Dr. Jim Schettler: I Don't Live There Anymore

Isaiah chapter 43 verse 18 and 19 let me read these two and let's stand for the reading of God's were denied two incredible verses I want to talk about putting our past in proper perspective you know there's a lot of drama around today isn't there there's a lot of drama in our country right now there's a lot of drama in our lives I don't believe a Christian should live in drama I really don't I think that we should have great peace that God gives us but I think one of the big reasons why we live in drama and there's so much going on in our lives emotionally is because we're not dealing with our past properly and so tonight I want to talk to you about putting our past in a proper perspective and I want to talk about I don't live there anymore two great verses in Isaiah chapter 43 let's look at verse 18 and 19 you know they're just two short verses let's all read them out loud together okay and then we'll have a word of Prayer Isaiah 43 verse 18 and 19 everyone together in unison remember ye not the former things neither consider the things of old behold I will do a new thing now it shall spring forth shall he not know it I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert well father there is definitely one thing we all have in common tonight we all have a past and that Lord I believe that we need to learn how to steward our past properly father I think that the events of the past whether they've been successes scars or sins Lord we need to know how to deal with the things that have happened in our life previously so that we can live victoriously in the future father every one of us have things in our past that we would love to forget we would love to move on they are part of our past now you've taken us down roads we've chosen some directions good and bad there's been things that have been happened into our life that we had no earthly idea it would happen we had no earthly power over from preventing it to happen and yet it happened to us father I pray tonight that every one of us would learn principles on how to deal with their past then Lord I would also like to go a step further with this message Lord I would like to say that I'm not just preaching to this incredible congregation some of the strongest believers in America may be in this auditorium prayer warriors servants of God incredible influence by the people in this auditorium tonight Lord may we not just hear this message for us may we also hear this message to help others because lord I do believe that what is given tonight will not only be beneficial to us but I think we could be a great help to other people for a lot of people do not know how to deal with their past there are still billions of people that need to get their pass to the cross and father I ask that tonight we would see how to handle biblically what has happened in the past in our lives we need your help only the Holy Spirit can do it we have your word lord I pray that I'll be a faithful messenger be with pastor be with the Spanish church tonight we pray that you would encourage them I count this a great privilege but also a deep responsibility this is what I believe you put on my heart may it be effective tonight we pray these things in the one name that can do all that we've asked in the name of our soon to come Savior we pray in the name of Jesus and God's people said amen you may be seated well a year and a half ago raid after spiritual leadership conference it was not this summer June but it was the summer before it'd been about a year and a half ago right after spiritual leadership conference I went up to Michigan had a couple services over father's day matter of fact was with Tim Christianson for that Father's Day and then who start a week we were at Rochester Hills and there with hell Hightower and then started a week with camp Kobe AK up in Houghton Lake area but I got in I did this kind of on purpose you know you can't when you're a parent you can't have favorite kids when you're a grandparent you can't have favorite grandkids but you can't have when you're a nephew in a niche you can have favorite uncles well my favorite uncle from my family a lot of favorite uncles on marelize family but my favorite uncle on my family is Uncle Carl and aunt Jackie they live outside Detroit and I just love Uncle Carl and aunt Jackie he's got one of the coolest jobs he does negotiating for unions in Detroit whether it's the pipe fitters or whether it's the heating he's never done anything with the Teamsters or anything like that but he has done so well he's asked all over America to do negotiations between unions and corporations and that means Uncle Carl is the best listener in the world and it is true Carl Uncle Carl when he listen when you talk to him he just listens so intently of what you're saying they live on a leg they have a beautiful home and I just like Uncle Carl and had an aunt Jackie and they like me and that's always like to be liked so I I whenever I get a chance so I gave one in a day early to go see Uncle John Carlin and Jackie and I got my rental car at Detroit Metro and I knew that I'd gotten there a little early and I thought about this ahead of time and I think it was around I don't remember I think was around June 16th or something like that I came in that Friday I got the rental car and Uncle Carl and aunt Jackie we're gonna take me out to a really nice steak place so I knew I had the afternoon and so I shall do something I'm going to go back to where I was born and raised and