Kerry Shook - God Recycles and Restores
What if you could just recycle everything in your life? I mean, just like you recycle plastic or paper products. What if you could recycle anything in your life, and you could do it instantly? What if you could recycle all your stressful thoughts, all your anxious thoughts, your intrusive thoughts, and the negative self- talk that just loops in your mind? All your distracting thoughts-what if you could put all your stressful thoughts into the recycle bin and instantly everything would change? You would come out like this guy, totally at peace. All your stressful thoughts would be recycled, and you would experience peace of mind, clear thinking, and positive, life-giving thoughts. That’d be kind of neat, wouldn’t it?
Some of you are experiencing some anxious thoughts today, some worried thoughts about what’s coming in the new year. Wouldn’t it be great to recycle your thoughts? For those of you who are married, what if you could recycle your marriage? I mean, maybe your marriage feels stale; you feel distance and disconnection. The passion you once had has been buried under hurt and misunderstanding. But what if you could put your marriage in the recycling bin, and instantly you’d feel like newlyweds again? Your marriage would go from feeling stale to gaining a fresh start. All the disconnection and deep hurt would be recycled into a marriage filled with passion and looking forward to the future. Wouldn’t that be great?
And what if you could recycle all your dreams and goals in life that have faded with disappointment and discouragement? Maybe your attitude has kind of become like this guy-that when anyone else is super excited about their dreams and goals, you’re there to pour cold water on it. I used to be like you-happy and full of life. Maybe you’re not so old, but because of the hurts of life, the failures, and the pain, you kind of feel like that. But what if you could put all your failures and forgotten dreams into the recycling bin and instantly feel like a child at heart again, without a worry in the world? All your failures and all your dreams remembered, all your despair recycled into an excitement about what the future holds.
And what if you could recycle all your fears? You know we all have those fears-fears about your finances, fears about your job, fears about the future. Maybe you feel kind of like this all the time, always on alert. Your eyes are wide open because you know what’s out there; you know there’s a lot to be afraid of today. They’ve done a study and found that some of those fearless, positive people have the lowest IQ. That’s kind of sad, isn’t it? You know, it’s sad because they found that the higher your IQ, usually the more you worry. You think there’s a lot more to worry about because you’re aware of all these things that could go wrong. But you’re not trusting God, who is in control, so really, no matter how high your IQ is, it’s really dumb to worry and to be fearful. But we all have those fears that rise up in us. What if you could put all your fears in the recycle bin and come out feeling like this cat? Your fears recycled into pure joy. Wouldn’t that be great?
We’re starting the new year with a new series-we' ll call it «Recycle.» I looked up the definition of recycle this week just to make sure I was on the right track, and here’s the definition: the process of taking material that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning it into new products. You see, that means God is the ultimate recycler. He specializes in taking the places in our lives that are broken and useless and making them new again. God is the ultimate recycler, and He wants to recycle some things in your life and make them new again. Would you stand in honor of God’s word? Our key passages are in the last book of the Bible, and here we see that God is the ultimate recycler in Revelation 21:4: «He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death. There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away.» And He who sits on the throne said, «Behold, I am making all things new.» You can be seated.
God specializes in making old and broken things brand new, and that’s good news because since the fall, the human race has been a broken race, and we’ve lived in a broken place. In this passage, God is talking about the ultimate recycling in heaven, one day when He’ll restore everything that is broken and lost-the great restoration. One day, God will make everything new-the ultimate recycling and restoration of everything. Now, it is in the future, but God is also restoring and recycling in the present. First, there’s salvation restoration-that’s when we bring all of our sins to God and let Him recycle them into salvation. That’s when we receive His free gift of forgiveness in our lives, and we receive His free ticket to heaven one day, and we have our home in heaven forever. But once you’re a Christ follower, God starts taking you through this recycling process-God’s recycling process-where you grow in Christ.
The number one resolution you should have this new year that can make the most difference in your life is to grow in Christ-to grow stronger in Christ, to grow deeper in Christ, because it changes every area of your life: your decision-making, your relationships, your work, your goals. It changes everything. See, God starts taking the broken places in your life and restoring them, and God wants to do some recycling in you this new year. He wants to birth something new and powerful in your life. But we have to cooperate with God’s recycling process; we have to put ourselves into God’s recycling bin. The first thing that we have to do is let God recycle our thought patterns. We’ve got to let God recycle our thought patterns.
