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All right, we're in lamentations chapter number three look down at your bibles at verse number 21 It says this I recall to my mind Therefore have I hope it is of the lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassion's fail not They are new every morning great is thy faithfulness. The lord is my portion saith my soul Therefore will I hope in him the lord is good unto them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation Of the lord and the title of the sermon this morning is turning over a new leaf Turning over a new leaf now What does that term mean because we often hear that phrase use that metaphor? Used, uh very often especially today. What does that mean? Well, it's a phrase that is basically an idiom to describe a person who's decided to change their ways, right? When someone decides to change something that they're doing and they make a 180 degree turn to something else They're turning over a new leaf. That is a common phrase that people will use today. They're choosing to change Their behavior and their direction in life some would even say well, you know, it's not necessarily they're changing You know their behavior. They're just starting afresh. Okay, they're hitting a reset button on something. That's exactly what they're doing now What this actually means though those are good definitions it really just means that someone is moving on Okay, though they're changing directions. Yes, they're renewing their commitments. They're changing their behavior Really what it means is that they've chosen to move on Now why is why does that mean that well, I don't know about you But when I used to hear this phrase, I literally thought of a literal leaf Am I the only one or does anybody else think that I literally thought well, it's just a metaphor I don't know where they get it from but maybe you know the leaf and you know The different color on the other I don't know what it is It's a leaf but when it talks about leaves or turning over a new leaf the leaf it's referring to is a page in a book Okay, and in fact even in the bible the bible is known in certain parts as the leaves of a book. Okay In fact, I have a a king james 16 11 Uh leaf is what they call it that I have framed in my at my house, but they're referring to leaves So when someone says that they're turning over a new leaf what they're basically saying is they're turning the page of their life It's not necessarily that they're changing their behavior though. That could be a part of it It's not necessarily that they're renewing their commitments that could be a part of it. It simply means that they're Moving on to the next chapter. That makes sense So this phrase is a great phrase to use when we think about our lives just in general And in fact the bible even tells us in second corinthians ye are our epistles Known and read of all men ye are our epistles written in our hearts known and read of all men So the bible actually compares us to books and the reason for that is because our lives are filled with chapters They're filled with content. They're filled with good parts of the stories bad parts of the stories There's antagonists found within these books, but there's also protagonists and if you're saved, you know, you have a good ending. Amen You may have a bad start you may even have some bad chapters in the middle But at the end of the day the very end of the book is always good if you're saved, okay But here's the thing is as christians we have to constantly be turning over a new leaf We have to constantly be flipping through the pages. We cannot stay in the same chapter Now this is a biblical concept that in fact lamentations We just read three verse 22 It says it is of the lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not Now this is a common verse that a lot of independent baptists will use And just talk about the compassion of god the grace of god But they completely just skim over why that's actually being written in the book of lamentations Lamentations means sorrow. So the nation of israel has just been judged very severely Okay, read through the book of jeremiah you see that god has punished israel for their idolatrous practices because their leaders are wicked Because of their covetousness because they've strayed from god. They back slim. They've gotten away from god They started serving other gods and so god in his anger and in his wrath has punished the nation of israel for these things And this punishment was fleshed out through a foreign nation coming in and just decimating Israel, okay, just destroying them pillaging them bringing them into slavery taking their children to babylon Just completely ruining their lives, okay So this book of lamentations are the lamentations of jeremiah weeping For the wrath weeping for the punishment weeping for the chastisement that god has brought upon his people But in the midst of this lamentation, he says that his compassion is referring to god. They don't fail And verse 23 says they are new every morning now look That's that says a lot about jeremiah to be able to have that perspective there Because he's walking around people are dead Families are gone Buildings are destroyed You know, he's just walking around and he's saying hey the mercies of god are new every day Right You know, this is a guy with a very good disposition a very good perspective, right? But what he's saying here is this is that every morning? There's a new chapter. There's a new page Today's page could have judgment wrath sorrow lamentation But you know what tomorrow Is different why because tomorrow is a completely different day where often the slate has been wiped clean And we can actually turn over a new leaf To a new page now do tomorrow's You know the day tomorrow that isn't it affected by today's actions. Absolutely You know today's actions are influenced by our bad decisions that we made last week By the bad decisions that we made that we make today or or yesterday. They're always effective. But the reality is it is a new leaf The bible tells us and is that you don't have to turn that is that 43 says remember ye the former things or excuse me Remember ye not the former things neither consider the things of old, you know God is always about us turning over a new leaf and just moving on. Okay. Why because he doesn't want us to live in the past Why because the past can't be changed So why worry about the things that you can't change? Why why become bitter and sorrowful and lamentable over the things that are in the past that happened? 