Many people seek a new beginning by changing jobs, or moving to a new city. Others jump from one relationship to another. Often times what we are actually doing is running from problems. Regardless of where we run, those problems have an interesting way of re-manifesting themselves in our new contexts. The reason this happens is because we don’t really have a new beginning. We have the same life and same problems simply in a new context.

What if we could truly have a fresh start? That is exactly what God offers us. Through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are offered a new way of life – a fresh start. This means we can actually have a NEW BEGINNING. God’s new beginning for you means a new kind of power, a new way of church, a new way of life and best of all, forgiveness for our sin.

If you are looking for a new beginning, I invite you to our new series starting this Sunday April 8th. If someone you know is looking for a new beginning, I challenge you to invite them this Sunday.

This Sunday is also Easter Sunday and we will be having 3 services at the Brier Creek Movie Theater 8am (with childcare for birth through 23 months), 9am (our regular engaging Bridge Kids ministry for birth through 5th grade) and 10:30am (Bridge Kids birth through 5th grade). If you are wondering what to expect, check out this video: What to Expect.

We have extra service opportunities this Sunday as we anticipate many new guests. If you are interested in serving on our First Impressions Team or with Bridge Kids, please sign up here: http://southbridgefellowship.com/easter-2012-volunteer

Join us in praying for 1200 people to attend and 100 to start a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Some ideas on how to invite people:

• Post a link for our Easter services on your Facebook or Twitter accounts: http://southbridgefellowship.com/easter

• Forward them the Southbridge Happenings email that will go out this week.

• Send them a link to this blog post.

• Go to our (Facebook Page here) and become a fan. Share postings from that site.

• Use one of our invite cards to invite a neighbor, friend, waiter/waitress, people you meet at the grocery store etc.

Choices from southbridge fellowship on Vimeo.

1. We are so focused on our plan that we don’t ask God for His. We are like Peter during the Transfiguration (Luke 9:28-36), and so many other times in his life. We are so focused on what we want to see happen, we fail to realize our plan and God’s plan are not the same. We simply get caught up in our plan and miss the fact that our plan may not be God’s plan. Our plan can seem right, sound good, we may even believe we have good motives, but if we are so focused on pursuing our plan that we don’t ask God what His is, then we can easily fail to hear Him speaking to us. What should we do? Stop and ask Him. God what do you want? How many kids should we have? How should we use our money? Where should I work? Where should I go to school?

2. Sin. Many of us have an obedience threshold. I will obey you God with all of this (fill in the blank), but don’t ask me to (and fill in the blank). We know we have said no to God. No. I won’t trust you with my money. No. I won’t give you that habit. No I won’t stop taking these pills or finding escape somewhere else. No. I won’t control my anger. So God stops communicating with us. We reject His word and reject His word and eventually He stops speaking. Like Amos says to people who keep rejecting God’s Word, “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land– not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD (Amos 8:11). So what do we do? Stop and turn. Stop turning to our sin and turn to God. Hunger and thirst for righteousness and we will be filled.

3. We are too busy. We have so many things we are doing we can’t hear. We have soccer games, business deals, tests to study for, doctors appointments, and deadlines. While we are also doing all of these things there are a ton of voices speaking to us, the television, our co-workers, our pastor, our friends, marketers and salespeople. How can we hear anything? We need to be still and know that He is God. When is the last time you just stopped in silence alone with God?

4. We have twisted what He has said. This fourth reason is a lot like the second with one slight difference. The person who does this no longer realizes what they are doing is sin. God has clearly communicated His plan in many areas and we rationalize and justify why what He has said does not apply to us. God understands why we are living together (forget His plan for sex as a good gift to be celebrated in the context of marriage), we love each other, we are going to get married, besides that is old fashion. God knows why I don’t give, once I get to this level then I will. God knows why I get angry so easy, it was my Dad’s fault. God knows why I don’t forgive like Christ forgave, I have been offended more than Jesus was. What should we do? Get honest with ourselves and stop lying. Stop lying to God, stop lying to others, and stop lying to ourselves. Then see number 2.

5. We don’t know His voice. In John 10 Jesus says that sheep know their shepherds voice (John 10:1-18), and that He is the good Shepherd. If we don’t know the Shepherd we don’t know His voice so when He speaks we can’t listen. Do you know His voice? If not then what you need to do is start a relationship with the Shepherd. Here is how (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 10:9-13).

God is speaking, are you listening?

Imitate series from Ascending Productions on Vimeo.

LIES We Live By from Ascending Productions on Vimeo.

Today we began our series called CORE. We are preaching through our five core values: Worship, Community, Growth, Service and Generosity. Today we started by talking about worship, asking the question: Are you the kind of worshipper God created you to be? We saw that God is actually looking for a certain kind of worshipper (John 4:23). We looked at biblical worship which is: Seeing God accurately and responding appropriately. We saw how Peter did this in Luke 5:1-11. You see this throughout the scripture in passages like this one in Luke 5 and other places like Isaiah 6. The pattern is people have an encounter with the living God and they don’t leave feeling all warm and fuzzy. They are blown away by who God is (holy and righteous), which forces them to reflect on who they are (sinful). However, God is gracious and allows us to speak with Him and be used by Him. Our appropriate response is like that of Peter leaving everything to follow Him or like Isaiah saying, “Here I am send me.” The appropriate response is a surrendered life. Like Paul says in Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.” God wants a completely surrendered life.

We say at Southbridge that worship begins with a decision to trust Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and it continues as a lifestyle of responding to His revelation of Himself. Worship is not about singing a song, volunteering for a ministry, giving some money or anything like that. Worship is a matter of the heart. When your heart is surrendered to God those things can be great expressions of worship, but if your heart is not surrendered to God those things are done in vain.

Some helpful resources that I recommend when you are thinking through your own personal finances are:

Surviving Financial Meltdown, by Ron Blue and Jeremy White (I mentioned this book a couple of times during this series).

Money, Possesions, and Eternity, by Randy Alcorn (A great book as a resource for a biblical perspective on finances).

The Treasure Principle, by Randy Alcorn (A short book that contains God’s investment strategy).

I would also recommend Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. I have not completed it, but I have listened to some of the talks. Southbridge is also offering some small group classes called: The Road to Financial Freedom as a follow up to this series. You can sign up for those by emailing crown@southbridgefellowship.com.

Ron Blue in his book Surviving Financial Meltdown recommends these web sites for your personal finances:

www.masteryourmoney.com

www.mymoney.gov

www.crown.org

www.360financialliteracy.org/life+stages

He has more, but these should be useful.