Do-Overs

NOW – in life “do-overs” are not the norm… Not many second chances exist in the world today.. Just ask the kid who didn’t make the hockey team or the guy who got fired or the mother of two who dumped for a ‘pretty little thing.’ Not many second chances. Nowadays it’s more like, “now or never,” “Around here we don’t tolerate incompetence” “Three strikes and your out..”

BUT wouldn’t it be great if there were do overs.. A cop stops you for speeding, you just tear up the ticket and say – “Thanks officer but I’ll be taking a do over today…” You fail a test, blow a presentation at work, or invest in the wrong company, forget to send in your taxes – JUST take a do over…I wonder if, in our relationship with God, a do over is not a dream it is a reality….That GOD, is the GOD of the do over; the GOD of the fresh start!
When Do You Need A Do Over?

1. When You Give Into Temptation and Fall Into Sin
David 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 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. 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. 2 Samuel 11 opens with David sending his armies out to fights and he stays back in Jerusalem and 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 he didn’t…

2. 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 1:1-3How would you like to be that guy? 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 all his children, he lost all of his wealth, he lost his health and when his friends come to comfort him, they tell him that he must have been pretty bad to get it so bad… 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.

3. You Need A Do Over When You’ve Got The Blues
When people looked at him they said “Elijah, you’re the man!” And they were right. 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 false prophets on Mt Carmel and kicking all their butts and no doubt the final image would be of God taking him to heaven in that fiery chariot. 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 thing happens and you can’t take any more. “Lord I’ve had enough… I can’t take anymore of this…”

4. You Need A Do Over When Pride Has You Headed Down The Wrong Road
Saul 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. 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…

5. 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 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….?’ What are your ‘do overs?’