Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20251012 - 3 Biblical Ways To Deal With Your Past - Romans 8:1

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#20251012 - 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.
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To learn more about the many resources available through a
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Bounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your Bibles to a few
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places. Romans chapter 8 is where we'll
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start. Romans chapter 8.
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We'll end up Philippians chapter 3 and a few other places, but
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let's start there. Romans chapter 8, we're going to
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look at verse 1-2 and three. Our Bible study today is
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entitled 3 Biblical Ways to Deal With Your Past. 3 Biblical Ways
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to Deal with Your Past, And there may, if we have time, even
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be a bonus #4 but let me give them to you right up front so
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you know where we're headed. You can fill in the blanks along
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the way. 3 Easy Ways to Remember I have three good F words for
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you to remember these key principles and a fourth at the
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end. Number one, we're going to learn
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to forget our past #2 we're going to learn to forgive our
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past and #3 we're going to learn to forsake our past.
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Forget, forgive, and forsake. Because as you look in a room
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like this or those connected to us outside of the room, one of
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the things I love about the Church of Jesus Christ is it is
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so filled with diversity. So many differences in the room
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right now. We've come from different
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backgrounds, different upbringings, we're different
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ages, different nationalities. We speak different language or
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multiple languages. We live in different
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neighborhoods, Dr. different cars.
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I mean, the differences in the room are more than can be
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mentioned. And there are a few things among
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the diversity that we all have. We all have believer and
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unbeliever alike. Today, with all the differences
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in this room, we all share in at least one thing.
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And that is we all have a past. We all have a past.
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We have a past that might be painful, complicated, even
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traumatic. Some of us have a past that's
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extremely challenging and the sinful choices that we made.
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That's where I fit here. That's the past that I live with
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a very painful season in my life of very bad, sinful decisions.
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Or it could just be a bad week that's in the past or a month, I
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think about January where we all jump in and we have these
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messages about the future and what God has.
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And we have vision and all of us start off with new decisions and
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new resolutions in January. But then the year goes on and
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it's tough and it's hard. And you look back now and you
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go, Oh yeah, it's been, it's been a hard year, Pastor.
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It's, it's been hard, but it's in your past.
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And with our past, there's this constant plaguing shadow that
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follows me around. I was reminded of the cartoon
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with Snoopy and Charlie Brown, the Peanuts, where you have
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Pigpen walking around. Oh, he's so dirty, man.
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The guy just walking around and dirt all over and you could
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never get away from it. That's how our past is, just
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walking around and we just never get away from it.
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It follows US, taunts us, pulls on us, condemns us.
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You have the same problem. You have the same problem that I
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do. We all have a past.
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Now, of course, your past may not be as bad as mine, and
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that's good. I commend you on that.
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I would never want to anyone to have a past as bad as mine.
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Or perhaps yours was worse than mine.
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But we all have it, I'm certain, whether it's good or bad or in
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the middle, we all have something that we wish we could
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just wipe clean, RIP that page out of the book of our life,
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make it disappear, erase it permanently.
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Whether it's your sin or someone's sin against you, We
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need to learn how to deal with our past.
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We don't need to apply the biblical principles to apply the
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blood of Jesus in our lives When it comes to our past, when it
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comes to our lives today, I want you to learn that you are not
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your past. You have a past, but you're not
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defined by your past in Christ. You're a new creation.
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All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become
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new and as you cling to that truth in God's Word and you
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believe it, you begin to move forward in your life in Christ.
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The truth is as a boarding and believer in Christ, our sins
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have been judged by the blood of Jesus and you have been forgiven
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past, present and future. Listen to this in Isaiah chapter
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44 verse 22. I have blotted out like a thick
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cloud your transgressions and your and like a cloud your sins
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return to me for I have redeemed you.
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Psalm 103 as we read together, He has not dealt with us
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according to our sins. Romans chapter 8 verse one where
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I asked you to open today. It says there is therefore now.
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Do you see that word now in your Bibles?
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You might want to mark it. There is therefore now that
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means why I'm reading it right now.
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It means that now every time you read it, it's now.
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Even if you don't read it, it's still now in one moment, the
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eternal now. It says there is no condemnation
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to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the
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flesh, but according to the Spirit.
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For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me
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free from the law of sin and death.
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And verse 3 is very insightful considering our study through
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the book of Galatians. For what the law could not do
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and that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His
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own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin.
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He condemned sin in the flesh. 3 things I want to share with you
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today that will help you move forward when it comes to your
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past #1 if you're taking notes, turn over to Philippians chapter
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3. Philippians chapter 3.
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I want you to learn to forget your past.
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Forget your past, Read with me chapter 3.
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Pick up when you get there. In verse 12, Philippians 3.
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Verse 12. Paul writes to the church in
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Philippi, not that I've already attained or I'm already
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perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which
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Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
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Verse 13, brethren, I do not count myself to have
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apprehended. And then there's this epic
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statement, but this one thing I do like.
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If you're looking for advice and you want direction on something
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that's super important to you, and somebody says this one
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thing, you're going to pay close attention to it.
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What do you mean one thing? This is such a difficult part of
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my I've got, I want to do it 20 different ways and somebody
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says, no, no, no, I know this is the one thing.
