SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 4 and Acts chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: In Matthew chapter 4, we read these scriptures probably over and over and over again, but let me bring a thought to you with these scriptures in mind, and let me build upon it just a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Give me about 10 minutes to build into this.
SPEAKER_01: Whether or not if you decide whether it applies to you, give me 10 minutes to build into it and then make a decision.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 4 and verse 18, it says this.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren.
SPEAKER_01: They were brothers, called Simon, called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.
SPEAKER_01: And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
SPEAKER_01: And verse 20 is an interesting verse.
SPEAKER_01: And they, how, straightway left their nets and followed him.
SPEAKER_01: You know what tells me?
SPEAKER_01: When I read that, I think they must have just dropped them and walked away from.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: And going on from thence he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.
SPEAKER_01: And they, what's the next word?
SPEAKER_01: Immediately left the ship and their father and followed them.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, let me make a statement, and I want you to understand this.
SPEAKER_01: When Peter and Andrew, James and John, decided to follow Jesus, they began a new life.
SPEAKER_01: It was a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: It was something brand new.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't know what they were going to get themselves into, but it was a new beginning for their life.
SPEAKER_01: Look if you would at uh if you would at uh Luke chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: You're holding your place in Acts chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: In Luke chapter 5, and would you notice this?
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 27 of Luke chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: And after these things, he he went forth.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 27 of Luke chapter 5 and saw a publican named Levi sitting at the receipt of what?
SPEAKER_01: What was his job?
SPEAKER_01: He was a tax collector.
SPEAKER_01: And he said unto him, follow me.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: It's an amazing verse.
SPEAKER_01: And he did what?
SPEAKER_01: Talk to me.
SPEAKER_01: He did what?
SPEAKER_01: Talk to me, everybody.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody talk to me.
SPEAKER_01: He did what?
SPEAKER_01: The reason I want you to talk to me that way I know you're with me a little bit, and it's not just a uh a one-way street here because preaching ought to be a two-way street.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: I talk, you listen, you talk, I don't listen.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: If you would, uh verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
SPEAKER_01: And Levi made him a great feast in his own house, and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with him.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, listen, when he left all and decided to leave his situation there, he began a new life.
SPEAKER_01: It was a new beginning for him.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Acts chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you don't necessarily have to leave all to have a new beginning, but sometimes we have to be willing.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Acts chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: And in Acts chapter 9, you know the story, and we won't go through the whole thing, but look at verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: This is Saul who's about to become Paul.
SPEAKER_01: And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined right about him a light from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: He fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecuteth thou me?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.
SPEAKER_01: It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
SPEAKER_01: And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
SPEAKER_01: May I tell you that Saul was going to begin a new life.
SPEAKER_01: There was a new beginning happening here in his life, and God had a plan for him, because he goes on down, and God says he was chosen to do a job for him.
SPEAKER_01: And look if you would at verse 19 of Acts chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: And when he had received meat, he was strengthened.
SPEAKER_01: Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.
SPEAKER_01: And he straight away he preached to.
SPEAKER_01: Talk to me.
SPEAKER_01: He preached to?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, this is the one he was persecuting.
SPEAKER_01: He began to preach Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: But all that heard him were amazed and said, Is not this he that destroyed them, which calls on his name in Jerusalem and came thither for that intent, for he might bind, bring them bound in the chief priest.
SPEAKER_01: But Saul increased the more and more in strength and confound the Jews which dwelt in Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Please look up here.
SPEAKER_01: Every once in a while, brethren, every one of us need a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Every once in a while, every one of us need a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you say, now, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Once you're saved, isn't that it?
SPEAKER_01: You've got a new beginning, and that's it?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, that's just a start.
SPEAKER_01: That's just a start of a new journey.
SPEAKER_01: But here we see a thing where Paul, on the road to Damascus, unexpectedly, there was a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: And look at Acts chapter 13.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 13.
SPEAKER_01: And it didn't stop here.
SPEAKER_01: God had much to plan for him, if you would.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 13.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says that in verse number 2, as they ministered to the Lord, Acts 13, verse 2, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me, Barnabas.
SPEAKER_01: And who?
SPEAKER_01: Saul.
SPEAKER_01: For the work whereof I unto, I have what?
SPEAKER_01: Say, called them.
SPEAKER_01: I called them.
SPEAKER_01: And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
SPEAKER_01: The idea is God had a plan for their life.
SPEAKER_01: It was a new beginning, but it wasn't going to be, please look up here, a boring life.
SPEAKER_01: The Christian life is not a boring life.
SPEAKER_01: There's all kinds of things that happen, but it's not boring.
SPEAKER_01: Elisha was plowing with 12-yoke of oxen one day.
SPEAKER_01: A man named Elijah walks by and throws his garment on him.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: Elisha leaves it.
SPEAKER_01: Leaves the oxen, goes, takes care of a few things, and plays, look up here.
SPEAKER_01: He began a new life.
SPEAKER_01: He began a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: It was a new beginning to his life.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Genesis 41.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis 41.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, the book of Genesis means what?
SPEAKER_01: Beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis 41.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes these new beginnings come upon us, and we really don't have a choice in the matter.
SPEAKER_01: Let me show you Joseph real quick.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis 41.
SPEAKER_01: You say, I don't know if I need a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: You may not need one today, but by next week you may.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You may be going through one right now.
SPEAKER_01: You may need one right now.