I’ve heard that the average person has around 60,000 thoughts every day, and 80% of those thoughts are negative. The self-talk inside our heads is actively working against us. It usually starts first thing in the morning when we’re looking into the mirror or we’re in the closet getting dressed, and that voice starts echoing in our minds: «I’m not right. I wish I looked different.» Or in a social setting where we’re meeting someone important or someone we really respect, and we say something, and then the voice in our head says, «That was dumb. They must think you’re so dumb. Why did you say that?» Or, «You don’t have what it takes. Someone could do this job better than you. You’re not doing it right.» The negative noise just keeps building throughout the day: «God is so disappointed with you. You just can’t get it right. You’ll never overcome this. You’ll never change. God can’t use you. You’re just not worth much. You’re screwed up. You’re unlovable. You’ll never be enough. You’ll never measure up.» The thoughts in our heads, instead of helping us through life, start to derail us and defeat us.
Most Christ followers aren’t even aware that the enemy plays a big part in the battle of our minds. The greatest battle you’ll face this year that you must overcome to go to the next level-to experience all that God has for you-the greatest battle we will face this year is the battle in our minds. A lot of the battle for your minds is a spiritual battle where our enemy, Satan, puts lies into our minds, and when we start to believe them, these myths make us miserable. Now, not all the negative voices in our minds are from the enemy; sometimes, we’re just our own worst enemy. We think these negative thoughts, they start to take hold, then the enemy takes hold of them and starts using them. He creates strongholds out of these negative thoughts that he uses to create patterns in our minds that become what the Bible calls strongholds. They take hold of us and hold us back. These lies become ingrained; we don’t even question them-we just believe them as true, and it’s really destructive.
Look at this next verse in 2 Corinthians 10:5: «We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.» So how do you take captive every thought? Well, you put the thought into God’s recycle bin, and you go to God. You take that thought and submit it to Christ. That is, you don’t believe everything you think; you don’t just accept it because it came into your mind. What you do is take that thought and place it in the light of God’s truth to see if it’s true or not because you don’t want to believe a lie from the enemy. We take every thought captive and put it into God’s recycling bin. You don’t condemn yourself for every thought, but don’t believe everything you think. Sometimes weird thoughts come into your mind-that’s okay. Just act like a third person and say, «That was really weird. Alright, let that thought pass.»
You know, we all think really weird thoughts that come into our minds at times, so just let them go. Or maybe you have a negative thought that comes into your mind, and it very well could be the enemy, and it’s probably a lie. You want to take that negative thought and say, «God, I give you that thought,» and compare it to your truth to make sure you don’t believe a lie. But I sure feel that this is true right now. By the way, don’t believe everything you feel; that’s where we get in real trouble. We feel something deeply, and we just believe it because we feel it.
Some Christ followers just ignore their feelings, like «I shouldn’t feel that way.» You know, «I feel jealous» or «I feel really angry,» or " I shouldn’t feel that way.» So you just move on: «Lord, forgive me for the way I feel.» No, you don’t have to ask God to forgive you for the way you feel; your feelings are your feelings, and they’re meant to be felt. Just don’t believe all the feelings you have. I mean, you feel those feelings; it’s like, «You know, right now I’m feeling this way.» You’re in touch with your feelings, you express your feelings to God, and you just talk about those feelings to God. You feel those feelings that were meant to be felt, but you don’t believe everything you feel. You compare them to the truth of God’s word.
That negative self- talk that goes on and on throughout our minds all day-we get to the point where we just accept that it’s true. We start living our lives based on a lie, and you will live out whatever you believe. That’s why if you want to change your actions this year, the first thing you have to change is your thought patterns. If you change the way you think, you change the way you act. You can’t change the way you act until you change the way you think because if you believe a lie, you’re going to act out that lie. If you believe you’re a dog, you’re going to bark like a dog. But you’re just crazy. Whatever you believe about yourself, you’re going to live out; you’re going to act out.
But when you put it in God’s recycling bin, you take that thought captive. You start learning to recognize a lie. You may have a convicting thought, «Oh, that’s a sin; I really messed up.» Well, that’s the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit convicts us because God loves us to draw us back to Himself. You say, «God, you’re right; I agree with you.» The Bible says if you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Confession just means you agree with God. You confess it: the Holy Spirit says, «That’s sin; you know that’s destructive.» You’re right, God, I’m sorry, and you’re forgiven. That conviction is good, and it’s loving.