I haven't been up in the West Phil Bloomfield Hills area and quite some time and I hadn't been back in the old neighborhood for a long time and I I had been back sometimes we lived in this house for 14 years my mom and dad got a divorce when I was 14 and we moved up to the northern part of Michigan but this is where I was born and raised and I went back to Brookfield Highlands and I got the rental car you know and you're kinda and I'm you know I'm talking about not having drama well I'm starting to get dramatic you know I mean my heart's kind of racing and you just haven't been in the old neighborhood I come down odd and drive and all the trees are just huge you know I mean they've just grown over and everything but the houses are still there and I've got about a quarter of a mile from when I turn off this Brookfield Highlands Road on to Ogden Drive and I'm going down and I mean just a just a world of all kinds of emotions and memories from you know Apple Wars to firecrackers to trick-or-treat give everything in the world that you could imagine from bicycles everything is happening in the matter of like a minute and a half as I Drive down the street and we come up I come up to my house my house hmm I pulled off to the side it was a quiet beautiful day in June when I was just beautiful Michigan days and I pulled off and I just looked at the house and you just you just flooded with memories I mean this for 14 years of my life and you think about all the successes all the happy times and there were many I love my childhood but boy there were some scars maybe I might my mom a dad just fought all the time it was it's kind of an abusive situation it was it was a tough family to grow up and it really was you think about the the since the failure said I had and I looked at that house and I said you know what I don't live there anymore that's my best I don't live there anymore I'm thankful I was raised there I really am that's my past that's who I am so much of what I am did they happen in those first 14 years of my life I I'm not gonna discount the past I'm not gonna like well okay I don't remember a thing is that where I lived I didn't have any clue no I know where I lived that was my house I lived in for 14 years but I prayed you know they're at their side of the road and I drove off and just what I drove off I said I don't live there anymore that's my past I'm Who I am today greatly because of some of those things that happened the stars of an abusive home and family the sins of being a young teenager and getting involved in things I should have never gotten in and then successes choice and happiness it's all there it all makes a big part of what I am today but we've got to learn how to handle the past you know why because we don't live there anymore we don't live in the past we live in the present looking forward to the future but we all have to know how to manage what has happened in our life in the past and if we do not use biblical principles to manage what has occurred in our past we are headed for a terrible future some of you are carrying such luggage some of you are carrying such baggage you will never accomplish what God wants you to accomplish because you don't know how to handle the past so tonight I want to give you two points but there are some points under them I want to give you five reasons we should move on from a bad past five reasons why we should move on from a bad past and then I want to give you five ways to use your pass for God's glory no matter what past you have you can use it for God's glory and I want to show you how but let's first of all know that tonight's a definitely a topical message but don't be thinking well we probably use the Bible much no you're going to use the Bible a lot tonight amen we're going to use the Bible a lot tonight yeah well anyway some of us will be all right by the way we got a great passage right there this passage was huge for me November 18th this coming Saturday it was 11 years ago this coming Saturday that a church in Santa Maria California it was the day before a church was going to vote on me coming as pastor up at First Baptist and I struggled because I hadn't had a passage of Scripture and Sunday morning of the vote that they were going to have at First Baptist that's Sunday morning in my devotions I read Isaiah 43 verse 18 and 19 now I had been in a ministry for 31 years I had pastored in a place for eighteen of those 31 years youth pastor for seven out of that and been a part of that ministry for 31 years it was very difficult leaving but we knew that the Lord wanted us to move on and I say a43 in verse 18 it said remember that Sunday morning we were I was doing a week of meetings in Gainesville Georgia I woke up that morning this was my devotions remember ye not the former things neither consider the things of old I read that verse and I immediately went to my knees and I said Oh God that is exactly what I needed to forget the past what a verse remember ye not the former things neither consider the things of life have you read the next verse yet but I just I got on my knees right there and I said oh Lord that is exactly the verse I needed the Holy Spirit said keep reading Jim verse 19 behold I will do a new thing no it shall spring forth so he not know it I will even make a way in the wilderness I remember when Marilee and I Marilee said her exact words when we had candidated she said you know going to California I feel like we're going to the wilderness that was exactly the word that she kept now she that