10 20 years ago yesterday it can't change you might as well just turn over a new leaf You might as well just turn the page Why focus on the failures of yesterday the sins that you've done in times past? You know the way you grew up and all the bad stuff to happen to you. Why not just turn over a new leaf? You see a book is meant to be written from left to right Right except for like in hebrew where it's just like they read backwards. Okay Well, we're speaking english here, okay Most languages go from left to right You don't read a book backwards. Some people do some people start at the very end. That's not the way you do it We're supposed to read it from left to right and you know what it requires for us to constantly turn over a new leaf Constantly switch the page now There is a false doctrine that has attached itself and linked itself to this idiom You know people will say well in order for you to be saved you have to turn over a new leaf What does that mean well if you want to be saved yeah, you have to trust jesus as your personal savior But you also have to change your life You also have to repent of your sins. You also have to follow god's commandments You also have to and the list goes on and on and on but the bible never talks about us ever having to change our lives to be saved Because salvation is not based upon the actions that we do. It's based upon our faith in christ Why is that well the bible uses a term called righteousness, okay And the bible says that our righteousness our good are as filthy rags in the eyes of god Therefore we need the righteousness of jesus christ to be given to us in order for god to exonerate us of the past sins That we've done yet. Even the sins that we're going to do in the future Okay, we don't have to turn over a new leaf and look there's plenty examples in the bible of people who got saved And they didn't turn over anything I mean, how about the thief on the cross? How do we know him as the thief? on the cross And what did jesus say today thou shalt be with me in paradise? Well, you know what? He didn't get baptized because he had a little hard time getting down from the cross He wasn't able to change his life He wasn't able to start following jesus He didn't know how to go. He couldn't even win his friend to christ who was in the same situation as he was right He said well, oh he did turn over new at least he was willing to it doesn't say he was willing to He just believed on jesus christ and jesus said today thou shalt be with me in paradise There's plenty of people who actually even finished their book so to speak in a bad way and guess what they were still saved King, saul is a perfect example of that He did not turn over a new leaf Okay, and in fact he committed suicide He killed himself he went to witches for council Okay, he forsook the lord, but you know what because he was saved the lord did not forsake him And he was still a saved man, even though he finished his life off miserably, okay How about samson? Samson was a man who the spirit of god would come upon He had incredible strength when the spirit of god would come upon him. He did great exploits, but what happened? He got involved in fornication He the bible says that the lord departed from the power departed from him But yet the bible even tells us that the lord assisted him filled him with the power to be able to not only destroy himself But the philistines as well and doing so he actually liberated the children of israel. That's not turning over a new leaf He finished his life wrong and in fact these guys are used as examples in parables for us what not to do How not to live how not to finish off our lives these people did not turn over a new leaf So you say well, what's the point of that? What i'm saying is this is our church does not believe that you have to change your life in order to be saved Okay, and why because the bible doesn't teach that So if anybody's ever told you yeah, but you got to stop drinking Well, yeah, if you don't want cirrhosis of the liver, yeah, stop drinking You need to stop smoking marijuana. Yeah. Well if you don't want to be an idiot Yeah, and forget things every five minutes You know Then yeah, stop smoking marijuana, but you know, you don't have to stop these things in order to be saved Because turning over a new leaf though essential is not essential for salvation Okay, the bible says therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law It says not by works of righteousness, which we have done but according to his mercy. He saved it You know the mercies that are new every day You know the bible says for by grace are you saved through faith And that not of yourself you see turning over a new leaf is of yourselves Is it not but here it says that that's not salvation is not of yourself It is the gift of god not of works list any man should boast, you know when you turn over a new leaf in life You you get the credit for that. Don't you do not you put in the effort you put in the the work? You abstain from certain things you add certain things in your life you do the work to actually turn over that new leaf, right? whereas What salvation it's not of works list any man should boast why because jesus christ did all the work for you Okay, so a change of behavior is never necessary for salvation and there's plenty of scriptures in the bible to teach that That's not the sermon for today But the reason I want to preach the sermon is because you say man this you should have preached this like for december 31st When i'm trying to make my new year's resolution to lose weight and start working out and you know Whatever other goals you might have. Yeah, but here's the thing Okay is we need a sermon like this right now so that you can make the change now So that when you go into january 1st You know, you've already made the change. You've already got momentum Going into january you understand because let's be honest How many people actually make new year's resolutions for december 31st come january 1st all the way through the month of january They they keep it for like five days You know go to the gym for five days They abstain from cookies for five days They abstain from whatever for five days and then come february. It's just like all right 2021 for sure You know once 2021 comes we'll do it. No, let's just do it today So That you're already in that mode You've already turned over a new leaf january comes you got the momentum and you have a successful 2020. Okay So It is time to turn over a new leaf. It is time to move on It's time to move forward and the reality is is that some people choose not to Some people christians they just choose not to move on with their lives now go with me if you would Go to philippians chapter number three You understand that some people wait for something big to happen to them Don't people wait for success to come to them Don't people wait for like a reward to come to them Don't people wait for a change to just happen in their lives Like god's just going to drop it on their lap, but you know what it never comes People wait for someone to just turn the page for them, right? Doesn't happen that way You have to turn it yourselves Waiting for the lead to turn on itself rather than turning the page is a waste of time being idle And i'm going to give you just a couple things here real basic