The God Of The Do Over…
This morning what I want to talk how we serve a God who is the God of the do over… NOW - THIS truth that our God, is the God of the do over; is the God of the fresh start – is important in understanding what Central Christian Church is all about. YOU SEE – our motto is – “A Place Of New Beginnings.”
NOW – that motto is a little over four years old. LET – me tell you how it came to be our motto. In December of 1997 – my family and I came to Central from Tampa Florida. Laurie & I had been married for 11 months; and we were leaving behind a difficult ministry and some pretty tough times that we had all gone through in our personal lives.
This past Friday night I was t the church around 9 pm and on my counter I found n Old QT journal from 1997 (March to August). I spent about 30 minutes reading through it… I had forgotten how bad things were, how hurt, confused and discouraged I was. I didn’t really know who I was or what I was supposed to do…
JULY 22 – “Lord, I feel that it is time for me to move on and seek a new ministry…I need a fresh start a new beginning. I pray that even now you are preparing the man who will take my place…who can get things rolling. Lord open doors and close doors that I might find the best place where I can serve you.”
JULY 24 – “I don’t really feel in tune to anything right now Lord. I just feel the need for a fresh start in ministry. I want a new beginning…”
Central Christian Church had been through some tough times – Now I don’t know all the details BUT I know that when God brought us together in December of 1997 – that Central had gone for a year without a minister, I know that many people had left, and that a faithful few had held on to God and each other through some times of hardship & uncertainty - because they believed in the power of God and the ministry of this church… [stand…]
Do you get the picture - When my family and Central teamed up, we were both looking for the same thing; a fresh start, a do over, a new beginning. SO I asked the leaders if we could make “A Place Of New Beginnings” our church motto and obviously they said yes – and obviously God has given us one.
UNDERSTAND - Central Christian Church is about New Beginnings, we are about people getting do overs and fresh starts with God… AND we all, need a new beginning every now and then, don’t we?
AND LISTEN – the reason we are about New Beginnings is because our God is about New Beginnings. NOW – I don’t know where you are right now in your life. BUT – maybe you need a do over, maybe you need a fresh start. If so I want you to know that God can handle that…(he’s been doing it for 1,000 of years). AND - I want you to know that if so desire and so choose – YOU CAN – leave this room today, fresh & new…
OKAY – here’s how I want to organize our thoughts today – I want to organize them around 3 questions: When do you need a do over? Why does God give do overs? Why would someone turn down a do over?
When Do You Need A Do Over?
I think the best way for me to Illustrate when, is to give you some examples in Scriptures of people who were in serious need of a do over?
You Need A Do Over When You Fall Into Sin
He was the man. He was the one everyone looked to. He was a hero. He was a mighty warrior for God. When an entire army was afraid he was the one who stepped into the valley to face a 10 foot (think about it) giant. He was a powerful king who won many victories for God. This man wrote some awesome songs of praise and he was not the least bit afraid to let it all hang out in worship (“I will celebrate before the lord. I will become even more undignified than this” 2 Sam 6:21,22 ). The people loved and praised him and when God looked at him he said, “there is a man after my own heart..”
David was riding high - and that is what made his fall that we read about in 2 Samuel chapter 11 so hard.
Chapter 11 opens up this way, "IN THE SPRING AT THE TIME WHEN KINGS GO TO WAR, DAVID SENT JOAB OUT WITH THE KING’S MEN AND THE WHOLE ISRAELITE ARMY. THEY DESTROYED THE AMMONITES AND BESIEGED RABBAH. BUT DAVID REMAINED IN JERUSALEM."
This is where his problems start.. . David stayed home he should have been out doing battle for the Lord, but he stayed home. UNDERSTAND - if he had gone where he should have gone and had done what he should have done -- these chapters in his life could have been avoided.
Isn’t this when we get ourselves into trouble, when we are not doing the things we should be doing, and when we are not going where we should be going. It is at these times when we are most susceptible to temptation and sin.... and when we will write chapters in our live that one day we will regret.
David was home and, he was not home alone. One evening he went up on to his roof to take a walk and while he was up there he saw a beautiful woman bathing (Bathseba)... Whether David went up there to see just such a thing we do not know -- but we do know that he could have looked the other way -- but rather didn’t, rather he allowed the temptation to turn into desire and as James says he was dragged away by this desire and it gave birth to sin.
David summoned her to his chambers and he committed adultery with her, it didn’t matter to him that she was married or that he was married – it didn’t matter what God thought about it either – ALL that matter was what he wanted to do….
