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