we were she really had a desire and she didn't have any cautions against us going but she said going to California I feel like going to the wilderness and I read that verse behold I will I will do a new thing now it shall spring forth shall he not know it I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert I didn't really understand that part and then the Lord Boothby here and I can understand that part so the verses skill go do a great I claim that verse that morning and I said Lord you want us in California I say a43 eighteen and nineteen I said God it doesn't matter people were asking me all the time hey what percentile do you want the vote to be I said I don't know I don't know I've never been voted in as a pastor before I don't I don't know I just I I don't know I don't know why I don't have a percentile I was thinking my whole time I don't need a percentile of people to vote for me I need you God to show me that morning God showed me I knew I was going to be the pastor first BAFTA Santa Maria before they voted I got my verse in Georgia that morning before they even woke up Isaiah 43 18 and 19 I said Lord I'm gonna be pastoring First Baptist I'll never forget when the deacon the head of the Deacons called up Larry McKenna Larry called up to give me the vote and I said I'm coming he said who called you we just got out of the vote right now who called you I said God gave me my purse this morning Larry he said you want to know what the vote is no I know I'm coming I know I'm coming I guess I said what did he give you and I'll never forget that morning or that afternoon I said Larry I know God's called me to the church and they said well the vote was pretty good but who cares you got your verse man we look forward to having you come hey you know something we had to start over but notice what it says remember he not the former things neither consider the things of old behold I will do a new thing well I'll tell you God will do a new thing no matter what's happened in your past good or bad God could do a new thing let me give you five reasons why we should move on from a bad pass now I had Andruw Jones help me I sent him over the screen here and it was originally five reasons we should forget in a bad pass and I called up Andrew this afternoon and I just spent some time alone when I came back from Tehachapi and I said Andrew I don't like the word forget because we really don't forget a bad past but we need to move on from a bad past it's not that you forget that I have no idea that that person molested me no you know that no I have no idea that that person betrayed me no no you remember that it isn't so much that you forget but you do have to learn how to move on from a bad past so let me give you five reasons we should move on from a bad pass number one and I want you to take your Bibles tonight I and if you ever write notes I want to encourage you to write notes tonight because I don't believe this is just for you tonight I believe you know people that need to move on from a bad pass and you could be a help to them number one there is no scriptural basis to remember a bad past there is no Bible passage in the entire Word of God that tells you you are to relive reopen and revisit a bad past there isn't anything in the scriptures that would lead to that take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 9 verse 62 if you would the very last verse in Luke chapter 9 the Bible says in luke 9:62 and jesus said unto him no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God there is no scripture that once you put your hand to the plow you are ever to look back and no matter what's going on whether it's a success whether maybe some of you would go you know what man might you know where I used to come from man that was really great and boy I miss my church and in all this and they thought I was it there and boy do I succeed there and I'm struggling here or whatever most of us here have moved from other places to land castor so we have something to compare whatever to hey let me encourage you there is no scriptural basis to remember a bad past you know I was thinking our pastor is real big about our college students graduating without debt and why because at graduation he doesn't want our college students to have the burden of debt going into ministry well let me tell you something else the burden of a bad past that you haven't moved on to will will do worse for you in the ministry than even debt will that you're gonna carry things and I speak to all of you whether you work in the bus ministry or whoever you are here tonight you cannot do and be in the kingdom of God in your life if you if you're looking back at whatever it may be whether the successes of the past and say well it'll never be like that again or whether it's the failures or whether it's the scars we put our hand to the plow and we look forward and we move on I cannot find any passage of Scripture and I challenge you there is no scriptural basis to remember a bad pass number two you cannot go forward and backward at the same time it is impossible to go forward and backward at the same time and if you're living in the past then you cannot go forward now probably the passage that most of you are familiar with is the Philippians passage so take your Bibles and turn there Philippians chapter 3 many think at the end of this message you should have used this as your text well I just love isaiah 443 and I think isaiah 40:3 captures everything about the proper perspective of the past but Philippians 4 or