Fresh Start Faith

Let's jump into the message today, all right? This is a year of new beginnings. The Lord has no desire to keep bringing up the past. He likes everything brand new. That's who our God is. And I'm gonna pick up actually where we left off last week in our online service. Gonna start with the same verse that was the main text last week. Isaiah 43, where God says, forget the former things. Do not dwell on 2025 or 2024. See, I am doing a new thing. I'm gonna say that line, and why don't you just say it with me out loud? See, I'm doing what? I'm doing a new thing. Let's not talk about the past. God wants to do a new thing. Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? Almost as if to say, you probably don't perceive it because you're still wrapped up in all of the wrong things. He says, I'm making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Let's go to the New Testament, 2 Corinthians chapter five. He says, therefore, if you're a Christian, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone, and the new is here.

So I don't know if you even know this, but once you get saved, God has no intention of taking like the old you and just reforming it. God has no intention of just like putting some paint on you or just teaching you how to do some good things once in a while. No, no, no, he wants to get rid of the old and he wants to make you brand new. I love this. Jesus didn't die to make bad people good. He died to make dead people alive. And when you say yes to Jesus, you are brand new. And I love the word that's used here. It's actually a very important word. It says he reconciled us to himself through Christ and then gave us also the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, once you receive it, we're to do it to others. And I'll tell you more about that in a second. But that word reconciled, it literally means bring the balance to zero. Like you know nothing. He wipes the slate clean. Aren't you thankful that we serve a God that brings the balance to zero when it comes to our sin and our shame and our guilt and the death that we deserve? He brings the balance to zero. I don't know if you've ever reconciled

a bank statement before. Anyone ever done that? Okay, maybe our next series needs to be on finances and how to do that. No, I'm just kidding. When I was a kid, my dad used to do that and they used this program called Quicken. I don't know if that's still even a thing anymore, but it was so cool. Once you finally went through that boring process of reconciling like the receipts with what the bank said, like once you finally got everything to match and it all came to zero, like on the screen there was like confetti that would pop up and balloons. It was the best part of watching that whole experience. Listen to me today. God wants you to have a New Year's Eve and a balloon popping party every single day of your life as he forgives your sin and says it's remembered no more. I wanna wipe the slate clean in 2026. Even at the end of your Bible, last page of your Bible, Revelation, here's what he says. He holds, I am making all things new. Now that's how great our God is. He doesn't just forgive us of all of our sin, past, present, and future, he forgets it. So it's no longer as if it even happened in the past or the present and the future.

If you have asked God for forgiveness of your sin, the all-knowing, all-wise, omnipresent, omnipotent God says, I know that sin no more. Does anyone think that's amazing that the all-knowing God of the universe chooses to forget our sin? Psalm 103 says these words. He does not treat us as our sins deserve. That ought to be one of our favorite verses in the Bible right there. Or repay us according to our iniquities for as high as the heavens are the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. And then I love this part of the verse. As far as the east is from the west, directional points that never touch, as far as the east is from the west, he's removed our transgressions from us. Hebrews 8 says, for I will not only forgive their wickedness, I remember it no more. He makes the choice, the conscious decision to remove them from his mind, the database of his mind, so to speak, so that if it's ever brought up, even if we were to bring that sin up to the Lord, he would say, I don't even know what you're talking about. Come on, does anyone else think that's the most amazing thing in the world, that God not only forgives, but he forgets all of our sin? I think we ought to give him some praise for that

for three seconds today. And just thank him that it's covered under the blood of Jesus once and for all. I love what the message version says. It says, they'll get to know me because I'm so kind in the way I forgive them with the slate of their sins forever, forever, forever wiped clean. And that's good news. That's reason to celebrate. And so I got digging into this idea of a God that wipes the slate clean, and the God who makes all things new. And there's this concept in the law of Moses in the third book of the Bible, in the book of Leviticus called the year of jubilee. And so I want to read it to you today one verse Leviticus chapter 25 if you want to read the whole chapter this week But i'm just going to read one verse today concerning the year of jubilee. Here's what it says verse 10 Consecrate the 15th year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all of its inhabitants It shall be a jubilee for you. Each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan in other places It's called the year of the lord's favor Maybe you're confused. What is this pastor dan? Tell me what's going on. What is the year of jubilee all about? So the year of jubilee Was a divine reset It was a year where everybody got a do-over It was a year where everyone got to start over That was actually the law every burden of the past every sin ever committed I mean your debts were canceled just think about that right now. Whatever is on your credit card right now However much you owe imagine that just being wiped clean from the bank. They said it's brought to zero you owe nothing How many think that'd be a pretty great thing right there?