SPEAKER_01: It just seems to me like sometimes in our Christian life, God says, I want you to begin something that's going to be a little different than you've ever done before.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to be a little bit different circumstances than you ever have before, but I've got a plan for you.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Genesis 41.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 14, brethren.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph is in prison.
SPEAKER_01: Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they they brought him hastily out of the where?
SPEAKER_01: Out of the dungeon.
SPEAKER_01: And he shaved himself and changed his raiment and came into Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_01: And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I dreamed a dream.
SPEAKER_01: And there is none that can interpret it.
SPEAKER_01: And I have heard say of thee that thou canst interpret or understand a dream to interpret it.
SPEAKER_01: And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me.
SPEAKER_01: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
SPEAKER_01: So Pharaoh begins to expound this dream.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph tells him, through God's help, the interpretation of the dream.
SPEAKER_01: And look if you would, brethren, at verse 37.
SPEAKER_01: And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and the eyes of all his servants.
SPEAKER_01: And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such as one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?
SPEAKER_01: And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, For as much as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 40 is a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Mark it down.
SPEAKER_01: Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled.
SPEAKER_01: Only in thy throne will I be greater than thou.
SPEAKER_01: It's a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand, arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain upon about his neck, and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had, and they cried before him, bow the knee.
SPEAKER_01: And he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: Please look up here.
SPEAKER_01: It was an unexpected new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: You know what the brethren would have said about Joseph?
SPEAKER_01: Oh no, he's back and he's in jail.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, you've got to understand, man.
SPEAKER_01: Look what's happened to Joseph in his life.
SPEAKER_01: He's in there, he's been in there a long time.
SPEAKER_01: He's sold by the Midianites.
SPEAKER_01: He's down there in that prison man.
SPEAKER_01: And don't we judge people somewhere that time that way?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we look at somebody that's going through some things, we say, oh, man, they must be wrong with God.
SPEAKER_01: Pharaoh was right in the middle, I'm sorry, Joseph was right in the middle of God's will.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes things go on in our life, and we look at it and we say, how are these things happening?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you never do, but why are these things happening?
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't look like there's a new beginning on the horizon.
SPEAKER_01: It looks like our life is about ready to fall apart.
SPEAKER_01: You ever been there?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it looks like new beginnings.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm not worried about new beginnings.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just trying to survive this life.
SPEAKER_01: What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01: New beginnings.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm looking at this thing and I'm looking in the mirror and saying, oh, just get me through another day.
SPEAKER_01: Let me survive another day and what I'm going on.
SPEAKER_01: You never can tell.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph might have got up that morning and he was in the prison.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't know he was going to be caught up and be made second in command that day.
SPEAKER_01: God had a plan.
SPEAKER_01: It was a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the miracles of God.
SPEAKER_01: When you're a child of God, God's never finished with you.
SPEAKER_01: Never.
SPEAKER_01: We're never going to have an attitude in this church that somebody says, God's done with him.
SPEAKER_01: Or God's done with her.
SPEAKER_01: God's never done with anybody.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we get done with ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we give up on ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: And God has to convince us not to.
SPEAKER_01: About two years ago, in October, November, I almost gave up on myself.
SPEAKER_01: I think God took it to me that way for a reason.
SPEAKER_01: He talked about humility.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, when you lose your confidence and you feel like God has withdrawn himself from you and lose your strength.
SPEAKER_01: It's not so much you want to run, although that comes in mind.
SPEAKER_01: It's just you can't, you don't feel like you can do what God's called you to do.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't too long after that, about four months, God gave me a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Salvation?
SPEAKER_01: No, I was already saved.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, pastor of a church?
SPEAKER_01: No, I was already pastoring.
SPEAKER_01: He just gave me a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: You say, well, create this beginning to something else.
SPEAKER_01: He gave me a new vision.
SPEAKER_01: He gave me something new as a goal and a plan and a purpose to go for, to shoot for.
SPEAKER_01: And every once in a while, brother, we need that, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: But don't look at somebody like now, even yourself, and say, oh man, it's all falling apart around me.
SPEAKER_01: Look at this thing.
SPEAKER_01: God must be done with me.
SPEAKER_01: May I say this?
SPEAKER_01: You may be going through some humbling times right now, but I don't see in this Bible where God gives up on too many of his own children.
SPEAKER_01: From the prison to the second command of Pharaoh's house.
SPEAKER_01: That's a good hair day.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: We could talk about more.
SPEAKER_01: Moses was just on the backside there in Mount Horeb.
SPEAKER_01: He looked over and there's a bush burning.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, he'd probably seen some bushes burn before, but please look up here.
SPEAKER_01: This one wasn't being consumed.
SPEAKER_01: That catch your attention, amen.
SPEAKER_01: It was a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: God had a new plan for him, and God chose him to lead the children of Israel out.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you have to wait a long time.
SPEAKER_01: I think of uh Joshua and Caleb.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody says, Well, I want that new beginning right now, man.
SPEAKER_01: Why does that God give it to me?
SPEAKER_01: God give it to this person.
SPEAKER_01: And God, sometimes you have to wait a while.
SPEAKER_01: Joshua had to wait a long time and go through some changes and go through some experience, and Caleb had to wait over 40 years for his mountain.
SPEAKER_01: Look if you would at 2 Kings chapter 4, please.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Kings chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just speculating in here that there's some people that God's got some plans for, and it revolves around the fact that God's got a new beginning for you coming up in your life.