sermon, okay? But I think it's important for us to understand this concept that is it is a biblical concept Let me give you some some principles in regards to turning over a new leaf. And again, i'm not referring to salvation Okay, i'm referring to if you're saved you're christian and you need to turn you need to change Then it needs to happen first and foremost, let me say this we need to finish today's chapter on previous setbacks Okay You know when you're reading the book this happens a lot when like, um You know when you're reading your bible, for example And you're reading through a really difficult book maybe like leviticus And it's just like you're or you're you're going through some book that emphasizes prophecy You're just stuck on that on that book or how about you're reading the bible for the first time and you're only reading the book of proverbs You know, you haven't moved on to like genesis you haven't moved on to deuteronomy You haven't moved on to more difficult books and you you're just like well, I just got to finish this I just got to finish this. Well, you know what once you finish that book It's time once you finish proverbs 31 proverbs. It's time to move on And you want in life People are like this all the time when it comes to just failures and setbacks. Okay. What do I mean by that? What I mean is this is that People don't move forward in life because they failed in the past Right It's like well, I can't do anything of significance. I cannot be successful because I failed this year Because I failed last month. I screwed up. I messed up I did what I wasn't supposed to do and because they have those setbacks and those failures they refuse to turn the page Or they feel like because they've had those failures. I shouldn't turn the page You understand what i'm saying, but the reality is this is that you can't act like a victim all the time Don't be like a victim of your circumstances Or it's just like well, I didn't grow up with mom and dad. I didn't have the money My my dad never bought me the nike air force shoes I never had x y and z, you know, we used to buy our shoes at paless Yes I used to get my hair cut at the five dollar college practicing place My mom fed me with the slingshot whatever And you look at all these things in your circumstances in your past and that's what you use as an excuse Why not to turn the page? It's like forget about it move on Don't have this victim mentality Whereas oh, it's just me. I just can't because of you know I didn't grow up with my dad or because I just don't have a good work ethic then get a good work ethic You know, oh I can't because of the color of my skin Don't even give me that That's nonsense. That's foolishness and folly Okay, whatever excuses you can have The excuses are in the previous page. All you got to do is turn the page Turn over the new leaf Look at philippians chapter 3 verse 4 He says though this is the apostle paul speaking here says though I might also have confidence in the flesh If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh. I more Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of israel of the tribe of benjamin and hebrew of the hebrews as touching the law A pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church touching the righteousness, uh righteousness, which is of the law blameless So what is he saying? He's giving all his qualifications Qualifications he spent the vast majority of his life in the wrong religion Think about that He spent the majority of his life in the wrong religion, which is judaism So he's telling us he's like man I I will circumcise the eighth day i'm of the stock of israel the tribe of benjamin I'm a pharisee. I even persecuted the church Look what it goes on to say verse 7, but what things were gained to me those I counted loss for christ skip down to verse number 12 Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect But I follow after if that I may apprehend for that for which also I am apprehended of christ. Jesus 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 so look he could have looked at him being a pharisee and being involved in the wrong religion and say well i'm not like peter I'm, not like john I'm, not like the other apostles who were literally there when jesus christ was there But instead what did he do? He's like i'm gonna forget those things which are behind I'm gonna press forward to the things which are before and in fact, was he not the apostle who actually did more Than all the other apostles even though they came before him Was it not the apostle that actually accomplished more? Because of it, you know why because he turned the leaf He turned the new page He decided to move on Whereas other people was like, well, you know, I didn't go to bible college. Well for some of you like, yeah I'm glad I didn't go to bible college, you know You know, I didn't grow up in a christian home My parents are not christian they're drug addicts or whatever I used to be a drug addict and Excuses wine wine wine why you can't turn the page just turn the page You know, well i'm not the most refined christian and you know, I I struggle okay, then just turn the page Stop making excuses. Stop being a victim You know victim for me equals laziness That's what that is Being a victim is not really a victim. It's just being lazy Why lazy because you choose not to move on even though his compassion is they fail not and the mercies of god are new every day And if they're new every day, guess what? We have a clean slate tomorrow We can flip the page and just deal with whatever we got to deal with tomorrow We can move on The apostle paul did it You know and man, he was in deep water like he did a lot of bad stuff But yet he did more than all the other apostles He did great exploits and let me say this is that if you got saved later on in life If you became a christian later on in life You actually have more of a potential to actually love jesus more than someone who would grow up in a christian home Now people who grew up in christian homes have the potential to love god a lot But you know what the bible even specifically tells us that those who are forgiven much often love much You know Why because they understand? What they've been forgiven of they understand what they've been saved from they understand they they had a bad past and they recognize man God is good. I want to serve him now. I want to be able to love the lord my god with all my heart Soul mind and strength i'm not gonna allow this to set me back and look Don't be the kind of christian that's always bringing up your past Right what you used to be. Oh, man. Yeah back in the day. I used to be this and that and you know, let's move forward Right, that's like it's in the past Why live in the past? It's like churches that Were successful in times past but now they put the church in cruise control and all they can talk about is the successes of the past You know like oh, yeah. I remember