Try It Again
Philippians 1:3-11

by Pastor Eldon Reich

Our theme for the the day is: PROVERBS 24:16

For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.

Have you ever had a setback in your life?

A failure or a mistake?

We all have. Things happen to us that just take the wind out of us.

Maybe it’s a car accident, the loss of a job,

Maybe a relationship is ended, your child disappoints you,

or your pet dies.

These are set backs.

I read about a lady in New York City who lost her pet dog.

It was a real blow to her.  

Not only did he die, but she didn’t know what to do with him.

New York City has 8 million cats and 11 million dogs.

It’s all concrete and steel.

You can’t just go out and bury Fluffy in the back yard.

She didn’t have the $50 the city charged for disposal.

So one day after trying one thing and another.

She sadly put her dog in an old suit case.

Hopped on the subway,

Put the suitcase down and acted busy.

It wasn’t long and a thief had stolen it.

Her dead dog was gone.

She had saved the money for a burial

And sent her loving Fluffy on his last great adventure.

So she went home.

On the way she stopped at the Salvation Army

Picked up all the old suitcases they had.

Then placed an ad in the paper saying she would

Take care of your family pet for just $25

Half of what the city charged.

And so out of a great loss she began a great business.

Many of you have faced setbacks and gotten discouraged?

Maybe you are even afraid to move forward for God?

If this is true, than you have something in common

with most of the Old Testament leaders

Take Joshua and the Israelite people.

Joshua had succeeded Moses as leader and

led the Israelites out of the years of wilderness wandering.

He led them across the Jordan River.

They defeated Jericho when they blew the trumpets and God pulled down the walls

And God gave them great victory.

However, as they arrived at the city of Ai things seemed to fall apart.

Because of the sin of one man, Achan,

Israel suffered a horrible defeat at Ai.

God had said: All of Jericho was to be devoted to the Lord.

19All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron and sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”  21 They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it-- men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.” Joshua 6:17,19,21

But Achan lusted after gold and purple cloth and

Took some and buried it in the ground inside his tent.

And because of it Israel was defeated at a little town of Ai.

With God’s help Joshua discovered Achan’s sin and cleaned up his ranks,

But now Joshua was reluctant to move forward because of failure.

God said to him

Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. Joshua 8:1 NKJV

The essence of God’s command was to get up and try again!

What an encouraging word for those occasions

when we get down and feel like giving up.

I.  TRY AGAIN BECAUSE-- GOD BELIEVES IN YOU

Remember our theme verse?

Proverbs 24:16 For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.

This verse says the difference between a wise man and a fool

is not determined by whether or not he fails.

We all fail.

The difference between a wise man and a fool

is whether or not he gets back up.

Here's the principle we must always remember:

Failures who give up are a dime a dozen.

Failures who get up are one in a million.

Try again, because God believes in you.

Philippians 1:6: ...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.

God is determined to finish what he started in you.

When you received Christ as your Lord and Savior

he began a work in you to make you like Jesus.

He sees in you the potential to become like him,

whether you see it or not.

One of the ongoing discussions with our men is that when we look at ourselves.

We are so prone to see our sins,

To see our mistakes

We know our repeated failures.

Even without or spouses reminding us.

And we wonder how can God love us.

How can we go on.

But God stays: “Stand Up!

I believe in you, and I’m going a great work in you.”

If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him.

No one would have remembered him either. –Unknown

So we are asked to struggle on. Paul writes in Philippians 2:12-16

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.  

God works in you,

God wants us to continue.

To push on.

Because

I. GOD BELIEVES IN YOU.

II. TRY AGAIN BECAUSE GOD ASKS YOU TO.

You see, it is by trying and failing,

standing up and falling down,

getting praise and ridicule,

That we grow and our character is refined.

And what looks like a failure in that moment

becomes a rich learning experience

you can build upon and share with others.

And when we do it trusting God. He gets the credit.

Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

If you don’t believe in yourself

Remember God believes in you.

And he expects you to try again.

He didn’t search out Peter, James and John and

The rest of the disciples after their betrayal to scold them.

Because they betrayed him and then went fishing.

Jesus went to ask them to try again as his Disciples.

What kind of parents would we be if we

don’t expect our children to try again.

If we don’t encourage or ask them to try again.

We do it because we have a plan for our children.

That is to help them grow up

To be tough skinned and hearty

So they can survive and function as adults.

Secure and able to face this trying life.

If we protect our child all his life.

Fight his battles for him,

We end up with a child who is always insecure,

Always unsure and never willing to try anything.

Getting called a momma’s boy.

And when he gets to school

He will be ridiculed as sissy’s and cry babies and wimps.

Because they will never try anything.

