561 - New Year, A Fresh Start#
(JP Text Group - shalom 整理)
Dear family, Happy New Year and Happy Spring Festival. Today is Sunday, let's look at God's word together.
The topic of sharing is: New Year, A Fresh Start.
Exodus 40:1-2:
1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 "On the first day of the first month, you shall set up the tabernacle."
Let us pray together first.
Heavenly Father, we thank and praise you. Thank you for starting our new year, and thank you for starting our new week of life. Whether it is the New Year or a new week, we are willing to set up the tabernacle and worship you in spirit and truth. Through today's words, grant us faith and strength, let us live differently from the world, centered on the church and with your word as the center of our lives. Renew our thoughts and ideas through your word, let us learn to receive the truth and live with faith and wisdom to know you more. In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray, Amen.
Today, we will look at our current life journey through the Israelites. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 "On the first day of the first month, you shall set up the tabernacle."
This is already a new beginning, as God led the Israelites out of Egypt, and in the wilderness, God told Moses. Why did the Israelites need to leave Egypt? Wasn't Egypt good? Initially, their ancestor Jacob went to Egypt because he could not survive in Canaan due to famine, and because of Joseph, they lived in the best part of Egypt. If their current life was very comfortable, they would not want to leave Egypt. What was the actual situation?
Exodus 2:23-25:
23 After many years, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their hard labor and cried out; their cry for help rose up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
Joseph, the ancestor of the Israelites, was the prime minister of Egypt and saved Egypt during a crisis, reviving it. After many years, a new king arose who did not remember these things; they only saw that the Israelites were numerous and thought they were not of their own kind, so they devised many ways to oppress them.
Exodus 1:11-14:
11 Therefore, the Egyptians set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh the store cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and spread; 13 the Egyptians were in dread of the Israelites. 14 They made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field; in all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
This is the current situation of the Israelites. The Egyptians saw them living in the best part of Egypt and thought that since they were not of their own people, these people might one day unite with enemies to attack them, but all of this was their speculation. Thus, the Egyptians used various schemes to oppress the Israelites, ultimately trapping them and making them their slaves, working hard for Pharaoh.
But a problem arose: the more Pharaoh oppressed the Israelites, the more they multiplied. The Egyptians saw this situation and were greatly distressed. They were uneasy about the Israelites, so they intensified their oppression, ultimately making the Israelites feel that their lives were miserable. This is a very important message, which made them feel that their lives would always be like this.
This is exactly the fruit that the world wants to plant in us. Are there many people who feel miserable now? They feel that they cannot have a better future. Feeling miserable and having no way out, how despairing that must be. Many people sigh and complain, not getting married, not having children, and not working, feeling that their lives are miserable. But they have no other way out and can only choose to lie flat, which is very similar to the Israelites living as slaves in Egypt.
Fortunately, the Israelites had God in their hearts. When they felt there was no way out, they cried out to God, and their cries reached God. God heard their cries and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
This point is very important. When the Israelites were suffering, if they had not reached the extreme of suffering, they would not have thought to pray to God and cry out to Him. As our God, He is fair and just; if people do not call on Him, He cannot intervene directly. This is what we have always emphasized: God will not impose His will upon us. Even believers are the same.
If someone has already believed in Jesus but insists on living according to their own will, God will not forcibly interfere; however, when a person believes in Jesus and is willing to live according to God's way, calling on God in everything, God will remember the covenant He made with that person and will help them according to the contents of the agreement.
Do the Israelites have a covenant with God? Yes. God made a covenant with Abraham, telling him: You and your descendants will surely be blessed, and you will dwell in the land of Canaan, in the promised land, and there you will multiply. That said, if the Israelites had not been working hard in Egypt and had no way out, they would not have wanted to leave Egypt, because in Egypt there is the Nile, the most powerful nation in the world. If they lived well there, who would want to leave?
But God's promised land has never been Egypt. Egypt symbolizes the world, and everything in the world will eventually pass away. This world is just temporary; the world that God wants to give us is certainly not here, but a new heaven and a new earth, which is the promised land God has for us. When the Israelites were suffering in Egypt, they remembered that there was a God they could call upon. This is the eternal hope for us believers.