SPEAKER_01: It may not look for look at it, look, it may not look like it right now, but hang on and watch God roll up his sleeves and do his work.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Kings chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: Second Kings 4, you know the story, but I just want to show you something.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes these new beginnings come unexpectedly, just on the road of doing what we normally do, serving God.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Kings chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: And it fell on, verse 8, and it fell on a day that Elisha passed on Shunam, that there was a great woman.
SPEAKER_01: She constrained him to eat bread.
SPEAKER_01: And so it was that as often he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: That's just something normal, natural, taking care of this prophet's needs.
SPEAKER_01: And she said to her husband, Behold, now I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passes by us continually.
SPEAKER_01: Let's let's let's make a little chamber, I pray the on the wall.
SPEAKER_01: Let us set for them there a bed and a table and a stool and a candlestick.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: They were going out of their way a little bit, but it wasn't like they were sacrificing everything.
SPEAKER_01: They were Jewish, Jewish doing something that was kind and considerate, on the road to serving God.
SPEAKER_01: Huh.
SPEAKER_01: Look what happens in verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: This prophet here, uh Elisha, says to his servant Gehazi, call the Shunammite.
SPEAKER_01: And when he had called her, he stood before him and he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: Say it, care.
SPEAKER_01: What is to be done for thee?
SPEAKER_01: Wouldest thou be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the host?
SPEAKER_01: And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.
SPEAKER_01: She said, I don't want any of that.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, What then is to be done for her?
SPEAKER_01: Look what his servant says.
SPEAKER_01: And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child.
SPEAKER_01: And her husband is old.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Call her.
SPEAKER_01: And when he had called her, he stood in the door.
SPEAKER_01: You know, God always knows what the secret desires of our hearts are.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son.
SPEAKER_01: Mark it down, it's a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, Nay, my Lord, thou thou thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.
SPEAKER_01: You say, Well, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: I thought you had to have faith for things to happen.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't sound like she had a whole lot of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: And I understand this thing, but don't get caught up in this thing.
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you don't have enough faith, it's not going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes when we don't even have any faith, it happens.
SPEAKER_01: Talk to Lazarus, amen.
SPEAKER_01: His name, my Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Thou man of God.
SPEAKER_01: Do not lie unto thine handmaid.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: And the woman what?
SPEAKER_01: Conceived and bare a son.
SPEAKER_01: Mark it down, it's a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: And that that season Elijah had said to her according to the time of her life.
SPEAKER_01: Hannah had a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: His name was what?
SPEAKER_01: Samuel.
SPEAKER_01: Mary had a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: I'd say that's a pretty new beginning, amen.
SPEAKER_01: What was his name?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's a pretty good beginning.
SPEAKER_01: My point is sometimes it comes about Sarah.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're gonna have a child, Sarah.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're gonna have a child, Sarah.
SPEAKER_01: How can a woman my age have a child?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I tell you what.
SPEAKER_01: God called her out later and said, I saw you laugh.
SPEAKER_01: She said, I didn't laugh.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't laugh.
SPEAKER_01: Don't tell me she had all kinds of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes God builds our faith by giving us a new beginning, and we say, Man, I can't believe he's done that.
SPEAKER_01: I think I better believe in him more.
SPEAKER_01: Look, if you would at 2 Samuel 7, please.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Samuel 7.
SPEAKER_01: And also, would you pick up Proverbs chapter 29?
SPEAKER_01: 2 Samuel 7 and Proverbs chapter 29.
SPEAKER_01: God knows when we need a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: God knows when we need a new vision.
SPEAKER_01: God knows when we need some new goals.
SPEAKER_01: God knows when he needs to step in and intervene, sometimes according to what we've asked, and sometimes far beyond what we ever thought about asking.
SPEAKER_01: I think about Gideon.
SPEAKER_01: Gideon was threshing wheat.
SPEAKER_01: He said he was of a poor family, and the Amenites were oppressing him, and things weren't looking that good.
SPEAKER_01: It was kind of bleak.
SPEAKER_01: And God shows up to Gideon one day in the book of Judges, and you know the story.
SPEAKER_01: And God says, You're going to be a leader, thou mighty man of valor.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: Gideon didn't look at himself as a mighty man of valor.
SPEAKER_01: Next thing you know, he's preparing him a little a little sacrifice there, and God reaches down and sacrifices that thing, and then God puts Gideon through a little test.
SPEAKER_01: And please, sometimes God puts us through a little test before he gives us these new beginnings.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Gideon, here's what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to, your father over there, he's worshiping Baal, and he's got this, he's got this altar.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to go, first of all, I want you to go tear his altar down.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, he wasn't the only one in the city worshiping.
SPEAKER_01: All the men of the city worshiped Baal.
SPEAKER_01: And then I want you to go into his got this grove set up next to this altar of trees that are part of the idol worship.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to cut down his grove.
SPEAKER_01: Then I want you to go get his bull, his young bull, one of his prized bull, a cow, if you would.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to come and I want you to take that bull and I want you to hack it up.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to take that wood out of the grove, and I want you to lay it on that broken down altar, and I want you to sacrifice his bull.
SPEAKER_01: Got it?
SPEAKER_01: What was that all about?
SPEAKER_01: It was a test.
SPEAKER_01: Just trying him a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh Gideon looks at the whole thing and he does it at night.
SPEAKER_01: But he does it.
