A Happy New Year Sermons (NKJV) – Verse-by-Verse Commentary & Reflection
New Year sermons always hits me with this weird mix of hope and heaviness. I don’t know about you, but every December 31st I sorta sit there with a cup of chai or coffee (depends on the mood really) and just stare at the window thinking, “Man… how did the entire year slip like that?” And sometimes the past feels loud, noisy inside your head—regrets banging like old dishes in a sink. But the Bible, especially the NKJV passages we’re gonna walk through today, always pulls me back into something steadier than my anxious thoughts.
So today I want to walk you gently, verse by verse, through a kind of “New Year sermon collection” built from different Scriptures. Not a rigid outline, more like wandering through a garden of Scriptures and stopping whenever something smells sweet or stings a little. And we talk about it. Like friends. Like a Bible study in someone’s living room where one dog is sleeping on the rug and someone’s baby keeps dropping its toy on the floor.
Let’s dig in.
1. “Behold, I will do a new thing…” – Isaiah 43:18–19 (NKJV)
“Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?”
This verse always makes me feel a weird kind of emotional—like God is patting my shoulder, saying softly, Hey, let’s stop digging in the old dirt now. And we humans, we love the old dirt. We roll in it sometimes. We replay old arguments, old heartbreaks, old stupid decisions we made when our brain was half asleep (or half stubborn).
But Isaiah says something so refreshing. Almost like a splash of cold water on the face early morning when you didn’t sleep enough.
He says DON'T REMEMBER the former things.
Not because the former things are fake or meaningless. But because God is trying to grow something new there, and you can’t plant fresh seeds in soil you’re still busy digging dead roots out of.
The phrase “shall you not know it?” always hits me. To me, it kinda feels like God is saying, “I’m doing it right in front of you. Don’t miss it because you staring behind you.”
In the new year, so many of us drag all the old hurt into January like we pulling a suitcase with a broken wheel across an airport. No wonder we feel exhausted by March.
Let the verse whisper to you:
A new thing is coming. Let go enough so you can see it.
2. “So teach us to number our days…” – Psalm 90:12 (NKJV)
“So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
There’s something strangely calming about this verse. Like Moses (yes, Moses wrote this psalm) is sitting at the edge of a campfire telling you, “Kid, your days are precious, don’t throw them around like loose change.”
Numbering our days doesn’t mean being afraid of dying, or panicking about time slipping. It means being aware. Present. Awake. Like tasting your food instead of inhaling it because you're in a rush. Or smelling the first rain of the season instead of running inside to not get wet.
The older I get, the more I realize wasted time usually came from not paying attention. Days blurred because I wasn’t really in them.
New Year sermons often talk about resolutions, but this verse is deeper. God isn’t asking for a list of goals taped to your fridge with a magnet shaped like a fruit (mine is a strawberry, a little ugly but I like it). He’s asking for a wise heart.
A wise heart knows when to slow down.
A wise heart knows when to speak or stay quiet.
A wise heart knows the shortness of life but doesn’t panic—just values it.
3. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart…” – Proverbs 3:5–6 (NKJV)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.”
This is such a classic New Year passage. If you’ve been in church long enough, you probably heard at least 10 sermons on it. And honestly, we need all ten because we forget so easily.
Trusting God with all your heart is kinda scary sometimes. Because what if He leads you somewhere weird or difficult? And honestly, sometimes He does. But He also walks with you through it, and that changes everything.
The part that always stings a little is “lean not on your own understanding.”
Like… excuse me, Solomon, but my understanding is all I got sometimes.
But then again, my understanding has gotten me into some pretty dumb situations. Maybe yours too? Times when I was sure I was right, only to realize later I saw like 1% of the whole picture.
But God sees all of it. The stuff ahead, the stuff behind, the stuff above your head that you didn’t know was even happening.
“In all your ways acknowledge Him” means… pause. Ask. Whisper a prayer before making that huge decision or even the small one. Not because God is a strict instructor marking your homework, but because He’s the only one who actually knows the road.
“He shall direct your paths.”
