The God Of The Do Over

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."