SPEAKER_01: And they wake up the next day, and I mean the groves cut down, the altar's broken down, the bulls laying there smoldering.
SPEAKER_01: Burnt roast, amen.
SPEAKER_01: And I mean the men of the city come and say, who did this thing?
SPEAKER_01: And they say it's Gideon, and they go to Gideon's dad.
SPEAKER_01: Man, Gideon could have been in a lot of trouble.
SPEAKER_01: And his dad says something like, Well, go talk to him.
SPEAKER_01: God be in it.
SPEAKER_01: So be.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Gideon's not totally convinced yet.
SPEAKER_01: He's still got to go through some fleeces and everything, and he's still got to go down and see the and hear the words of the sword of the Lord in Gideon.
SPEAKER_01: But my point is, God tested him and tried him before he gave him a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: I can't understand why I'm going through what I'm going through.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe God's trying you and testing you a little bit, and he's got a new beginning just around the horizon.
SPEAKER_01: You say, I like what I'm doing right now.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, but you don't know what he has planned for you.
SPEAKER_01: And nor do I.
SPEAKER_01: Just about the time we get comfortable, sometimes God says, I see you down there.
SPEAKER_01: You like that, what I got you doing right now.
SPEAKER_01: But you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I got more for you to do, and I want to shake it up a little bit and give you a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Look at if you would 2 Samuel 7.
SPEAKER_01: You've been you may have been on this Christian trail for a while.
SPEAKER_01: David here, man, I tell you what, David, when we come to 2 Samuel 7, he's already done so much in his life for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He's already uh obviously conquered Goliath, he's he's done so many things along the way, he's conquered cities, the the perizzites, the Hivites, the Amalekites, I mean just the Philistines.
SPEAKER_01: And here he is, look at verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: And it came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his what?
SPEAKER_01: Say it, enemies.
SPEAKER_01: David was a man of war, and all he's known all his life, please look up here, is fighting.
SPEAKER_01: He fought Goliath and he fought battles after battles.
SPEAKER_01: He had to fight Saul a couple of times in restraining.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't battle him, but he strained restrained himself.
SPEAKER_01: He he fought the Philistines and on and on it goes.
SPEAKER_01: And now finally, he's got rest around about his enemies.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 2, look at it.
SPEAKER_01: That the king said unto Nathan, the prophet, see now, I dwell in a house of cedar.
SPEAKER_01: But the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.
SPEAKER_01: And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee.
SPEAKER_01: You know what David got a vision for?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna build God a house.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't have to fight these enemies anymore.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna build God a house.
SPEAKER_01: Now I know later on shows David show Nathan shows up and said, No, it's not for thee to build a house, but please look up here.
SPEAKER_01: David got a new vision here and to begin to prepare for this thing, even knowing he wasn't going to build it, knowing later on that his son was gonna build it, but he spent the rest of his life getting ready, and it was a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes, even after you've been on a trail a long time serving God.
SPEAKER_01: And get a little, well, you know, I'm going through it, I'm doing it, and I want to do it.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I tell you what, I just I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I need some freshness of this thing or something.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Proverbs 29, correlating with 2 Samuel Proverbs 29.
SPEAKER_01: I need something.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what it is.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what we need.
SPEAKER_01: You know it, but look at verse 18.
SPEAKER_01: And let's read the first part of this verse together, Proverbs 29, 18, because we all need it sometime.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 29, verse 18, the first part up to the colon mark.
SPEAKER_01: Ready?
SPEAKER_01: Begin.
SPEAKER_01: Where there is no vision, the people perish.
SPEAKER_01: Say it again now.
SPEAKER_01: Where there is no vision, the people perish.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody says, I don't know, what are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01: A vision.
SPEAKER_01: You mean like a dream?
SPEAKER_01: Like you, you know, you see the rabbits chasing the mice that's chasing the guy with the dunce cap on, and you're saying, oh God, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: You ever have one of those weird deals?
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you what it means.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing.
SPEAKER_01: It means there's a short circuit in your brain that night.
SPEAKER_01: Because we get those weird dreams sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes I understand where there is no vision, the people perish.
SPEAKER_01: Vision, a goal, a plan.
SPEAKER_01: Something to shoot for, something to work towards.
SPEAKER_01: And God knew when he gave David rest roundabout of his enemies.
SPEAKER_01: I think God allowed David to put it in his heart to have something to do for the rest of his life.
SPEAKER_01: And for the rest of his life, he prepared for the building of the temple that Solomon, his son, would build later.
SPEAKER_01: I want to ask you a question this morning.
SPEAKER_01: You lost your vision?
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to a church that will do its best to help you restore it.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's a lot of people in here.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we lost our vision somewhere along the way, and maybe we were downtrodden somewhere along the way, and maybe we were oppressed somewhere along the way.
SPEAKER_01: But the reason God's brought us all together is we still have a plan and a purpose and a vision.
SPEAKER_01: We still have something that we can see God wants to use us for.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean we're overconfident or anything.
SPEAKER_01: We just believe in confidence that God's going to use us.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it takes a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it takes to be around some people that say, hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I've been there.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, let me tell you what happened to me a few years ago.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I got to the place where I got so messed up and kind of got to the place where I was without hope and didn't know, got involved in this, and got involved in that.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to know something.
SPEAKER_01: God wouldn't let me alone.