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Listen to what he says, forgetting those things which
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are behind, reaching forward to those things which are ahead.
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I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God
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in Christ Jesus. Pay attention to the verbs, the
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action. This one thing I do, I mean, you
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look at me. Go.
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Wait a minute, Paul. What do you mean one thing?
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It sounds like 3 or 4 things. What are you talking about?
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One thing, but he starts with the most important verb.
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Forgetting those things that are behind.
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I press forward. I'm going toward the Lord.
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I believe the one thing is encapsulated through this
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description of, you know, when you tell somebody to keep your
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eyes on the Lord, look to the Lord, stay focused on him.
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I think that's the one thing. Seek first the Kingdom of God.
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And he's using these these elements to describe how he
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continues forward in his life even though he has a past.
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Paul had a past, you know, we don't meet him in the Bible as
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Paul the apostle. We meet him in the Bible as a
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man by the name of Saul, and we usually refer to him as Saul of
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Tarsus, the city that he came from, Saul of Tarsus.
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Saul of Tarsus was a bad man. He was a bad religious man.
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He was a very angry man, believing that he religiously
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was going to wipe out Christianity.
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When he speaks of those things that are behind, he had a lot of
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things that were behind. I was thinking about this
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personally because, you know, sometimes somebody go, you know,
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Pastor Ed, why do you always share stories, your own stories
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about your own life? And my answer is why I only live
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my life. So those are the only stories I
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have. And I do share from time to
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time, wanting to illustrate a point from my past or from my
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life. And when it comes to my past,
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whenever I share something with you, I share it at a very high
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level. Like I'll give you something, it
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might be funny, we might grab a laugh at it, and that's the
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intent to kind of break the ice or give you an illustration that
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can really like this is real life stuff.
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The Bible is real life and it's lived out in all of our lives.
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Even in mine. I give it really high level.
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But when I give something high level, I know that it's much
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deeper than that. I know the situation.
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I remember. And so I might say, you know, I
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did this, but then I know I'd share just enough to make the
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point because the point isn't my life.
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The point is the word. But I want to give you just
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enough to show you that the Bible is true and real and
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reliable and God loves you. I give you that enough.
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And I think of Paul when he wrote this and this, this popped
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into my mind just recently. I was reviewing my notes and I'm
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like, I was thinking, I think of Paul saying about his past and
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he's remembering the screams of the women and children that were
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dragged out of their house. He, he's remember the lives that
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were literally ended because of his religious persecution of
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Christians. He, he thinks of the faces and
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all what an opportunity for regret and shame.
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And he goes, no, no, I really can't do anything about my past,
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but I'll tell you what I can do. I'm going to forget it.
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I need to forget it. To which at this point you're
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like, come on, pastor, not another simplistic, you know, in
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the air type of Bible. I, I don't, I don't, I, I don't
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believe you. I don't believe that's even
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possible. You're just simplistic because
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you think of the trauma that your past has or the deep
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issues. I'm asking you to trust me
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because I'm not being simplistic at all.
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I have my own complicated past myself.
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So I just want, I want you to know you didn't walk into a
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church where we just give you these little cliches and
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simplistic. We you walked into a church that
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believes in the power of God, that when you apply the
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principles of that that God gives you in his word as a born
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again believer, it works on you from the inside out.
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Here's what I'm sharing with you.
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I'm sharing with you simple principles, not simplistic.
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Simplistic is defined as this treating complex issues as
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insignificant, ignoring layers of trauma, difficulty and hurt.
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And what I'm teaching you today is not simplistic.
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It's not dismissive. The reality of the pain in this
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room is more than any of us could bear.
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Can you imagine if we all came up and shared some heavy
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testimony from our life? I mean, how many do you think
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you could actually handle before your heart sinks?
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510 I mean, if you picture that in your mind right now, that's
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what a pastor's life is pretty much everyday.
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Meeting people on their worst days.
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No, the pain in the room and the complexity in the room.
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It's real, but the Bible is more real in the future that He has
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for you. You're not defined by your past.
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Even though you have a past, it's not your identity.
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And we learned something here. We learned to forget the past by
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releasing it and reaching forward, releasing and reaching.
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You can't reach for the future if you're still hanging on to
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the past, Paul says. I'm forgetting those things.
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Forgetting has the implication that they keep coming up and you
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keep moving on. They keep coming up and you keep
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moving on. They keep coming up and you're
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not going to allow them to keep you stuck in a place where
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you're not growing and following and obeying the Lord.
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That's what Paul did. He moved forward and look how
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God used his life. What was in his past was enough
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to completely stunt his growth the rest of his life.
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And yet by faith, He trusted in the Lord.
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You have to actively forget the past, church.
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And I have found the only times I can't forget my past is when I
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choose to dwell on them, replaying them over and over in
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my head, allowing them to eventually just drown me in
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sorrow and grief and immobilize me.
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The reality is, is that those who choose, and I know this will
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be hard for some to hear, but This is why God has put me in
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your life. The reality is that those who
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choose not to forget tend to stay in one place their entire
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lives. And just a little bit of time
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with them, you'll know exactly what place they are because
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that's all they talk about and that's all they want you to
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know. And that's all they're going to.
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Hey, are you? Hey, let's go.
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No, I can't. And they tend to be the ones
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that that complain the most, those that are always angry.