The Holy Spirit convicts, but the enemy condemns. The Holy Spirit never condemns. God will say, «You failed, come back to me,» and Satan will say, «You’re a failure; God can never use you. You’re a failure; you should be so ashamed.» God convicts, but Satan puts shame all over us. God convicts: «Hey, come back in the light; I love you,» and the enemy will say, «No, what you’ve done is so shameful; you need to hide.» So we have to tell the difference between the two. Every time a lie comes into your mind, you want to bring it to the light of God’s truth and don’t believe everything you think.
The most destructive thoughts you can think are those lies that Satan tells us. Over time, we just start to believe these lies; they get entrenched in our minds and begin to develop what I call ruts in the brain. Those ruts go deep, and actually, brain science now tells us that the physiology of your brain literally changes when you focus on something. The synapses and the way they connect-your brain is always changing. When you focus on those negative things, your brain begins to get these ruts that get deep, and you believe those lies. Now, fortunately, you can change those negative thought patterns by changing what you focus on.
Look at Romans 12:2: «Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you’ll be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing, and perfect will.» So long before the brain science came along that says our minds can be renewed and our brains can be changed, God tells us this. God’s Word is always true. You’re transformed; you’re changed by the renewing of your mind. Your mind has to be recycled. When you become a Christ follower, God changes your heart; you get a new heart, and He changes your true self. Your true self really wants to live for Him, but your mind still has all these ruts and destructive thought patterns that have to be recycled.
That’s why when you come to Christ, I mean, you’re a new creation, and it’s all new. You’ve got a new heart, but then you still struggle, right? I mean, there are still these deep thought patterns that have to be renewed and recycled. The only way to recycle those destructive thought patterns into new, life-giving thought patterns is to fill your mind with the truth of God’s Word. Instead of believing what you think or believe what you feel, you fill your mind with the truth of God’s Word, then you can compare the two.
For example, God’s Word says that I am His masterpiece in Ephesians 2:10, «For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.» So when you feel ugly and undesirable, choose to believe the truth. Don’t believe what you feel; believe the truth. You are a masterpiece created by God, and God created you a beautiful child of His. You’re beautiful beyond measure in Christ, and by the way, that’s the truth. It’s not just, «Yeah, God says I’m beautiful, so I’m going to pretend I’m beautiful.» God says I’m a masterpiece, so, «Yeah, you know, that sounds really good.» No, that’s the truth. What you feel, what you think, what others think doesn’t matter. What God says is what matters- that is truth. Everything else is a lie.
God says I am chosen. Ephesians 1:3 says, «Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.» So when I feel rejected by someone, I say, «No, I choose to believe the truth. I feel rejected right now, but I’m not going to believe my feelings. I’ll express them; I’ll bring them to God, but the truth is I am chosen by God, and that’s all that matters. I’m not rejected; I’m accepted and approved by Him. I don’t have to please people; I don’t have to dance to everyone else’s tune because that just wears me out. I can look to the God who made it all and realize I’m accepted and approved by Him in Christ.»
Then I’m righteous and forgiven. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, «God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.» So when I feel filthy in my sins and the enemy says, «You’re no good; you know that’s just who you are,» I say, «That doesn’t matter because I know the truth that I’m righteous and forgiven in Jesus Christ.» Yes, I’ve sinned, but that doesn’t define me; I am righteous in Christ.
Then, I’m completely loved. In 1 John 3:1, «See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!» So when I feel unlovable, I choose to believe the truth. I’m totally loved by God; He will never stop loving me. His love is not based on my performance. You know, God doesn’t say, «I love you if you do all these things,» or «I love you if you don’t disobey me.» He says, «I love you, period.» God’s love is unconditional. That’s so hard for me to fathom.
Then, I’m strong and courageous this new year. In Philippians 4:13, «I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.» So when I feel weak and afraid, and I do all the time-when I feel insecure, and I do all the time-I choose to believe the truth that I am strong and courageous in Christ.
Then I’m more than a conqueror, not defeated. In Romans 8:37, it says, «No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.» So when I feel like a failure, I choose to believe the truth that I’m more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus; I am a winner in Christ Jesus because God loves all the losers. When a loser comes to Him- when I came to Him- I lost all my guilt, and I lost all my sins, and I was forgiven. Yeah, I lost my purposelessness and now because of Him, I win, and I’m a conqueror in Christ Jesus.