Later he gets a call from Bathseba and she tells him that she is pregnant with his child... David decides that if the Jerusalem Star got a hold of this it would be all over town so he sent for Her husband Uriah from the battle field. His plan was to have Uriah come home and sleep with his wife so that everyone would think that this child was his. But Uraih was a noble man and a great leader, even though David got him drunk -- he would not even go into his house he slept on the front porch, he said to David, "THE ARK OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH ARE STAYING IN TENTS, AND MY MASTER JOAB AND MY LORD’S MEN ARE CAMPED IN THE OPEN FIELDS. HOW COULD I GO TO MY HOUSE TO EAT AND DRINK AND LIE WITH MY WIFE? AS SURELY AS YOU LIVE, I WILL DO NO SUCH THING!"
What an honorable man, what a man to have fighting for your side -- on any other occasion David would have rejoiced at such leadership and loyalty ... But not now -- Now he could only think of covering up his sin.... And it was not respect he felt towards Uriah but intense hatred.
So David switched to plan B -- he sent a letter to his General Joab and in the letter he wrote, "PUT URIAH IN THE FRONT LINE WHERE THE FIGHTING IS THE FIERCEST. THEN WITHDRAW FROM HIM SO HE WILL BE STRUCK DOWN AND DIE."
The plan was carried out and Uraih the husband of Bathseba was killed.... David allowed Bathseba to mourn the required length of time after which he had her brought to his palace and she became his wife....
David had fallen into sin and he needed a do over real bad. The enemy had waited patiently for years, for decades to trip him up. (The roaring lion patiently waited for the right moment to pounce). UNDERSTAND – satan really goes after people who are potentially a great threat to his kingdom…
QUESTION – do people still fall into sin today? Do they like David, still wind up in places that they never thought they would be? No one ever thought David would do what he did, not him.
He loved God so much…
Maybe today you are like David and have fallen into sin… You are really not sure of how it happened – one day you were just walking to a roof top and before you knew it; sexual immorality, drugs, alcohol, or some other sin had or has - it’s grip on you…
When sin has it’s hold on you – you need a do over…
You Need A Do Over When Life Beats You Up
“In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had 7 sons and 3 daughters and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen and 500 donkeys, and a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the east.” Job 1:1-3
How would you like to be that guy?
LISTEN – when we think of Job we don’t think about him being the greatest man among all the people of the east. NO – we think of man who in an instant lost in all – all his children died, he lost all of his wealth, he lost his health – boils covered his body and he sat in an ash heap scratching himself with broken pieces of pottery. AND when his friends come to comfort him – they don’t do so well, they tell him that he must have been pretty bad to get it so bad…
Life – had beaten Job and he needed a do over, a new beginning…a fresh start.
Sometimes life beats us up as well, and we need a new beginning… Relational storms, health storms, financial storms and emotional storms beat against us…The damage can be severe. Maybe right now life is beating you up, you’re tired, discouraged, you’re not sure how much more you can take…you don’t know where to turn… You need a do over.
You Need A Do Over When You’ve Got The Blues
When people looked at him they said – “Elijah, you da prophet.. you da prophet baby…” AND they were right (QUESTION - which prophet of all the old testament prophets did God pick to be on The Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus? Elijah)… LISTEN - if the Biography channel was to do a story of Elijah it’d be awesome… They’d show him multiplying a widows food, raising her dead son, Going toe to toe with 850 false prophets on Mt Carmel and kicking all 850 butts. AND no doubt the final image would be of God taking him to heaven in that fiery chariot (you meet him in 1 Kings 17)
BUT – in 1 Kings chapter 19… Elijah got a major case of the blues. For some reason when the wicked Queen Jezebel threatened him, Elijah got scared and ran away to the wilderness.
“’I have had enough Lord, Take my life. I am no better than my ancestors’ Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep..” 1 Kings 19:4,5
Have you ever felt that way? You’re doing all you can. AND that one things happen and you can’t take any more. “Lord I’ve had enough… I can’t take anymore of this…
3rd
You Need A Do Over When Pride Has You Headed Down The Wrong Road
He knew he was right. He was sure that he was doing the right thing. He was confident in the actions that he was taken. BUT - he had no idea that what he was doing, was wrong – very wrong. AND – in an instant all the wrongness of his actions became crystal clear in the glare of that bright light on the road to Damascus…
Saul of Tarsus needed a do over, a fresh start, a new beginning…. Maybe your pride has sent you at breakneck speed in the wrong direction. Maybe you are beginning to realize that a lot of what you were doing is wrong…IF so you need a do over…
You Need A Do Over When You Didn’t Do What You Said You Do
“Lord even if everyone else falls away – you can count on me, I’ll never deny you.” AND – we know the rest of the story don’t we. The rooster crowed and Peter denied Jesus three times.
