that we can experience a spiritual new beginning!

Have you come to the end of yourself?

Have you placed your eternal soul into the hands of the only one who can give you eternal life?

How are you dealing with God’s plan for your life?

Are you trusting in God’s plan, trusting in God’s timing, and trusting Him for the results?

Home Page   Contact Us    Service Times   Sermons   Are You Going To Heaven?

NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!