Suton Philippians 3 is so important verse 12 not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I'm apprehended of Christ Jesus brethren I can't knock myself to have apprehended I have not arrived but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and here it is and reaching forth unto those things which are before hey let go of the past man you cannot go backwards and forward at the same time there is no way in the Christians life that you can be living in the past and going forward for the Lord Jesus Christ you gotta let it go you've gotta move on and by the way it may be good memories I'm not saying all this is bad there may be good memories but you gotta move on from that there may be family memories and family ties and different you've gotta let go of things but some of you you do have some tragic things in your past but I will tell you this you can never go forward and backward at the same time and that's what Paul says they're forgetting those things which are behind and reaching for you cannot reach forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark you cannot press toward the mark if you are living in the past for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus brother schüttler why should we move on from a bad pass because there's no scriptural basis to live there number two you can go forward you cannot go forward and backward at the same time number three we don't remember the past right I want to talk about this for a minute we don't remember the past right now here's the next passage you need to turn to their pastor mentioned it this morning not in the light of what I'm gonna say but he mentioned it take your Bibles and turn to Exodus chapter 16 so Israel has had this incredible deliverance and they find themselves without any food right now in Exodus 16 and they begin to murmur but I want you to hear what they said life it is amazing how we perceive our past Exodus chapter 16 and verse number 3 and the children of Israel Exodus 16 3 and the of Israel said unto them what to God we had died by the hand hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt now listen to this listen to this when we sat by the fleshpots and when we did eat bread to the everyone together full 4 ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill the whole assembly with hunger ok guys can I remind you of something nobody sat by fleshpots ok it wasn't happening and number 2 nobody had bread to the full all right do you guys want to go back to making bricks what in the world is your problem you know what a lot of times we do not remember the past right you know what I had to just tell you this because I do work with college kids all the time alright it amazes me how college students remember their high school days it's not like that can I just tell you it's not the way that they remember it but they've got all this like Oh back in high school this happened and this happened and this happened either you are very selective or you're very subjective but I will tell you for every one of us the past is not the way we remember it nobody remembers the past exactly the way it was so why live in a place that never even existed and for many of us oh I know you right now right now battling with me in your mind you've got a little detail here and a little fat here and and a little thing here but I am Telling You generally speaking we do not remember our past the right way we do not remember the past right and therefore we tend to to be subjective and selective number four weather so why do we need to move on from a bad pass number four you cannot change it you cannot change the past so why live in something I want to I want to see God do something the past is set it's settled you cannot change it now if you have not turned to any passage yet you've got turn to Genesis chapter 41 because we have this incredibly young man actually he's about thirty years of age now so he's been in Egypt for about thirteen years he has now gone through Potiphar's house he's gone into prison he was completely forgotten about for two years he now interprets these two incredible dreams by Pharaoh and now Joseph is called Zephaniah he is the second most powerful person in the entire world he is given a Gentile bride which is what a picture of Jesus Christ he has given this Gentile bride and they have children they have twins the two boys are about to be named and in Genesis chapter 41 and verse 51 everyone is waiting to hear the names of the two boys are they gonna pick Egyptian names no not by a chance he's gonna pick two Hebrew names for his two boys and what he names his two boys are so prophetic and so proper in handling your past so now when we think of everything that has happened to Joseph in his life what his brothers have done to him he has not forgotten his brothers he can still remember the smell of the pit he has not forgotten the face of Potiphar's wife by no means but look at what he does when he has two children and he takes his oldest child the very first born and he says this verse 51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn everyone together the name of the firstborn is Manasseh and here's its meeting for God said he have made me forget all my toil in all my father's house brother schüttler you just said that you don't forget okay and he didn't he remembers NAFTA ly he can remember Simeon all he knows well Reuben he knows Levi and he will never forget what Judah did that day but I'll tell you what he did do he decided not be there judge any longer he