Episode 1032: New Beginnings

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1032 of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:07] David Somerfleck: Hi, I'm David Somerfleck from defacto digital. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out your call.

[00:00:24] Scott Maderer: Having a firm grip on your calling and how to market it is key to doing this in one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott.

[00:00:38] And the truth is that fresh start begins not with the turning of the calendar, not with the setting of resolutions, not with the celebration of the new year, but in a relationship with Christ. And yet what's happening is all too often. We replace that with the celebration. Up new [00:01:00] year's day. Now don't get me wrong.

[00:01:01] I'm not saying it's wrong to celebrate new year's. We should welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time. Your talent and your treasures for your true call in the inspired stewardship podcast, and to learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:31] Today's spiritual foundation episode about impacting the world. I talk with you about John one verses one through eight. I talk about new beginnings and changes in our lives. I also talk about how that new beginning doesn't depend on the new year. John chapter one verses one through 18, goes like this in the beginning was the word.

[00:01:56] And the word was with God. And the word was God. He was [00:02:00] with God in the beginning, through him, all things were made without him. Nothing was made that has been. In him was life. And that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

[00:02:19] He came as a witness to testify concerning that light. So that through him all might believe he himself was not the light. He came only as a witness to. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

[00:02:40] He came to that, which was his own, but his own did not receive him yet to all who did receive him to those who believed in his name. He gave the right to become children of God, children born, not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of. The word [00:03:00] became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

[00:03:02] We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the father full of grace and truth. John testified concerning him. He cried out saying, this is the one I spoke about when I said he, who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before. Out of his fullness. We have all received grace in place of grace already given for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

[00:03:29] No one has ever seen God, but the one and only son who is himself God, and is in closest relationship with the father has made him known. This time of year is the time of the new year. It's a time that we often sense and feel a time of new beginnings, new journeys. We sit down and make new year's resolutions.

[00:03:54] We talk about things like we're going to get healthy this year. We're going to be more [00:04:00] active this year or whatever it is. And the truth is that in this time there's also a theme in the church about the God who comes to our rescue. This passage from John talks about that. It talks about how we are gifted by God, another year to be in relationship with God.

[00:04:26] And for a lot of us, this new year begins as a chance for a new beginning. It's a really anticipated. Time. And I think right now with everything that's been going on with COVID and presidential elections and politics, and all of these other things, setting 2022 looks like a great chance for a new beginning and to see change in our lives.

[00:04:56] Now the truth is there's no magic to that. [00:05:00] Turning of the calendar. There's nothing more special about January 1st than any other day of the year. And yet there's some sort of mystical connection in our brain that this is a chance for a new beginning. We crave and we're wired to crave new beginnings.

[00:05:21] Wired to crave a chance for a reset or a do over button. There's something inside us that is attracted to the idea of having a fresh start. Because I think in truth, we all know that no matter where we are in the journey of life, we all need to be remade. We all need new beginnings. If you think about the early church.

[00:05:49] There were a lot of challenges. In fact, there were in the Christian community, there was a lot of persecution. There were fights [00:06:00] with Rome. Jerusalem was attacked and taken over. And yet John is writing this gospel in this time and it begins with in the beginning was the word and the word was, God. And the word was with God.

[00:06:18] And the word was, God, it's reflecting on this idea of a new beginning, but also hearkening back to the fact that beginning started long before us. There's a connection to the relationship between our belief and our connection to the eternal, to something that goes bigger and beyond. Us that lasts longer than us.

[00:06:46] That is deeper than us. And we see our connection to creation is an act of relation. We see it as a chance to [00:07:00] connect to each other and to connect to God. The truth is we all need to be reminded from time to time, have that bigger connection, the connection to something eternal, the connection to something bigger than us.

[00:07:19] This is what this passage is shining light on. John is distinguishing that, this connection to the word and. The good news is bigger than the law. It's bigger than any covenant. It's bigger than anything that we do. It's bigger than us, that God is embodied in this relationship. With Christ. So the truth is what's happening.

[00:07:50] Here is a recognition that we all need a new beginning. We all need a chance to see ourselves out of the darkness. We all [00:08:00] need fresh starts. And the truth is that fresh start begins not with the turning of the calendar, not with the setting of resolutions, not with the celebration of the new year, but in a relationship with Christ and.

[00:08:17] What's happening is all too often. We replace that with the celebration of new year's day. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's wrong to celebrate new year's. We should celebrate the fact that we have had another year under our belt, that the planet has made another revolution around the sun. And now we have a chance to see ourselves into a new beginning, but we should recognize.

[00:08:43] That new beginning is bigger than anything we do. We need to be humble and acknowledge that the desires that we have may or may not be in alignment with the desires that God has [00:09:00] for us, but we can ask for God to restart our relationship with God and to restore us through restoring that relationship to.

[00:09:12] God wants us to be that a connection with the light can see us into new beginnings and out of those new beginnings can come our relationship with Christ. Thanks for listening.

[00:09:29] Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoy this episode, do me a favor. Go over to facebook.com/inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and mark.

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