New Beginnings

Welcome to my website, and thank you so very much for watching for my first sermon on my new website, and I'm going to do about 10 minutes a week, maybe. I want to talk about new beginnings. Many of us love New Year's, and as the calendar turns, we anticipate newness. We did in 2021.

You know, no matter how old you are, you need to see a clean slate and a new beginning. Several years ago, I had the privilege of leading a man to Christ. He was 99 years old. It was one of my favorite days ever. Even 99 year olds can have new beginnings.

As a child, one of the Bible verses I learned was Second Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new," it says. I love that. Because of Christ, I can put my old ways behind me. You know, as Christians, there's still times when we mess up, but thank God his offer for newness is always with us.

I doubt you read the book of Lamentations very often, but there's a great truth in chapter 3, verses 22 and 23. It says this: "The faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning." Each morning.

Let's apply this today. God offers you newness, a fresh start, a time to put away things that are not consistent with who God wants you to be, a time to once and for all accept his forgiveness and let your past be the past. You know, the Bible is filled with stories of men and women who had new beginnings. There are many that come to mind, but today let's focus on a lady found in the Old Testament book of Ruth. No, not Ruth. Naomi.

Thirteen hundred years before the birth of Jesus, a family lived in Bethlehem. Elimelech was the husband, Naomi with his wife. They had two sons, Maelon and Chileon. Due to a famine in the land, and Limoulek packed up his family and moved to the land of Moab, about 70 miles northeast of Bethlehem.

Sometime after the move, Elimelech died. Naomi's sons married women of Moab. Maelon married a woman named Ruth; Chilion married a woman named Orpah. They'd been there about 10 years, and then her sons died, and Naomi is left with two daughters in law in the land of Moab, three women and a cultured dominated by men in that age.

Naomi hears the the famine is over back in Judah, and she decides to head back home. So she tells her daughters-in-laws to go back to their homes, to their families. Orpah took her up on it and went back to her parents, but Ruth stayed with Naomi. You hear what Ruth told Naomi often at weddings. It's found in chapter 1, verses 16 and 17.

You've heard the words Ruth said: "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me."

So Naomi heads back home to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law Ruth. It probably took a week or two to travel the distance, and when the two ladies entered Bethlehem, there was talk. The women of Bethlehem said, "Isn't that Naomi?" It'd been 10 years. Now, you should know that the biblical meaning of the name Naomi is pleasant, or pleasantness.

Naomi has something to say in verses 20 and 21 of Ruth chapter one: "Don't call me Naomi," she said. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."

It had been many years, many tough years. She buried her husband; she'd buried her two boys, and Naomi returns home angry and bitter. Don't call me pleasant, Naomi. Call me bitter, Mara. I won't tell you the whole story. It's a good read, and I highly recommend the book of Ruth.

I told you the story because Naomi needed a fresh start. Her life was not what she planned. She was hurting and scared and in great, great need. She was mad, very mad at God. Spiritually, she was about as low as she could get.

But the story has a happy ending. I won't spoil it for you. You need to know that as the book comes to an end, she's called Naomi again and has dropped the name Mara. Bitter became pleasant. Isn't that what God does? He turns us around and gives us better than we deserve.

Today, I encourage you to count your blessings and to realize that this day is a day of new beginnings. Over the years, I've seen takers become givers. I've seen the unfaithful become faithful. I've seen bad marriages become great. I've seen out of control teenagers become Christ followers. I've seen so many new beginnings. Praise God.

God will always do his part. Are you willing to do yours for a new beginning? Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you for each one watching. I don't know who they are, but you do. I don't know their needs, but you do, what they need to change, what they need to stop, what they need to begin. And Father, as you have enabled Naomi in that wonderful book of Ruth, I pray that you, your Holy Spirit, would enable these friends to change, to become the men and women of God you would have them be. God, keep us safe, and we look forward to our next time together. In Jesus' name, amen.

God bless you, and thank you for joining me. We'll see you next week. Enjoy the website.