3 Cheers For New Years

Introduction

New Years Eve in Sydney

  • Stood in anticipation of the fireworks display
  • Celebrating the new year is not a new thing

Num 29:1 NIV "'On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets.

  • First day of the 7th month - they would blow trumpets
  • Marked the beginning of the new year according to the older calendar
  • Heralded by the blowing of trumpets
  • Festival called the feast of trumpets

It was a special day and a special time

  • Significant time
  • While we all celebrated new years eve - some where in some way
  • Most of us my not have made the most of this time

For the Israelites it was a time to…

1. To Remember

  • Remember what God has DONE
  • Remember what you have done - what you completed

a) Completion

  • Not enough to just start things - must finish things
  • Clean desk policy - at the end of the year (day/week/month)
  • Contemplate what you have achieved
    2Co 8:6 NIV So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part.
  • God - Alpha and Omega (started and Finisher)
  • It is finished - Jesus didn't die old - He died FINISHED
  • Did a trade that helps me very little today - but I Finished it!!!

b) Reflection

  • Count your blessings
  • To think is to thank
  • On the beach in Sydney - lot of time to be thankful

c) Appreciation

  • Give thanks for the year
    Php 4:6 NIV Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
  • E.g. when your struggling - don't worry, start thanking

2. To get together

  • Create an assembly

a) Attention

  • To give attention to your life
  • EXAMINE YOURSELF - To see if you are a Christian
    2Co 13:5 MSG Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don't drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.

b) Connection

  • With God and others
  • Most of what God has for you is in others
    Heb 10:25 NIV Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one anotherand all the more as you see the Day approaching.

c) Celebration

  • No matter how bad last year may have been - rejoice
    Php 4:4 MSG Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!
  • It is a choice to celebrate
  • In Gods nature to celebrate - Gen.1 (IT WAS GOOD)
  • Jesus turned water into wine

3. To set out

a) Expectation

  • Expecting good things
  • Step out and God will give you victory (Num.10)

b) Resolution

  • Need a revelation before you have a resolution
  • E.g. doctor report - you are going to die if I don't change your diet
  • A time for decisions
  • What needs to change this year - big or small

c) Action

  • Philip and the Ethiopian
    Act 8:26-27 MSG Later God's angel spoke to Philip: "At noon today I want you to walk over to that desolate road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza." (27) He got up and went. He met an Ethiopian eunuch coming down the road. The eunuch had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was returning to Ethiopia, where he was minister in charge of all the finances of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians.
  • God is drawn to movement

Conclusion

I know it is not New Year's Day

  • Not too late to do this - still early in the new year

Let 2008 be your best year ever

  • Year of new things - bigger things - better things