SPEAKER_01: God kept drawing me back to Himself.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, it's one of those things, you know, it's a long story, and you say, well, I never would do this and never would do that.
SPEAKER_01: Now here I am doing it.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want you to know that, hey, God can still use you, and God still has a plan for you, and God still has a purpose for you.
SPEAKER_01: And even though sometimes we have to we have to cross over a little bit, like I remember when my wife and I, when we came off the mission field, well, I'll tell you what, my my I thought after I got saved, I thought, man, with everything I've done in the Marine Corps, you know, with the with the with the uh recon and the and the jungle training and the jungle work and being out in the bushes, I'm a missionary.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta be a missionary.
SPEAKER_01: That's all I can do.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a missionary.
SPEAKER_01: I'll go out somewhere and just be a missionary.
SPEAKER_01: I'll I'll we'll find some people that, you know, never heard the gospel and just give them the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And so my mindset was missionary, missionary.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, that's not a bad calling.
SPEAKER_01: And so off we went, and my wife and I flew over in Samoa, and we were over there and doing the work and everything like that, and then you know how it goes.
SPEAKER_01: God had another plan.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember sitting out there on a levee, looking out across the bay, and my wife was laid in the hospital close to death and crying, and saying, God, what did I do wrong?
SPEAKER_01: What did I do wrong?
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: If you'll show me, I won't do it again.
SPEAKER_01: You know how we do.
SPEAKER_01: And I cried too, I couldn't cry anymore.
SPEAKER_01: You ever have a dry cry?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's nothing left.
SPEAKER_01: I said, God, I know what we did wrong.
SPEAKER_01: I think I was too anxious.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I should have done this or should have done that, but just give me another chance.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: I was right in the middle of God's will.
SPEAKER_01: It just didn't seem like it.
SPEAKER_01: God brought us back into Los Angeles.
SPEAKER_01: That wasn't God's will.
SPEAKER_01: But uh just kidding.
SPEAKER_01: Where you at, Patty?
SPEAKER_01: Is mom here somewhere?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, is is your mom here somewhere?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, she's she's working?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, good, then I can talk about that, can't I?
SPEAKER_01: He brought me back to my mother-in-law's house.
SPEAKER_01: Now you can laugh.
SPEAKER_01: Mother-in-law is part of our church.
SPEAKER_01: She's overworking one of the Well, don't tell her though, I said that.
SPEAKER_01: And then uh and then God brought us to San Diego.
SPEAKER_01: And we never left.
SPEAKER_01: Never planned on leaving.
SPEAKER_01: That's it for us.
SPEAKER_01: But I remember the first few times, years that we were here.
SPEAKER_01: You know, uh, when you've been on the mission field and doing some things in the Lord, and you find yourself back in the States wondering what God's doing with your life, and you don't really have anything, and you work in security for 325 an hour and supporting the family.
SPEAKER_01: Can we talk?
SPEAKER_01: You're talking about analyzing yourself.
SPEAKER_01: I used to guard that swimming pool that I was assigned to down in San Diego where they were building this condominium, and my job was to guard that swimming pool, and I'll guarantee you that swimming pool never moved, amen.
SPEAKER_01: I'd walk around that dumb swimming pool.
SPEAKER_01: They just didn't want anybody swimming at night and drowning or something.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I walk around that dumb swimming pool saying, Lord, what did I do?
SPEAKER_01: Here I'm making$325 an hour.
SPEAKER_01: I'm back in church, and we're trying to reach some military, and it took us six months to even see the first person come off of that.
SPEAKER_01: Boy, what a I don't know what I did, Lord, but I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know it, but God had a new beginning plan.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know it.
SPEAKER_01: I never got bitter.
SPEAKER_01: I never got mad at God, I got mad at myself.
SPEAKER_01: Hello?
SPEAKER_01: But God had a plan.
SPEAKER_01: But there's no vision.
SPEAKER_01: The people do what?
SPEAKER_01: They perish.
SPEAKER_01: You mean what do you mean perish?
SPEAKER_01: They begin to dry up.
SPEAKER_01: They lose the momentum.
SPEAKER_01: There's no reason to wake up and get up in the morning.
SPEAKER_01: Church, why should I look forward to church?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, why God can't use me.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes, he can.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what do I have to offer?
SPEAKER_01: Same as the rest of us.
SPEAKER_01: Not much.
SPEAKER_01: You say, that's terrible.
SPEAKER_01: I come to feel good about myself.
SPEAKER_01: Let's live in reality.
SPEAKER_01: We got a finite mind.
SPEAKER_01: We got a finite body that as time goes on falls apart.
SPEAKER_01: You say, Oh, I'm getting stronger.
SPEAKER_01: That's because you're 20, 25, 30.
SPEAKER_01: Wait till you hit 40.
SPEAKER_01: 45, 50.
SPEAKER_01: Gravity takes over.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And we use different things.
SPEAKER_01: Men use belts to try to hold it up.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't work.
SPEAKER_01: But as the outward man perishes, the inward man could be what?
SPEAKER_01: Renewed, strengthened day by day, with a vision, with something that God has for us to do and our purpose and our plan and our goal.
SPEAKER_01: Look at 2 Corinthians 5.
SPEAKER_01: And Revelation 21.
SPEAKER_01: Please.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Corinthians 5 and Revelation 21.
SPEAKER_01: You're in a church, and we're not the only church in town.
SPEAKER_01: We're not the only church doing something for God.
SPEAKER_01: There's so many.