said you know what my firstborn begins a new beginning in my life I am NOT going to live in the past any longer I am getting rid of my past I am moving on from what my brothers have done to me little did he realize that within months his brothers will be bowing down to him exactly the way the dream said but he says he takes that first little child in his arms and he says this is Manasseh for I am moving on from my past it is no longer going to control my life it is no longer going to be the thing that holds me back my firstborn is Manasseh now there are people in this auditorium that need to have a Manasseh you need to take it and you need to understand this you cannot change the past he couldn't change what occurred but he did three things with it go with where you are go with what you have and go with why you're here and you cannot change the past but you go with where where you are you go with what you have and you go with the with why you're here and you say you know what I'm not gonna spend my life thinking about the past I cannot change it I probably don't remember the way it is anyhow you can't go forward and backwards at the time at the same time and there is no scriptural basis for me to go to my past I need to move on number five and I believe this is the number one reason why we need to move on from a bad past you become the focus of the hurt instead of God being the focus of the healing when you go to a bad past you are the focus you're the focus of the hurt what that person did to me brother Shelly you said an uncle a little while ago well let me tell you about my uncle what my uncle did to me I know and you're not moving on some of you or some of you have gone through a divorce and you still cannot move on there is something that has happened it is a scar it is a sin that you've committed and every time you try to start living for the Lord the sin comes back up the accuser of the Brethren brings it back up and you cannot move on I want to tell you you become the center of the focus then it's you're focusing on your hurt rather than the focus on God's healing if you're not moving on as a believer with your past that is a terrible testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ in what he said that he did at Calvary let me give you an incredible passage on this this was the one I wanted to use the joseph's passage and I just kept on feeling led to go to the Ruth passage so I want to go to the Ruth passage Ruth chapter one and Ruth's mother law deo he comes back to Bethlehem and comes back to Bethlehem with Ruth she's lost her her husband and she's lost her two sons and she comes back because she hears that it's prosperous now in Bethlehem and she's been in Moab when she enters into the city notice this who becomes the focus here Naomi does when she saw that she was excuse me pick it up in verse 20 she comes back in and they said Naomi Naomi always spent so lot so good to see you Naomi oh it's so good to see you and she said unto them call me not Naomi call me Mara which means bitter for the almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me I went out full and the Lord had brought me home again everyone together what's the next word empty now I wouldn't say this I've said this before I can never preach this and not say this can you ever imagine what roots felt right then and I went out full and I have come back empty I have nothing Andrews going hey what about me you know what am i you know but it doesn't bother Ruth Oh Ruth knows how to handle the past let me tell you but Naomi makes herself the focus it's all about Naomi hey don't call me Naomi call me Mara call me Mara because the el-shaddai has not done what he said that he would do el shaddai the almighty he has not sustained me he has not taken care of me he has not nurses nurse 'red me he is not the el shaddai he makes us in a mock to god the almighty el shaddai you call me Mara Wow by the way I love this verse 22 so Naomi returned in ruth the moabite us her daughter-in-law with her which returned out I need your help again he returned out of the country of Moab and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest from verse 21 when she mocks El Shaddai and she puts the focus on herself from that moment on el shaddai becomes the sustainer of Naomi the rest of the book and the rest of the book I know it's about Christ's lineage and I know it's about all these cool things but I'll tell you there's another plot going on in the story and the other plot is do not tell those people in Bethlehem that I am NOT the Almighty because Naomi I am the Almighty the problem is you put the focus on you instead of on me and the rest of the book he becomes the sustainer he is the el shaddai that she said yeah well he didn't do it with me you know what happens I truly believe this when people cannot move on from their past they become the focus there her becomes the focus instead of God's healing I'll tell you there are five reasons we should move on from a bad pass you got something to happen in your life something terrible that's occurred in your life I don't care if it happened this week I don't care if it happened three hours ago I don't care if it happened three years ago you got to move on there's no scriptural basis to remember that bad past you cannot go forward and backward at the same time we don't remember the past right you cannot change the past you become the focus of the hurt instead of God becoming the focus of the healing not going to tell you if you're here tonight and there's