When you feel there is no way out, please remember that God is your way out, and Jesus Christ is always your right path. Learn to call upon Him, but do not wait until you have no way out to cry out to God. At that time, all their burdens came from the Egyptians. As mentioned earlier, Egypt symbolizes the world, and Pharaoh symbolizes the king of this world—the devil, who cannot grant people grace.
What is grace? It is what is undeserved, what should not be received, but is received freely. This is something the devil will not give. People emphasize that the more you work, the more you earn, and that it is about seizing opportunities; whoever has greater ability can possess more resources; whoever has greater ability and stronger connections can gain more. But the God we believe in does not give in this way; our way of living and thinking is different from that of the world. Precisely because it is different, the world cannot accommodate us.
John 15:18-19:
18 "If the world hates you, you know (or should know) that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
Returning to the text. The Israelites had lived in Egypt for hundreds of years; logically, shouldn't the Egyptians have accepted them? It should have been so, but the fact is that the Egyptians did not accept them. Because they were not of the same race, with different ancestors, even if they had helped them in the past, what does it matter? They always felt that one day they might harm me. This is the real scene of how the world views us as God's people. Because of different beliefs and affiliations, they will surely hate us. This hatred, when you live better than them, when you are blessed, they will hate you even more.
Jesus made it very clear: "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you."
This is what Jesus said. What did Jesus do for the Israelites when He came into the world? Jesus thought of them in everything, healed them, supplied them, and helped them, yet the world still hated Jesus.
The reason Jesus made very clear: "If you were of the world, the world would love its own."
This statement, returning to the text, means that if the Israelites were Egyptians, looking the same and behaving the same, the Egyptians would love them. But the Israelites still had God in their hearts; they just did not rely on this God. Thus, the Egyptians knew that this group of people did not belong to them and were different from them, so they hated them and used various tricks to ultimately deceive them.
The Israelites were certainly no match for Pharaoh; the power difference was too great, and they ultimately became slaves, harvested like leeks. Generation after generation, but helpless, when their sighs and cries reached God, God heard them and began to save them from Egypt. Exiting Egypt includes two aspects: first, people leaving Egypt. Once they left Egypt, they naturally would no longer be slaves to Pharaoh. Second, the heart must leave Egypt, meaning their thoughts and ideas must be completely different from the Egyptians.
Having lived in Egypt for hundreds of years, they had many ideas close to those of the Egyptians, but they were never Egyptians. God hoped that the Israelites would leave Egypt, both in body and heart, to live a completely new life. If they understood both, then God's grace would continually come upon the Israelites. It is not that the Israelites were good enough, but because they were willing to live according to God's way, that made the difference.
Deuteronomy 7:7-9:
7 "The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments."
This passage is very important. God's love for the Israelites does not mean they were numerous, behaved well, or that this nation was particularly precious; rather, they were the fewest among all peoples. It is simply because God loved them. How did this love come about? It was because God chose them. Initially, God made a covenant with the ancestor of the Israelites, Abraham, and because He wanted to uphold this covenant, He blessed Abraham's descendants. Do you know that at the moment you believed in Jesus, you also became a descendant of Abraham?
If you are currently in Egypt, which means in the world, and feel very miserable, feeling like a slave with no way out and facing obstacles everywhere, it is time to change yourself. Do not learn from the Egyptians anymore; do not learn from the world. They may increase your worries, they will fill you with more confusion, making you feel hopeful, leading you down the path they have prepared for you, but in reality, that is a dead end. The Israelites would not have awakened if they had not reached the end with no way out. Today, we should take the Israelites as our warning.
If you do not rely on God but believe in God, that is a very regrettable thing. Just like the Israelites, they clearly had God, yet ultimately lived like slaves. Fortunately, when they had no way out, they cried out to God, and God saved them from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They could not escape on their own, but God saved them because He is a covenant-keeping and loving God. God is a faithful God, and because He made a covenant with Abraham, when Abraham's descendants cried out to Him, God would save them, Amen.
Although this outcome was caused by the Israelites themselves, if they had relied on God like Joseph in everything, they would never have ended up like this. But even though they became slaves, when they cried out to God, God did not look down on them; He still saved them and continued to show them love. Because God is good, God is a covenant-keeping and loving God.