we used to do all kinds of sony used to do all kinds of so many What kind of so many you're doing now then? I remember when we used to used to used to forget what you're used to Let's talk about the things that we're going to do Hey 2019. I said this last year was great like 2018 was great, but 2020 is gonna be better We're gonna see more people save add more people to the church Grow the church do great exploits for the church All right, but don't you miss the the good old days the the good new days are actually better though Good old days are good. But you know what the new days are better And we need to make sure that even as a church we're constantly turning over a new leaf Closing a chapter starting a new one. Okay? Go with me if you would to Deuteronomy chapter number one So don't let your past kind of keep you from the future don't don't get traumatized by your past you know what I mean? Don't don't believe don't be a flincher. Okay? Or it's just like I just can't trust anybody I just can't move on just turn over a new leaf. Just forget about that. It's time to move on You can trust the Lord Right and you can't go through life not trusting anybody But what if they do me wrong then they do you wrong? And here's the thing haven't you done people wrong to? Haven't you failed people to haven't you let people down as well? Haven't you let people down as well And don't you want the people who you've let down also be compassionate? And help you to move forward as well You know, we need to make sure that we don't become a victim of our circumstances, but we become overcomers. Amen Or we're just like, you know, what was done is done. I'm done with this chapter chapter two is way better Chapter three will be better than chapter two chapter four better than all the other chapters previous to that But you know some people just get stuck on chapter one When they can't stop talking about what happened 50 years ago 10 years ago, you know Move on, okay Number two, let me say this regards to turning over a new leaf. Don't get stuck on today's chapter for too long Now there's certain things that we that in our lives where hey people try to get out of that chapter too soon You ever read a book and then he's like this chapter is boring And you just want to skip ahead. Anybody ever done something like that? Nobody does anything. Does anybody read? Anybody read okay, does anybody know how to read i'm just kidding Sometimes you read a book and it's like the chapter is not necessarily all that interesting And it's just like I kind of want to just skip this chapter But here's the thing you're not going to be able to understand the next chapter unless you finish this chapter Because there's elements Principles concepts that are within this chapter of your life that you need in order to understand other chapters You know, it's like this and obviously this would be backwards but you know, you have old and new testament Well in order for you to grasp Everything all the symbolism and the pictures of the old testament. You need to have a good understanding of the new testament You know, hey in order for you to understand the book of daniel you need to really understand the book of revelation Why because the book of revelation reveals to us all the deep truths of the book of daniel? You know the new testament is a revelation Of all the symbolism the pictures of christ in the old testament so you can't just stick to one or the other You need both to get the full understanding don't skip around and in life There are certain things that happen to us in life where they're unpleasant. We don't like it, but we need to go through it We need to experience it. We need to read through it We need to learn as much as we can from it and not try to skip ahead But let me say this is that we shouldn't stay in that chapter for too long. Okay, look at deuteronomy one In verse number three it says and it came to pass in the 40th year in the 11th month on the first day of the Month that moses spake unto the children of israel according unto all that the lord hath given him in a commandment unto them After he had slain saihan the king of the amorites Uh, which dwelt in heshbon og the king of beishen which dwelt at ashtoreth and andrei On the side jordan in the land of moab began moses to declare this law saying the lord our god spake unto us in horrib Saying ye have dwelt long enough in this mount Turn you and take your journey and go to the mountain of the amorites and into all the places nigh there unto in the plain in the hills and in the vale and in the south and by the seaside to the land of The cananites and unto lebanon unto the great river the river you're afraid. So what is he saying? You guys been in this wilderness because remember the children of israel came out of egypt They're supposed to go into the promised land, but because of their disobedience They actually wandered around for 40 years In the wilderness in the desert right and god comes to him and says hey you guys been here long enough It's time to go fight the amorites It's time to actually go Get down It's time to go to war. It's time to go to battle. You've been here long enough 40 years is long enough, right? You've been here long enough verse say behold. I have set the land before you go in and possess the land Which the lord swore unto your fathers abraham isaac and jacob to give unto them and to their seed after him What is he saying? It's time to turn over a new leaf Are you gonna die in the wilderness like your forefathers it's time to move on And look some people in the children of israel decided to stay on the other side of the jordan Right when they're supposed to go to war it's like they finally get there like actually we like it here better I think our children and our cattle they're gonna dwell here instead That that's what they wanted to do So they literally wasted 40 years of their lives Just to go to jordan and stay on the other side It's like you're reading through an entire book And then you're on the last chapter and you're like nah, I think i'm just gonna finish right there He's like you're you're almost done Just finish the chapter But you know what it is is some people get complacent and they like staying where they're at You know why people don't want to turn over a new leaf sometimes it's because they're comfortable in the chapters that they're in You know, but let me say this is that you've been there long enough Hey, if you come only sunday morning you've been there long enough You've been here long enough Well, you know, I just I gotta do things like what like sleep Catch a football game or a show or go eat tacos or you know You've been there long enough Don't you think it's time to move on? To turn over that leaf and come sunday night Right Been there long enough. It's you know, it's time to go fight some battles And how about this well, yeah, and then those of you are like hey man good pastor, you know sunday morning