Sunday message · Fresh Start series
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Message Summary
At the start of 2019, Pastor Phillip Santillan opens the Fresh Start series, meant especially for those who call Clarity Church home, with Lamentations 3:22–23 and Matthew 28:19–20. A year earlier he had invited the church to re-embrace the mission of living life like Jesus, supported by missional communities, and he has seen real growth: people joining communities, opening up about their struggles and building bridges with coworkers and neighbors. He asks everyone to consider how their love for God, and for people disconnected from God, has grown this past year.
Phil compares the new year to Charlie Brown running at the football Lucy has been pulling away since 1953, torn between the realist who knows how it ends and the idealist who hopes this time will be different. Many of us half expect our faith, church, family and ability to live on mission never to change, yet hope this year could be better. Submitting all of life to Jesus is hard, Phil admits, but it is worth it, and whatever last year held, a fresh start is available to everyone, including those not yet following Christ.
The main reason we need a fresh start, Phil explains, is that God gives one. Even in Lamentations, a book full of pain, hope breaks through: the faithful love of the Lord never ends, and his mercies “begin afresh each morning.” As a high achiever, Phil finds it hard to believe that today brings new grace no matter what happened yesterday. In 1 John 1:8–9, those who claim to have no sin fool themselves, but when we confess, God is faithful to forgive. Growth in Christ is not a steady march to perfection; God’s grace in spite of our failures is part of how he makes us like Jesus. Whether we need a push to go deeper, have never really started, or, like Peter sinking in the waves, took our eyes off Jesus, his mercies are new every morning.
What needs a fresh start, Phil repeats, is being a church that makes disciples. In Matthew 28:19–20 Jesus sends his followers to make disciples of all nations and promises to be with them always. That requires knowing who and knowing how. The who is everyone, but the emphasis falls on knowing, because “you can’t love deeply that which you do not know deeply.” Knowing how means rearranging life to live in spiritual community as a family on mission with God, which at Clarity happens in missional communities. Making disciples is not optional for any follower of Christ, Phil insists; it is part of our DNA.
To show how serious this fresh start is, Clarity has disbanded its missional communities and will launch two brand-new ones in the coming weeks, and Phil will ask all who call Clarity home to commit to one this year. He closes by asking whether today will be the beginning of a fresh start toward a Spirit-guided life of faith, toward being a disciple who makes disciples, and toward living on mission with God as a church.
Questions about Lamentations 3:22–23
It says that because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, “for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:22–23). Pastor Phil says it means a fresh start is always available: whatever happened yesterday, today brings new grace. Growth in Christ is not a steady march to perfection; God’s grace meets us in our failures.
The phrase comes from Lamentations 3:23, which the Berean Standard Bible renders “great is Your faithfulness!” It sits in a book full of pain, right where hope breaks through: the writer calls to mind the LORD’s loving devotion and says His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:21–23). Pastor Phil calls it the reason anyone can have a fresh start.
Yes. 1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, while those who claim to have no sin deceive themselves (1 John 1:8). Pastor Phil, a self-described high achiever, admits it is hard to believe today brings new grace no matter what happened yesterday, but God’s mercies are new every morning.
Because God offers one. Pastor Phil says that whether we need a push to go deeper, have never really started following Jesus, or, like Peter sinking in the waves, took our eyes off Him, God’s mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22–23). Submitting all of life to Jesus is hard, he admits, but it is worth it, and a fresh start is open to everyone.