If he falls off his bike, or roller blades,  or trampoline

we pick him up

Dry his tears and put him back on.

Are we cruel parents?

Absolutely not because we know that

If we don’t he will never discover the joy of bike riding and roller blading.

Is this risky?

Sure it is. Just the other day I was waiting with a family from our church

in the surgery waiting room as their little daughter had surgery on her broken arm.

Because little bones can break when we fall from a jungle gym..

Every parent is concerned about his children.

So is God.

Did you hear about the old country preacher

Who wanted to help his teenage son choose a profession.

Because the boy didn’t know what he wanted to be.

So one day he went into the boy’s room and

placed three object on his bedside table:

a Bible, a silver dollar, and a bottle of whiskey...
Then he hid in the closet and watched.

He thought: If he picks up the Bible, he's going to be a preacher like me!

If he picks up the dollar, he's going to be a businessman- that would be o.k.

But if he picks up the bottle, he's going to be a no-good drunkard and Lord,

what a shame that would be."
     Soon he heard footsteps and the boy came in the bedroom.

Put his books on the bed and spotted the object on the table.

He stopped a moment: 

Then he walked over and picked the bible placed it under his arm.

Then he picked up the silver dollar and dropped it into his pocket.

Last uncorked the bottle and took a big drink...
the old man whispered, "Good grief: He's gonna be a politician!"

Sorry Al, its just a story!

God expects us to try again.

He raised a whole valley of Dry bones in Eziekiel to be an army again.

He does it because he has a plan for us.

When you trust in God and try again.

Your failure, no matter what it is taken off your back

And placed in your hands as the opportunity to began again.

God’s plan for us is that we become the best Christian we can be.

And the next verse tells us how.

¹⁴Do everything without complaining or arguing, ¹⁵so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation,

Do it without complaining or arguing.

Because we know what we are to be.

 We are to shine like stars in the universe ¹⁶as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.

II. WE TRY AGAIN BECAUSE GOD ASKS US.

III. BECAUSE THE WORLD NEEDS YOU TOO.

2000 years ago some fishermen spent the entire night

attempting to catch fish, and they came up empty handed.

This was a disappointment for them far beyond

what we experience when we don’t catch fish.

For these men, it was their livelihood.

They needed money.

For us fishing is a hobby.

Since their income had stopped when they left their nets

And followed Jesus.

They needed to fish.

Jesus saw this, and told Peter to go out into the deep water

and let down his net again.

Peter said, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." (Luke 5:5)

Peter tried again,

and the result was that he and his companions caught

such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

And their boats began to sink.

Now notice that Peter tried again

Not because he suddenly had renewed faith in his ability as a fisherman?

Not because he believed in himself,

But because he believed in Jesus.

Casting his nets back into the water was an act of faith and obedience.

THAT’S WHY THAT INCIDENT IS IN THE SCRIPTURES.

To show us when we obey God and try again.

We will succeed.

On the last day of our men’s fishing trip up to Canada last week,

It was slow going.

There was little wind

95 degrees

And not many fish.

We could have said: its too hot,

There no action

It’s too quiet were going to quit.

But we cast  the old spinner and crank bait until late in the afternoon.

Bill Benjamin began to catch 4  pound bass.

What a fight he had .

We caught fish because we tried again, and again.

We can’t give up because the world needs to get it right.

In morality and spirituality as well as in living.

Take the little six-year-old was listening to the radio and some 60’s music

Instead of singing along, "Goin' to the chapel/ And we're gonna get married," I heard her sing, "Goin' to the chat room/ And we're gonna get married."

Your children need to know that when you get knocked down,

you've got to get back up.

Your co-workers need to know when you make mistakes,

you don’t throw in the towel you try again.

Your brothers and sisters in Christ who stumble over temptation,

need to know that God is faithful, and he rewards persistence.

They need to see it in you and me.

That what Apostle Paul was saying about the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

...in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. (1 Thessalonians 1:6-7)

Every time I see or read about someone trying again

I give thanks for their courage and example.

Because when they try again.

It encourages me to do it as well.

To get up again.

And to tell the world that

"I have faith in God, even when I don't have faith in myself.

And I will obey God, even when it seems hopeless to try."

Because with God all things will work together for His Good and God’s Glory.

When you try again?

In your Christian life?

In your serving

In your tithing

In your praying

In your loving?

If you do

God will use your life as an example of faith and obedience”

That can inspire others to try again

and lead them right up to the foot of the cross.

TRY AGAIN AND SEE WHAT GOD CAN DO.

PRAYER:

Than you lord for your patience with us.

For having faith in us when we fail

And for strengthen us to try again.

To get up again

And to allow your Holy Spirit to use us

As Vessel of Honor. I pray in Jesus name.