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There's even a misery that's attached with being stuck.
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And it's really hard to be around people like that.
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Not sitting with you in your pain, that's different.
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But sitting with someone in their bitterness, that's hard
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because that's what happens when you're stuck.
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You become bitter over an event. You become bitter because of
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something you did or something that was done to you.
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The Bible warns us, the Bible warns us to not let a root of
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bitterness take hold of our hearts.
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Why? Well, because it'll take you
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away from the Lord, but it also take you away from people that
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love you. It says it'll defile them.
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The idea of defilement is like it soils people.
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You're soiled and now your life is spilling out.
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Instead of the joy and the effervescence of the presence of
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the Lord, your past is now soiling your present.
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You're living in the perpetual past because you choose not to
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forget it. I know it's very hard Bible
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study to receive at times because some of your speak, I'm
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talking to you right now, you think you just don't understand,
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Pastor, you don't understand. OK, that's probably true to some
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degree. And that even if you explained
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to me what you're wrestling with, I may still not
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understand. But this is the good news about
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setting you free and moving you forward doesn't depend upon me
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understanding. I'm certainly not speaking from
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a vacuum. I can tell you that.
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And if we sat down and I tried to explain my life story to you,
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even recent stuff, I don't think you would understand.
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But to have a relationship with you, I wouldn't require that of
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you. Because I know if believers get
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together and we get our eyes on the Lord together, God can do
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great things and he does great things among us.
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So don't hesitate to receive the truth because your story is so
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painful and complex. Paul also had a very complex,
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painful story and he moved forward.
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We live in a culture. You have to be very, very
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careful, especially those if something happened to you, which
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is pretty much all of us, but whether you did it to yourself
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or someone did it to you, our culture celebrates this new
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identity and it's the identity of victimhood.
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You just kind of, I'm a victim and now I'm a victim and
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everything's, it's all wrapped up in being a victim.
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But as a born again believer, while we may literally be
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victims of certain things, for sure the emphasis in the New
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Testament, the emphasis in Christ is being a victor,
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overcoming. Jesus said in this world, you
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have tribulation. But what I have overcome that's
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greater than what's happened, You are greater than what's
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happened to you. You're greater than the past.
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Your destiny is looking forward. And if you can just learn like,
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you know, memory pops up and I had to go through this.
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It's, it's a challenging thing to teach things like this
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because now I have to step into it myself.
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And so all kinds of memories and all kinds of stuff come, you
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know, you just OK, Lord, I remember that.
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I've confessed it. I move on and I'm moving on
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because my life is forward. It's not backwards.
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My life is moving forward. The upward call #1 forget, turn
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over to Luke, chapter 15. Let's look at point #2 today.
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Another great principle of dealing with our past is to
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forgive your past. Forgive your past.
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Forgiveness is a key to a healthy, vibrant life in Jesus.
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We need to learn how to forgive our past.
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We need to learn how to forgive ourselves.
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You need to learn how to forgive yourself again, as we're looking
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at these pieces, reorienting our our understanding.
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According to the scriptures, this also can be misunderstood.
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Forgive yourself. Oh, there he is.
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Forgive yourself. The world loves that phrase,
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don't they? The world loves that phrase.
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And there's a world definition in our culture, but there's also
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a Bible definition. The world when it's when they
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instruct you to forgive yourself, they're talking about
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something that's foreign to the scriptures.
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They're saying, you know, love yourself, hug yourself, you
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know, make sure you take care of yourself.
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Nobody else matters but yourself.
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Just make sure you're the center of it and you're the one that
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gets off and just go ahead and wake up in the morning and just
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hug yourself. I even changed my voice.
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I'm not sure why, but just just hug yourself, you know, and you
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turn on it. Talk showing you and then you
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and it's you and you'll never be able to love yourself if you
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don't for no, no, no, that's Jesus said the best thing to you
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can do. And the only thing that's
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necessary in following him is what deny yourself so that we're
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not talking the world when I say forgive yourself, that's that's
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not that's not how I'm defining this from the scriptures.
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I'm giving a definition today that might be eye opening to
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you, or it could be just a great reminder.
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But when you forgive yourself, you just simply choose to come
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back to the Father. He's the source of forgiveness
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through his Son, Jesus Christ, right?
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For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
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that whosoever would believe in him would not perish, but have
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everlasting life. Our past and the issues in our
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life and the pains and the hurts and the trauma have a tendency
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to take us away from the Father. You may not describe yourself as
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a prodigal, but certainly there's episodes of prodigal
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living in all of our lives, just wandering away from the Father.
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Of course, Jesus taught us in Luke 15 a pretty dramatic
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example of prodigal living. You may know this as the the
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parable of the Prodigal son. If I was a part of the people
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that were putting the headers over these parables, I wouldn't
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have chose that title because the son gets a lot of attention.
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Actually, if we were going to say son, we should say the
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parable of the prodigal sons because this dad has 2 problems,
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not one. But I don't believe that's a
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accurate as accurate as a title as it could be.
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I believe this is the parable of a loving father.
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I think the focus is on the father here, not the son,
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although he's a big part of it. And the father in this parable
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represents God the Father, Jesus.
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Teaching a parable, if you're new to the Bible, is just a
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story that's thrown aside, that's laid aside truths.