SPEAKER_01: But you're in a church that believes that when people walk in the door, God's got a plan for them.
SPEAKER_01: You say, well, you don't know what I've been, and you don't know what I've done, you don't know when I've failed.
SPEAKER_01: And you haven't read your Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's full of people who've had failures and falterings and came from backgrounds that couldn't be used.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Red Hat the harlot.
SPEAKER_01: And she made the Hall of Fame.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Corinthians 5 and Revelation 21.
SPEAKER_01: You may have been on the trail a long time.
SPEAKER_01: God's not done with you.
SPEAKER_01: Unless you want him to be.
SPEAKER_01: But even if you want him to be, he may not be.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, wait a minute, I have a free will.
SPEAKER_01: I can do what I want.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to walk according to God.
SPEAKER_01: Then let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing in church?
SPEAKER_01: You do want to walk according to God.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody here wants to walk according to God, or we wouldn't be here.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: Did anybody get paid to come here today?
SPEAKER_01: I'm serious.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody get paid to come here today?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody get bribed?
SPEAKER_01: Lunch afterwards or something like that?
SPEAKER_01: If you'll go out and do the dishes or, you know, anything like that?
SPEAKER_01: Then you came with your free will.
SPEAKER_01: Because you and I both want to do something for God and be what God wants us to be.
SPEAKER_01: Look where it starts.
SPEAKER_01: You know the scripture if you're Christian, but if you're not, you need to see it.
SPEAKER_01: Look at 2 Corinthians 5, and we as Christians need to see it, remind ourselves, verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, if any man be where?
SPEAKER_01: In Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He is a what?
SPEAKER_01: New creature.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, new creatures have new beginnings.
SPEAKER_01: Salvation brings about a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Old things are passed away.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, all things are become new.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when a new Christian reads that, you know what we thought?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, now I'm saved.
SPEAKER_01: Old things passed away.
SPEAKER_01: Boom.
SPEAKER_01: All things become new.
SPEAKER_01: Boom.
SPEAKER_01: Did you think that?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, here it is.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Bible says, if I'm a new creature, old things passed away, gone.
SPEAKER_01: All the old thoughts, all the old desires, all the old habits, all the old everything, gone.
SPEAKER_01: Now, all things become new, I'm a new person.
SPEAKER_01: Boom.
SPEAKER_01: And then reality hits.
SPEAKER_01: In your Bible, you might want to put, it takes a while.
SPEAKER_01: Just mark that down.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you read your other parts of your Bible, it does say that.
SPEAKER_01: I fed you with milk and not with meat, because hitherto you're not able to bear it.
SPEAKER_01: It takes a while sometimes for this, all the old things to pass away and the new things to become new right there.
SPEAKER_01: Say, no, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: When we become a creature in Christ, what happens?
SPEAKER_01: Please look up here.
SPEAKER_01: New heart.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_01: New heart.
SPEAKER_01: New mindset.
SPEAKER_01: Which brings about a new attitude.
SPEAKER_01: When Christians get saved, their attitudes begin to become anew.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, oh, oh, let me tell you, if you just got saved recently, may I say this?
SPEAKER_01: What is my mindset supposed to be right after I get saved?
SPEAKER_01: Confusion.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: How many when you first got saved, and and now wait a minute, let me stop here.
SPEAKER_01: If you got saved as a child, it probably wasn't as confusing.
SPEAKER_01: If you got saved and received Christ as an adult, how many of you that received Christ as an adult, you went through an initial period of time of confusion?
SPEAKER_01: Well, hold them up.
SPEAKER_01: That'll help somebody else that's going through it right now.
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
SPEAKER_01: Man, okay, I thought I was losing my mind.
SPEAKER_01: All right, good, good, all right.
SPEAKER_01: So the first thing I should go through is confusion, right?
SPEAKER_01: Well, there's a piece during that confusion, but it's confusion.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Things that I used to think was good, now I find out they're not so good.
SPEAKER_01: Things I used to think were bad, now I find out, you know what, those things are pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: It's a complete change.
SPEAKER_01: New heart, new spirit, new attitude, new goals, new plan, new purpose.
SPEAKER_01: Huh.
SPEAKER_01: Takes a while sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: If you haven't received Christ as Savior, it is worth it to go through all this and have a new beginning because of the end of the matter.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Revelation 21, Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation 21.
SPEAKER_01: This is something new.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to get out of here on time today.
SPEAKER_01: This is something, this is a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for that encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody said, wow.
SPEAKER_01: And I know who it was.
SPEAKER_01: After you've been here for a while, you recognize voices.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Just because we're in a bigger auditorium, you can't hide.
SPEAKER_01: I know what you sound like.
SPEAKER_01: Revelations 21.
SPEAKER_01: Now watch this carefully.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God.
SPEAKER_01: But look at verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: It's a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Now, amen.
SPEAKER_01: How can he wipe away all tears from the eyes?
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you read Isaiah, the former things won't be remembered anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.
SPEAKER_01: For the former things, what are the former things, the things of this earth?
SPEAKER_01: Are what?
SPEAKER_01: Say it, passed away.
SPEAKER_01: And Isaiah says they won't even come into remembrance anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Because if we had to remember this life, we'd be walking around heaven saying, oh, what are you crying about today?
SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I remember when I was unfaithful to God for a couple of years.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I can't shake it.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, now that I've seen God and now I've seen his glory, and now I can't believe I was unfaithful.