sunday night Okay, what about you? Is it a time for you to come thursday night? To the bible study Well, you know, I just I think you've been there long enough That's good that you come sunday morning sunday night. Amen Well, you showed me in the bible where i'm supposed to be here all three times. Well You you know, obviously there's not a verse that says come to church three times a day But there is a bible verse that says that we shouldn't forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is And so much the more As you see the day approaching so there's your three first. There's your three services right there So much the more that means as as much as the doors are open you should be here Well, you just don't understand. I just have all these. Yeah, but you've been there long enough Am I you've given those excuses long enough too, yeah right That mount isn't it boring just being there and look let me say this no christian will grow as much just coming to just one service I'll be honest with you You will not grow as much because of the fact that yes, you can listen to the sermons online Yes, you can go to youtube But the reality is that fellowship and being physically in the church is an element that every christian needs in order To be able to glean as much as they can and grow Okay, and look there's some people that they're choosing just to stay in jordan I can preach this and tell them about you know, show these verses and preach and rip and all these things and they're like Yeah, but we like the other side of jordan still though. I think we're just going to stay right here It's like don't you want to go to the promised land? Don't you want to come listen to the book of galatians tonight? chapter three amen Don't you want to learn some more bible? Don't you want to get more fellowship? Don't you want to turn over the new leaf? And he's like no we're content over here on this side of jordan, you know, but you've been there long enough Okay Hey, you know, how about reading the bible? Excuse me, how about not reading by is this off or what? How about not reading the bible, right? You've been there long enough Where you don't where you choose not to go through the bible You know 2019, you know the beginning i'm going to read through the entire bible genesis through revelation I'm going to read it through twice. I'm going to read it through three times and then you're we're like in october and like you're barely even past like exodus And then like midway a little past midway through you go Well, i'm just going to read through the new testament like five times instead, you know, try to compensate for that long enough You've been there too long It's time to discipline yourself and actually read the bible like 10 chapters a day five chapters a day Three chapters a day so you can get through it in a year Hey, how long have you been a christian? Have you read through the bible yet? Right, have you read through the bible yet? How about this here? Here's a big one Soul winning You know How long have you known of the gospel? How long have you been in a church where they tell you to preach the gospel? But you have not wanted to go soul winning You've been there long enough It's time to get up and do some preaching. Amen Time to go out and do some soul winning. Well, how about this those of you who are on teams? And you're learning how to preach the gospel, but you don't want to step out and actually do it You know, well, I just need to observe for another seven months You've been observing for like six months already How about let's just get past the introductory stage? Well, I don't think i'm ready for that you've been there long enough You probably hear the introduction more than 20 times every week or something It's time to introduce you in the church It's time to give an invite introduce yourself But more than that, it's just time to learn the verses and start preaching the gospel and seeing people saved Because you've been in that stage long enough You know, these are things this is the mount of people where they've been there long enough They've been in that mount long enough. It's time to go fight some amorites It's time to go possess some land. It's time to grow and say all right, i'm bored of being here It's time to turn over a new leaf in life And actually step out give my introduction preach the gospel see people save bear my own fruit right Hey If you've been inconsistent You've been there long enough Just inconsistent in the christian life, okay, it's been long enough Being uninvolved long enough. It's time to go fight And it's time to go take care of business go to joshua chapter seven if you would joshua chapter seven But how about not just in regards to spiritual disciplines, how about this Allowing unresolved conflict to go on Whether in your family with your husband with your wife with your children with the church I don't think there's unresolved conflict here. We try to resolve conflict as fast as possible. But let's say this You have beef with someone, okay You're having problems with your spouse or with your children and you just let it you just prolong that problem long And you don't ever resolve it It's long enough You know when you chastise your child, it should be resolved right then and there Okay parents should never let's talk about child re parents should never just Spank their child and not talk to them for like an entire week or something That sounds funny, but you know a lot of a lot of parents do that Where it's just like they get into this thing and they get spanked and it's like they just don't talk And the way they end up talking is they just break the silence by just bringing something else up and they never resolve the conflict Parents or wives and husbands. Hey resolve conflicts Get it resolved, how do you do that by apologizing Hey children who are or should I say sons and daughters resolve conflicts with your parents Resolve it if you have an issue with your parents resolve it Don't allow it to go unresolved and look if you're in that stage where it's been unresolved you've been there for too long You've been in that mountain for too long. You've been in the gall of bitterness for too long For too long it's time to resolve the conflict look, it's better to just You know growing up my brother and I This is how we resolve conflicts by punching each other You just duke it out And then you get your anger out and then we just like hug and then we go eat or something And we just just get it out of the way Other people just like they just remain bitter. They remain angry and they don't want to talk. Hey Hey Daughters-in-law Time to resolve some conflicts with some mother-in-laws You're like that's impossible That's not even in the chapter That's not in the book I want to tear off that leaf No, you got to resolve it Okay, son-in-laws resolving conflict with their mother-in-laws why only the mother-in-laws I'm just kidding It's time to resolve it