A Fresh Start
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One day an angry newspaper subscriber stormed into his newspaper’s office and demanded an apology because he had been mistakenly put in the obituaries. He was very upset. He was promptly directed to the reporter and editor for that department and the man immediately delivered his rage. But the editor stopped him and said, "Sir, I’m terribly sorry but I never write retractions, but what I will do tomorrow is list you in the birth column and give you a brand new start."
Have you ever needed a brand new start? The great news this morning is that God is the One Who can give you a brand new start! This is what He’s in the business of doing! And how wonderful it is!
Turn with me to Exodus 3:1-10 and let’s look at the story of Moses…read…
Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.
So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.”
When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.
“So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
“Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.
“Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”
Something I want you to see this morning is this: “We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it!” Boy, Moses’ life illustrates this! There are 2 things I want you to notice this morning…
1. MOSES WAS SHACKLED BY HIS PAST.
1. MOSES WAS SHACKLED BY HIS PAST.
- The story of Moses reveals how God saved and preserved him from being put to death when he was born (Pharaoh had ordered all Hebrew male babies to be put to death once born) and then how God engineered for him to be raised in the house of the king of Egypt!
- As a young man, Moses saw one of his fellow Hebrews being beaten by an Egyptian and Moses stepped in and killed the Egyptian.
- When Moses realized his crime was discovered, he fled Egypt and became a fugitive in the Sinai wilderness.
- For 40 years Moses tended sheep in the wilderness.
- Life in the palace had given way to life in a wilderness!
- Do you think Moses ever wondered how things might’ve been different had he not stepped in to help his Hebrew brother and murdered the Egyptian?
TS – But notice that…
2. MOSES WAS GIVEN A FRESH START.
2. MOSES WAS GIVEN A FRESH START.
- While tending the flock of his father-in-law in the wilderness near Mount Horeb, Moses saw a strange sight – a burning bush but the bush wasn’t being burnt!
- Intrigued Moses approached the bush and then the angel of the Lord called to Moses from the midst of the burning bush!
- God spoke to Moses!
- God told Moses that He had something He wanted him to do = a specific job, task, assignment.
- Moses was being given a fresh start! A new start in his life!
- His life would never be the same again after his burning bush experience!
- In fact, this was the start of him becoming a great leader!
Over and over throughout the Bible we find people who’s pasts weren’t very pretty…made some major mistakes in life…but God took them and gave them a fresh start…a new start and used them greatly to accomplish His will and purposes!
People like Moses…Rahab…Gideon…Peter…Mary Magdalene…Paul…
The problem is that too often we think…God you can’t take me and use me now…I’ve made such a mess of my life…I’ve done so much wrong…no one will listen to me…remember, Moses threw up to God a barrage of excuses as to why he wasn’t the man for the job! But God finally got through to Moses and Moses submitted to the Lord…and well…the rest is history!
Are you here this morning in need of a FRESH START? You’ve kind of made a mess of things in your life…you’re kind of thinking “God can’t take me and use me – I’ve blown it too many times.” Hey, look at what He did with Moses! Peter! Paul!
God is in the FRESH START business! If you need it…He’s willing to give you a fresh start!
- Turn to Him this morning!
- Ask Him to come into your heart and life!
- Ask Him to give you a fresh start!
1) Realize the mess you’ve made of your life
2) Come to Him and ask for a fresh start
3) Submit to Him
Yes, God specializes in giving people fresh starts! Do you need one today?