Not maybe.
Not if He’s in a good mood that day.
He SHALL.
New Year or not—your path is not in the dark with Him.
4. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation…” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
This verse feels like fresh paint smell in a newly cleaned room. Sharp, clean, hopeful.
“Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
The most comforting part is that becoming new in Christ isn’t tied to the calendar. You don’t have to wait for January 1st for a clean slate. It can be right now, this minute, while reading this blog, even if you’re half asleep or holding your phone at a weird angle in bed.
Sometimes Christians walk around feeling guilty about sins they repented of years ago, like they carrying a backpack full of bricks that Jesus already removed. But He doesn’t recycle condemnation. Once forgiven, it’s done.
So don’t walk into 2025 (or whatever the new year is when you're reading) dragging what God already declared dead.
New creation means:
– you can breathe different
– you can think different
– you can choose different
– you can dream different
– you can walk lighter
Even if you messed up yesterday. Even if everyone remembers your mistakes. God says new means new.
5. “I press toward the goal…” – Philippians 3:13–14 (NKJV)
Paul gets a bit intense here, but in a good way.
“Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead…”
I love that Paul admits he hasn’t “arrived.” He’s still figuring it out. Still fighting. Still moving. Isn’t that comforting? Because some days I feel spiritually messy as a spilled bowl of cereal. But Paul—Paul!—says he’s still pressing.
New Year preaching often focuses on “press forward,” but the hard part is the first half: forgetting what’s behind.
Some of us cling too tight to the past because it’s familiar—even the painful parts. But pressing forward means loosening your grip on what hurt you, disappointed you, or slowed you.
Reaching forward means stretching. It’s uncomfortable sometimes. Like soreness after a good workout. But it means growth is happening.
6. “In everything give thanks…” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (NKJV)
A strange, kinda challenging verse.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks…”
How do you give thanks when the year wasn’t great? When your heart feels bruised from disappointments? When prayers didn’t get answered the way you hoped?
You don’t give thanks for everything.
You give thanks in everything.
There’s a big difference.
You can be thankful for God’s presence even in a storm.
Thankful for His patience when you messed up… again.
Thankful for breath in your lungs, for warmth in your home, or the taste of good food that reminds you life can still feel sweet.
Gratitude resets your heart. It’s like when the room is too dark and you finally light one small candle—the shadows don’t disappear, but the darkness loses its power.
7. “The Lord bless you and keep you…” – Numbers 6:24–26 (NKJV)
This ancient priestly blessing feels beautiful for a new year.
“The Lord make His face shine upon you…”
Isn’t that a lovely picture?
God’s face shining on you, like a soft warm morning light touching your skin after a cold night.
“The Lord lift up His countenance upon you…”
It means He looks at you with attention. With care. You’re not ignored. Not forgotten. Not overlooked like someone sitting at the corner seat in a big crowd.
“And give you peace.”
Peace isn’t silence. Peace is God holding your heart steady even when life shakes around you. A peace you can take into January, February, and all the tiring months after.
Pulling It All Together – A New Year Sermon Heartbeat
When you combine all these NKJV verses, a theme rises like the smell of fresh bread from a warm kitchen:
God wants to lead you, renew you, steady you, heal you, free you, and walk with you into the new year—step by uneven step.
You don’t need to enter the new year perfect or brave or with a 10-point plan. You just need to enter willing.
Willing to trust.
Willing to release the old things.
Willing to take small steps.
Willing to let God write the new chapter even if your handwriting is messy.
New Year sermons aren’t about hype. They’re about hope. Real hope. The kind you hold onto when life feels like it’s wobbling under your feet.
Closing Thoughts
I hope your new year feels like breathing clean air after being stuck in a crowded place too long. I hope you feel God’s closeness in the quiet mornings, in the noisy afternoons, in the lonely nights, and in the in-between moments where life doesn’t make sense.
And if the year ahead scares you a bit—hey, that’s fine. Courage isn’t a roar. Sometimes it’s a shaky whisper saying, “God, I’m here. Lead me.”
He will.
He always does.
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