All Things New" Dr David DeRose, August 22, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Jesus Says "Rise," Stagnation Dies

A man waited 38 years by a pool, paralyzed by hesitation and defeat. Jesus’ command “Rise” cut through decades of resignation, proving no situation is beyond renewal. His words bypassed the man’s excuses, cultural superstitions about healing waters, and even physical limitations. New starts begin not when conditions improve, but when Christ’s authority interrupts despair. Trusting His voice activates power beyond human effort. What chains of inertia keep you passive where Christ calls you to move? [05:21]

“Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk.’ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.”
(John 5:8-9, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you accepted stagnation as permanent? How might responding to Christ’s command to “rise” disrupt cycles of waiting for perfect conditions?

Day 2: Funeral Processions and Unfinished Stories

A widow’s last hope lay cold on a stretcher—until Jesus stopped the burial march. His intervention rewrote a story that seemed conclusively tragic. Where culture saw closure, Christ saw raw material for resurrection. Grief’s finality dissolves when the One who conquered death engages our losses. Every ending becomes a potential beginning in His presence. What “closed case” in your life needs Christ’s disruptive compassion? [06:24]

“Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’ And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.”
(Luke 7:14-15, ESV)

Reflection: What loss or disappointment have you prematurely buried? How might Christ’s perspective redefine what seems irreversibly broken?

Day 3: Condemnation’s Echo vs. Mercy’s Whisper

Stones dropped first from oldest hands—the accusers’ silence louder than their retreat. To the trembling woman, Jesus offered neither cheap grace nor shaming lectures, but identity-defining mercy: “I don’t condemn you.” His words dissolved guilt’s paralysis, making repentance possible. Shame shrivels where love names our worth beyond failure. Where do you need to hear “go in peace” more than “try harder”? [08:33]

“Jesus stood up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.’”
(John 8:10-11, ESV)

Reflection: What internal or external accusations keep you frozen? How does Christ’s refusal to condemn create space for true transformation?

Day 4: Sycamore Trees and Unfinished Amendments

Zacchaeus climbed to see Jesus, but salvation came down to him. Before restitution plans or public apologies, Jesus declared redemption complete. The tax collector’s restitution flowed from acceptance, not to earn acceptance. Grace empowers change but never demands perfection as its price. What ladder of self-improvement have you climbed that Christ wants to replace with His “today”? [10:50]

“And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.’ So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.”
(Luke 19:5-6, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you delay receiving grace until you “fix yourself”? How might embracing Christ’s “today” accelerate authentic transformation?

Day 5: Sabbath Rhythms and Eternal Newness

God embedded new starts into creation’s DNA—not as emergency exceptions but as sacred rhythm. The Sabbath memorializes His power to renew formless voids, dead sons, and corrupt tax collectors. Each week whispers: what He did at Bethesda and Calvary, He still does. Our endings are His raw materials. How might keeping Sabbath recalibrate your capacity to hope? [24:21]

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
(Exodus 20:8,11, ESV)

Reflection: What worn-out narrative about your limitations does Sabbath rest challenge? How does anchoring in God’s creative power expand your vision for renewal?

Sermon Summary

God is a God of new starts. Jesus’ ministry shows that truth in living color, because He stepped into incurable illness, grief, guilt, condemnation, and social rejection, and gave people a future they could not create for themselves. The paralytic at Bethesda had spent thirty-eight years looking at a pool and watching others get ahead of him, but Jesus spoke: “Rise, take up your bed, and walk.” The widow of Nain had lost not only her son but, humanly speaking, her future, yet Jesus stopped the funeral procession and gave both the son and his mother a new start.

Jesus also met people whose deepest wounds were spiritual and relational. The woman caught in adultery expected stones and heard a death sentence, but Christ said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Zacchaeus had a mess to clean up, but Jesus did not require him to fix everything before receiving grace. Christ invited him down from the tree, received him, and declared that salvation had come to his house. The Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost.

Paul describes this new start as becoming a new creation in Christ. Age does not cancel God’s purpose, because Moses stood at the burning bush at eighty years old, the age he himself recognized as the normal length of life. God’s call came when Moses may have felt that life was essentially over. The fact that life remains means God still has a plan.

