Friday, February 7, 2014

But You Don’t Know My Past – Part 2



John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Continuing Pastor Phil’s Sunday Sermon series of “God of the Underdogs” on the issue of “leveraging our past”.

We have a choice to make: either we can become bitter, or we can decide to become teachable. With our past experiences, we learn from our past and spend the rest of our lives making sure no one ever has to feel the condemning and shameful way we felt back then. Our pain and past become our platform. Our struggles demonstrate to those around us that truly it is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone that we are saved and truly live. Allow Jesus to take our past, transform it, and leverage it for His glory. Jesus is the light of the world. How does Jesus look at you? How many times do we slow down? There are a lot of lights out there in the world competing for our attention, but we need to follow “The Light” – Christ Jesus. Jesus says, “Get up” and get going with your God-given gifts and talents. God wants us to humbly depend upon Him, make time for Him in prayer, obediently follow Him, and faithfully serve Him in His plans and purposes in blessed assurance. Surrender your past and “Get up.” Move in the direction of your God-given dreams and Divine destines.

You may be so busy being angry at your regrets and mistakes that you’re forfeiting the power in them to be transforming agents of the Spirit in the lives of others. You need to stop minimizing your past or trying to pretend it doesn’t exist or didn’t happen. What happened cannot be changed, but what you choose to do with it can. A minimized past is a minimized platform. Minimized pain is pain that still has control over you. Stop minimizing, and start surrendering your past to Jesus. The apostle Paul surrendered his past to Jesus and then used it as a testimony of what God can do. God wants to do the same for you and I. Our past is part of what makes us an underdog through whom God wants to do big things. We’ve been given different pasts for a reason. But that’s on purpose. God needs all underdogs to own their past because when we do, we present the most magnificent picture of the grace of God to our world, that others’ eyes could be opened.

Ephesians 4:21-24 If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:  that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,  and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Your personal story too, has the power to open people’s eyes to Jesus like nothing else could for them. The unique pieces of your story that make it yours are the very things God will use to open others’ eyes to see a side of Jesus they never knew existed, and turn people from darkness to light. They can relate to our pain. Your story can be the vehicle God uses for others to find forgiveness from their sin and their past. God has uniquely allowed the events of your past to be such that others will find relevance in them. When they se someone with your story and your past walking in freedom and life today, God will use that to inspire them to seek forgiveness, healing, and freedom. God will actually use us to help others process through the unhealthiness and find acceptance and a place in God’s family.

Devote yourself to the Lord. Make and take some time this week to get alone with God and create a space for God to change you forever. And pray over others and create space for God to speak to their hearts and receive ministry. Your life is too short and your story too important to let your past keep you impeding your future. We need you, underdog. Get up!

In Christ, Brian

2 comments:

child of God said...

Great posts Brian! Wow! Sinners living in the Truth sharing their experiences is a very powerful testimony and is very healing and freeing.

Blessings brother. :)
<><

Brian Ray Todd said...

Thank you for the comment Child of God. We all have a past and we all have a story. Nobody is perfect, but is being perfected daily by He who is perfect - yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever. That truth is very healing and freeing indeed.