To let God recycle my life, I have to let Him recycle my thought patterns. I have to renew my mind. That means I also have to let God recycle my habit patterns. I’ve got to put those old habit patterns into the recycling bin so God can recycle them because the only way to develop new thought patterns is by developing the habit of a daily devotional in God’s Word. The most important habit you could ever develop this year is spending time in a daily devotional. The habit of a daily devotional with God-and we’re going to help you out this year. We have these devotional journals, some kind of journals that we want you to pick up on your way out at the ministry fair. They’ll be all over. They’re just $5 covering our cost, but we’re going to do this together.
There’s a bookmark in it that really goes through these four steps of how to have a daily devotional with God, and when you spend time with God, it changes your life. When you develop this habit, you find God’s direction, and God gives us so many promises for the person who meditates on His word. God says, «You’ll prosper,» and that means you’ll have the ability to make wise decisions. I mean, it will change your life. The two things that change your life the most are the books you read and the people you hang around. So you read God’s Word, the truth, and then you hang around God Himself. You’ll be a different person this time next year.
So what do you do? Be still is the first thing. You find a little place to have your daily devotional. Have it in the morning; have it at night. I recommend the morning for you before you go off into your day before everything gets crazy. But you just give God the best time. Some of you are night owls; maybe that’s your best time. The key is to give God whatever your best time is. You know, maybe it’s in the morning for 15 minutes, or maybe it’s at night for 15 minutes. The first thing you do is just sit still. This is the hardest thing to do-sit still for two or three minutes because what you’re saying is, «God, I surrender this day to You. God, I need You. All my busyness is not going to make the biggest difference; it’s me being with You that’s going to make the biggest difference.»
So I sit still. Just take a deep breath; let God speak to you. Just have a blank mind for a moment-just rest; prepare your mind. Then what’s going to happen is all the things you’ve got to get done that day are going to come into your mind — all the distractions. So I just have a notepad with me, and I write them down so I can get back to being silent. You know, it doesn’t bother me. It’s, «Oh yeah, I forgot that. I forgot that.» I’m going to write that down, but I’m not going to get it done anyway; I’m going to write it down just makes me feel better. It’s great, and then just clear your mind for a couple of minutes and then pray.
The second thing is to ask God for wisdom: «God, help me understand Your word.» You know people say, «Well, I don’t really understand the Bible.» You have got the author right there with you; you can ask questions! You know, ask God, «God, show me what this means and how I can apply it in my life today.» Then you just read. Read one or two chapters a day. I recommend if you haven’t done this before, start in the book of John-John chapter 1 tomorrow morning. John chapter 1. If you’ve done this for 30 years, you probably ought to go back to John chapter 1-okay? John chapter 1! Or you can read a Psalm-Psalm chapter 1.
So you read one or two chapters, and then you write down some of the main things out of it that you feel like God’s showing you. Maybe it’s just a verse; maybe it’s the theme of the passage; maybe it’s just something that God really drew out in your heart that really relates to you. Maybe it’s a promise of God, and then you pray and ask God, «Help me apply this today.» You ask, «How can I apply this in my life today?» Because the Bible’s not written to increase your knowledge; it’s written to change your life. So you apply it in your life, and it starts changing everything.
How can we go through the day with all the craziness and the busyness, and the stress in our lives without spending time with God? We’re too busy not to spend some time with God. But it’s so easy to get distracted. I know that the enemy will invite me on this more than anything else because he knows this is the one thing that I need the most-that will change my life the most — to fill my mind and renew my mind with God’s word and spend time with God because He reveals so many things to me when I do. The enemy will do everything he can to make me miss that.
I’ve got all these important things, and I can’t get to that yet; when is the number one thing that changes us? So the habit of a daily devotion. And then we need the habit of weekly fellowship- that’s really important. In Hebrews 10:25, it says, «Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.» It says that some people aren’t connecting in worship, and it says they’re in the habit of doing that. Isn’t that amazing? They’re in the habit of not coming to church. You can get in the habit of not coming to church, or you can get in the habit of coming to weekly worship or connecting online. Don’t miss it. Do whatever you have to do because the enemy will fight that, too.
It’s like I love coming to church; I love experiencing worship, and I get so much out of God’s word. But I’m telling you every Sunday, there’s going to be some reason why, «You know what, maybe we’ll miss this one. Maybe we’ll miss this one.» Don’t do it because God’s going to show you something that the enemy doesn’t want you to get. The times I’ve gotten the most understanding about huge decisions in my life were at church, and usually, it was on those times that I didn’t want to be there- like today.