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So when you're reading it, there are great spiritual truths in a
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simple story to understand. So pick up with me in verse 11
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and let's learn together what it looks like to receive the
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forgiveness of the Father. A certain man had two sons.
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The younger of them said to his father, and you're going to see
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this word repeated over and over again.
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He said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods
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that falls to me. So he divided to them his
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livelihood. And not many days after the
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younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far
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country and there wasted his possessions with prodigal
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living. So let's pause there and get
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that, get the scene here. Young son says basically to his
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dad that the difficulty of this, he basically says to his dad, I
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wish you were dead. I guess that's the only time you
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get your inheritance. He says to his dad, in effect,
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I'd rather have life without you.
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Your money's more important to me than you give me your money
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that I will get if you die and I'm out of here.
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And the Father says I'll give you what you want.
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There's a Psalm that says that God gave them their request and
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sent leanness to their soul. It's not unprecedented.
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As you see the young boy, he heads off, it says and he lives
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a prodigal life. The word prodigal means wasted.
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See what it says wasted and prodigal living.
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They're both the same. He wasted his dad's money.
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He wasted this time of his life. And it says in verse 14, when he
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spent all there arose of severe famine in that land and he began
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to be in want. Then he went joined himself to a
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citizen of that country and sent him into his fields to feed
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swine. And he would have gladly have
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filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate.
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And no one gave him anything. We don't know how much time has
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elapsed here, but enough to spend a lot of money and have a
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lot of party for a famine to come.
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There's there's a lot of time. By the time this young man sits
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feeding those pigs, he's got a bad recent past.
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He's got his attitude, he's dealing with, he's got what he
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told his dad, he's got all the money that he's wasted it.
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He is what we would say at this point, hit rock bottom.
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This is rock bottom right here. Rock bottom.
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I know some of you have prodigals in your life and this
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is what you're praying for, that they would hit rock bottom.
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It's a hard prayer of course, but one nonetheless, that God
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would have us to pray for those that have walked away.
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He begins to think about his situation.
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He's thinking, I would rather eat, I'd rather go home, what am
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I doing here? He would have, in verse 16,
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gladly filled his stomach with the paws that the swine ate and
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no one gave him anything. He's starting to think, look at
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my life, what am I doing? What did I do?
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What kind of person am I? What did I say to my dad?
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Why would I do that? What kind of horrible person?
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I'm a horrible person, no doubt. And it was hunger and it was the
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situations that brought him there.
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It says in verse 17 that this thinking, it says he came to
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himself. And again he's talking to
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himself. He's starting to think about his
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situation, how many? And this is where you'll see the
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emphasis of the father here. It's he's repeated over and over
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again, but he's not even there. The son is by himself, but the
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father is in his heart. Notice when he came to himself,
26:24
verse 17, how many of his father's hired servants have
26:28
bread enough to spare? And I perish with hunger.
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I'll arise and go to my father, and we'll say to him, Father, I
26:35
have sinned against heaven and before you, and I'm no longer
26:38
worthy to be called your son. There's a phrase for that when
26:43
you look at yourself and you say I'm no longer worthy.
26:46
Because you know, there's a difference between saying I have
26:49
done something wrong and then saying I am wrong or I've done
26:54
something bad and I am bad. It's the difference between
26:59
repentance and shame. Shame is really nasty and it
27:06
sneaks into our lives as we begin to measure our lives by
27:11
our behavior. That's not how God sees you.
27:16
He sees your behavior. He calls you away from it.
27:20
He brings conviction of sin. He sends people into your life.
27:23
You hear Bible studies, a song, jog.
27:25
But when God looks at you, he doesn't look at you for your
27:29
failure. He sees you through His Son.
27:34
He removes the guilt and shame. And when there is good guilt,
27:39
what does it do but draw you to the Father?
27:43
It draws out. But here he is living in shame
27:47
because of his bad decisions, a really difficult past.
27:53
I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.
27:55
Verse 19. Just make me like one of your
27:58
hired servants. And he arose and came to his
28:02
father, but when he was still a great way off, his father saw
28:06
him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed
28:09
him. And the son said to him, Father,
28:12
I've sinned against heaven and in your sight, and I'm no longer
28:15
worthy to be called your son. Verse 21 is the best way the
28:20
prodigal son could express his repentance.
28:26
And I love it because even though he's dealing with shame,
28:29
even though he's dealing with his emotions, he's verbalizing
28:32
to his dad the best way that he can.
28:34
I'm sorry, please forgive me. I realize what I've done was
28:40
wrong. But verse 22, the father said to
28:46
his servants, bring out the best robe, put it on him, put a ring
28:51
on his hand, sandals on his feet, bring the fatted calf.
28:54
My boy's hungry. We're feeding him.
28:57
We're going to take care of him. I don't care how he came back.
29:00
I don't care what he did. He's my son.
29:06
And he throws a party for him. It says let's be merry, let's be
29:12
merry. My son was lost.
29:14
He's found. He was dead, but now he's alive.
29:23
When you learn how to forgive yourself, you come home.
29:28
You come home, you're sitting there going, look what a mess my
29:30
life is. Look what I've done.
29:31
I mean, you think about this kid.