By the way, it was not only all of your debts canceled, but you had to cancel everyone else's debts You didn't say amen there. Did you? And let me just pause right there for a moment and just say a lot of us are wanting things from god that we're not willing to extend to others And i'm telling you you're blocking the grace and the mercy of god in your life as you hold Unforgiveness and bitterness in your heart towards a brother or sister or somebody who has hurt you Oh bitterness is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to get hurt You're only hurting yourself and I just want to challenge you What would it look like if you stepped into 2026 with a clean slate and say god? I thank you because you've forgiven me I'm also going to wipe the slate clean of anybody who's hurt me or offended me or wronged me Some of you're saying pastor dan. It's not fair. You don't know what they did to me Yeah, you don't know the full weight of what you did to him As he went to the cross for all of your sin I'm telling you i'm telling you it's more for your benefit than it is for others as proverb says it is to a man's glory To overlook an offense forgive and you will be forgiven debts canceled That's the first thing that would happen in the year of jubilee. Then there was freedom from every bondage So if there was any slavery or anyone in prison, they would just let them go And by the way, that's some of you here today. You're in bondage You're in slavery you're in prison to something that has held you captive for years and years and years It's the part of your life that stayed with your life Oh, you you've gotten saved you're going to heaven You just have this hurt this habit this addiction that has held you captive for years and years and years and listen to me It's time It's just time It's time to walk away. It's time to wipe the slate clean It's time once and for all to break free from that bondage in our lives So debt's free Freedom for slaves and then there was restoration in the year of jubilee. So what was taken or what was lost? So basically any land or property was returned back to the original owners

And then finally they were not able to farm in the year of jubilee So they couldn't sew anything and they couldn't reap anything Because they had to receive provision from the lord and the lord Supernaturally provided for them more than they could have done on their own had they farmed their own lands in that year And this is called the year of jubilee Okay now so that's the year of jubilee in leviticus fast forward all the way to the life of jesus So jesus lives 30 years on earth and is now beginning his ministry in luke chapter 4 verse 16 And the text says this he went to nazareth where he'd been brought up on the sabbath day He went into the synagogue and I just had to highlight this. Here's what the text says as was his custom What does that say as was his? In other words, he went to church because it was the day to go to church He didn't ask if he felt like going to church that day He went to church He didn't check whether the weather was going to be good or not. He determined he was going to church He didn't check if his kids had soccer tournaments or wrestling tournaments or other matches going on that day He went to church And i'm just kind of going to step on some toes a little bit and that's okay If you're not happy with it, we'll move on and we'll get to the next point But I just want to challenge some of you. What would it look like if you had the posture for 2026? I'm, not going to miss a sunday as for me and my house We're going to serve the lord because i'm telling you there's a growing trend happening in america right now Where people are going less and less to church every single sunday the average person goes to church 1.7 times a month Now, I don't know how they got to 1.7. Like do they like halfway leave during the message? I don't know how that number actually works that way. I'm just here to say this I would love to raise up a church that's different that says no no We go to church because it's part of our tradition parents and grandparents for your households that say as for me and my house We're gonna serve the lord when I grew up. I didn't get the option whether or not we were going to church My parents said, it's Sunday, we're going to church. And I am the way that I am today