So it’s really important to say, «You know what? I’m going to be there because I want to worship God, and I want Him to bless the rest of my week. But I also want to get what God wants to give me that Satan wants to steal away from me.» So don’t miss it!
Now, I want you to look at this next passage in Ephesians 2:19: «Now, you’re no longer strangers to God and foreigners to Heaven, but you are members of God’s very own family, citizens of God’s country, and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.» The Christian life is not just a matter of believing; it’s a matter of belonging. It says that once you come to Christ, you’re a member of God’s family, but then the New Testament tells us over and over again that you’re to become a member of a local church family. You’re not just to be a member of the worldwide Church of every Christ follower; you’re to be a member of a local church family where you can get your needs met and you can meet others' needs because that’s when God really works in your life.
It’s in that fellowship. We have our membership class coming up January 26th, Sunday, from 1:00 to 3:00, and it’s going to be with hundreds of people. We' ll have it at all of our campuses from 1: 00 to 3:00, Sunday, January 26. That’s how you join. I teach the class; we feed you, and we have childcare and take care of everything. That little baby step can make a huge difference in your life. So I really challenge you to sign up online and be here. Let that be something that you just don’t miss: «You know what, we’re going to get connected to a church family this year.»
Then there’s the habit of weekly serving. This is really important. It says in Matthew 10:39, «Jesus said if your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.» That’s so amazing to me because this paradox- that if I focus on my needs, my wants, my hurts, my losses, my pain-then I just feel even more pain and emptiness. But when I focus on God and His kingdom, and He points me to others, and I focus on others, that’s when I find my true self.
That’s when I find the reason I was made- why God put me on this Earth. That’s when I’m filled with sheer joy and total fulfillment. So today is an interactive message, where I’m going to finish up preaching, and then when the service is finished, you’re going to go out and continue the service by connecting to a team. If you’re not connected to a team already, it’s our weekend teams-we’re having a ministry fair out there. We’ve got a lot of fun things for the kids, and I think the rain is stopping, and it’s going to be a blast out there. You’re going to have so much fun. We’re going to have our main ministry weekend teams out there-like the children and preschool team, our welcome team, our transit team, our music and tech team- and we want to connect you to a team where you come to church, receive, and then you give.
That’s what makes such a huge difference in our lives. You’ve got to be connected to a team because you don’t feel like serving. It’s not natural; it’s supernatural. But when you serve, you feel fulfillment. You realize this is what it’s all about. The happiest people in the world are those who learn to give and to serve, and Jesus came to serve, not to be served, and He showed us that-that’s the secret to fulfillment.
Well, I want you to look again at the key passage, but we’re going to expand it. The first passage we read about the new Heaven and the new Earth and how God is a recycler who will make all things new -He’s doing it now; He’s all about making things new. But one day, He’s going to make it all new again. In Revelation 21:1, «Then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth. For the first Heaven and the first Earth passed away, and there’s no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.»
«And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the Tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them. They shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away.' And He who sits on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.' He said, 'Write, for these words are faithful and true.' Then He said to me, 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give water to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life, without cost.'»
Yeah, isn’t that amazing? The great restoration is coming; the ultimate recycling is coming. Jesus Christ Himself here says, «I am making all things new.» Now notice He didn’t say, «I’m making all new things.» He said, «I am making all things new.» He didn’t say, «I’m making all new things.» He said, «I’m taking the current things, and I’m going to restore them. I’m taking the broken things, I’m going to heal them and make them all new. I’m going to restore every broken thing.» He’s going to create a new Heaven and a new Earth. It’s not just Heaven, but every broken thing on this Earth He’s going to make new.
Right after He says, «I am making all things new,» Jesus says, «Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.» I find that so encouraging because I guess He knew what I was thinking. «Can it be that all of this-all the wrong in this world-will be made right? All the brokenness will be restored. All the hurt and the pain in this broken world will be healed.» I mean, can it be? And He’s saying, «You can write it down because it’s trustworthy; it’s from Me. It’s done, as far as I’m concerned. It’s coming in the future, but it’s done because once I say it, it’s done. You can trust it; you can count on it; you can bank on it.»
The great restoration is coming, and that changes everything in the here and now because there is so much pain and loss and sorrow and heartache in this broken world. But we have a hope that’s even greater. I mean, just think about it-everything in your life that’s been broken or will be broken; everything-all your broken dreams, your broken heart, your broken emotions, your broken relationships-everything that’s not right in your body. All those things will be totally restored. Everything in your life that you have lost or will lose will be restored.