something in your past you've never been able to move on I'm going to encourage you tonight get rid of it have a Manasseh and move on number two and we're done five ways to use your pass for God's glory these are pretty quick five ways to use your pass for God's glory number one get your past in the best that's the first thing you got to do you got to get your past in the past I'm about to say a statement that is one of the most important statements of tonight your past is still the present if you haven't dealt with it your past is still the present if you haven't dealt with it hear me tonight Lancaster Baptist Church hear me tonight guests and college students if you have something that did happen three years ago three summers ago you did something you stole something you cheated on something you did something in another place and every time you start living for God your past comes up yeah that's Satan no that's the Holy Spirit working on your conscience because you've never dealt with it before the past is the present until you deal with it if you have something in your past that you've never dealt with it's not your past it's the present and it has to be dealt with and your conscience will help you with it but if you say no brother seller no I got it taken care of I got it taken care of vertically and I got taking care of horizontally but I am going to tell you man it just dogs me down that's from the accuser of the Brethren that's from Satan because once something has been dealt with vertically and horizontally through scripture you've confessed it you've made it right if it ever comes back up again it's not from God you got to the first thing to give glory to God with your past is you got to get your past in the past you can not if you've got a situation that has never been dealt with whether it's unforgiveness or whatever and it's present you got it ain't what it what had happened five years ago it happened ten years ago it happened you know but it's still the present until you dealt with it get your past in the past I'd say that the past I had a lot of choices here but I chose Psalm 139 on this one because this is what you need to do Psalm 139 the last two verses direct verse 23 and 24 search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting okay alright God I got to get my past in the past and right now my past is the present all right search me God is there anything that I still need to get right on that situation Lord is there anyone I need to talk to is it done is it finished if I moved on have I given forgiveness have I had my Manasa yes yes yes yes then move on and he will lead you in the past everlasting you gotta get your past in the past is the way to give glory to God number two let your past motivate you for future victory let your past motivate you for future victory Joshua chapter seven you've got to turn there Joshua chapter seven so here's what happens we have the story with akin now that now Joshua has no idea what just happened except for they just got beat by AI and so Joshua is just crying out to God he has a terrible bad what in the world happened why did you even bring us to the promised land a little place like AI we got 36 men killed the rest of us ran scared it's terrible look at what God says in Joshua chapter 7 verse 10 and the Lord said unto Joshua get thee up wherefore lives thou thus upon thy face because no no no no Israel have sinned and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them for they have even taken of the accursed thing and have also stolen and dissembled also and they have put it even among their own stuff therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies so okay what do you do with your pass to get God glory you let the past motivate you for future victory now Moses now Joshua it's look at this verse 13 up sanctify the people get the sin out of here and say sanctify yourselves against the morrow for thus saith the Lord God of Israel there is an accursed thing in the midst of thee O Israel thou canst not stand before thine enemies until you take away the cursed thing from among you okay here's what you need to do Joshua you need to take the defeat of your sin you messed up in your thought life this week motivate it don't live it over my thought life I'm just defeated I'll never have victory over my anger no you take your defeat you take your failure and you let it motivate you to be the person God wants you to be you get back on up Joshua and you get going look at chapter 8 verse 1 and 2 and the Lord said unto Joshua fear not Joshua neither be thou dismayed take all the people of the war with thee and arise and go up to AI see I have given it in thy hand the motivation of the failure let it now be the motivation for you to have victorious no that could be about a sin Rochelle that's not my problem my problem is the scars not the sin its what someone did to me but that motivates you that's telling you about my family and some of the students have heard this story but I just want to say this very quickly Marilee and I are walking down the down the path when we were dating together at college and it's quiet and that's very unusual both Marilee and I are always talking so we don't have much time together and she's not saying a word and I say no yeah Marilee what's wrong and she's not saying anything Marilee what's wrong and she's not saying anything finally I stood in front of her I said what's going on I think we're gonna have to break up know what do we have to break up about well you know no I