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#20230806 - 3 Biblical Ways To Deal With Your Past - Romans 8:1 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the Study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co To learn
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more about the many resources available through Abounding
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Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. Amen.
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Amen. Take your Bibles.
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Open them to Romans chapter 8 right there in verse one.
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It's going to be one of many verses.
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This is another Bible study we're taking notes will be
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important because we're going to cover a lot of territory as we
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study together. 3 Biblical Ways to deal with your past.
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Three Biblical ways to deal with your past.
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If there's something we all share in common today is that we
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all have a past. All of us have a past.
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Now. Of course, your past may not be
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as bad as mine, and mine was pretty bad.
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I made a lot of bad, sinful decisions in life.
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I heard a lot of people along the way.
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I made a lot of excuses which only made things worse.
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But your past may not be that bad.
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Well, whether it's a difficult past like mine or you just had a
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difficult week that's now in your past, you know, difficult
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weeks. Just if you had a difficult
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week, if you don't learn how to respond well to a difficult
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week, that could be the point in your life where you become stuck
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the rest of your life, where then you look back 20 years ago,
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you know, I know what it's like. It was that week.
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And God doesn't want us to have these pain points in our lives
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where we don't move forward. And as followers of Jesus
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Christ, the good news is, is that by the blood that was shed
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by Jesus Christ, our sins have been judged and forgiven our
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past, our present, and even our future.
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The Bible says in Isaiah 44, verse 22, I have blotted out
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like a thick cloud your transgressions, and like a cloud
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your sins return to me, for I have redeemed you.
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In the Psalm we read today, Psalm 103, verse 10 says he has
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not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us
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according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high
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above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear him.
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It's glorious to know that our sins can be forgiven.
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I think it's important right at the outset to deal with this
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issue known as sin. Because there are some, I'm
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sure. Listen to me right now you go.
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You know I'm not that bad pastor and I don't even really like the
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word sin. And and I understand that
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perspective. That's not an unusual
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perspective. But it's not the right
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perspective. Let me let me paint it
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differently for you. What if we replace the word sin
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with mistakes? Would you be more prone to
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follow along with me if if you could just agree with me.
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As we all know that you've made mistakes in life.
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Has anyone made mistakes? Give me an Amen.
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Amen. That we've all made mistakes.
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I mean, there isn't any one of us that we can stand here.
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You know, I got a perfect life and I've done everything right.
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And you know, there's a Bible word for that attitude.
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It's called self righteousness, where you think far too highly
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of yourself. Of course, we've all made
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mistakes. Some of them very, very small,
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some of them very large are mistakes have affected people
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that we love. They they've hurt them.
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That our mistakes have affected people we don't even know.
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And so mistakes. Yes, of course.
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And So what do we do with our mistakes?
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That's something I want to answer for you today, because
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here's the bridge. You ready?
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What we call mistakes, the Bible calls sin.
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And it's actually worse than just the mistakes.
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It's actually a worse condition. As hard as our mistakes are, sin
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elevates the severity. Of these bad decisions that
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we've made, and the Bible uses the word sin to describe it.
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And you know, with sin there isn't anything that we can do to
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get rid of it. There isn't anything that we can
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do to run away from it. We're just left with it in a
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hopeless condition. That is, until we understand the
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love of God. He sees our hopeless condition
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and he makes a way of escape for us.
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The Bible says that God so loved the world that he gave his only
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begotten Son that whosoever would believe in him would not
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perish and have everlasting life.
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You see, friends, you see church.
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This is a serious topic because we all have a past, some worse
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than others for sure, but it's something we shared together.
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And if your past is not as bad as mine, I'm happy for you.
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There's many things in life that I regret, I regret deeply.
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Things I wish I would have never, ever done.
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But God has given me a pathway away from them.
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He's taken a broken life and he's put it back together even
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greater than I would have ever expected.
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And he can do the same with you. Whether it's a past like mine or
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I'm sure if it's not, there's there's something in our lives.
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That we wish that you could just wipe away.
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You know, like if your life was a book and you could just rip
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that chapter out, you would do it.
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And it's like, oh, why, why is your book from chapter 4 and
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chapter 6 as. Because I don't like chapter 5.
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You know, we were just going to move right on.
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And you know, God is able to do that, but you don't have to rip
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it off. God can redeem it and he can
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give great value. And I know God's going to use it
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because the Bible says that God's working all things
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together for the good. For those that love him, those
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that are called according to his purpose, and you know, whenever
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you hear that sound, you just thank God for the men and women
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that stand in the gap for our freedom.
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Don't you ever forget them. They can, they can fly over
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Aurora as much as they want. They can hover around.
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But if they would do it at 12:45 that would be better so.
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At least the leaves us with the question.
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What do we do? Let me give you 3 things.
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If you're taking notes. You ready?
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Turn over to Philippians chapter 3.
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It's Philippians chapter 3. What do I do with my past?
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Well, number one, you forget it #1.
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You forget your past. I want to show you a man who
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learned how to apply this principle.
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We know him as Paul the Apostle, but we met him as Saul of
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Tarsus. And Saul of Tarsus made many,
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many sinful decisions in his life that he clearly regrets
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that he dealt with the rest of his life.
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We met him in Acts Chapter 9. I as he was transformed and
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renewed and we learn about his life as he writes in the rest of
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the Bible episodes in his life. And these things clearly
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bothered him, these things clearly in his life, these
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sinful mistakes carried along through his life.