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't want that in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: So he's just going to wipe away.
SPEAKER_01: It's a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: And he, verse 5, that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things what?
SPEAKER_01: New.
SPEAKER_01: And he's the only one that's able.
SPEAKER_01: And he said unto me, Write.
SPEAKER_01: For these words are what?
SPEAKER_01: Say it.
SPEAKER_01: True and faithful.
SPEAKER_01: One of the things that we have to look forward to, you say, man, my life's a miserable life, and my body's falling apart.
SPEAKER_01: Now I just found I got a disease.
SPEAKER_01: I just found out this, and they say it's never going to be like it was before.
SPEAKER_01: Last year I lost a loved one.
SPEAKER_01: A couple years ago I lost a father and mother.
SPEAKER_01: It's hard to shake.
SPEAKER_01: I've had some setbacks.
SPEAKER_01: Some relationships broke in my life that I just would have never happened.
SPEAKER_01: Some failures.
SPEAKER_01: Some people did some things to me I wish it would have never happened.
SPEAKER_01: Can't shake it.
SPEAKER_01: Have to live with it.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, all that is true amongst Christians.
SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna be that way for eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Don't don't get too attached to your body.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand that.
SPEAKER_01: Just don't get too attached to it.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, like?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, do what you have to do and keep it nice and clean and neat and pretty and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: But when it begins to fall apart, don't don't give up hope.
SPEAKER_01: Don't lose your vision.
SPEAKER_01: Because one of these days the Bible says that he's got a new body prepared for Christians.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, body, I love you.
SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
SPEAKER_01: No, that's gross.
SPEAKER_01: I don't even like looking in the mirror anymore.
SPEAKER_01: It's discouraging.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_01: Some of you guys better say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You're sitting there like, no, no, there's nothing wrong.
SPEAKER_01: I like to look in the mirror.
SPEAKER_01: I don't like to look in the mirror anymore.
SPEAKER_01: When I shave, I kind of look away, you know.
SPEAKER_01: Get this thing done.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to see this guy.
SPEAKER_01: You say that's terrible.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you like yourself?
SPEAKER_01: I guess I'm okay, but I see too much about me that I isn't like Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I don't look in the mirror now.
SPEAKER_01: I just, yeah, I don't want to see myself.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody takes a picture, you want to see it?
SPEAKER_01: Nah, I don't want to see it.
SPEAKER_01: Well, don't you want to know what you look like?
SPEAKER_01: Nah.
SPEAKER_01: Kind of discouraging.
SPEAKER_01: I just believe everything my wife tells me about me, and that's fine.
SPEAKER_01: Just keep lying, baby.
SPEAKER_01: Because after a while you realize, why get attached to this thing?
SPEAKER_01: It's just a temporary vessel that's carrying me around.
SPEAKER_01: And one of these days, I will shed it.
SPEAKER_01: Either through the rapture or through death.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll be left behind to return back.
SPEAKER_01: And God will give me a new one.
SPEAKER_01: And this new one, this new body that we get, never a tear stained down the cheeks.
SPEAKER_01: Never.
SPEAKER_01: I'm speculating that we'll never have to diet anymore.
SPEAKER_01: You better say amen.
SPEAKER_01: That's a blessing.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes now I have to go on force fasts.
SPEAKER_01: You say it's spiritual.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's so I don't have to loosen another notch on my belt.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, we we laugh about it a little bit because after a while you gotta learn to laugh at yourself.
SPEAKER_01: And just not be as hard on yourself as you once was because you look and you say, hey, this is a temporary situation.
SPEAKER_01: I was thinking about Mary Way.
SPEAKER_01: And watching the surgery and watching what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: Things didn't go as best as planned.
SPEAKER_01: They couldn't do all the work that they wanted to do.
SPEAKER_01: Now uh Mary's in a body that I think I can say this Jeff won't be.
SPEAKER_01: I could spin when she was young.
SPEAKER_01: But she's got a good spirit, a good attitude.
SPEAKER_01: I remember three or four years ago, maybe longer, when Mary was facing at a young age a wheelchair.
SPEAKER_01: I remember the day she called me up crying.
SPEAKER_01: She said, Pastor Fisher, brother, I decided today if God wants me in a wheelchair, then I can accept it.
SPEAKER_01: And God's given her grace, and she's not had to be in one for a while.
SPEAKER_01: But what would you do if you didn't have a vision?
SPEAKER_01: What would you do if you didn't know there was something past this life?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not for drinking and drugs and all the rest of that stuff, but I understand why some of them try to mask reality.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to forget, I just want to escape so I get high, so I so I get drunk, so I do drugs.
SPEAKER_00: Christians don't have to do that.
SPEAKER_00: We've got a vision, we've got a Bible, we can see what's gonna happen, and we don't have to go out and get drunk to forget.
SPEAKER_00: We get in this Bible and say one of these days, we will forget.
SPEAKER_01: And it gives us a vision to go on.
SPEAKER_01: When we get a grace from God, that's when we start losing it.
SPEAKER_01: We're not walking the way we should.
SPEAKER_01: That's when we can't quite see it.
SPEAKER_01: That's when that spirit's present, the Holy Spirit is not quite there.
SPEAKER_01: That's when people start getting panicked.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, I make all things new.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, can I remind you of something?
SPEAKER_01: I'm a thing.
SPEAKER_01: You say, where do you know that?