because of parents that instilled that in me. And I'm telling you, we need to bring that back into our church today. It's the Sabbath. We're gonna honor it and we're gonna keep it holy. So Jesus gets up as was his custom in the church and he stands up and reads the scroll of the prophet Isaiah being handed to him. So he's opening the Bible in church. He's reading it as it was written this portion where it says, the spirit of the Lord is on me because I came to earth. And he's basically pointing to himself while he's reading this. He says, because he's anointed me to proclaim the good news. He says, I'm here to save people from their sins. And he sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners. Like, I don't wanna just save you, I wanna help you get over that addiction. I wanna help you get over that habit or that hurt. Recovery of sight for the blind and the oppressed free and to proclaim the year of Jubilee, the year of the Lord's favor. He basically stood up in that temple and he said, I am the fulfillment of the year of Jubilee. And here's the good news about the God that we serve. Here's the good news about Jesus who came on a mission to seek and to save those who are lost. Every time we go to him and every time we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to wipe the slate clean

once and for all and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's just how good our God is. But if you wanted to realize the power of the year of Jubilee through the person of Jesus Christ, what does that look like for you and me today in 2026? So you know this, I don't like just giving you content or just giving you what the Bible says. I also wanna give you points of application that you can take and live this out in your life. So I'm gonna give you three, three ways that you can live in the year of Jubilee in 2026. Because this is a year of new beginnings. This is a year of fresh starts for many people in this room today. Three ways if you're taking notes and I sure hope you are. Number one is this, I'm gonna use a strong word and it's the word repent. It's time to repent. It's time to repent and it's time to go all in with God. It's time to repent. Now repent, when you think of that word is not the guy with the bullhorn and front of the football stadium and the sign that says, repent, turn or burn or you're going to hell. That's not what that word means. The word repent in scripture is actually a very positive word. It means you're heading in the wrong direction. You're heading in this direction, say sorry

and then turn and go the opposite way. Hey, turn away. And some of you, you're listening to the sound of my voice right now and you know exactly who you are. You're headed the wrong direction with the wrong person, with the wrong crowd, with the wrong thinking, with the wrong pursuits. You even know it. Maybe it's brought you some success, some accolades but it's wrong. There's a way that seems right to man scripture says but in the end it leads to destruction. That verse in Matthew, what good would it be if you actually did gain the whole world but forfeited your soul? And you're pursuing all of the wrong stuff. You're pursuing money or you're pursuing accolades or you're pursuing these things and you're pursuing all this stuff and it's not filling your heart. The Bible says you need to repent, turn and then go all in with God. Go all in with God. It's Jeremiah 29 verse 13 says, you find him when you seek him with all of your hearts. So what does that mean to go all in with God? That means every day I'm spending time with God. Every day I'm reading his word. Every day I'm praying.

Every day for the next 21 days I'm in this season of prayer and fasting. I'll be here at 6 a.m. Tuesday and Friday for the next six of these for 6 a.m. prayer even though I don't feel like it and the alarm is going off at 5 a.m. and it hurts to get out of bed. I'll be here because I'm all in. I'm all in. I'll be here Wednesday nights for the next three Wednesday nights. I'm gonna move some things around in my schedule even if I don't always come on Wednesday night because I'm all in with God. When I worship, I don't just stand here on Sunday morning and just cross my arms. No, no, if the Bible says to sing, if the Bible says to clap, if the Bible says to lift our hands and to shout, I'm gonna do it. Why? Because I'm gonna live according to what the word of God says because I'm all in with God. I'm all in. And I'm not telling this for any of my benefit or any of our church's benefit. I'm telling this for your benefit because you're gonna love the life you have when you seek him with all of your heart

as Psalm 34 says, just taste and see that the Lord is, he's good. Acts 3.19, here's what it says. Repent and turn to God. It literally means in the Greek, the original language, it literally means give him your best. Go all in, go all in in 2026 so that your sins might be wiped out. You get a fresh start, clean slate. And on the other side of that comma, times of refreshing. Like a life you never knew you could experience is found in God and the ways of God. What would it look like for you to go all in in 2026? I'm here to challenge someone today. The effort you put in is going to determine everything you get out of it. You'll get everything out of this fast and season of prayer. what you put in. You can make excuses or you can make progress, but you cannot have both. Number one, repent and go all in with God. All right, number two, you cannot go to the new hanging on to the old. You must move on. You must move on from that old history, hurts and habits. Some of us, if I were to sit down with you and would say, tell me your story, tell me what's been going on in life. And if you gave me the overview of your life in five minutes, you would tell me some key points