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Yet he didn't stay there. God moved him and used him in
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great ways. Even with the angry, hated,
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murderous past, he was filled with anger and hatred.
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Destroying families. And he had it, a part of his
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past still moving forward. God was able to change this man,
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even as God is able to change you.
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And when you're in Philippians chapter 3, I draw your attention
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there to verse 12. And notice what Paul has to say
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here about his own life, He says.
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Not that I've already attained or I'm already perfected.
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But I press on and listen, Church, little by little, you've
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got to learn how to press on, move forward.
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I don't want you to mistake that phrase with Get over it.
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That's not what I'm saying. Some things in our lives will
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never get over. But we can move forward and we
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must press on. There is still much life to
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live, no matter what our past might be.
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So he says, I press on so that I might lay hold of that for which
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Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
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Brethren, I don't count myself to have apprehended.
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And here he reduced it down. He says This one thing I do for
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getting those things that are behind and reaching forward to
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those things that are ahead. I pressed toward the goal for
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the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
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Forget your past at this point, so early on in the Bible study.
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You know, you could be thinking there, you know, that's
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simplistic, pastor. That's simplistic, that that you
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don't understand. And and these are just
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simplistic platitudes from the pulpit of another church.
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And here is why I want to warn you.
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I don't want you to confuse 2 things.
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There is a significant difference between something
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that's simplistic and something that's simple simplistic.
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I would agree with you. I don't want to give you
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anything that is simplistic. And and it is really lacks
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meaning and doesn't really take into account all the layers of
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trauma, all the layers of difficulty.
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And he's like, oh, you know, read 2 verses and call me in the
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morning. That's simplistic.
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And that's not real good counsel.
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Don't confuse simplistic with simple.
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Simple just means it's not complicated.
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That's all. The answers to our problems are
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not complicated. They're not simplistic either,
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but they are profoundly simple. So that when I suggest to you
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one of the solutions of dealing with your past is to forget it,
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I mean it. You need to learn to forget your
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past now. Paul says it here in the new
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King James Version for getting those things that are behind.
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But again, the New Living Translation just says it
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straight up Forget your past. This one thing I do when it
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comes to my past, I don't dwell on it.
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When it comes to my past, I don't dwell on it.
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And there's two verbs that I want you to have connected to
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your past. First of all you need to learn
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to release your past, and then secondly you need to learn to
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reach forward. There is a higher calling in
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your life in Christ than your past.
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In Romans chapter 8, verse one, it says there is therefore now
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no condemnation to those that are in Christ, to those who walk
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in the Spirit, those who do not walk according to the flesh.
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But according to the Spirit, you release the past and you reach
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to the future and you are unable.
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I am unable to reach toward the future when I'm clinging to the
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past. It's impossible, Paul says.
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I forget those things in the past so I can press on and press
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toward the goal that God has for me.
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We might say it in Christian language.
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You get your eyes off yourself and you get your eyes on the
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Lord. That's what he's saying here.
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I want to remember the good things and I want to forget the
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bad things. Now, again, simplistic, we mean
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you'll never remember it again. This is simple.
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It's not simplistic. You know when you it's not like
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God's going to erase your memory.
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It's not like you're going to have a complete forgetting of
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your past. Truly, we've learned in our
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previous studies that God will, that the enemy will often use
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the past against you. So it's not like you're going to
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completely no longer ever the rest of your life.
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Remember the things in your past.
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That's not what he's saying here.
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What he's saying is I'm going to choose that whenever the past
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comes up, I'm not going there. I'm not dwelling on it.
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It is not going to define me. My definition of life is in
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Christ, not in the past. So there's a word here.
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Notice we see it in the in the English language.
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Here in verse 13, they translate that Greek word forgetting.
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That's the active tense. So what that tells us is this is
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an ongoing action, so you can redefine it this way.
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You need to learn how to actively forget the past.
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It's similar to how God responds to our past.
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God is all knowing, and so when he talks about forgetting our
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sins, it's not as if God is no longer all knowing, but rather
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He chooses. In forgetting.
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He chooses not to remember them against us.
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It's a similar choice that you and I need to make.
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We need to choose not to dwell in the past and therefore learn
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how to actively forget. I found that the only times that
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I can't forget my past, because this can be a real battle for
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me, a layer upon layer upon layer of damage that I have done
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to myself in the many years I lived apart from Christ.
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The only time I I can't forget my past is when I choose to
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dwell on it and hang around it. And if past doesn't relate to
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you, well, just think about think about the way we describe
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it today, that you enter into a new relationship, you enter into
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a new church, you enter into a new season of life.
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You enter into something new with a lot of baggage.
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Your baggage is almost all filled with your past, and God
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is saying look. I've got a new thing for you.
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I'm going to do a new work in you.
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You're born again. You're in Christ.
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Your past does not define you. It does not define you.
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If I let myself drown in sorrow and grief, playing it over and
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over in my mind, then it'll just bury me.
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I'll be stuck there. The reality is, is that those
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who choose not to forget tend to stay in one place their entire
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lives, pitifully unwilling to move forward.
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This is where it's important to identify the real trap of
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victimhood, which is really celebrated in our culture today.
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People are they're stuck with a new identity, and their new
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identity is victimhood, and that's who they are.