29:33
What? However, however, however old he
29:35
was, the younger son, he has no money.
29:38
How is he ever going to pay his dad back?
29:41
That's such a big issue in the story, but it's not even
29:44
mentioned again. No, I'm sure they work things
29:47
out in their family and I'm sure they talk.
29:49
I'm sure the consequences lingered because they linger in
29:52
our lives too. But when you come back to the
29:55
Father, he receives you. He forgives you, and he throws
30:00
you a party. He doesn't sit you down and
30:02
remind you of your past and what a horrible decision it was.
30:05
He receives you and he welcomes you and he forgives you.
30:11
When you learn to forgive yourself, you come home, you
30:15
come back to the Father. We might refer to that as you
30:17
come back to church, or you open your Bible again, or you come to
30:21
a deep place of repentance. But you're always a daughter and
30:27
you're always a son. You never stop because I just
30:33
really be a servant. You'll never be a servant.
30:35
You're going to always be my boy.
30:38
We got some things to work out, but you're my son.
30:40
You're my daughter. If that's true in the human
30:43
realm, how much more in the spiritual realm, the Father
30:46
drawing you and says I'm ready to forgive you.
30:49
I'm ready to remind you of the forgiveness of the cross.
30:54
I know that you failed and I know that you've stumbled, and I
30:57
know you're thinking about something that happened 20 years
30:59
ago. But look to my son, you are
31:03
forgiven. You are forgiven because, you
31:07
know, sometimes we get into a place where you might even be
31:11
feeling this, where you say, whoop a pastor, I hear you and I
31:15
want to follow you, but you don't understand how bad it
31:18
really was. You don't understand what I've
31:21
done and what I've been involved in was so bad.
31:24
It was so bad that if I was God, I wouldn't forgive me.
31:29
If I was God, I wouldn't forgive them.
31:32
And if that's the language you've heard or felt lately, let
31:36
me get let you in on some insight of what you're really
31:38
doing. First of all, if you were God,
31:41
we're glad you're not OK? So we're all glad because if you
31:44
were God, nobody would get forgiven.
31:46
So we're grateful for that, first of all.
31:49
But something's happening in your thinking that you need to
31:52
be aware of. If I were God, If I were God,
31:56
You know, the Bible warns US against making idols in God's
32:00
image. And the idea of you putting
32:03
yourself as you assess the situation, the idea of you
32:07
putting yourself in the place of God, the Bible word for that is
32:12
idolatry. Because you're not God, I'll
32:16
never be God. And truly, you may not be in the
32:19
place where you can just be so readily forgive like God does,
32:23
but God's in that place and he's ready to forgive the repentant.
32:30
And that's the key, coming to the end of yourself and
32:35
repenting. It's hard, isn't it?
32:38
It's hard for me to think that as I'm wrestling with things in
32:42
the present, it's actually tied to my past or to real pain.
32:47
Like a real pain. Like one that'll take you out in
32:49
a moment. You go, but God, you don't
32:52
understand. And God says, I do.
32:55
Look to the Cross Church. This is such a great step that
33:02
you can take if you just come back to the Father, just come
33:07
home. Just come back.
33:11
He's ready to forgive. Which leads us to the Third
33:13
Point. Today.
33:15
We forget, we forgive, and finally we forsake.
33:20
Turn over to Psalm one O 3, as we were earlier, Psalm one O 3.
33:24
We need to learn to forsake the past.
33:27
Great Bible word, by the way, the word forsake literally means
33:30
to let drop, to let it sink. And we need to learn to let the
33:37
past be the past and just drop it.
33:40
There's nothing we can do about our past.
33:44
We can't change it in any way. We can't change it.
33:48
We can only move forward. We can only move forward by
33:54
faith. And it's important that we learn
33:57
to forsake the past. Yes, God is using it and has
34:02
used it to make us who we are today.
34:04
But our identity is not in our past, it's in the Lord.
34:09
And notice what God does with our sins.
34:13
And this is old covenant. How much more in Christ?
34:15
But notice I love the language here.
34:17
Pick up in verse 8IN Psalm 103. The Lord is merciful and
34:23
gracious, slow to anger, abounding in mercy.
34:26
He'll not always strive with us, nor will He keep his anger
34:30
forever. Now in verse 10, there are a
34:32
couple Amen moments that I want you to jump on.
34:35
There are two of them. I'm not going to tell you where
34:38
they are. You can find them.
34:40
And when we get there, you can Amen them.
34:42
OK, you guys with me, This is a quiz.
34:45
I'm going to grade you afterwards, OK?
34:48
He has not dealt with us according to our sins. 50%
34:55
you're there nor punished us according to our iniquities.
35:01
Those are Amen moments. A+ plus to all the students and
35:04
ours. Listen to that.
35:07
That's just one verse among thousands telling us what God
35:13
does through Christ. He has not dealt with us
35:17
according to our sins. What that means is we have not
35:19
received what we deserve and He's not punished us according
35:26
to our iniquities in the home that my wife and I have made
35:33
together over the last 30 plus years as believers, we've really
35:38
had a goal with our children to not have a home where they're
35:44
punished, but rather have a home where they're trained and
35:48
discipled. I grew up in a home where I was
35:52
punished and believe me, I am familiar with punishment.