of your life that had markers to it. You tell me some key stories that were significant in your life. And some of you today, you have the markers in the wrong place. You've been marked by some things that have happened to you in the past. It's your history, it's your hurts, it's your habits. And at some point, at some point, if it really is a year of new beginnings and God really wants to do a fresh new thing in your life, at some point, the past has to be the past. If God is forgiving and forgetting all of your sin that he does not even know it anymore, and he wipes it away, and he says, I'm the fulfillment of the year of Jubilee, why are you still carrying that hurt and baggage into 2026? Why are you still carrying those bad habits into 2026? You're trying a lot harder, but your flesh is still controlling your life. That's why I love this fast so much. That's why I love the season that we're walking into so much, because for the next 21 days, you get to tell your flesh, no, no, no to TV, no to the news, no to that cheeseburger, no to those toxic influences. No, I'm just saying no, because I'm spending more time with God. I'm seeking him and you'll find freedom when you seek him and you say no to the flesh.

What you feed grows and what you starve dies. Isaiah 58, this is the kind of fasting I've chosen to loose the chains of the thing that's attached to you, to untie the cords, to set the oppressed free, and to break that thing that's weighing you down, that yoke. And that's why I'm encouraging every single one of you. Some of you are here and you do not wanna fast. You've never participated in a churchwide fast. Why not fast this year? Why not go all in and say, this is the year that I'm leaving behind the past hurts, the past habits, the past addictions that past depression. I'm not letting it steal, kill, and destroy my life any longer. I can't do 2026 if I keep rereading 2025. If God's given me a new start and I'm going to higher heights, I want more of God in my life, how about you? I want more of God for our church. I'm not happy where we are. I have to have more of God in my life, how about you? You can't do it without repentance and going all in. And then you have to settle yesterday's once and for all. And then finally, let me say it this way. Number three, so when the slate is cleaned, when the slate is wiped away, it wasn't just so that the slate would now be empty. You clean the slate because the wrong thing's written on the slate

and now you gotta write the right thing on the slate. And what is that right thing? It's your God-given purpose. It's your God-given purpose. Number three, you gotta commit to find and fulfill your God-given purpose. Like the reason why your life has this slate full of stuff is because it's all the wrong stuff. But when he cleans it, when he cleanses it, when he wipes the slate clean, you have to write something new on the slate of your life. And Jeremiah 29 tells me, and it tells you that God has plans to prosper us, not to harm us. If I know my father, I know my father has good plans for you and he's got good plans for this church. As scripture says, he wants to write some things on the slate of your life today, that you are God's workmanship, that you're his masterpiece, that he created you anew. Clean the slate, not to leave us empty. Scripture says he created you for good works in advance. He's created you for good things. He's created you for good things. He's created you to use your life, not to just accumulate a whole bunch of stuff or success or promotions or accolades. He's used you and created your life for a purpose. And that's to give your life away

to make a difference in someone else's life. It's time, it's just time. It's time to get more intentional with my life. Because I'm trying to, I'm trying to pastor you. I'm trying to lead you and feed you as your pastor. I'm trying to take you on this journey because I really, really want us to know God. And I really want us to find freedom. And I really want us to discover purpose so that you know what your life is really all about. You have the right things etched on the slate of your life so that your life can make a difference in someone else's life. Let me pull back the curtain for just a second. Tell you kind of the thinking that I think and approach that I take as I prepare for a message to preach to you on a Sunday morning. So I'm up here talking and preaching to you using my best words or my best joke. or my nicest tone. And what's coming out on the outside doesn't always match what's going on on the inside. Because I know I'm speaking pretty nicely and hopefully I make you laugh every once in a while, but on the inside sometimes I feel like a coach and I'm like, come on! Get it already! But if I shouted at you like that, I know that would not go well for all of us, okay? I realized my preaching is a lot like driving. I'm a honker. Is anyone else a honker? Some of you are honkers. You know who I'm talking to today. My wife, Kyla, she hates that about me. She hates it when I honk. She's like, Dan, that is so rude when you honk at people. Stop doing that! And I'm like, they probably go to our church. I could teach them a thing or two right there, okay?