This is the Jesus Christ you believe in; He is such a good Lord, and He longs for you to rely on Him and look to Him, rather than observing how the world lives and imitating them. God's way is better, Amen. Why did God command the tabernacle to be set up on the first day of the first month? First, we need to understand a concept: what is the first month?
Exodus 12:1-2:
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year."
Now, let's look at this; the first month is not what we now refer to as January 1st each year. This first month is the month in which the Israelites received life and the month they left Egypt. God called this the first month. Let's look at the relevant biblical basis.
Exodus 12:40-42:
40 The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, on that very day, all the Lord's divisions left Egypt. 42 Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for generations to come.
Why is this month called the first month? Why is it called the beginning of the year? Because in that month, the Israelites broke free from the bondage of Egypt, left the land of Egypt, and entered into the life that God had prepared for them. What kind of life did God give them? He let them go to Canaan to live a completely new life. The month they left Egypt is called the first month by God, marking a new beginning.
The scripture we just read also clearly states that that night was the Lord's night because they left Egypt at night. We know that during New Year's Eve, many people stay awake, celebrating the New Year. In fact, many young people today do not even know why they stay up on New Year's Eve.
According to some past legends, it is said that on that night, some terrifying beasts would come to eat the family's possessions or children, so people stayed awake, keeping watch. As long as they made it through that night, everything would be fine the next day because the beasts would leave; this is a legend.
In fact, according to this legend's imagery, returning to the Bible, we know that on that night, a very tragic event occurred in Egypt: the firstborn of the Egyptians, who prevented the Israelites from leaving Egypt, all died that night, including the firstborn of their livestock. That night, the Egyptians were filled with cries of mourning, and they were very afraid.
The Israelites also did not sleep that night because they were preparing to leave Egypt, to leave the land of slavery, to leave the place that made them feel miserable. The wheel of fate began to turn that night. As long as they left this place, they would no longer be slaves but would become God's people, Hallelujah.
So today, many people do not understand why they should stay up on New Year's Eve, why they do not sleep that night and only sleep after dawn; this is not correct.
Returning to the truth, we know that the Israelites did not sleep that night because they were full and preparing to leave. To this day, we have a New Year's Eve dinner tradition, where everyone eats abundantly that night. But many people do not understand why they eat so abundantly and why they stay up late afterward. This is the reason.
The Israelites ate the meat of the lamb that night to strengthen their bodies before leaving Egypt; this is New Year's Eve. For the Egyptians at that time, it was a night of slaughter, unforgettable; but for the Israelites, it was a night of salvation, a completely new beginning. Because on that very night, they left Egypt, completely breaking free from Pharaoh's bondage and control.
God called the month they were saved from Egypt the first month, marking a new beginning, the beginning of God remembering the days of His people; the days they lived before were no longer remembered by God. This also marks the beginning of God's blessing; the days of suffering have ended! At the same time, this is the day God leads His people to start a new life. Therefore, after Moses made all the tabernacle's furnishings as God commanded, God instructed Moses to set up the tabernacle on the first day of the first month. The tabernacle is the place where God connects with people.
You may wonder how people can encounter God in this world when they cannot find Him. But people need God's guidance and direction; thus, the tabernacle was established. Inside the tabernacle, God's glory filled it, and God wanted to bless the Israelites in the tabernacle, forgive their sins, and bless them, never leaving them. From the moment they left Egypt and returned to God, they began to live centered around the tabernacle.
We can see from Exodus that all the tribes of Israel camped around the tabernacle, with the tabernacle at the center. If viewed from above, it forms a giant cross, and at the intersection of the cross is the tabernacle. Inside the tabernacle, every year, the blood of livestock would enter the tabernacle, and God would cover the sins of the Israelites through the blood of the livestock, then bless them.
Today, the church in the world is the same; the church is established by God and is a group of people redeemed by Jesus with His precious blood. This group of people no longer belongs to the world but belongs to Christ, becoming new creations. Although we still live in this world and follow the laws of the world, our identity is that of people in the kingdom of heaven.
All our provisions do not come from this world but from God's supply. Just as the Israelites in the wilderness, their supply did not come from this world but from God's heavenly provision. In the wilderness, when there was no water, God supplied it; when there was no food, God supplied it; they lacked nothing and had abundance.