35:56
I got a lot of it. A lot, a lot, a lot.
36:02
And that's how my home started before I got saved.
36:05
I just carried on what I dealt with in my own home until I met
36:09
the Lord and I learned that the Father, he doesn't punish us
36:13
according to our iniquities. He disciples us.
36:17
He trains us. He changes us into the image of
36:21
Christ. He uses the consequences of our
36:23
bad decisions to what draws closer to Him.
36:28
He goes, no, no, son, don't do that.
36:30
No, no, no, daughter, we don't do it that way.
36:32
And this is the right way. This is the wrong way, but this
36:35
is the right way. And sometimes we don't even need
36:37
heaven to tell us, do we? The consequences tell us enough.
36:40
I mean, even little kids have learned.
36:42
They have the capability of learning this.
36:44
I think of, you know, the, the proverbial don't touch the
36:48
stove. That's the warning.
36:49
But then they sneak in there and they touch.
36:53
It's like I told you. Don't touch the stove.
36:55
Are you going to touch? I'll never touch the stove.
36:57
You don't hear that? Consecutively every 5 minutes.
36:59
Ah, ah, ah, like 10. I ran out.
37:04
What, are you taking your shoes off?
37:06
I ran out of fingers. I want to keep trying.
37:08
No, because they can learn quickly.
37:13
They don't need to be punished. They can learn quickly and
37:18
trained and guided and directed, and it's a great goal to have
37:22
because it's the heart of the Father for you.
37:24
He doesn't punish you. As painful as it may feel,
37:31
you're becoming conformed into the image of Christ.
37:36
He's helping you learn and helping me learn how to follow
37:39
Him. It says in verse 11, as the
37:42
heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy
37:44
toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the
37:48
West, how far is the east from the West?
37:53
Why don't somebody start walking E, you know, get through the
37:56
dump. That's going to be hard.
37:57
But once you get over the dump here on Hampton, you're going to
38:00
go into the plains and you can just go all the way past Kansas
38:02
City and just keep walking, Walking, walking, walking,
38:05
walking. And you just write back to me,
38:07
you know, e-mail us along the way or whatever.
38:09
Maybe you'll hit the news. Hey, what are you doing?
38:11
My pastor told me to find out the east from the West.
38:13
And you just keep walking, walking, walking, walking,
38:16
walking. If you keep going east, you're
38:18
always going to go E. You're never going to, you're
38:20
never going to hit W. That's the point.
38:23
It's not NS because if you went N, eventually you'll come South.
38:26
It's not north-south, it's east West.
38:29
And I did purposely tell you to go E because it'll be easier.
38:31
If you go West, you're going to hit the Rockies right away and
38:34
then you're going to give up. But you'll go farther if you go
38:36
that way. But either way, that's how far
38:40
he's removed our transgression, how He's tender and
38:44
compassionate. Verse 13 toward us like a
38:46
father. You need to learn how to let
38:50
your past go and drop it. I'm not suggesting that we
38:59
pretend it never happened, but I am suggesting that you learn a
39:06
lot to not let it define you that that's God's work in you.
39:13
I'm amazed at times of my own human weakness where I do have
39:16
great faith in the fact that God saved my soul.
39:19
I even as I was driving this morning, I was thinking, you
39:23
know, at the very least, if I don't see anything ever in my
39:26
life, at the very least, I know God saved me.
39:31
There's no question nobody can talk me out of it.
39:36
I know the old Ed, and I'm surveying the room right now and
39:39
I don't know how many in there. There's, you know, my family and
39:43
maybe Henry and Maria, but you know, none of you met the old
39:46
Ed. You should be happy about that.
39:49
So Amen. That was another Amen moment,
39:51
but you missed it. I'm not doing it again.
39:54
But you know, I didn't meet the old you either, which is also an
39:58
Amen moment. Can you imagine the old Ed
40:01
meeting the old you like over drinks at the bar and just
40:04
getting drunk and going, well, how what kind of trouble you
40:06
are? I don't know.
40:07
And you're just getting in trouble and like no, I know you
40:11
haven't met him. And even sometimes when I share
40:14
story when I and just people don't believe me.
40:16
But I'm telling you whatever I share is even worse.
40:20
I know the old Ed and you know the old you.
40:24
That's what's been tripping you up.
40:25
I have to let the old Ed be the old dad, and he's real.
40:33
Every time I go back to Southern California, I visit my friends.
40:36
I still have family back there. Inevitably, we're going to get
40:39
together. You know, there's a friend of
40:41
mine that we go back to Little League.
40:42
We played baseball together at the park, driving our our riding
40:46
our bikes to the park, playing baseball together since we were
40:49
seven or eight years old. And we grew up in the same
40:52
schools. We went to the same high school.
40:54
We did a lot of bad things together.
40:56
We did a lot of good things together because he got saved
40:58
and I got saved and we're still friends to this day.
41:01
And inevitably we'll get together and we'll reminisce
41:03
and, and the thing about this brother is he has an
41:07
extraordinary memory and I don't.
41:11
So the topic will be, oh, Ed was bad.
41:13
Ed was bad. Can you believe what he's doing
41:15
now? I can't believe.
41:16
Well, let me tell you how bad. He has some new story.
41:19
And, you know, we get a little bit of laughing, ha, ha, ha.