Genesis reveals the pattern behind every new start. The earth was without form and void, a waste, but God spoke and light came. Christ’s word healed the paralytic, raised the dead, released the condemned woman, and transformed Zacchaeus. Paul says that the word of God “effectively works” in those who believe, because the God who calls is faithful and “He will also do it.” God does not merely offer an improved version of the old life. He sanctifies completely and shapes His people into Christ’s image.

Revelation carries the same promise to its final horizon: “Behold, I make all things new.” The new heaven, new earth, New Jerusalem, healed nations, and absence of tears, death, mourning, crying, pain, and curse all testify that God finishes what He begins. The seventh-day Sabbath stands as a weekly reminder of this reality. Creation, Christ’s healing ministry, His rest in the tomb after redemption was finished, and Sabbath worship in the new earth all declare that God is still giving new starts.

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Key Takeaways

1. Jesus meets every kind of ruin. Jesus did not limit His restoring work to physical disease. He entered despair, bereavement, shame, condemnation, and rejection with the same authority. Human ruin may take different forms, but Christ’s word reaches into each one and creates a future where none seemed possible. [07:03]
2. Grace comes before the cleanup. Zacchaeus had not yet repaid everyone he had defrauded when Jesus announced salvation over his house. Christ’s acceptance produced repentance and restitution rather than waiting for them as entry requirements. A life with many loose ends is not beyond Christ’s invitation to come down and receive Him. [10:32]
3. God’s word effectively works in believers. God’s word is not merely information to be admired or religious language to be repeated. The word that created light and healed broken lives still works in those who welcome it as God’s own word. Faith holds onto His promise even when the change is not yet fully visible. [16:53]
4. No age cancels God’s calling. Moses received his defining assignment at the age when he considered life’s normal span complete. God’s purpose does not depend on whether a person thinks the best years have passed. Life still present means God can still speak, call, restore, and begin again. [13:43]
5. Sabbath remembers creation and redemption. The Sabbath points back to a world brought from waste and emptiness by God’s word. Christ’s Sabbath healings and His rest in the tomb show that restoration is central to its meaning. Sabbath worship therefore reminds God’s people that creation, redemption, and the coming new earth belong to one great work of making all things new.

## [29:39]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:43] - Do You Need a New Start?
[02:34] - God Is a God of New Starts
[03:45] - Jesus Heals the Paralytic
[05:39] - Jesus Meets Grief at Nain
[07:03] - Freedom from Guilt and Condemnation
[08:54] - Zacchaeus Receives Grace
[11:26] - A New Creation in Christ
[13:15] - Moses and a Late-Life Calling
[14:47] - Creation from Formless Waste
[16:25] - God’s Word Effectively Works
[20:41] - Behold, I Make All Things New
[22:53] - Sabbath as a Weekly Reminder
[25:17] - Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
[29:39] - Creation, Redemption, and New Earth

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Revelation 21:5
“And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’”
[[00:20:41]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=1241s)

John 5:8–9
“Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk.’ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.”
[[00:05:21]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=321s)

Luke 7:14–15
“Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’ And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.”
[[00:06:30]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=390s)

John 8:10–11
“Jesus stood up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.’”
[[00:08:25]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=505s)

Luke 19:5–6, 9
“And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.’ So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully... And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.’”
[[00:09:47]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=587s) [[00:10:49]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=649s)

2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
[[00:11:44]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=704s)

Genesis 1:2–3
“The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
[[00:15:10]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=910s)

1 Thessalonians 2:13
“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”
[[00:16:53]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=1013s)

Isaiah 66:22–23
“‘For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD.’”
[[00:30:28]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=1828s)

Observation questions

In the stories of the paralytic, the widow of Nain, the woman accused of adultery, and Zacchaeus, what different kinds of brokenness does Jesus meet? [[00:03:45]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=225s)
What did the paralytic do immediately after Jesus told him to rise, take up his bed, and walk? What detail does John include about the day this healing took place? [[00:05:21]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=321s)
Before Jesus declared that salvation had come to Zacchaeus’s house, what had Zacchaeus actually done, and what had he not yet completed? [[00:10:07]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=607s)
According to Genesis 1:2–3 and 1 Thessalonians 2:13, what does God’s word do in situations that appear empty, dark, or beyond repair? [[00:16:01]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=961s)

