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New Year seeking the glory of God

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[Isaiah 43:19-20]

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water

in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen,

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It is a new year. Everyone has a lot of plans to start a new year.

Today we are going to have time to design the year given to us

by looking at meaningful things done in the New Year in the Bible.

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The first case we'll look at is Noah's flood.

Noah's people at that time had committed so many sins.

Only the family of Noah followed God completely.

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God has given them a continuous opportunity to repent. But they did not repent.

God judged them with water. God has rained night and day for forty days.

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Everyone except the family of Noah, who had obeyed God's word and made a great ark, died a terrible judgment. Noah's family entered the ark and floated on the water for 150 days.

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After 150 days, the ark of Noah's family stayed in Mount Ararat.

The ship stopped, but because the water did not fall on the whole earth, they stayed in the ark. As the water began to fall, the mountain peaks began to appear.

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The water that covered the whole earth was completely dry when Noah was

601 years old on the first day of the New Year. Noah opened the roof of the ark.

He was so happy to see the water dry on the ground.

This symbolizes that God's water judgment is over.

Now it means that the land has become a starting point for the restoration

of the past.

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The second thing that happened in the New Year's morning was that the Israelites completed the tabernacle in the wilderness.

God freed the Israelites from Egypt.

God led the people of Israel through the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire in the wilderness.

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God told Moses to make the tabernacle. Moses and the Israelites began to obey God's Word and make the tabernacle. Then they completed the tabernacle where God could be present on the first day of the next New Year, which came to the wilderness and gave it to God.

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This tabernacle is a place where God is directly present and worshiped.

God was there with the people of Israel. The people of Israel completed the tabernacle on the first day of the New Year and gave the true worship that God would be pleased with.

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We will have to make the tabernacle of the heart for true worship to God in the new year, just as the people of Israel completed the tabernacle on the first day of the new year and offered true worship. It will be a day of promise of faith that we will become a year of worshiping God with even more zeal in this year.

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Third, what happened on the first day of the New Year was about the people of Judah who were taken captive to Babylon. On the first day of the New Year, the people of Judah, who had returned to their homeland, left Babylon under the leadership of Ezra and set out for their homeland in Jerusalem.

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Ezra was recognized by King Artaxerxes king of Persia. Ezra wanted to do what God was pleased with than a good life in Persia. He decided to return to his homeland of Judah and gathered people, prayed and prepared to leave.

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It was a very long journey to Jerusalem to walk for 1,500 kilometers and go for four months. Although it was a dangerous and difficult journey, Ezra refused the help of the king and started only with the help of God.

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God led the way of all who were with Ezra. God kept them from having any difficulties while they were gone. They arrived safely in Jerusalem. And they did a wonderful job of restoring the Word of God there again. I hope that you, like Ezra, will have the faith to start on the first day of the New Year with the purpose of a new God's will.

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God has given us a new year. Let us remember the three events we heard today.

In the New Year, let us live a life of restoring our relationship with God.

In the New Year, let us live a life full of worship for God.

In the New Year, let us live a life of taking the steps of faith toward God's will.

(This is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)