don't know why do we have to break up well your family my family watch this after well you know your mom and dad got a divorce no Marilee senebkay she's a missionary kid she comes from a very good home she looked at me and she said wow you know your mom and dad got a divorce yeah my mom and dad did get a divorce they weren't even saved then yeah they did well I'm just worried about you will you do that to me one day well now I can't say anything we walk all the way back to the dorm and I open the door and I told her this merely I don't know if you and I will ever get married but I will tell you this Marilee that because of what I went through I want to use that to motivate me to be the best husband if God would allow to be the best father I could ever be I took what was terrible in my past and use it as a motivator that isn't the father in the husband I wanted to be though my wife would easily say in a heartbeat you know he hasn't been the perfect father and husband but I will tell you this a motivating factor of my life being a husband and a father has been my past of what I came from let your pass motivate you to victory you are so dogged by your pass let your past mode just look it up yeah you failed but you're not gonna feel next time you're gonna get back up and you're gonna have victory you are stuck in your past let your past motivate you for future victory number three remember the love God has shown you well we're in Joshua so died this was a real short when I go back to Joshua chapter 4 this is the chapter on memorials so you see ya brother seller I thought I was wondering if you were gonna get to this night you talked us all about you know moving on from the past and everything but aren't we supposed to remember the past on two occasions we're always supposed to remember the past number one is when God has shown you love when he has done something in your life go back to those David stands before David stands before Saul and says I can take care of this aren't circumcised Philistine because I have had victory over a lion and a bear there are memorials in this guy's past but look at Joshua chapter 4 look at verse 6 that this may be a sign among you that when your children ask their fathers in time to come say what mean ye by these stones then ye shall answer them that the waters of Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord when it passed over Jordan the waters of Jordan were cut off and these stones shall be a memorial unto the children of Israel forever now listen to me it is okay to go to the past when you go back to your memorials when you go back to the time Scott answered prayer when you go back to the times that God provided when God protected in an amazing way when something happened in your life that you say that was a god thing that was absolutely a god thing you go you build a memorial I say a43 18 and 19 will always be a memorial for me the morning that I was called to pasture God gave me that passage that's what I need it's like a memorial to me and you've got to him no no no no you always go back to remember the love God has shown you because that also encourages you to go forward as well five ways to use your pass for God's glory remember the love God has shown you at number four reflect on the lessons God has taught you reflect on the lessons God has taught you Marilee and I have a couple times we've done some bad financial things in our marriage we made some bad financial decisions I one time Lent key word Lent $5,000 to a good friend of mine you know our friendships never been the same sense Marilee and I learned something that we never gotten the money back Marilee and I learned something we learned this you know what don't lend money give it if you're gonna give it but don't lend it we learned a huge principle we've taught all of our boys that same thing hey listen we got burned badly it even damaged a friendship because in our finances we made a bet it's good to go back to that lesson I don't live in the past I don't live in that past and and by the way in a heartbeat my wife knows this too in a heartbeat I love that guy that guy doesn't really want to be with me because he feels guilty but is not on my partner we lost it we learned our lesson you don't lend money to people you give them money or you don't do it at all and we made some other financial mistakes we learn lessons there's been things I did as a pastor there's things I did as a youth pastor that I went like okay I don't think I better do that again and you learn and you learn lessons and you say I don't want to ever what forget that lesson that's a good reason to go to the past it's a really good reason to go to the past to remember the lessons that God has shown you it's a good thing to go to your past to remember the love that God has shown you it's a good thing to go to the past to be motivate you for victory and get your past in the past of number 5 and we're done Allah by the way I'd say the past that I used on that was Genesis chapter 50 verse 19 and 20 and just because of time let me just quickly let me just really quickly just read that to you in Genesis 50 where it says this this is the part we all know verse 20 but as for you you thought evil against me but God meant it unto good but it's the first before and Joseph said unto them fear not this is speaking of his brothers now that Jacob's dead they think they're dead fear not for I am in the am I in the place of God I learned my lesson guys I learned my lesson and I will never go back on the lesson that I