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But that's not so for the believer in Christ.
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You, you, you. Your identity is not in
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victimhood. Your identity is in Christ.
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Now listen, that's not to say that you haven't been a victim.
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Or that serious, traumatic things have haven't happened to
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you. Of course they have.
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And it's okay to use that word. Like I'm a victim of a crime.
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I'm a victim of pain. I'm a victim of abuse, of
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course. But if you don't choose to
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forgive, then you're going to be stuck there.
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Are you guys with me? You don't want to be stuck
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there. You don't want to be identified
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yourself by that one moment in time, or that one season in
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time, or that pain that you just can't get over that you you
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aren't stuck in victimhood. There is healing available in
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Jesus Christ. There is comfort and help, which
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is at this point, there are those listening to God.
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You know what, Pastor? You just don't understand.
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Because if you understood, you wouldn't be saying things like
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that. I've heard that before and I've
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heard that before. And I'm I'm.
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Let me let me just pause you so that perhaps I can gain a little
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more of your trust. Look, look, the truth of God's
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Word does not depend upon me understanding your situation.
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So it's not true that if I just understood, do you know what I
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will never understand the pain that you've gone through.
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Ever. I I'll never fully understand
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it. I I I don't know what it's like
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to live the life that you lived in, the home that you live with
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the situation. I don't know the best that I can
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offer you and what I do offer you is empathy, a listening ear,
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a prayerful heart. I I mean, I might be able to
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understand a little bit more if you shared with me.
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I might be able to understand because maybe there's some
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shared experiences and grief or something.
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I might be able to do that. But the best that I can do is
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offer you empathy, walk alongside of you, pray for you,
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and point you to the one who does know.
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But if you sit through Bible says you rest of your life upset
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with a pastor or somebody you don't understand, you don't
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understand. It's true, I don't understand.
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But that shouldn't prevent you from walking forward by faith in
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Jesus Christ. Because even if I did understand
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you, it still leaves before you. You got to still take a step of
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faith. You're still going to have to
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obey God and and you're right. I may not have this sense where
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I I don't know what you went through, but I'm.
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I do know this. You can't live the rest of your
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life identifying yourself as a victim.
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God has done great things for you, and He wants to take you
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forward. You have to learn to actively
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forget and move forward, Move forward.
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Because the the root of condemnation and being stuck is
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looking backwards. Remember these Bible studies?
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They're built upon a previous Bible study.
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So if this is resonate for you, that series is up on the on our
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website. Where I did the study,
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identifying condemnation, those that beat themselves up, those
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that get stuck, and I can only think of their failures.
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And there's there's great freedom from that.
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That's a different Bible study altogether.
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It's also in the book, in the book form as well.
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But here's the thing, when you look back, it's only going to
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bring condemnation. When you look back.
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The enemy loves for us to look back.
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To go deep into our past, let's dig deep and deep and deep so we
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our eyes can be focused on our sin and our failure and
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everything that we are, whether it's my sin or someone else's
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sin. But God wants us to move
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forward. He wants us to see hope that
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there's something beyond the pain.
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And you know, church, it's possible to move forward and
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hurt at the same time. It's possible to move forward
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and still carry pain with you. And still have, you know, And
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it's funny because we make these things up and it makes us feel
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worse because we look back at our past.
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And I used to say this phrase a lot.
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I try not to anymore. But it's like, you know, it's
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very common. It's like if I knew then what I
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know now, I wouldn't make the same mistakes.
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You don't know that you can have all the knowledge that you have
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today and still be a knucklehead back then.
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How do you know what you would have done?
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You don't know. And so you just, even though it
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has a nice little that's, you know, talk about cliches and
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platitudes, that's one of them. Because then it makes you feel
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really bad. Oh, I wish I would have got
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saved earlier. I wish I you can't.
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And we don't know what we would have done.
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The best thing to do is say this.
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I am so glad that I know what I know now.
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So I will never make that simple mistake again.
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That's the way to handle the future.
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Forget your past #2. Turn over to Luke, Chapter 15.
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Luke, Chapter 15. A familiar passage in the Bible.
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It's commonly known as the parable of the prodigal son.
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But it actually, you know that's not, that's not inspired by God,
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right, Those little subtitles. This actually isn't the parable
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of the prodigal son. It's the parable of the loving
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dad. We got it.
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We we got the focus all wrong. Even though there is a dad and
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there are a couple sons, the focus is not on the son.
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The focus is on dad. And I'll show you what I mean.
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Pick up with me Luke 15 and I think we're going to start there
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in verse 20. No, verse 11.
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Then he said a certain man had two sons and the younger of them
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said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that
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falls to me. So he divided to them as
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livelihood. And not many days after the
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young son gathered altogether journey to a far country.
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And there wasted his possessions with prodigal.
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Not word literally means wasteful prodigal living.
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And when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in the
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land. And he began to be in want.
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And he went and joined himself to a citizen of the country, and
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he sent him into the fields to feed swine.
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And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that
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the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
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But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's
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hired servants have bred enough to spare?
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And I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to my
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father. And I say to him, Father, I've
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sinned against heaven, and before you, and I'm no longer to
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be worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired
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servants. And he arose and came to his
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father. But when he was still a great
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way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell
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on his neck, and kissed him. And his son said to him, Father,
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I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and I'm no longer
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worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his
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servants, bring out the best robe, Put it on him.
