Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

2 Corinthians 5:17

In just a couple days, it will be 2018!  Wow this past year has been quick but amazing!  I could post about how this blog has now 65,000 readers or I could post the good that has happened in my life like getting baptized, but no, I want to talk about the new year, a new you, and a new church!  I want to talk about how all this can be possible!  But most importantly, none of it is possible unless you take God with you!

So let's talk about the new year!  What will it mean?  Well, it could be an amazing year, it could be an incredible year, it could be the year of a life time!  How you ask?  Well start with this, give your life to God, be baptized, and announce Christ as God's son who died for you!  When you walk with God and have him first in your life, everything else falls into place.  It is not always amazing, but I would not give my worst day with God to have my best day without Him again.  Even when things go down hill, as they will, I know I am not alone and I know that the creator of everything, well, He has my back!  The God who made me, the God who died for me, the God who was raised for me, well He did all that for you too and has our back!

This year, start it with Him and that brings us to a new you!  There is lots of resolutions that you can make, but the problem with that is they are stopped at some point only to be resolutions again the next year.  So, how do you get your new you?  Start with prayer, pray daily and make your life a daily prayer.  You know the nice thing about prayer?  You can do it any where!  No really you can!  You don't even have to get out of bed!  Now that you have prayed, read!  Just a couple minutes.  Start with reading the Bible, just a chapter!  To know how to be a new you, you have to read the book that will get you there!  Then I also include a meditation/daily devotional book!  This will only take a minute!  Yet it will open your eyes to different ways to look at God's word and help you know it better.  Now, what do you do?  Sing!  Yes, I said sing!  I personally choose songs that I have sung my whole life, but singing will help you open up and get energized for the day!  Okay, now, get on with your day.  And the good news, over the time, because you bring God with you now, you will be more apt to deal with the day.

You may be saying, how does all that make a new me?  Well simple, when you start your day with God, then you are able to continue your day with God.  And when you take God through your day, then you will be more apt to act as someone with God.  Think about it, when you are feeling God close to you, then you are more going to act in His ways.  How do you get close to God?  Prayer, reading the Bible, praising Him, and continueing it through the day!

So, now that we have talked about a new year and a new you, what is this about a new church?  Simple, we go to church to learn about God, be with His people who are the church, and grow.  Well, if you are living a new life, you may find that church becomes more too!  You may find that your church is needing to be new too!  Does it teach God, Christ, and their love?  Do you leave feeling uplifted?  Or is it pushing an agenda?  And is church being taught as being the building or is it the people?  Who is the head of the church?  Is the Bible even opened?

If you can't answer these questions, it is time to rethink things!  I am very proud of where I go to meet the church.  Westbury knows that Christ is head of the church and that the church is the people.  It teaches acceptance, love, and goes deep into God's word.  I know though, if it got into politics, if it started teaching things that are not of God, than I can go to the Elders and Ministers and voice my concerns.  Westbury Church of Christ is a new church!  I say that it is new not because of it's age as it has been around for some time now, I say it is new because it does not follow the norm.  It is an eclectic gathering of God's people that teach our job is to love God and grow in Him.  It teaches we are to tell others of Him.  It teaches that we are to be loving to all.

So if you can, change your church to look upon God's teaching again, but if that is not possible, come to Westbury!  Experience a conservative yet liberal, open, accepting, loving church!

This new year, be a new you, be a new church, and start it with God!  And so here is where I give you this, get baptized today and become a new being, being my brother or sister or what ever pronoun you give yourself.  Join a church home and belong to a community that will be there for you!  And live a life that others say, who is that?  Wow, I want what they got!

God can lead you to a new life, I can tell you how my new life happened and how good it is, but you have to choose it for yourself!  Don't go another day!  If you are ready for you life to change and be baptized, come this Sunday to Westbury Church of Christ at 10 AM and do it!  If don't want to wait till then, call me at 832-570-7023 and if I don't answer I will call you right back and we will set up a way to do it!  And most importantly, you need a community to support you, so join a church.  Though I would like you to join mine, but you don't have to, just get plugged in!

Here is to a new year and life!