41:21
But there's a part of me that's like, yeah, man, I was really
41:25
bad. And if I'm not careful, that'll
41:29
be a handle for the enemy to start messing with my head.
41:32
What else is out there? And I don't want to know.
41:34
And all these. And what I've learned is, and
41:38
it's really easy for me because I hop on a plane and I leave my
41:40
past right where it is because I have the newness of life here in
41:44
Colorado. I came to Colorado as a believer
41:48
and so the only the weaknesses that I've had here is mistakes
41:51
I've made as a believer, which can be painful as well.
41:53
But not like the old Ed. You 2 have to let the past.
41:58
You just got to drop it. Some of you are carrying it
42:02
around like a badge. That's the only thing you want.
42:06
The only thing you you hold it against you.
42:08
It takes away your hope. But if we could learn to forsake
42:12
it, right? Romans 8 says there is therefore
42:15
what now? No condemnation now the eternal
42:21
now forever forgetting, forever receiving forgiveness like when
42:26
you stay with the Father, just living in forgiveness and
42:30
forsaking. Let me give you the bonus.
42:33
We have a few moments. The final point if I bonused on
42:38
this, just to help you remember, is the word faith.
42:43
The key activation to everything you've learned is to believe it,
42:47
to have faith, believe who you are in Christ.
42:51
Let me leave you with the Scripture in James chapter 2.
42:54
Would you turn there with me? I was reading James many years
42:58
ago, my regular Bible reading, and I stopped at this verse,
43:05
these verses, they just jumped off the page.
43:10
I was doing DeVos just like you do.
43:11
You're not going through it. And these these jumped off the
43:13
page. James chapter 2, verse 25.
43:17
Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works
43:21
when she received the messengers and sent them out another way
43:25
For as the body without the spirit is dead.
43:27
So faith without works is dead. Also very interesting scripture.
43:31
You might just read by it really, really quickly.
43:34
But that day God had me stop because this would forever be
43:38
with me and even be with us today.
43:42
I wondered about this verse and I wondered, as I'm reading verse
43:46
25, I asked this question. It's kind of like the Bible
43:49
student in me. When I prepare for Bible
43:51
studies, I can't help but ask questions of the text.
43:53
And I asked this question, Will Rahab be known as a harlot in
43:58
heaven? Because that's how we know her.
44:00
A lot of Rahab's, but this particular Rahab, very
44:03
important. She's Rahab the Harlot.
44:06
And if we're not careful, we'll read the Bible just with a
44:08
Western mindset so that Rahab the Harlot becomes her full
44:11
name, you know, beyond her driver's license.
44:13
First name Rahab, middle name, the last name, Harlot.
44:18
And every time we mention her, we automatically bring up her
44:22
past. What was her past?
44:24
She was a sex worker. That's what she was, prostitute.
44:27
Who knows, men might have been taken advantage her.
44:29
She might have been trafficked as we see a modern day tragedy
44:33
of men and women and children being trafficked.
44:35
She was in the business. This is how she made a living.
44:39
She had sex with random men pretty much every day, but God
44:44
had an appointment for her ready to change her life through these
44:48
men. As you know, back in the Old
44:49
Testament, God sent men there and showed her favor and her
44:54
family, activating her faith. And I believe we'll meet Rahab
44:59
in heaven. I do.
44:59
I believe we'll meet her. And some of you want to talk to
45:02
her like she's got, I don't know how you view heaven, but I kind
45:05
of have like a top ten list of people I want to talk to.
45:08
Of course, Jesus is going to have a long line.
45:11
So while that line is long, I want to talk to Paul.
45:14
I want to talk. There's a few people I want to
45:16
talk to, and Rahab would be one of them.
45:18
I'd love to hear her whole story.
45:20
I'd love to hear it. And so maybe you want to talk to
45:23
Rahab. And you're like walking around
45:25
heaven. Rahab, Rahab, where are you?
45:27
Rahab? And somebody says, what Rahab
45:29
are you looking for? Well, you know, Rahab the
45:31
harlot. And then you're all of a sudden
45:34
you feel this wing coming, slap you upside of the head.
45:37
You go, whoa, what's going on? And the Angel says there are no
45:41
harlots in heaven. There are no harlots in heaven.
45:45
And here's the point I'm making. In Christ, you're not a harlot
45:50
anymore and you're not a liar anymore.
45:54
And you're not. You can fill in the blanks,
45:57
can't you? You can fill in the blanks.
46:00
I know we live in a world where people don't let you get away
46:04
from your past. They don't let you.
46:08
This is what I've learned over the years.
46:09
God is very, very quick to forgive people.
46:13
Not so much. Some may never forgive, but in
46:19
Christ you're not identified by your sin or your past.
46:28
You know, Rahab the harlot, some, some churches are like
46:33
that. Unfortunately, they always love
46:36
to hold the past against people. Some families are like that, you
46:43
know, whether it's in your family or in someone that's
46:47
close to you, you know that they're doing that when they
46:51
start using language like, well, you know, that's the black sheep
46:54
of the family. What?
46:56
Why would you call him that? How do you ever think you'll
47:00
step into their lives if you isolate and push them away
47:04
because of their failures? It's just not going to.
47:07
It's just not reflective of the love of God.