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Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
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Bring the fatted calf here and kill it.
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Let's eat and be merry, For this son was dead and is alive again.
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He was lost in his found, and they began to be merry.
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Now his older son was in the field, and he came and drew near
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to the house. He heard music and dancing.
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So he said to one of the servants what's going on.
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And he said to him, your brother is common because he has
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received him safe and sound. Your father has killed the
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fatted cat, but he was angry and would not go in.
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Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.
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So he answered and said to his father, Lo, these many years
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I've been serving you, I never transgress your commandment at
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any time. And yet you never gave me a
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young goat that I might make Mary with my friends.
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But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your
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livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.
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And he said to him, Son, you're always with me and all that I
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have is yours. It was right that we should make
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Mary and be glad because your brother was dead.
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He's alive again and was lost and is found.
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Forgiveness is a healthy key in dealing with your past.
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Forgiveness so important. You need to learn how to forgive
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your past. You might hear this phrase in In
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our culture. You need to learn how to forgive
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yourself. You need to learn how to forgive
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yourself. Now don't misunderstand me.
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I don't use that phrase like our culture does.
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Our culture uses that phrase like you're the most important
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person, that you have the power to forgive yourself.
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You can create your own destiny and you can do You're the
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captain of your own ship and you just forgive yourself like it
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all depends upon you. That's not what the Bible
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teaches. We forgive because of what God
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has forgiven us. We learn forgiveness because we
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realize we need to be forgiven. When you learn how to forgive
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yourself, it biblically, the Bible defines that as receiving
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the forgiveness of your father. And when it comes to your past,
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you need to receive the forgiveness of your father in
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the parable. Here again, many people focus on
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the sons but but as much as their focus on the sons.
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This is about Dad. This is about a loving father
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who is a type in a picture of our Heavenly Father. 9 times, no
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less than nine times that I have it circled in my Bible.
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Father, Father, Father, father. The focus is on the Father.
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There are two sons and let me say, everyone in the room today
23:31
is one of those two sons. One of those two sons.
23:35
You're either broken and humble because of your own sin or
23:39
you're self-righteous and not broken and hard.
23:41
You're one of the two. There's not a third option.
23:44
There's nothing in the middle. So you have this young son, you
23:47
know, to understand the significance of how bad this is,
23:51
you got to understand When he asked for his, when he asked for
23:54
his inheritance, he's basically looking at his dad and saying,
23:58
dad, I wish you were dead. Because if you were dead, I
24:02
would get what's going to come to me when you would die.
24:05
That's basically what you're saying.
24:06
I want my inheritance now. I I don't really care about my
24:09
relationship with you. Dad.
24:10
I just want some money. I want to get out of this place.
24:14
I want to go check out the world.
24:15
I want to live my life. And what does dad say?
24:17
Exactly what our heavenly father says.
24:19
Go ahead. You can have it all.
24:22
I don't need it. I don't want it.
24:24
It's yours. And notice if you didn't notice
24:28
this before, it says in verse 12 he gave both his sons their
24:31
inheritance. So now he's broke.
24:35
He's just got his house. He gives it both the ways.
24:37
Is that's what you guys want? Go ahead.
24:39
One son of course goes to the city, lives it up, what we would
24:43
call you parties. He's gets into it all drunken
24:45
parties and friends till the money runs out.
24:48
Then he loses all those socalled friends.
24:51
Then a famine hits and then he stuck.
24:54
He's stuck. So he goes and gets a job a good
24:56
Jewish boy would never get feeding pigs.
24:59
And he sits there evaluating his life.
25:03
See, he left his dad's house. He left Israel.
25:06
He left home. But he also left his senses.
25:08
He left his common sense. It was a foolish thing that he
25:11
did, but he was in that stage where nobody could explain it to
25:14
him. He's going to do it.
25:15
He had to learn and learn it on his own.
25:19
As he heads out, he finds himself feeding pigs.
25:23
And it the Bible says here that when verse 17, he came to
25:26
himself, it brought him to the end.
25:29
You know, we just had that prayer time and we'll be a
25:31
regular time of prayer for prodigals, son, daughter, moms,
25:35
dads, whatever, as they've walked away from the faith.
25:38
You know, the prayer. Sometimes as a parent, some of
25:40
you are praying this right now. Whatever it takes, whatever it
25:44
takes, God, bring them to the place where they understand your
25:47
great love. But you notice in the parable,
25:49
we're not going to go. We can't go through verse by
25:51
verse. I don't have enough time.
25:52
But you notice in the parable that he began to assess his
25:55
situation. And he began to assess his
25:58
situation and he changed his own identity.
26:00
Did you notice that? I said I'd rather go back as a
26:03
servant. Servants are better.
26:05
He doesn't see himself as a son anymore.
26:07
He sees how his dad treats his servants.
26:10
So now he's living in a new idea.
26:12
His failure has placed upon him a new layer of identity.
26:16
He's not even seeing himself as his son.
26:18
Has his father ever seen him? Anything other than a son?
26:21
Of course not. He's going to always be a son,
26:24
no matter what. But because of his sin, he's got
26:27
to deal with now. Well, look at me.
26:29
I'm a failure. I'm hopeless.
26:30
Look what I did to my dad. I've wasted everything.