MAYBE – you are in a similar situation… “Not me I’ll never do that – I’ll never be like them…”
Why Would God Give Us A Do Over
NOW – in life do overs are not the norm… In our Hang Time journal on April 3rd – we read a chapter from max Lucado’s book – “No Wonder They Call Him Savior.”
“Not many second chances exist in the world today.. Just ask the kid who didn’t make the little league team or the fellow who got the pink slip or the mother of three who dumped for a ‘pretty little thing.’ Not many second chances. Nowadays it’s more like, “It’s now or never,” “Around here we don’t tolerate incompetence” Gotta get tough to get along.” “Not much room at the top.” “Three strikes and your out..”
BUT wouldn’t it be great if there were do overs..
A policeman stops you for speeding, you just tear up the ticket and say – Thanks officer but I’ll be taking a do over today… The bank says you bounced a check. Do over you say, no problem they say back…. You get in an argument with a friend and you say something mean & cruel – I think I’ll be taking that do over now – sure thing they say… Fail a test, blow a presentation at work, invest in the wrong company, forget to send in your taxes – JUST take a do over…
BUT LISTEN – in the most important thing there is (our relationship with God) – a do over is not a dream it is a reality….
Why would God give us a do over….?
Because He Loves Us
God so loved the world – he so loves us… he so loves you that he gave his one and only Son… AND – get this God knew all along, even before he created us that we would need a do over.
“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen BEFORE the creation of the world….” 1 Pe 1:18-20
CIRCLE – “He was chosen before the creation of the world.”
It is God’s nature because of his intense love for us (the cross) to give us a do over, a fresh start – a new beginning. Checkout these words that God says to people who were in exile because of their rebellion against him….
“For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and NOT to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jer 29:11
Because We Ask Him
God is willing to give all people a do over… BUT we need to ask him for one. UNDERSTAND – everyone we mentioned earlier got a do over – got a fresh start… David, Elijah, Job, Peter, Paul they all got a do over…they all called to God and he heard their cries…
AND LISTEN - these guys did some awesome things on the other side of their do over…I wish we had the time to look at these in depth – You can check it later on your own…BUT let me just touch on the do overs…
David wrote after God gave him his do over…
Psalm 32 (NLT)
Paul said this about his do over;
1 Timothy 1:15-17 (NLT)
And the word of God says of Job;
“the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before…The Lord blessed the later part of his life more than the first..”
Job 42:10,12
The pages of this book are full of people finding do overs – fresh starts – new beginnings in the Lord. I don’t have the time to talk about; Jospeh, Zacchaecus, the woman at the well, Samson, Mary Magdalene…. BUT there stories are here… written down for you & I so we will never forget that our God is the God of the do over….
BEFORE – I move onto the final question let me quote a couple of passages one from Joel and one from Malachi…
“Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them, RETURN to me and I will RETURN to you…” Mal 3:7
“Turn to me now, while there is still time! Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Don’t tear your clothing in your grief; instead tear your hearts. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful. He is not easily angered. He is filled with kindness and is eager NOT to punish you. Who knows? Perhaps even yet he will give you reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this terrible curse. Perhaps he willow give you so much that you will be able to offer grain & wine to the Lord your God as before.” Joel 2:12-14
Why Would Someone Not want A Do Over?
FIRST – let me make this point perfectly clear. God wants to give everyone a do over. Checkout what a do over recipient had to say in one of his letters;
“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, NOT wanting ANY to perish, but everyone to come to repentance…” 2 Pe 3:9
“Do you think, asks the Sovereign Lord, that I like to see wicked people die? Of course not! I only want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.”
Ezk 18:23 (NLT)
GOD – is all about do overs and new beginnings – fresh starts.. YET people so often refuse them. Much of the OT prophets all 17 books is about God asking a rebellious people if they want a do over…. BUT they don’t want one…
“Again & again, I sent my servants the prophets who said, Do not do this testable thing that I hate! BUT they did not listen or pay attention, they did not turn form their wickedness…Therefore my fierce anger was poured out..” Jer 44:4-6
OKAY 3 quick reason why someone would turn down a do over
Pride -
“In his pride the wicked does not seek God…” Ps 10:4
Blinded by satan-
“Satan the god of this evil world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe so they are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News that is shining upon them…” 2 Cor 4:4 (NLT)
Don’t really know who God is
Lk 15:11-32
