Letting Go of the Past

Here are the completed notes from the Sunday Morning Service March 13, 2016:

Scripture:
The Apostle Peter’s past – Luke 22:54-62
The Apostle Paul’s past – Acts 22:4

Why Let Go of the Past:

  • You are living in a time that no longer exists
  • Looking behind hinders moving ahead

The Past Haunts Us in the Following Areas:

1. Failure from the Past

  • Missed Opportunities
  • Hurt you caused some else

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”  -Philippians 3:13-14

2. Guilt from the Past

  • Missed Opportunities
  • Sin

“He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.  For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.  As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”  -Psalms 103:10-12

3. Hurt / Wounds from the Past

  • Words
  • Rejection
  • Betrayal
  • “Scars remind us of where we have been.  They don’t have to dictate where we are going.”

4. Bitterness / Unforgiveness still there from the Past

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”  -Ephesians 4:31

  • Bitterness = Smoldering resentment
    • “Bitterness is like a poison that you prepare for someone else and then drink yourself.”
  • Unforgiveness = Not releasing a debt or perceived debt owed
    • “We did nothing to earn our forgiveness.  Then we cannot make others earn our forgiveness.”

5. Defeated Living Because of the Past
Tried so many times to change to no avail

“For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”  -Proverbs 24:16

Steps to Letting Go of the Past:

1. Understand that through Christ you no longer have to be in bondage to the past

  • Born Again – 1 Peter 1:23
  • New Creation in Christ – 2 Corinthians 5:17

2. Refocus your attention to God’s Truth
We need to remember that looking back is actually looking away from God and our future.

“I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.”  -1 John 2:12

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  -1 John 1:9

3. Take your past to God and leave it with Him

“God only looks at your future because He’s canceled out your past”. – Karon Phillips Goodman

4. Resolve open issues when possible
Example of conflict / offences

“The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.”  -Proverbs 19:11

“Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.  And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”  -Luke 17:3-4

“Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.  But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.  And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.”  -Matthew 18:15-17

“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”  -Galatians 6:1

5. Stop replaying the past
Choosing to hold on to the past and pain is by default choosing to let go of God’s peace and our potential.

6. Ask God to protect your heart and mind

“Our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.” – James Rinehart

“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”  -Ephesians 6: 16-18