26:33
I can't go home. But I need to go home.
26:34
Well, I can't go home as a son. I think I'll go home as a
26:37
servant. I think I'll go home.
26:39
Was the best thing. He thought everything else was
26:42
messing him up. And let me just say when you're
26:45
in trouble and you're in crisis, the worst person to talk to is
26:49
yourself. You know how you get up in your
26:52
head processing at all? I'm horrible.
26:55
No, you're not. Yes, you are.
26:56
Yes, you are. No, you're not.
26:57
I don't know. My dad, my dad, my servant.
27:01
He comes to his senses. And the moment, the moment that
27:06
he begins to receive the love of his father is when he goes home.
27:11
He doesn't know what he's going to get.
27:13
He doesn't know how it's going to be.
27:15
He just knows he's got to go home.
27:19
When you forgive your past, you got to go home.
27:23
You got to go back to your loving Heavenly Father.
27:26
What we see, his character here is going to throw you a party.
27:29
Doesn't mean he's going to approve of everything.
27:30
I'm sure they had conversations later.
27:34
I'm sure there was fatherly help later, good advice later.
27:39
But before we get into any of that, you know what the Father
27:42
wants. He wants you to enjoy him.
27:46
He wants you to come to him. He wants you to remember, no
27:49
matter what you do, he loves you.
27:54
And you're always welcome at home.
27:57
You're always welcome to come home.
28:00
We may have to work some things out.
28:02
We may have to talk some things through.
28:04
But you don't need to be stuck in your prodigal living because
28:07
you don't want to come home. Just forgive yourself.
28:11
Here's another way of looking at that.
28:14
There are some in the room today, some listening in from
28:17
afar that would describe it this way.
28:19
And I've heard it, and it wasn't till a few years ago that I've
28:22
come up with this illustration to describe it.
28:25
But here's what's happening behind the scenes.
28:27
You look at your life or a point in your life or a time in your
28:30
life or your entire life up to this point and you think this.
28:34
You. You know, Pastor, if you knew
28:36
what I did and how bad I was, I I I have been so bad.
28:40
People know some of it, but other people don't know anything
28:43
of what I've done. Only I know I'm only one that
28:46
knows how bad I am and how bad of sense, how how how many
28:49
mistakes I've made and how what's been going on in my mind,
28:53
what I've been doing behind the scenes, what I do in secret.
28:56
And you know what? If I was God, I wouldn't forgive
28:59
me. And so therefore you don't
29:01
forgive you. You just stuck there living that
29:04
same exact life that gets worse and worse.
29:07
But you know, there's a Bible word for that.
29:10
There's a Bible word. When you start to say, if I was
29:12
God, there's a Bible word for that.
29:14
You know what? It is idolatry.
29:17
I don't know if you've ever considered that your
29:19
unwillingness to obey God and receiving his forgiveness is
29:22
actually idolatry. You have made yourself to be
29:25
God. And let me just say, thank God
29:28
you're not God. Because my God Forgives even
29:31
that sin. I mean, that's the truth.
29:34
Even the one you're stuck in. He can make a change if you will
29:39
come to him. You got to be like this guy.
29:41
Come home, come home. You'll meet a father that loves
29:45
you. And when you come home, always
29:47
expect the other son still there.
29:50
And he's stuck in self righteousness.
29:51
I didn't believe I've been so faithful.
29:53
Yeah bro, But you will not forgive your son.
29:55
You won't even give your brother.
29:57
He's just that son of yours like you.
30:00
You. That's a different issue for a
30:01
different Bible study. But that doesn't speak to the
30:05
place of, you know, I, I I'm a I'm a Christian.
30:08
I go to church. I I I've been a Christian my
30:10
whole life. Well, I mean, I I don't know.
30:13
I wasn't with you your whole life.
30:14
But I do have this question to ask you.
30:15
Do you have a relationship with God where you recognize that
30:19
he's your father? And what, he says goes, Are you
30:23
demonstrating the fruit of the Holy Spirit?
30:27
Are you living in such a way that honors God with all your
30:31
time, with all your talent, with all your treasures?
30:34
God is not calling you home to beat you up.
30:37
He's calling you home to heal you.
30:39
And you must learn how to forgive your past.
30:44
And just be careful. There's always the there's
30:46
always the older brother too. That's not going to be happy or
30:49
changed. They're not going to be happy
30:51
that you're walking with God, not going to be happy that you
30:54
are a born again believer. There's just that.
30:57
That's just the way it is. And you got to learn, navigate
31:00
around it, love and care and serve and be available to your
31:04
family and friends because the truth is the Father forgives the
31:07
repentant. And when you come to the place
31:10
where you say I'm so sick of my sin, I just hate it, You know
31:14
that God's working in you, He's calling you to himself.
31:17
So just come #3, turn over to Psalm 103 would you Psalm 103.
31:23
So our final point for our time today, we have a couple of sub
31:27
points on it, Psalm Psalm 103, not only does God have you to
31:31
forget your past and forgive your past, but thirdly, he wants
31:35
you to forsake your past and we see this so beautifully in Psalm
31:41
103, forsake it. The word literally means let it
31:44
drop or let it sink. The idea is that sinking to the
31:49
bottom of the reservoir, you know, or the ocean, just let it
31:51
sink, drop it, let it go, move forward.
31:57
All these words surround that notice.