learned I mean it is so good to go in the past for the lessons God's taught you number five and we're done allow your past to be a part of your present testimony allow your pass to be a part of your present testimony now to me this is the coolest thing is when you can go through a very difficult thing in your life and by God's grace and by the blood of Christ he can either cleanse you of that sin and you have had victory over that or somebody has done something to you and that now you are living in such victory that now it becomes a part of your testimony last passage I'm gonna ask you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 18 Jeremiah chapter 18 this is my all-time favorite counseling verse in the Bible I love this verse this first gives so much hope Jeremiah chapter 18 and verse 4 and will be done the Bible says and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of a Potter now listen to this church every college student in every guest sits in here hear this and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the Potter so he made it again another vessel as seemed good to the Potter to now this is to me the greatest thing in the world then no matter what you went through as a child God can still take what you went through he can remake a vessel but he still uses the same clay he still uses the same past and he takes that and makes this incredible and what comes off of the wheel is exactly what the Potter wanted as seem good to the Potter to make it this is well this is second-best you kind of messed up your life and your teenagers you kind of messed up your marriage this this is it so here's the best I could do with what you gave me no this is the coolest thing about the sovereignty of God the sovereignty of God can take our freewill past and make it as part of our vessel of our testimony to God's grace into God's glory in other words the thing where you tripped where you failed the thing that you would say oh if there's one thing I wish I couldn't remember no that's the thing that may bring the greatest glory to God the very thing that you would say give me an eraser I would take this out of my past that's the opportunity that thing that you would erase when either you did it or someone did it to you that's the opportunity for God's grace and glory more than anything else in your don't take that out of your past don't take that out of your past use that for the cause of Christ use the worst thing that's ever happened in your past it's the opportunity to say by God's grace I'm in this room tonight by God's grace he's gonna work by God's grace in spite of that and you can even use that to minister to other people as well we have got to learn how to manage our past I stood along that road that day and I looked at where I grew up and I said you know what I don't live there anymore that's my past I can honestly say I don't know I may take my boys or I might take Marilee to this the vision I tell you this though more than any other time that was a year and a half ago I don't ever have to go down again road again it's affected my life those first fourteen years were very influential but I don't live there anymore I'm not gonna live in the past those days are done good bad indifferent it's done I'm done with my high school days I'm done with my college days I'm done with my days in ministering in Florida I'm done with my days in Santa Maria and every one of those days have a big part of what I am today but I'm going forward and I want to use what God has done in my past I've been stabbed I've been lied about I had things happen to me I have failed but I'm moving forward I'm gonna let that motivate me you've got to know how to manage and how to utilize what God has allowed you to go through for the cause of Jesus Christ some of you way too much drama because you're living in the past you need to make that past gone and you need to take what you can the love that God shown the lessons I'm gonna use this to motivate me to live victorious and I'm going forward tonight this is the greatest thing about preaching tonight you can come down to an altar and you can have a Manasa tonight you can come down to an altar and say my past will now bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ is this no longer gonna be the focus of my hurt from now on it will be the focus of his healing in my life this is what you come to church for you come to church to change to be equipped by the way maybe you need to come down to an altar tonight and pray for someone no no and don't you know what don't buy the stupid CD you go sure hopefully you wrote some notes down I'm gonna get them this CD no you sit down with them and say hey listen I want to because you know what when you teach someone instead of giving them a CD when you teach someone something else it'll stick with you better as well maybe you need to come down an altar and pray for somebody they say Oh God maybe you have a spouse that needs to move on maybe you have a child maybe you have a parent that you say man they needed this message well then you give it to them and not by the form of a CD share what you've learned tonight in someone else's life

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

Views: 4,359

Rating: 4.6363635 out of 5

Keywords: lancaster baptist church, lancaster baptist, baptist church, paul, chappell, paul chappell, pastor paul chappell, Dr. Jim Schettler, past, future, failure

Id: ONGxyvhW9As

Length: 53min 47sec (3227 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 13 2017