47:09
I mean, even believers you think of.
47:12
It's not just Rahab. You think of Thomas.
47:14
Well, what? Thomas Pastor.
47:16
Oh, Thomas the doubter doubting Thomas.
47:21
Well, what's so wrong about asking follow up questions?
47:26
You know, I'm just having a hard time.
47:28
It's just really hard to believe Jesus.
47:29
I don't know. I just can't.
47:30
OK, go ahead. Touch my side.
47:32
Stick your hand in me. Oh, I believe.
47:35
I believe. No, thanks.
47:37
But he's just one of those guys that need a little more
47:39
information. Some of you are just one of
47:40
those gals. You just need a little more
47:42
information. We don't hold it against you.
47:44
Ask your questions, they're good.
47:46
God has an answer for you. How about Peter?
47:49
Well, what Peter is a lot of Peters.
47:51
Well, you know Peter the denier. Actually, Peter has a lot of
47:54
things that we could call him Peter the denier.
47:59
Oh, no, no, no. That's not how Jesus saw him.
48:04
He said, hey Peter, I want you to go feed 10 and take care of
48:07
my sheep. I know what you did, but that's
48:11
not what's important. Let's move forward.
48:14
Let's grow from this. Listen church, you are greatly
48:18
beloved. You have a future and a hope.
48:21
You're not tied to your past sin.
48:24
There's something greater and more wonderful for you.
48:27
You don't have to be stuck in a victim mentality the rest of
48:31
your life. You can walk free from even the
48:34
worst of decisions and actions. God will heal you.
48:38
God will strengthen you. He will help you.
48:41
You have purpose. He will take away that
48:44
injustice. You will have what you're
48:46
looking for as you look to the cross.
48:51
He wants to free you from your past.
48:53
And truly, He wants to. He wants you to let go of your
48:57
past. It's more than a sermon and it's
49:01
certainly more than reading a book.
49:05
But let's get going on the journey.
49:07
Let's do something. We can't do everything but the
49:11
world needs a strong, vibrant church walking in their
49:15
identity, free and forgiven and being used of Jesus in these
49:22
last days. Amen.
49:24
Now we can rejoice. Just let it all out right now.
49:27
Just let it all out all right, so worship team's going to come
49:35
up, but I'm going to do something different than than we
49:38
normally do. I just, I felt like I felt like
49:41
like to give you an opportunity just without the lights and all
49:44
the changes that we normally do just the way it is right now.
49:48
If God has spoken to you, stirring up something related to
49:51
your past from this Bible study, would you just stand to your
49:53
feet? We want to pray for you.
49:55
That's really the only invitation you just God's
49:58
ministering in the depth of your heart and just where you are and
50:02
you just know you don't need to be afraid.
50:05
You know, like that could even be the issue, right?
50:08
Just always a worried about people's opinions of you and
50:10
just always stuck and just just wrestling with things.
50:14
I'm sorry, but I just want to pray and acknowledge you.
50:16
I want you to know you're not forgotten and standing.
50:19
It's just symbolic. I mean, think about the courage
50:22
it just took right now to admit where you're at, to see where
50:26
you've come from, but where you want to go.
50:29
It's such a powerful moment between you and the Lord.
50:31
And we're not going to have people come and lay hands on
50:34
you. I'm just going to pray for you
50:35
in the in the stillness of where you are and just allow and
50:39
receive it. Just let the Holy Spirit comfort
50:41
you and minister to you deep in your heart.
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Father, I pray for these precious men and women and boys
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and girls. It is just a Bible study, we
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know, but a Bible study nonetheless.
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The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, for the Jew 1st
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and also for the Greek, for men and women, for boys and girls.
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I pray for the pain cumulatively that's in this room because of
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our sin. We all have it.
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That you might set people free. You might strengthen them, help
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them, give them clarity, bring reconciliation.
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Some are just coming back to the Father and you're welcoming them
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back. Welcome home, Welcome home,
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Welcome home. Some need help in forgetting.
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Some need help in forgiving. Some need help in forsaking.
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Some need help in faith. Some of us.
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I need help in all of them. That you might strengthen my
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resolve to follow you and trust you.
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So we just pray for an outpouring of your spirit for
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those that are doing well. God continue to strengthen and
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protect them. Let their life be only more well
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and more strong as we learn later on in Galatians that we're
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going to learn to bear one another's burdens and we need
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the strong. You who are spiritual, restore
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such a one and just do a revolutionary work in our hearts
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as a church. God, just show us what you want
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to do, how you want to do it. Give us dreams and visions.
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Give us clarity in your scriptures.
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Give us songs for our heart. Give us purpose, direction,
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answer our prayers according to your will.
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God move in your church by the power of your Holy Spirit more
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than can be explained more that that we won't even know what to
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do except to look for you. And I thank you for the brave
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men and women. And there are brave men and
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women that are still sitting and they're brave nonetheless
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because they've come to you. And those online and those in
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their car right now heading home, like moving around,
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shopping, whatever they're doing today, Pour out your spirit in
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these last days that the church would rise up and be vessels of
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your honor in a world that so desperately needs us in Jesus
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name, Amen. Amen.
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God bless you guys. 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.
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Call us at 87730 grace that's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its integrity 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.