31:59
In verse eight of Psalm 103 it says the Lord is merciful and
32:03
gracious. He's slow to anger and abounding
32:07
in mercy. He won't always strive with us,
32:11
nor will He keep his anger forever.
32:13
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor
32:17
punished us according to our iniquities.
32:20
As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy
32:23
toward those who fear Him as far as the East is from the West, so
32:27
far as He removed our transgressions for us.
32:30
And here, verse 13 is a poor translation.
32:34
It says as a father pities his children.
32:36
It makes it sound like God feels sorry for us and pities us.
32:39
But that's not the Hebrew word here.
32:41
The New Living Translation has it best.
32:44
And he he says as a dad, has compassion on his kids.
32:48
The word is compassion, like when a dad sees their daughter
32:52
fail or dad sees when their mom sees when their son fails.
32:55
They just want to help. They can't undo it, but they
32:59
want to help him get out of it or get forward or help.
33:02
That's the heart here is God loves us like we love our kids.
33:07
So then that's that's the comparison.
33:09
His father loves his kids. So the Lord pities or has
33:12
compassion on those who fear him because he knows us.
33:15
It says in verse 14 he remembers that we are but dust.
33:20
If God has chosen to drop our past, we must agree with God and
33:26
let it sink. That's what forsake literally
33:29
means when it says in verse 22 our 12.
33:33
Excuse me so far He's removed our transgressions.
33:36
That word remove literally means to throw or to cast away or to
33:41
drive away our sins. He's not dwelling on our sins,
33:45
holding them against us. He's forgiven them.
33:48
Jesus Christ has paid the price. When we forsake our past, we let
33:53
it sink into the sea of forgetfulness.
33:55
We let it drop, we let it go. It's back there.
33:59
But we are right here, and that's an important distinction
34:02
to make. There's no condemnation.
34:05
I think Paul was clear in Romans 8.
34:06
Now, every time you read Romans 81, it reminds you right now,
34:10
when is there no condemnation? Right now, right now, right in
34:13
this moment. God is not condemning you.
34:16
Jesus. It says in John 3 did not come
34:18
to condemn but to save. But it's still a real issue
34:24
because it seems impossible. It just seems impossible.
34:29
And in many ways it is. You're not going to be that.
34:33
I'm not your life coach up here trying to coach you in life
34:37
like, well, Pastor Ed, the new life coach, going to give you 3
34:40
things you can do the rest of your life.
34:42
That's not how it works. I'm not saying there's not room
34:46
for life coach and mentors and people to help.
34:48
That's not what I'm speaking to. But pastors, they're not life
34:50
coaches but telling you the truth about your life, that if
34:54
you put into practice what God's word says, you will see change.
34:58
But you have to believe God. You have to believe that the
35:02
Bible is true. They have to believe that these
35:05
principles are universal. It's not just something you try.
35:08
I meet people all the time. Well, you know, I tried that.
35:11
This is not about trying. This is about doing, about
35:14
surrender, about acknowledging the faithfulness of God in your
35:18
life by acknowledging, even if you don't believe right now, how
35:20
many changed lives are in this room right now?
35:23
I mean, how many people I know. Go ahead, raise your hand so
35:25
everybody can see. All right.
35:27
So there's quite a few changed lives.
35:28
The rest of you, we're going to raise your hand because I know
35:30
you didn't want to. That's fine.
35:32
I mean, I know we're talking about real life issues.
35:38
And I know you know, I have to deal with it because now I got
35:41
to think, jeez, my fast is always I wake up to my past, I
35:45
don't know about you. I wake up to it and I just can't
35:49
walk into the bedroom and or into the bathroom and look in
35:52
the mirror. OK, today is going to be a good
35:55
day. Like I'm the problem.
35:58
Telling the problem back to the problem like that.
36:01
That I need someone outside of me that will help me live my
36:06
life for Christ. And so do you.
36:09
You can just start it down in Luke chapter 6.
36:11
It's another illustration of impossibility.
36:13
You remember the guy that Jesus came.
36:15
You could read it later today, but he came to him and it the
36:19
Bible says that he had a withered hand.
36:20
He had a withered hand. And So what is Jesus?
36:23
He comes up to him and tells him stretch out your hand, which is
36:28
a hard thing to hear if you have a withered hand.
36:31
Because I'm sure this guy, day after day, week after week,
36:34
month after month, year after year sent the signal from his
36:37
brain down his shoulder, down his arm.
36:40
And he sent that signal move maybe 100 times a day.
36:43
Maybe he woke up in the morning. Maybe today my hand.
36:46
Maybe today I'll get reuse. Maybe today will change.
36:49
Only to find each time withered, withered, withered.
36:53
Where perhaps he might have caught to the point where I'm
36:55
not going to do that anymore. I mean, this is the way it is my
36:58
life. I got a withered hand.
36:59
Impossible with when Jesus says stay, just stretch it out.
37:04
His response could have been bro, you don't understand.
37:08
That's the very thing I can't do.
37:11
You're telling me to do something I cannot do.
37:14
And if that's a dialogue, it's that's not in the Scriptures.
37:17
We are thinking of how it might have been if we were that
37:19
person. And we're thinking, man, that
37:22
that I can't do that. I've heard other I That's
37:24
impossible. And it's almost like God, Jesus
37:26
is going to just do it. And you know, the Bible says he
37:29
did and his hand was healed supernaturally, which tells us
37:34
something about the work of God in our lives.
