God’s Faithfulness Offers A New Beginning

God’s Faithfulness offers a New Beginning

Lamentations 3:22-23

1/3/2010

God’s faithfulness offers new beginnings no matter where we are in life

He is faithful to Pursue us when we are lost (John 4)

He is faithful to restore us when we repent(John 21)

He is faithful to strengthen us when we are weak (

He is faithful to Bless us when we walk with Him

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Happy New Year.

The New Year is always a great time for a fresh start, for a new beginning.

It is a great time to reflect and a great time to hope.

We reflect on the year that has passed us and

We hope for the coming year to be a better one than the one we just finished.

And it is hopeful because the beginning of the year seems to offer us a time

to begin again,

to start fresh,

to commence with a clean slate.

Whether you are a Christian or not, no matter where you are in life, the New Year seems to offer a New Beginning.

For students, this new beginning could be the start of a new semester.

The last grading period is over and you get to start fresh for the new semester.

For those who have put on a few extra pounds,

we are offered a new beginning for that diet and those 10 pounds (ok, 20 pounds) that we have been wanting to lose.

For those who have made some mistakes this past year,

The New Year offers a time to turn over that new leaf in our conduct and lifestyle.

We have put the old calendar away with all its past mistakes, and

we have opened up a new calendar with the year holding a clean slate to live our life.

The problem seems to be that we start with good intentions, but by February 1st, many of us can find ourselves back in the same old ruts of the life we were living last year.

Not doing our homework, eating what we shouldn’t, living in the same way that brought regret last year. And life goes on until we come to another new year vowing to make the same changes again.

Well, I have good news for you this morning. It doesn’t have to be this way.

It doesn’t have to be this way because there is a God who doesn’t just wait until the New Year to give us opportunities at a New Beginning. He gives us opportunities every day.

Listen to

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Lamentations 3:22-23 - Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

God’s compassions are new every morning. He doesn’t just offer us a new beginning on January 1st, He has compassion and mercy on us throughout the year and we have opportunity to begin fresh each day.

If this year is going to be different than previous years when we have failed at keeping our commitments and resolutions, we need to be hanging on to God’s faithfulness each and every day, because each one of us will continually be facing new challenges, and all of us will need opportunities for new beginnings throughout the year.

So, this morning, we are going to look at a few examples from the Bible of how God’s faithfulness to us offers us a new beginning no matter where we find ourselves in relationship with God.

I want to start by turning to John 4:4-9

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and look at a women whom God offered a new beginning to in regards to a relationship with Him which led to a new life for her all because

God is faithful to Pursue us when we are Lost

In verse 3, we learn that Jesus is leaving Judea and heading to Galilee.

John 4:4-9

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Pray – Thanks for faithfulness

The text says he had to go through Samaria.

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Judea is in the southern part of Israel, Samaria in the middle and Galilee in the north

Now, the reality is that Jesus didn’t have to go through Samaria.