She's like, no! Somebody's going to get out of that car if we're in a bad part of town and they're going to kill you. You better stop honking! So I've been reformed. I don't honk anymore. I do the Christian honk. When I pull up to somebody and the light turns green, if they haven't moved in a couple seconds, I do that Christian honk. I do the beep-beep. You know what I'm talking about? Just that gentle little beep-beep. Not too long, just light enough so that they know in love, hey, it's time to go, okay? So one day I was not too far from the church and I had a meeting that I had to get to and I wanted to make sure that I was on time. And I see the driver right in front of me. It's this light that it turns green. And if you don't move right away, it goes right to red, right? And so I know that we got to move and I'm going to be late to this meeting and I got to get to this meeting. And sure enough, there's a driver in front of me and the light turns green. And what are they doing? I see right in the mirror, they're scrolling on their phone. They did not know that the light has changed. And everything is welling up inside of me. I'm getting angry. I'm like, I'm going to miss this meeting. And so I do it. I do the little gentle, I go, beep, beep. I didn't honk. And on the outside, I'm calm, but on the inside I'm screaming, the light is green. Would you just drive already? And of course, finally, they do drive. And then I get stuck at the red light. And I realized there are moments when I'm standing up here preaching to you just like that. I'm probably saying it lovingly or probably saying it kindly, but on the inside, my heart is screaming out to you. Calvary Church, the light is green. It's green. It's just time to go. It's just time to go. It's time to move forward. No more excuses for why you can't read the Bible in a year. No more excuses. You're going to make an excuse for why you won't jump in the water on January 25th when there's a God who literally hung on a cross for you in the form of his son, Jesus.

And he says, be obedient and water baptism. No more excuses. The light is green. You don't need one more year in addiction. You don't need one more year to carry that bitterness around. You can make excuses or you can make progress. But for me, in 2026, I'm saying, as for me in this house, Calvary Church, we're going after the Lord because the light is green. Let's go after God. I'm not worried about comfort. I'm not worried about control. I'm not worried about all the challenges. It's time to go forward in our faith. The light is green. Let's go change the world together. Let's see God like never before in 21 days. And I am so expecting of what God is going to do in your life and this church and all of God's people sin. Amen. So God, I'm just asking right now that you would put in within us courage, determination, a no excuse attitude, Lord, that does our best. God, it says, whatever the cost, I'm going all in in 2026. I'm going to pursue you with all that I am. God, I want you. I need you. Maybe you're here today and talking about going all in with God and pursuing him with all that we are, Matthew 6. But you need to get right with God. You can't go all in with God if you don't even know him. Maybe you're here today and you're a Christian, but you've backslidden. You've walked away for years and years and years, and this is your first time. It's just a new year. You just happened to stumble in the church today. Maybe you need to give God your life and surrender to his Lordship. I'm not going to have you stand up, not here to embarrass you, but we are in a moment where every head is bowed and every eye is closed. And I do think there is something powerful about signifying with your hands, I need Jesus. I need to recommit to him, or I need to make him the Lord of my life. All over this room, I'm going to count to three, if that's you, unashamed, because he was unashamed of you. I want you to lift your hand. Ready? One, two, three. Come on. I need to surrender my life to you.

Fantastic. I see those hands lifted in the room. God loves you. God's got good plans for you. He's got great things for you. Come on, pray this prayer. Everyone in our church pray, so no one prays alone. Say Jesus, say I'm so sorry for living my life without you. Say forgive me of my sin. Say today, I commit my life to you. God, you gave your all for me. for me. So you're getting my all. Now everyone say it, say, be the Lord of my life. And from this day forward, I'll follow you in Jesus name. We pray. And everyone said.