because you've been there for too long you've been mad for too long It's time to just get over it Turn over the new leaf forgive forget and move on and let me say this. Here's a good Incentive or a motive to resolve conflict. Here's the motive because if you have children they're going to be just like you You If you're always in the gall of bitterness That's exactly what your children are going to be And you know what by the time you see it, it's already too late You know, once you see you're like, oh man, he's doing that because of me. Well at that point it's too late Because they learn from you And i'm not talking about the words that you say i'm talking about the manner in which you conduct yourself Don't think that doesn't rub off on your children Your children will be who you are times ten Does that scare you? You know if you are a bitter angry Unresolved conflict type of a person that's exactly where your children are going to be And by the time you see it, it's too late You said what should I do turn over the new leaf now? Turn it over And start a new look at joshua seven in joshua chapter seven we see that god has told the children of israel Hey go conquer the land and they go to ai and because of man one man's disobedience What happens is that? Many thousands of men die God allows them them to be conquered instead and People are dying. Look what it says in verse number eight. Oh lord. This is joshua What shall I say when israel turn at their backs from their enemies? For the caninites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it and shall environ us about Environ us round and cut off our name from the earth and what will thou do unto thy great name? So he's saying what are we gonna do? They're just killing us all and I thought we're supposed to come in and possess the land and what's going on here? Verse 10 and the lord said unto joshua get thee up Wherefore lies thou thus upon thy face israel sinned And they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them for they have even Taken of the accursed thing and have also stolen and dissembled also and they have put it even among their own stuff I love the way god talks sometimes It's like okay drama queen You mean drama just get up go fix it. This is this guy who sinned over there. His name is aiken Go destroy him and it'll be all goody get up stop being drama Verse 12 therefore the children of israel could not stand before their enemies But turn their backs before their enemies because they were accursed neither Will I be with you anymore? Except you destroy the accursed from among you up sanctify the people and say sanctify yourselves against tomorrow For thus saith the lord god of israel. There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee Oh israel thou canst not stand before that enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you So what is he saying? Look, here's the conflict you have a conflict with me Because you sin against me but it's that guy right over there go handle it and then you can overcome these other cities It's sin Some people in their lives. They're like, you know, why are all this bad stuff happening to me? It's probably maybe I mean have you checked to see if it's in? Oh, no, I just i'm just I don't understand up stop being a drama queen And just fix the situation God is real obviously god is real but i'm saying he's being real He's like up sanctify someone's in sin Just take care of it and you can I can give you the rest of the land resolve the conflict get rid of the sin I just don't know what's wrong with me. And my life is just being so destroyed and tossed to and fro and all that Oh, okay. It's sin Have you been in church? Have you been reading your bible? Are you involved in sin? This is why these bad things are coming upon you because god is chastising you This is what you do up Sanctify yourself get it right. Okay And look on this point of unresolved conflict. This is important because we need to dwell in unity. Amen That's why in church if you ever have conflict with someone else in church, don't go around gossiping about them You go to them and you resolve it with them say hey brother frank you offended me You know I heard that comment. You said how I i'm I look fat I Don't appreciate that i've been working on my way for months now and you offended me, okay I'm, sorry. I'm just telling the truth It's just like that's fine. But you know, just don't say it in public. No, i'm just kidding Go to someone and just resolve it Don't create clicks don't get with your buddies and criticize other people Go to them And resolve it with them Okay You know you guys remember absalom which is david's son You know, he kills um amnon who's david's son also and he flees from the face of his father Joab who is uh, david's general basically convinces him to come back years afterwards Absalom comes back but and and the king says all right, but just have him dwell over there And I don't want to see his face. He doesn't see his face for a full two years So absolutely comes back to the kingdom Because the king allowed him to but the king doesn't want to see his face Now, how do you think absalom feels for two entire years? Like is he bringing me back to kill me? Is he did he forgive me? Are we good or not? And it finally blows up and he basically sets on fire the fields of joab to get his attention so he can see the king's face You know two whole years of unresolved conflict because david Didn't want to see his son's face instead of just saying hey son all is forgiven come back to the kingdom It's okay, but two full years and look david has uh, uh, he has the propensity to do that. Does he not? You know, he was involved in sin for an entire year before The seer came and basically confronted him to his face. All right, go with me if you would to go to jeremiah chapter 7 So what we're talking about we're talking about turning over a new leaf, okay Turning over a new leaf moving on making sure that our setbacks in the past Don't hold us back. We got to make sure that we finish today's chapter on setbacks and don't act like a victim all the time, okay But not only that let me say this is that Don't repeat bad chapters Okay, what do I mean by that You know learn from your previous chapter and don't go back to that Don't regress now. Who's is anybody into speed reading here? Anybody into speed reading Okay, does anybody know what speed reading is? It's pretty easy by the by the term, right? Reading speedily, okay So I don't really encourage speed reading. It's profitable only if you want to finish content very quickly But speed reading basically teaches you not to not to sound out the words as you're reading which I believe you should okay And what it does is basically it's helping you to train your your your your throat as well as your mind to view Blocks of sentences at at once and basically trust in what you're already taking in to be able to move on you understand And what they