37:36
And that's this. If God says to do something, He
37:39
will give you the power to do it, even if it's impossible.
37:45
He will give you the power to change.
37:47
Your mind will be healed. Your body will be healed.
37:51
You have purpose and meaning in life.
37:54
It's it's true, you know. When I'm when hope is withered
37:57
up, when I'm paralyzed and I'm struggling with my past, Jesus
38:01
enters in. He draws near.
38:02
It's almost like he is attached to people in pain.
38:07
He comes and he gives us a command.
38:09
We could respond. No, I won't do that.
38:11
But then who's that on? Is that because God has no
38:14
power? Or is it because you're
38:15
disobedient? You're going to be responsible?
38:18
God's not going to be responsible.
38:20
You are with purpose. In your heart you can obey God.
38:25
God works and believers both to will and to do for his good
38:30
pleasure. And so I know it's impossible,
38:33
but those are the perfect places where God gets all the glory for
38:37
great things he has done. I mean, we have testimony times
38:39
all the time. And when people give a
38:41
testimony, we're like, yes, yes, yay, look at the impossible,
38:44
look what's happening. And we rejoice for sure when I
38:47
hear a testimony. But at the same time, I don't
38:50
want you to forget that testimony came out of an
38:52
impossibility and a very deep pain point.
38:57
Whether it's layers of trauma you grew up with, whether it's
39:01
grief or sudden death or injustice or on and on, some of
39:05
you have layer upon layer upon layer upon layer.
39:07
And it's like it's impossible. No, not with God.
39:11
He can help and he will help. So just stretch out your hand,
39:16
church, Stretch out your hand and obey him.
39:20
Well, Let me give you one more final thought.
39:21
Turn over to James, Chapter 2. James, Chapter 2.
39:25
When it comes to your past, I'm just telling you, there will
39:28
always be people that will not let you forget your past.
39:32
And you just got to learn how to live with them.
39:34
I mean, you could go a month and you're just like, man, I'm so
39:36
happy. Look what God is doing.
39:38
It's amazing. And there's always somebody.
39:39
Yeah, but and they'll remind you of your past.
39:43
Remember the last time in our Bible slide I said when the
39:45
devil reminds you of your of your past and what do you
39:47
respond? You remind him of his future.
39:49
Like there's always going to be people, but that's the spiritual
39:53
realm. In the physical realm, there are
39:54
always people that will not let you forget.
39:58
And it not only, it's not always negative.
40:00
You know, I've shared with you before.
40:02
When I go back to California, I'm teaching and I'm visiting
40:05
friends. You know, I have friends.
40:06
I grew up with. What?
40:07
Since I was a kiddo, we did all kinds of bad things together.
40:10
Inevitably, stories of my past will come up and we kind of
40:14
chuckle and we go, and I'm kind of curious because I don't
40:16
remember it all and we chuckle. But then, you know, at the end,
40:19
I'm like, yeah, I was so bad. It's like such a battle.
40:22
It's like, man, I was so bad. I didn't even know I was that
40:24
bad. I got another story and another
40:27
story but you know God is faithful that way so so they're
40:30
they're just it's not it doesn't always have to be negative
40:32
that's my point And in James chapter 2 notice with me in
40:35
verse 25 it says likewise was not rehab the harlot also
40:42
justified by works when we she received the messengers and sent
40:46
them out another way for as the body without the spirit is dead
40:50
so faith without works is dead. Also this woman rehab rehab we
40:57
meet her in the Bible earlier on in the Old Testament.
41:00
She she's the woman that receives the Jewish spies that
41:04
are coming in as the children of Israel coming into the promised
41:07
land. In the book of Joshua in the
41:08
city of Jericho. We meet her as rehab the harlot.
41:12
She's a prostitute. She sells her body for sex.
41:16
That's how she makes a living. That's what she's known as that.
41:19
It's that rehab. She's rehab the Harlott.
41:22
That's one of the reasons why the men might have gone to her
41:24
home, because they would be less and seen and known, because
41:27
there were men coming in and out of her home all the time.
41:30
But you see that encounter with those men changed her life.
41:34
She completely changed she by faith as you know the story put
41:38
that red cord out. And when the city was destroyed,
41:41
her and her family were saved. She's mentioned in the Bible all
41:45
the way at the end about her faithfulness, about her good
41:48
works. She's rehab.
41:50
But we know her as rehab, the harlot, the prostitute, the sex
41:57
worker. But, you know, she's not rehab
42:00
the harlot anymore. God changed her.
42:04
And I realized that in the Bible, that's identifying this
42:07
particular rehab. But there are always people that
42:10
want to attach your sin to your name.
42:13
That I know your name, but you're the one that because we
42:17
have a great we, we have a great habit of labeling people.
42:20
So. So I want to prepare you today
42:22
not only for your own life, but for when you get to heaven.
42:25
When you get to heaven, I don't want you walking around heaven
42:27
saying I want to meet rehab, rehab, the harlot.
42:30
And then the Angel comes by and goes, bam, they go, what's going
42:34
on up here? Well, I thought heaven was nice.
42:36
You're like, hey, we don't talk like that in heaven because
42:39
there's no harlots in heaven. Are you looking for Rahab the
42:42
sister? She's over there.