SPEAKER_01: Revelations 4, the last verse.
SPEAKER_01: All things were created by him and for him.
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
SPEAKER_01: I'm a thing, you're a thing.
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_01: You're kind of like, I'm not a thing.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you are your thing.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm not a thing.
SPEAKER_01: Don't call me a thing.
SPEAKER_01: Bible says you're a thing.
SPEAKER_01: Thing?
SPEAKER_01: And then he says this behold, I make all what?
SPEAKER_01: Things new.
SPEAKER_01: No remakes in heaven, it's brand new.
SPEAKER_01: I'll say that again.
SPEAKER_01: No remakes in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: It's brand new.
SPEAKER_01: Today, maybe you need to ask the Lord for a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we need to realize we're in a testing period, maybe prior to a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe today you're in a situation where, just like Joseph was in prison, maybe you look at your life and you say, I don't see how I can have a new beginning out of this.
SPEAKER_01: Look at this thing.
SPEAKER_01: Look what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: This is wrong, and that's wrong, and this is going on, and that.
SPEAKER_01: And I blew it there, but man, I didn't blow that, but it's still blown.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what, you know, it's a mess.
SPEAKER_01: You read your Bible and you'll see that God has new beginnings.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've been in a long, long wait.
SPEAKER_01: And just a little longer, and you're on the edge of a new beginning, or maybe, maybe you've been in a long journey as a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: And you've seen God do some new things in your life along the way, like David.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, Man, I need something to carry me on.
SPEAKER_01: God, would you give me something?
SPEAKER_01: A new beginning, a new vision, new plan, new purpose, something.
SPEAKER_01: And don't be surprised when he says, All right, I've got something planned for you.
SPEAKER_01: I've got a purpose for you.
SPEAKER_01: And don't be surprised when it's centered around the local New Testament church.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's a position, a ministry.
SPEAKER_01: Someone to help.
SPEAKER_01: Say, I know what I want is a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: I want an airplane.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, you asked for that when you're a child.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you need an airplane for your ministry or your new beginning, God will give you one.
SPEAKER_01: But if you don't, God's got greater things than that that he wants to give us.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes better than a new airplane would be a new attitude that you can't purchase and you can't buy.
SPEAKER_01: A new set of discipline that he puts in us, that is a road that has boundaries on it, and all of a sudden, boy, I used to not be a disciplined person, and now I just thank God I bounce off the boundaries a little bit once in a while, but I stay in where I'm supposed to be, and finally God's given me some discipline in that area.
SPEAKER_01: That's more important than a new boat.
SPEAKER_01: Because you can't buy that.
SPEAKER_01: If you've never received Christ as Savior, God wants to make all things new.
SPEAKER_01: He's not willing that any should perish.
SPEAKER_01: And he'd love to have you as his son or daughter today.
SPEAKER_01: If you've already been a Christian for a while, you are a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe what you need is a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: I want to say one last thing.
SPEAKER_01: We don't always initially like the new beginnings.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we look at it and say, no, no, that's not for me.
SPEAKER_01: And God says, go on.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: That's it right there.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, that's not for me.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm not going to like that.
SPEAKER_01: Go on.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to like it.
SPEAKER_01: Trust me, you're going to like it.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, I got something else planned over here.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what God says sometimes?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, go over and do your thing first.
SPEAKER_01: Go on.
SPEAKER_01: Go get it done.
SPEAKER_01: Get it out of your system.
SPEAKER_01: Go on.
SPEAKER_01: Get it done.
SPEAKER_01: Go on.
SPEAKER_01: Get over there and go over there and mess it all up.
SPEAKER_01: Hurry up.
SPEAKER_01: Got things for you to do.
SPEAKER_01: And he lets us wander in the wilderness for a while.
SPEAKER_01: He says, now, you ready to cross Jordan?
SPEAKER_01: Got a new beginning for you.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm so ready, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I've tried it, it didn't work.
SPEAKER_01: I knew that.
SPEAKER_01: I've just been waiting for you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, enter into the joy of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I thought that's heaven.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to be in the promised land down here.
SPEAKER_01: And do something for God that you never thought possible.
SPEAKER_01: Or we can wander around out there.
SPEAKER_01: Get out of God's will.
SPEAKER_01: In church for a while, out of church.
SPEAKER_01: In the work for a while, out of work for a while.
SPEAKER_01: Abiding for a while, not abiding for a while.
SPEAKER_01: And squander our lives away.
SPEAKER_01: Out of God's will, a little bit in God's will.
SPEAKER_01: Out of God's will, a little bit in will, and miss all the new beginnings God has planned for us.
SPEAKER_01: Because we get out of God's will and we'll miss them.
SPEAKER_01: Better be in God's will.
SPEAKER_01: And don't take this wrong, but to be in God's will to me means, it's my personal opinion, a church is a priority.
SPEAKER_01: A local church.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, there I knew there was a hook he's trying to get me to be.
SPEAKER_01: Find a church.
SPEAKER_01: Get fed.
SPEAKER_01: Be in God's will.
SPEAKER_01: And just about the time, well, I've just about finished that course in my life, and Lord, I think that that time is just about winding down, and that thing's just about behind me, don't you know, over the next hill.
SPEAKER_01: It's just what we need to keep going until this temporary journey is over of this life.
SPEAKER_01: Christian, it's not time to quit.
SPEAKER_01: It's time to look forward to a new beginning.