God's word is the standard for the lives of God's people. If we can learn to rely on God in everything and live according to God's truth, even in the wilderness, God's supply will never diminish. When Moses set up the tabernacle, all kinds of sacrifices officially began. Why did they need to offer sacrifices?
Exodus 13:11-16:
11 "When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, 12 you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord. 13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.
14 In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' say to him, 'With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.' 16 And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that this is the law of the Lord, because the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.'"
Why did they need to offer sacrifices? This mentions an important matter: God told the Israelites that when they enter the land of Canaan and inherit that land, they must give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb and all the firstborn males of their livestock.
If they do not do this, the blessings will be lost. Of course, later generations may not understand this, so they need to explain to their descendants why they must offer the firstborn to God; this is crucial. What is the firstborn? For example, the first son born to a person belongs to the firstborn. The first offspring born to animals also belongs to the firstborn. All of these must be offered to God because God is just.
When God was in Egypt, the firstborn of the Egyptians and the firstborn of their livestock were killed, while the firstborn of the Israelites were not killed because the blood of the lamb replaced them. Therefore, when we live in this world, especially during the New Year, why do you worship God on the first day of the first month? This is the first day of the year; you are offering the firstborn to God, honoring Him in your heart.
Indeed, in many places, worship services are held on the first day of the first month to commemorate God, worship God, and hear the truth; this marks a new beginning. In the past, people did not do these things; on the first day of the first month, people went out to play. But when they believed in Jesus, they began to offer sacrifices to God on the first day of the first month because they knew this was a new beginning, and all blessings come from God, Hallelujah.
At the same time, they also worship God and live a life of worship. What is a life of worship? It is dedicating the first day of every week to God. On the first day of each week, they gather together to worship God, sing hymns, and hear the truth; this is also dedicating that day to God. This is the difference between believers and the world. God commanded Moses to set up the tabernacle on the first day of the first month to let them prioritize God from then on, to live a life of worship to God, allowing God to lead their lives, and to pass this message on to the descendants of Israel.
This will be a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead, to commemorate how God brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand. If it were not for God's redemption, none of them could have escaped Egypt.
Every year, we worship God in the first week of the first month, commemorating God's salvation; this is also something we need to meditate on and think about, Hallelujah. After the Israelites left Egypt, God led them to a new life; this is a new life, Amen. If as believers, our lives are no different from the world, then our faith life will also diminish, meaning that many times when we encounter situations, we will not rely on God.
This is why, since everyone believes in the Lord, they need to have a lifestyle of faith. For example, reading the Bible every day, attending worship every Sunday, and listening to the truth; we must develop this habit. If conditions permit, attending church every Sunday to worship God, meeting with brothers and sisters, comforting each other, and loving one another is also a life of sacrifice. When Moses set up the tabernacle, it was to let the Israelites center their lives around the tabernacle, which represents a new way of living, a life led by God.
All the blessings of the Israelites began with sacrifices, and God commanded them to set up the tabernacle on the first day of the first month, proving that this was a new beginning, and blessings officially began to flow from that day. Just like our weekly worship, worshiping God in spirit and truth, this way of living is also blessed.
You may think, "What’s the big deal? Even if I don’t attend gatherings, I’m still a child of God." You are not wrong in saying that, but if you worship God weekly in spirit and truth and live a life of faith, your life will be different because of it. The more truth you understand, the more you will know how good God is. When you live according to God's word, you will surely experience His power in your life, and gradually, your words, your actions, and especially many of your thoughts will be different from those of the world; you will never rely on the ways of the world to conduct yourself. This is called a life of holiness.
Exodus 13:20-22:
20 They left Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
This is God's blessing. When God leads them, it is no longer about what the people want to do; this is a blessed life. So if you truly want to be blessed in God's truth, first learn to respect God and act according to His word. Take the lifestyle of the Israelites in the wilderness as an example; when did the Israelites move forward? It was not because they thought, "Today is cloudy; let's walk a few more miles while there is no sun." It was not like that; their movement or stillness completely depended on the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, whether day or night.