do because when you read you may not know this But when you read you actually sound out words Even with your tongue inside your mouth like when you read you actually like kind of sounding them out very quietly, okay And what speed reading tries to get you to do is just trust in you what you're visualizing already Like for example when people speed read all the time If you're going down the street and you glance over at something you look back you actually know what you just read Now you may you may not be paying attention. But if you were to say hey, what was that sign saying? Oh, it said, you know, whatever Because you see it visually and you know what it says and therefore it helps now I don't encourage people to speed read only because people who learn how to speed read if you ask ask them to read out loud They actually butcher all the words because they're just kind of like seeing everything in blocks And what they what they tell you is that when you do speed reading eventually you want to get to a point Where you read everything in four blocks like block here block here block here block here. So you just go like this And literally there's people who read so fast. They can just turn over page Turn over page and intake everything that they're learning. But one of The principles that they tell you when it comes to speed reading is this Don't regress Because sometimes when you start out and you start learning how to speed read you're like, oh man, I don't know if I got that And your temptation is actually to go back and reread it Whereas what they tell you is this just trust that you got the content. Okay and move on you understand what i'm saying? so obviously Speed reading in its practical practical sense when you read books I I wouldn't recommend it but it does hold a certain good principle where it's like hey Just trust that that that part of your life has already moved on. It can't be changed and move on Trust that you've learned whatever you need to learn and move on with your life, you know Some people say well, you know in order to be successful in life. You got to have experience but that's not necessarily true You have to have evaluated experience So whatever situation you went through is an experience But it will never help you in the future unless you evaluate that experience that you went through And actually make decisions in the future based off of that experience Because everyone's had bad experiences, but you know, the only people who actually overcome and become successful are those who actually learned From those experiences and you know what happens when you don't learn from an experience you repeat that chapter So when god allows a specific bad circumstance to come upon you And you become bitter you don't learn from it. God allows that same bad problem to come back around again So you can learn it again, you know why because pain is a valuable teacher. That's why Pain teaches us And it's what gets our attention But you know what? I don't want to repeat a lesson of pain So when the pain comes learn from it Learn don't regress The bible says in proverbs 26 11 as a dog returned to his vomit. So a fool returneth to his folly Only a fool is a person who repeats the same mistakes over and over again Why is he a fool because he's not learning from his mistakes Move forward look at jeremiah 7 verse 23 But this thing commanded I them saying obey my voice and I will be your god and ye shall be my people And walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you that it may be well unto you But they hearken not nor incline their ear But walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart and went backward and not forward Obviously the christian life is two steps forward one step back But you know, some people just constantly are stepping back. They just get worse and worse and worse. Why because they're not learning From their failures, they're not learning from their circumstances. They're regressing in their christian life Okay, this is how it ought not to be go to second corinthians chapter two I got two more points and i'm done. Okay, second corinthians chapter two We're talking about turning over a new leaf not for salvation, but we're talking about turning over a new leaf As far as moving on is concerned Now here's my second to last point, okay When it comes to turning over a new leaf, you know, what we need to do Is we need to allow And help others to turn over a new leaf Okay, obviously we need to turn over that lead but you know what we need to do we need to help others do that too Right if someone's trying to change in our church don't hold don't like mock them don't try to push them Don't try to rush them. Don't condemn them if someone has been Excommunicated from our church because of sin and they come back. We need to help that person turn over a new leaf We need to help that person in their repentance We need to help that person Grow and be nurtured in the admonition of the lord Lord Let me give you an example of this in first corinthians the book of first corinthians you have a guy who was involved in fornication Okay with his stepmom pretty bad pretty nasty, okay And what's even worse than that is that the leaders of that church were not excommunicating them out of the church for that And the apostle paul writes in first corinthians chapter five. He's talking about, you know that they're allowing them there They're glorying in that and he's explaining these people You should even have a meal with them if they're involved in this fornication if they're involved in sin And they were just kind of like being like liberal about this and like, oh, you know, you know Just basically let them stay they're glorying in the fact that they made that decision Well, the apostle paul just rips their faces off through first corinthians the book of first corinthians. I mean rips them to shreds To the point where they ended up Excommunicating this fellow who's involved in this sin And then the apostle paul decides to write a second letter And part of that second letter was because of the fact that now that guy wanted to get right with god He wanted to repent and in fact, he did repent He got his life right and he wanted to come back to church and guess what they were not willing to forgive him So now the letter turned from hey, you need to chastise this guy to hey, you need to forgive that guy And let him back in two crazy extremes No balance Look at second corinthians 2 verse 5 But if any have caused grief he hath not grieved me but in part that I may not overcharge you all Sufficient to such a man is this punishment which was inflicted of many so the entire church was for this. They're like get him out So that contrary wise ye ought rather to forgive him And not just forgive them look what it says Comfort him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with over much sorrow You know what the bible's saying here? Hey when someone wrongs us or