ISAIAH 43:18-19 “STARTING OVER – PART 1”
A) How many of you here tonight would like to have a fresh start in your Christian life?
* Some of us here have made many mistakes in our lives as Christians, and we all wish that
there was a “starting over” button that we could push and we could start our lives over again.
B) We have experienced many setbacks and failures throughout our lives!
* Sometimes we allow these mistakes, these setbacks and failures to enslave us to the point that
we never enjoy the full Christian life that God has given us to enjoy.
C) In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might ....... ”
* Then he goes on to tell us that there is an adversary, called the devil, and that he seeks to steal,
kill, and to destroy that life.
* The devil will remind us of our past in order to keep us from enjoying the life that God gave
us to live ... The devil does not want you to have a fresh start in your Christian life.
D) The good news is, God says, “I want you to have a new, a fresh start in life!”
* “I want you to have a new beginning ... I want to do something new in your life.”
E) Aren’t you glad that God wants to do something new in your life?
* Doesn’t it make you excited to know that God desires to give you a fresh start, a new beginning
in life? ... What all of us here need tonight is a fresh start, a new beginning with God.
F) Last year some of you said, “I am going to grow in my relationship with God – I am going
to pray more, read my Bible more, and get more involved in my church!”
* “I’m going to spend more quality time with my family.” ... AND THE LIST COULD GO ON.
* The fact is, all of us here made some mistakes, or we made some bad decisions that hindered
us from doing those things that we wanted to do.
G) Well, the Bible gives us good news, and the good news is in Isaiah 43:18-19 .......
* The Lord says, “Forget about what has happened before ... Do not think about the past ... Instead,
look at the new things I’m going to do.”
H) Listen to what God is saying in this verse ... “Forget about what’s happened before!”
* He says, “Don’t think about the past ... It’s over ... The book’s closed on it.”
I) We need to understand that God is far more interested in our future than He is in our past!
* Some people think that God is stuck on their past, that all He wants to do is remind them of the
things that they have done wrong.
J) God is more interested in your future than He is with your past!
* That’s where you’re going to spend the rest of your life.
* He says, “Forget about your past ... Forget about the former things ... Don’t think about it ...
Look at the new things I’m going to do.”
ISRAEL WAS BEING PUNISHED FOR THEIR SINS AND REBELLION AGAINST GOD
A) God wanted to give hope and encouragement to His people ... He wanted them to know
that even though they were being punished, they were not being forsaken!
* God wanted His people to understand that the punishment that they were experiencing would
not be the end of them.
* The fact is, that God wanted to give them a fresh start in life, a new beginning in life.
B) Israel, no doubt, was discouraged because they thought this was the end of them!
* They had gone too far ... They had sinned and rebelled against God to the point that He would
no longer be their God ... Maybe they thought God would not deliver them again – It’s over.
* That is when they begin to remember the former things or past deliverances.
C) They could remember when they were trapped by the Red Sea and had nowhere to go, and
how God made a way for them!
* They could remember that when the enemy was about to overtake them, how He provided
protection for them.
D) They could remember the former things, but they couldn’t see their future!
* That is why God said, “I am going to do something new.”
E) Maybe that’s where you are right now!
* You feel that you have made so many mistakes, you have failed God so many times, and you
have sinned it all away, and now God doesn’t want anything to do with you.
* You feel and believe that you have no future with God.
F) The good news is, God is saying, “It’s not over, I have plans for your life – I am about to do
something new for you!”
* Tonight I want to share with you, “Starting Over.”
G) I want to share with you a formula for starting over ... Anagram – S.T.A.R.T.
* I hope you’ll remember this and pass it along to friends when they have failures.
* Regardless of what kind of failure you had in the past ...You may have had a financial failure,
or maybe a relationship failure, a failure in your marriage, you may have had a moral failure.
H) You may have really blown it and you may have made some decisions you’re so ashamed of
and hope nobody ever finds out about!
* Regardless of the failure you’ve had in your life, here’s how you start over .......
(1) S – STOP MAKING EXCUSES!
A) If I want a fresh start in life, I have to stop making excuses for my failures!
* I’ve got to stop blaming other people.
* I’ve got to stop seeing myself as the victim of my circumstances.
B) Other people can hurt us ... Other people can harm us ... And other people can scar us,
but the only person that can ruin your life is you!
* Nobody can ruin your life without your permission.
* You have a choice, and that is, you can choose how you’re going to respond to those hurts.
C) The Bible says that the starting point is to just be honest and accept responsibility for my
part in the problem – Prov. 28:13 “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but .......”
* In other words ... He gets a fresh start.
* He says the starting point to starting over is to be honest and face up to the problems, that most
of the problems in my life, most of the failures, are my own fault.