If it was daytime, there would be a pillar of cloud guiding their way. If the pillar of cloud began to rise and move forward, they would quickly pack up the tabernacle and follow the pillar of cloud. When the pillar of cloud stopped ahead, they would stop. What about at night? When the pillar of fire rose, the Israelites would quickly pack their things, and wherever the pillar of fire went, they would go. Have you noticed that this is called living in obedience to God's word?
Someone might ask, "What if the Israelites did not obey?" It is clear that the temperature in the wilderness during the day is very high; if they left the shelter of the pillar of cloud, they would not survive long. First, there would be no supply, and secondly, the temperature would be too high, leading to death. The same goes for the night; if they left the pillar of fire, first, they would not see any light; secondly, it would be very cold, and there would be no supply. But if in the wilderness, we could learn to follow the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire like the Israelites, then we would always have supply.
God's truth has already been given to us, but many people do not take these truths seriously. The truth lies dormant on the shelf, so their lives become increasingly difficult, and they complain to God, "Why is this happening? Year after year, day after day, why am I still wandering in the wilderness without receiving any supply?" I want to ask: "Have you really acted according to these truths?" The truth has already gone ahead, and you are still far behind, so of course, you cannot see the supply.
When God led the Israelites, they experienced countless miracles and witnessed God's great power. Whether it was the oppression from Egypt or the harsh environment, God provided abundantly. If the Israelites had continued to believe in God and follow Him, they could have experienced victory no matter what circumstances they faced.
Unfortunately, at that time, although the people left Egypt, their hearts were not renewed, and their thinking was still that of the Egyptians. They found it hard to believe in God's supply and promises; even when they saw miracles, they still could not believe, and ultimately, the vast majority died in the wilderness. However, later generations still entered the promised land of God. If many believers today do not see the failures of the Israelites, they can easily walk the same path.
Now, let’s reflect: if we had not believed in Jesus, what would the New Year mean to the world? It would merely be a repetitive beginning, where everyone shares good wishes and then lives much like the previous year, with similar outcomes. What significance does such a year hold? Year after year, it is just a replay of past lives.
But if you are like the Israelites who left Egypt, the first month is not only the beginning of a new year but also the beginning of new life and a new way of living. You may also go through the wilderness, but God is with you; He will supply you and protect you. As long as you believe in Him and walk according to His word, following Him in faith, no matter what difficulties you encounter, He will help you get through safely, and you will surely enter the promised land. Even if the enemies are strong and the cities are fortified, God's methods will be simple, allowing you to experience victory. May you live out the style of a new creation in the new year, forgetting Egypt. Think more about God's promises, which are a hundred times better than what Egypt can offer you, and will make your cup overflow with blessings.
Let us look at a passage from Ephesians 4:17-24:
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts; 19 having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. 20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
We see Paul's exhortation to us. Paul says he insists on this in the Lord. This is something we must pay special attention to because many people tend to overlook this point.
You must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. Today, there are too many people who believe in Jesus, yet their behavior and thoughts are similar to those of unbelievers. The Gentiles refer to those who do not believe, living with futile minds.
Think about it: if a person does not believe in Jesus and does not know about the kingdom of heaven, where do all their thoughts go? They are all focused on this earth. To earn a little more and to live a little better, they will stop at nothing, using all kinds of schemes to do so. Isn't this the way of the world? Because they have no other path and no other hope.
Verse 18 states clearly: they are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God.
They have no relationship with God's life; not knowing the better life that God offers, they think that this world is the best, so they want to earn more. In God's view, this is ignorance, and it is precisely this ignorance that prevents them from receiving God's life. Therefore, we find that those who live very well in the world find it hard to believe in Jesus because they feel, "This world is already great; why should I believe in your Jesus?" Conversely, many people who reach the end and find no way out are more likely to believe in Jesus.
I am not saying that wealthy people cannot believe in Jesus; it is just comparatively more difficult. It is indeed hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven because they have already obtained many things, resources, connections, and various good things in this world. In their hearts, they feel that the kingdom of heaven is merely a spiritual support; they are already abundant materially. But what God gives us is not these; God wants to give us an abundant life.
When people do not have God's life, they live for themselves. Thus, verse 19 states: having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality, indulging in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. All people, whether poor or rich, end up in this situation—indulging in sensuality and greed. But we are different; verse 20 says: you learned Christ, but not in this way.