42:43
You're looking for Rahab the redeemed.
42:45
She's right there. You're looking for Rahab the
42:47
changed life. You're looking for Rahab, the
42:49
one that is greatly loved by God.
42:51
She's over there. But don't you call her that, The
42:54
harlot? She's not that anymore.
42:57
You. You think of Thomas.
42:59
You know it's somebody you're looking for Thomas in heaven.
43:01
Well, you know I want to look for doubting Thomas.
43:03
And then another Angel, bam, knocks you around.
43:05
No, no, there's no doubting in heaven.
43:08
And Even so, why do we label him that way?
43:10
I don't think Thomas was doubting personally.
43:12
I just think he's one of those guys that likes more
43:14
information. So give it.
43:16
Give more. You have all these guys at the
43:18
work asking you questions. Give them the answers.
43:21
You don't have to call them names, just give them the
43:24
answers they're looking for and let God sort it out.
43:26
He's not doubting Thomas, He's Thomas, the man of faith that
43:29
stuck his hand in the wounds of Jesus.
43:32
How about Peter? Peter gets a bad rap.
43:35
You go up into heaven. Where's Peter?
43:37
Which Peter? Well, you know, the denier.
43:39
Like, don't do that. The one that sank when he walked
43:43
on water. Yeah, when he walked on water.
43:48
Go out to the reservoir today and try it for yourself.
43:51
You'll be a sinker, too, like Peter.
43:54
Like if you think Peter is just a denier and a faithless man,
43:57
you haven't read your Bible. You need to read your Bible
43:59
because you're listening to people that label people.
44:02
And you need to stop it. Because the label you have as a
44:06
believer is you are in Christ. You are greatly beloved.
44:10
You have a future and a hope. You are not tied to your past
44:14
sin. There is something greater and
44:16
more wonderful for you. You are not stuck in victimhood.
44:20
The rest of your life God will heal you.
44:22
In your grief, He will give you purpose in the injustice.
44:25
You just want to look to him and follow him and he will help you.
44:32
We all have imperfect lives and we are going to deal with
44:35
issues, but we're going to do it together and we don't have to be
44:39
stuck. I I know that's a word I keep.
44:41
I I just sense like that's a word.
44:43
Some of you like, you're like, I'm stuck.
44:44
And I'm telling you right now, you don't need to be.
44:47
God can move you forward even. It's just a baby step, even if
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it's just one little thing. Maybe you have to start
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describing yourself by the newness of life.
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You have to stop calling yourself the harlot.
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You need to stop calling yourself the failure.
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You need to stop calling yourself.
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And you, whatever the label is as we just get accustomed to,
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God wants to do a new thing. The Bible says you're a new
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creation in Christ. Old things have passed away.
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Behold all things that become new.
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And when you learn your identity in Christ, who you are, the way
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God sees you there, nobody's going to stop you, not even you.
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These things come against you. You're going to live more than
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conquerors in Christ. Jesus has freed you and given
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you life, and His liberty will cause you not to have a dead
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faith, not to have a useless faith, not to have a lifeless
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faith, but one that brings great glory and honor to our Heavenly
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Father. And God wants us to deal with
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our past so we can live a bright future.
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We're going to take it along. It is a part of our testimony.
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So I have to say, share my testimony.
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I know we get a little bit of laughs and and I try to, I try
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to make it a little lighter because it's so bad.
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I share a little bit of my life with you, but man, you guys have
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no idea and you never will. It's not going to be for public.
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It's not going to be that way. It's just something I'm taking
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to the Lord. It doesn't need.
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God gets enough glory with the stuff that you know, But I mean,
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jeez, the the the enemy would have you buried under the weight
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of your past. And God says, no, that's a small
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thing in my mouth. You just come to me and you
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bring your past with you and I'll give you purpose and
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meaning. Because I can say in many ways
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the things that I've learned, the life that I've lived, the
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streets I grew up on, they have made me a more effective man and
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useful for God. They have helped me.
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I wouldn't want to go that way. I would have rather gone to
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school, got my degree and move into the world that way.
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But through bad decisions, left and right.
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God had a different path for me. And I can look back now, and one
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day you will too. I can look back now and I say
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okay Lord, I can see a little bit of how you use that.
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I can appreciate the fact that you have something to rescue me
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from and that's God's will for your life as well.
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Amen. So Father, thank you for your
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word today and the reality of how you want to use this Bible
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study. I pray for the book.
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Lord is it is used in people's lives.
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I know kind of reading it it's such a heavy topic and it's hard
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to believe it but it's true and let my life be a living
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testimony and and all the hands in here Geez, I'm not alone.
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All the people that were yelling at me online and on the radio
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going, Me too, Me too, me too, we're walking testimonies of
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your faithfulness. I pray that you, God, would be
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glorified and even as again, through the entirety of our time
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today, God, just this little gift that you've given us, the
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men and women that are flying over us.
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We thank you for the men and women in the military, the
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families that sacrifice and support the freedoms that we
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enjoy. Even right now, the freedom we
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enjoy comes at great sacrifice. I think of the first responders
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and the officers and the the firefighters and paramedics are
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so many standing in the gap on our behalf, of which we are
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grateful. We're grateful.
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God protect them and get them home to their families tonight.
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In Jesus name, Amen. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
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Grace. That's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary, Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you Worship Jesus this week.