D) It is so hard to get people to admit when they are wrong!
* People do not like to admit, “I made a mistake, and I blew it.”
* God says that if we admit the mistake, if we admit our failures, and if we admit our sin, then we
get another chance in life.
* The number one reason we fail in life is we don’t prepare ourselves for the problems that we will
face in life – The Bible says in Prov. 20:7 “The just man walketh in his integrity: his .......”
E) Was it raining when Noah started building the ark? – No!
* He had to prepare for the coming flood ... In fact, the rain didn’t come for 120 years.
* But that’s how long it took him to get the thing built.
F) We fail because we don’t listen to others ... We don’t listen to good advice when it’s offered!
* The Bible says in Prov. 15:22 “Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude
of counselors they are established.”
* You need to get all the advice you can ... Get good advice from people you know you can trust.
G) Why won’t people listen to the advice of other people?
* Because they think they don’t need it – It’s called pride – Ego .......
* Ego stands for “Edging God Out.”
* When a person thinks they know more than God, they push Him out of their life, they’re on an
ego trip, and that trip leads to a dead end – Prov. 16:18 “Pride goeth before destruction, .......”
AN ARROGANT ATTITUDE LEADS TO A FALL
A) When I think I know it all and I can figure it all out myself, I’m setting myself up for failure,
if I don’t listen to the advice of others!
* If I don’t listen to the advice of my wife or other people around me ... If I think I’ll just do it my
way ... I’ll never get anywhere.
B) The person that gets too big for their britches, will eventually be exposed in the end!
* That’s the problem with pride ... We fail to prepare, and we fail to listen to other people, and we
fail as a result of giving up too soon ... These are the three greatest causes for failure.
* We give up too soon – Prov. 24:10 “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.”
C) You’ve heard it said, “Failure is the path of least resistance!”
* The problem is that often during trying times, we stop trying ... We give up.
D) If at first you don’t succeed, welcome to the human race!
* If at first you don’t succeed, you’re normal ... Very few people make it on the first try.
* Oftentimes, we give up just when success is around the corner.
* You’re never a failure until you give up ... Sometimes we give up too soon.
E) It’s always too soon to quit ... We need to stop making excuses ... Admit when it’s our fault
and get on with life!
* I’ve discovered that people who are very good at making excuses are rarely good at anything
else – And that is so true.
* They spend all their energy thinking up reasons why they can’t do what they’re supposed to do.
* So “S” in START stands for “Stop Making Excuses.”
(2) T – TAKE AN INVENTORY OF MY LIFE!
A) I need to take an inventory of my life ... That means I need to evaluate all my experiences!
* I need to look at what I have left after the failure.
* I need to take an inventory of my life’s experiences and learn from them.
B) Gal. 3:4 “Have ye suffered so many things in vain? If it be yet in vain.”
* In other words, “You have experienced many things ... Were all those experiences wasted?”
* “You have suffered so much for the gospel ... Now are you going to throw it all over board?”
C) Learn from your mistakes ... Failure can be your friend or your foe!
* You determine if failure will be your friend or foe by the way you react to it.
* You can choose to learn from it or choose to repeat it ... If you learn from it, then it can be your
friend ... However, if you don’t learn from it, it’s your foe.
D) There are four kinds of experiences that God uses to shape our lives!
* He uses personal experiences ... The family that you grew up in, the people you relate to.
* God can use your personal experience with your husband or your wife.
* He uses personal experiences to shape you.
E) He uses vocational and educational experiences to shape you!
* He uses spiritual experiences to shape you, like coming to church, going on a retreat or
reading your Bible, having a quiet time.
* He uses painful experiences to shape you.
* As you take inventory of your life in starting over, you need to ask yourself three questions.
F) What Have I Learned?
* I know people 40, 50 years old but they don’t have 40 or 50 years of experience.
* They’ve had the same year of experience over and over ... They’ve never learned anything.
G) What have you learned from past experiences?
* If you don’t set down and think it through, you’ll end up repeating the same mistake over and
over again because you didn’t learn from it the first time.
H) What Are My Assets?
* What have I got going for me? ... Have I got my health? ... Have I got my freedom?
* Am I still mentally sound? ... Have I got some friends? ... Have I got the Lord?
* Have I got a church family? ... What do I have that I can get a fresh start with?
I) And Last, Who Can Help Me?
* When we need a fresh start, we need somebody by our side ... A friend – An accountability
partner – A support person, or a support group.
FIND SOMEONE THAT CAN HELP YOU
A) You need other people because you don’t start over by yourself after a major setback or
crisis ... You need somebody else to walk along with you!
* There is one that we can count on to be there to help us to get a fresh start in life.
* The Lord Jesus will be there ... He will help us to pull our lives back together and make sure
that we get started on the right foot.