Interpretation questions

Jesus tells the woman, “Neither do I condemn you,” and then, “Go, and from now on sin no more.” How do these two statements hold together grace, forgiveness, and a changed life? [[00:08:25]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=505s)
Zacchaeus was welcomed by Jesus before he had finished restoring what he had taken. What does this show about the relationship between receiving grace and making things right with others? [[00:10:32]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=632s)
Paul says God’s word is “at work” in believers. What might it look like for God’s word to be working in a person even when the person cannot yet see a complete change? [[00:19:16]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=1156s)
Revelation promises that God will make all things new, while the Sabbath points back to creation and Christ’s restoring work. How does this future promise give meaning and hope to present struggles? [[00:29:44]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=1784s)

Application questions

Where do you most need a new start right now: in your health, relationships, work, emotions, habits, guilt, or sense of purpose? What would it look like to bring that specific need honestly to Jesus? [[00:01:11]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=71s)
The paralytic had spent many years watching others get ahead of him. Is there an area where comparison, disappointment, or waiting has left you discouraged? What might trusting Jesus’ word look like in that place? [[00:04:49]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=289s)
Jesus met the widow of Nain in her grief and gave her a future she could not create for herself. Who is carrying grief, loss, or despair around you, and how could you offer that person compassion rather than quick answers? [[00:06:44]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=404s)
Jesus does not wait for people to clean up every part of their lives before inviting them to come to Him. Is there a mess, failure, or unresolved situation that makes you feel hesitant to come close to Christ? What does Zacchaeus’s story say to that fear? [[00:10:32]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=632s)
Moses received God’s call at eighty, when he may have felt his most meaningful years were behind him. Have you ever assumed that it is too late for God to use you, restore something, or give you a fresh purpose? Why? [[00:14:14]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=854s)
God spoke light into a world that was without form and void. What is one Scripture promise you need to receive as God’s word to you this week, rather than merely as familiar religious information? [[00:16:32]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=992s)
Sabbath is a weekly reminder that God creates, redeems, heals, and will make all things new. What could help you use the Sabbath more intentionally as a day to remember God’s power to give new starts? [[00:30:28]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79OQhmtzns&t=1828s)

Sermon Clips

54s

“if your version of the gospel is you've gotta do everything right before you come to Jesus, Jesus could have said, okay, you're on the right start. Go ahead and make everything right and then I'll accept you. Is that what Jesus said? He said the opposite. He said, today salvation has come to this house since he also is the son of Abraham. Don't miss that because sometimes Satan says, well, you're not good enough to come to Jesus. What did Zacchaeus have to do? That's right. He just had to accept the invitation. Come down. Okay? Jesus is just inviting you to come to him. Yes, there's stuff that's a mess in my life and in your lives, and Jesus wants to heal that. That's what he does. He says here, the son of man has come to do what? To seek and save that which is lost.”

50s

“Think about it, those stories in Jesus' ministry. What did it take to heal the man at the Pool Of Bethesda? The word of Jesus. What did it take to heal that dead man who was coming out of the city of Nain? The word of Jesus. What did it take to heal the woman spiritually who was taken in adultery? The word of Jesus. And what did it take to heal Zacchaeus? The word of Jesus. How far is the word of Jesus from us? It's right here. Okay? Not only is it in the bible, the Bible says the word of God is right at hand. It's in our heart. We can accept God's word speaking to us personally.”

45s

“The earth is a waste, but God speaks. That's right. Now you may feel like a mess or a waste. Okay? And, I was taught to keep good eye contact with my audience. I'm not looking at you because I think you're a waste or a mess. Okay? No, really. But God sees us in all our potential. Okay? And he wants to do a new work in us today. How does God do it? How did he do it in the creation? He simply spoke and it was. Let there be light and what happened? There was light.”

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