Billy Joe Daugherty - You Can Start Over

Contents

God Originated the "Starting Over Principle

God put the principle of a "new start" in the entire universe. In Genesis 1, He worked six days, and on the seventh day He rested. Sunday starts a new week all over again. We give praise to God as we celebrate on Sundays, because it's resurrection day. Jesus arose on this day, and the early church began to worship on the first day of the week.

We celebrate a new day every day, because the earth rotates every 24 hours. No matter how dark it gets in the night, morning always comes. A new moon comes up monthly. Every year, we have a new beginning as the earth makes one complete revolution around the sun during that one-year period. Then it starts all over again.

After winter comes spring. God said, "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22).

God put the principle of "starting over" in the earth. If you have a bad crop one year, you can start over and plant a new crop the next year! Each year brings a new harvest.

The Bible is filled with accounts of people beginning again. God made a beautiful, perfect Garden and put Adam and Eve in it. In spite of its perfectness, they fell. The moment they fell, God initiated a new beginning. He said, "The seed of woman is going to crush your head, devil. Its going to destroy your power and take away what youve done" (Genesis 3:15, Paraphrased).

When Jesus came, our calendar started over. It changed from B.C. to A.D. When Jesus came, time began again. That was no accident. Life begins, not at 40, but with the acceptance of Jesus Christ in your heart as your personal Lord and Savior.

Forgetting Those Things Which Are Behind

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13 ,14 (KJ)

The prize of the high calling of God is in Christ Jesus. Jesus is the prize. He's the trophy. He's the wreath. He's the goal. He's the purpose of your life, for in Him is life. Jesus said, "...I am the resurrection and the life..." (John 11:25).

When the Apostle Paul said, "...I count not myself to have apprehended..." he was saying, "I haven't arrived yet. I'm not perfect." But he continued, "...but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind...."

Do you have some things you'd like to forget from your past? It takes God's grace to forget. Grace is God's power, ability and enablement. It's not by your works, but it's by His gift of grace that you are able to let go of the past, knowing that because of Jesus' shed blood, the past is wiped out as you accept His completed work at Calvary.

People hold on to the past for several reasons. They've had some great things happen in the past, and in a nostalgic attitude, they relive it again and again.

Then there are people who hold on to the past because it was so bad. They hold on through regret and remorse, and the memory of it is played over and over again .

Today is a great day to forget and lay aside those things which are behind that are keeping you from going forward.

If you are holding on to things of the past , it's impossible to reach out and receive the fresh and new. Paul said, "I let go of those things." Paul had some difficult years, yet as he wrote this, he had some great things to rejoice about: what he had done in the ministry and his impact in the earth. He said, "I'm forgetting those things, because there are greater things ahead of me."

Your future is going to be better than your past You have everything to look forward to, because your future is out of this world!

Lifes Greatest Calling

When you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, then you begin to press toward the high calling of God in Him.

The greatest calling in life is to know God and know that eternal life is yours through Christ Jesus. Jesus said, "...I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). There's no other access to the Father, no other door, no other entry.

The high calling is that you be raised up and seated together with Jesus in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) . The high calling is that you go into the Throne Room daily to fellowship and commune with your heavenly Father. The high calling is that you walk and talk with the King of the universe each day of your life. There's no other calling that's any higher than to know Him.

There are many things that flow out of knowing Him, such as: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers and works that people are to do, but the initial and highest calling is to know Him. Paul said, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection..." (Philippians3:10).

Some of the things of your past, if they're not placed under the blood of Jesus Christ, can keep you from really knowing Jesus. The bad things you've done or bad things that have happened to you that have turned you off to God, that have caused you to be cynical and critical about Christians and about Christianity, need to be laid down. Ultimately, this type of thing holds God at arm's length and you'll say, "Later, God...I'm not ready now."

Some people don't press on to know Jesus Christ because of good things that have happened. Perhaps you have a good job, a good education, a good family and good health, and you say, "I have no need for God. Everything is okay in my life. I'm satisfied." Millions of people have said that. They live independent of God, not because they don't need Him, but because they think they don't need Him. They feel adequate in themselves, but the point will come in life that they recognize, "I'm not an island. I'm not self-contained."

In other words, "I don't have everything within myself to meet all my needs." There are needs of love, joy, peace and security concerning your future that only God can provide.

You don't have life without Jesus Christ. You may have an existence, you may be going through the motions and you may be on the treadmill of a daily routine, but without Jesus Christ, you're not really experiencing life. Many people are walking as dead men. They're living like zombies. They don't know it, but they've held on to the good things that have happened in their past instead of reaching forth to know Christ.

Prodigal SonExample of Starting Over

The parable of the prodigal son is an example of starting over. The prodigal son was a young man who had it made. He had the world by the tail. His father had lots of money and a big house. The son had work he could do, and he had a share in his father's inheritance, but he said, "Dad, I wish you were dead, because I want my inheritance now." His inheritance was to come after his father died, but he said, "I want it now ."

His dad gave him the inheritance that would have later been his. The young man went away and squandered it on wicked living and wild parties. He turned away from the covenant of his father. After he blew all of his money and lost all of his friends, he found himself alone.

He had no money, no transportation, no one to go to, so he ended up selling himself to a pig farmer. He was a covenant child of Abraham and in that covenant, there were certain things he was not to eat, but now he filled his belly with the hog slop, because there was no other food.

Many people who criticize Christianity have said, "People only come to God when they're desperate." That's a pretty accurate criticism. But some people have enough sense to recognize it before they get to the bottom of the pig pen!

The prodigal son had a need when he was in his father's house, but he didn't recognize it until everything was stripped away. The wonderful thing about God is , His mercy will accept you back.