Now that the new year has begun, I also wish that brothers and sisters would sincerely recognize that we are disciples of Christ. We are not like the world; we are not in Egypt, nor are we like Egypt, Amen. We must know that we belong to the kingdom of heaven, we are children of God. From the heart, we must know that we belong to Christ and are new creations.
You have heard His word, received His teaching, and learned His truth; what should you do? Live out what you have learned in your heart. What is needed to live it out? It requires faith. When receiving, it is according to faith; when living it out, it still requires faith. When this faith is manifested in life, that is wisdom, Amen.
Since we are new creations, we must put off your old self, which is corrupted by deceitful desires. What is the old self in behavior? We see that in the wilderness, when Moses had set up the tabernacle and prepared all the sacrifices, the Israelites still complained to God when they encountered problems. So, what was the purpose of the tabernacle? Those pillars of cloud and fire were God's manifestations, right? Why did they not pray to God and cry out to Him, but instead complain?
When they were slaves in Egypt, they complained when they encountered suffering and various bad things; now, having followed God and heard Moses' truths, they still complained. This shows that they had not detached from their old way of thinking. Although people left Egypt, their hearts were not renewed. If they do not renew their minds, these thoughts will corrupt us and make us increasingly resentful of God. So, did the Israelites later not complain to God, feeling that God deceived them, believing they should not have been brought out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
We cannot be like this; we must renew our minds. We must look at ourselves through Christ's perspective and view ourselves with God's promises; this is what God wants to give you. Do not think too much about Egypt; the more you think, the more you want to go back. But if you want to go back, will it be given to you? It will not be given.
So, know that you are a new creation and put on the new self. Wear the words of Christ upon yourself; you must know that this new self is created in the image of God, Amen. It is not about your effort to become like Christ; it is about putting on the robe of Christ, and you will be able to live like Christ. How to wear it? Continuously renew yourself with truth and words every day, saying, "This is what God wants to give me; this is the true image of me in God's eyes." Amen.
The first month of your life began the moment you believed in Jesus, and God began to count your days from that month. From that moment on, if you rely on Christ's words in everything, your life will change for the better. Every first day of the first month is a new beginning of grace, not a repetition, but a new and better beginning of grace. The blessings and grace God wants to give us are unique, Amen. You will start the new year with worship, start the new week with worship, and experience His grace every day; this is a life of grace upon grace. May we all experience such abundant grace.
Let us pray together.
Heavenly Father, we thank and praise you. Thank you for allowing us to start the new year with such words. Yes, our first month has already begun; this is the beginning of a new year and a completely new start. No matter how the world changes, I know I have abundant hope in you because you will lead me just as you led the Israelites in the wilderness; you will provide me with abundant supply. I do not fear the road ahead; I am willing to rely on your words and follow your truth. I also look forward to experiencing your goodness more this year. Thank you and praise you; all glory belongs to you. In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray, Amen.
At the beginning of the new year, let us partake in the Holy Communion.
Please raise the bread in your hand. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I set this bread apart. From this moment on, it is no longer ordinary bread; it is the body of Jesus given for me. Jesus gave His body so that I can have His heavenly health in this world. No matter what the environment becomes, no matter what the people around me become, I believe that after receiving Jesus' body, my body will change, and health will be within me. In the name of the Lord Jesus, I command all diseases in my body to leave me now. I also thank Jesus Christ for always keeping my body safe; thank you and praise you.
Also raise the cup of wine in your hand. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I set this cup apart. From now on, it is no longer ordinary wine; it is the precious blood of Jesus shed for me. When Jesus shed His precious blood on the cross, all my sins were forgiven. This is the beginning of a covenant, the beginning of a new covenant, an eternal covenant that allows the Father to always listen to my prayers. No matter how the world views me, I know that in God's eyes, I am His treasure. Wherever I go, because you are a covenant-keeping and loving God, you will walk with me, help me, and let me have your peace and joy. I am willing to live in such a covenant; this is the new year, let me have such a heart, willingly and joyfully follow you, act according to your words, and lead me on the path ahead with faith and wisdom. Thank you and praise the Lord; all glory belongs to our Father in heaven. In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray, Amen.