someone wrongs the church And they repent they're gonna be forgiven but not just forgiven Because aren't we second when we're supposed to be second mile christians, right? He says you're supposed to comfort him as well When they come in you put your arm over his shoulder and you say come on brother Let's go have a keto cheesecake Let's go have you know Let's go have a protein style in and out burger Okay You know, hey, we love you and you don't bring up the past you begin to comfort that person So he says not only forgive them, but you're supposed to comfort them as well Lest he be swallowed up with over much sorrow What does that mean? In other words? It's like they've forgiven me, but do they really like me anymore? Because look we want to be forgiven but we want to be liked too You know if we sin we get excommunicated and we come back. Yes, we want the forgiveness of the church But you know what? We also want we want them to be our friends again right We want to be able to get along with them. We want to be able to be welcomed back into the fold Okay And that's why it says that or if not, they'll be overcome over much sorrow verse eight Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him For to this end also did I write that I might know the proof of you whether you be obedient in all things For to whom you forgive anything I forgive also for if I forgave anything to whom I forgave it for your sakes forgave I in the person of christ less satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices So what he's saying if you don't do this, you're going to allow the device of satan to take root in the church Because just as much as excommunicating someone out of the church is important Welcome welcoming them back when they repent and forgiving them is important as well But guess what not just in church settings just in general period You got to learn to be able to forgive people you got to help people turn over that new leaf If they want to get right if they want your your friendship your fellowship if they want fellowship with god We need to be able to forgive them and help them to move on now look Uh We don't welcome back heretics We don't welcome back false prophets and false teachers Once they're exposed once they're exposed they're out of here and they're never never welcome to come back I'm talking about people who teach damnable heresies, okay? But how about just people who were just in sin? How about people who were just being maybe? A little you know punk or something and they're causing a little bit of division Maybe because they're little babes in christ and they want to come back. They're like, hey, I was immature. I'm, sorry You know, we're not like no we make it out of here, you know You're never welcome to come back here. You said I was fat or you know, you said this and that We need to be able to welcome back and then guess what help them to Turn over that new leaf and move on with their lives, okay? We need to be able to help them to live it down and to help them to do so now here's my last point is this is that Because the sermon is talking about turning over a new leaf moving on. All right Moving on this is what i'm basically saying here is all of us need to move on to the next page the next chapter not regress But let me say this is that the leaves that you turn mean nothing If you are not written in the leaves of the book of life Right So obviously you could turn over a new leaf and all these things but you know all that means nothing If you're actually not written within the pages of the book of life Right Why because what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul What if you do stop drinking alcohol great if you stop smoking marijuana great if you stop fornicating great If you actually go to church great, but you know what that means nothing If you're actually not even saved If you're not written within the leaves of the book of life Okay So in order for the these principles to make a significant difference in your life where you could actually turn the page Turn the leaf you actually have to be saved and it's what I originally talked about in the beginning which is you need to believe on the lord jesus christ and only on jesus christ Add nothing subtract nothing Only on the lord jesus christ. Well, I do believe in jesus, but I also believe you got to clean up your life No, then it's not really believing on jesus Doesn't work that way It's only by faith in christ alone That we could actually Keep our names actually in the book of life. You understand so your names would not be blotted out So I wanted to share that and just talk about that because today's the first day of the fall program. Amen And you said what's the point of the fall program is to help you turn over a new leaf? To be able to stay in to do more church To actually go soul winning All right to start reading your bible and made those disciplines Actually influence other parts of your life where you're like, you know what I do need to read the bible all the way through You know, I go so many once but maybe I need to go twice Maybe I do need to start doing my introduction today Maybe I need to go to my team leader and say hey Uh, i'm ready to do my intro today. I want to introduce myself Or you know what? I've been here long enough I need to go ahead and just start memorizing the verses or I want to just Attempt to knock on the door and attempt to preach the gospel and team leader if I get stuck Can you can you help me with it? You know, i've been here long enough. It's time to move on You know what? There's no time like the present to make that decision today Amen No time like the present to forgive someone No time like the present for you to turn over that new leaf and say, you know I'm not going to be bitter towards this person anymore. I'm going to forgive i'm going to forget i'm going to move on I'm going to start with this new chapter. Amen. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father We thank you so much for your word And thank you for the fact that your compassions your mercies are new every day And that is that should be sufficient enough even to help us to help others turn over a new leaf Because of the fact that you forgave us And we've done so much so much worse to you than what people have done to us And god, I pray that you'd help us to continue to move on move forward to turn over that new leaf and To start a new chapter start a new page and embrace that the challenges ahead And understand that regardless of what happens in this the the turning of the leaf we understand if we're saved the byproduct the end product of our story our book is that You know, it's a happy ending because we have eternal life and I pray god that god that you'd help us to to Practice these principles and flesh these out in our personal lives and help us not to wait to tomorrow to do it Help us to take advantage and to make those steps today in jesus name. We pray. Amen