It seems like in this life, it’s just a long goodbye. You know, we lose things as we go through life-loved ones; it just seems like it’s a long goodbye. Everything, though, you’ve lost will be restored: your lost innocence, your lost purpose, loved ones that have gone to be with the Lord. Everything lost will be restored, so nothing is really lost because of the great restoration. And that changes everything today.
But Jesus is saying to you today, «I know it hurts now; I know it’s hard now, and it’s hard to believe right now, but the great restoration is coming, and nothing is really lost.» In Hebrews 6: 18 and 19, it says, «We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go.» It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline. Focus on the word hope and focus on that phrase: unbreakable spiritual lifeline. Our hope is an unbreakable spiritual lifeline because of the great restoration that’s coming. That’s our lifeline. Our lifeline is heaven one day, and it fills us with hope. It’s our lifeline that gets us from this painful, broken world to that great restoration so that we can hold on as God’s holding on to us. We trust God and keep going, knowing there’s a great restoration that’s coming.
God is restoring and recycling things in our lives right now, and it’s a process, but one day everything’s going to be restored. You see, in the middle of the great pain in this world, we have to have a greater hope, and the good news is we do. We have a greater hope. No matter what you’re going through today, no matter how much pain you’re experiencing today, no matter how much brokenness and loss you’ve experienced in this life, I want you to know there’s a hope that’s greater than all your pain. There’s a hope that’s greater than all your loss, and that hope has a name, and His name is Jesus Christ. The great restoration is coming, where He will make everything new, and nothing will be lost.
I mean, what a lifeline that is! I don’t know how people make it who don’t have faith in Christ. I don’t know how they make it in life; I don’t think they make it very well because we all go through pain and hurt and heartache. But if you’re a Christ follower, you have a lifeline- a lifeline of hope. You know we all recognize the international symbol for recycling. I mean, that’s been around for a long time. Did you know a college student in 1970 came up with it, and it just took off? But the real symbol for recycling is the cross of Jesus Christ. When you receive what Christ did on the cross and believe He rose again, you experience salvation and restoration, and then He begins the process of recycling things in your life as you begin to be transformed in your mind and way of thinking, in your habits, and your whole life changes.
Then you have ultimate restoration one day in heaven. Let’s pray together. Dear God, we come before You and just dedicate this new year to You. Lord, we all look forward to the new things You’re going to bring. You’re always making things new; that’s what You’re about. You’re the ultimate recycler. I pray today that You would help us give You our thoughts and that You would recycle our thought patterns- all those negative thought patterns that hold us back, that we just get entrenched in, all those feelings that we just believe without checking them with Your truth-that You would just renew our minds and recycle our thought patterns, Lord, to Your thought patterns and Your truth so we can live out the truth.
Then, Lord, I pray You’d help us put in place these habits that will change everything. But Lord, I know they’re habits that sometimes we get distracted from, and sometimes, Lord, it becomes difficult. We juggle all these other things, and we get in bad habits so easily. But help us implement these habits that will change everything to have a habit of a daily time with You. When we miss, Lord, let’s not beat ourselves up, but just come back to You and say, «Lord, forgive me, and I’m ready for what You want to say to me.»
Then, Lord, help us develop that habit of fellowship and make it a priority to be in fellowship with others, worshiping You, Lord. Help us to develop the habit of serving so that as we serve others, we get our needs met, and we see how real You are. We come alive.
Lord, I pray for those who are going through such great pain today, but they know You, and I know that, Lord, this world is still broken, but one day, You’re going to make all things new, and that changes everything. So remind us of that; bring healing in our hearts, Lord. Renew our hearts, our passion, and our hope in You, even in the pain. Renew our purpose.
Then, Lord, I pray for those who’ve never received You- they’ve never experienced salvation and restoration-that right now they would just give You their sins and their heart and let You recycle it into salvation. They would pray this prayer in the silence of their heart right now, wherever they are: «Dear Jesus Christ, I come to You, and I ask You to save me. I ask for Your forgiveness of all my sins. I ask You to take me to Heaven one day. I receive Your free gift of Heaven that I could never earn or deserve. I ask You now to bring me through Your recycling process to grow me in my faith. Help me, Lord, as I cooperate with Your recycling process. Renew my mind, my thoughts, my habits, and my life. Be the Lord of my life from now on, for it’s in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.»