Listen as Pastor Scott explores Luke 9:62—"No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Let’s learn together how to move forward in faith, leaving the past behind and following Christ wholeheartedly.
Red Letter Living
October 27, 2024 | Pastor Scott George
Shutting the Door on the Past
Luke 9:62,
But Jesus told him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
What Others Are Saying About the Past
"The pain of your past will decide your passion for the future."
- Mike Murdock
“When you begin to realize that your past does not necessarily dictate the outcome of your future, then you can release the hurt. It is impossible to inhale new air until you exhale the old.”
- T. D. Jakes
What You Need to Know About Your Past
Genesis 19:17,
As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”
Genesis 19:22-26,
But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.)
By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Remember Lot’s wife! (Luke 17:32)
1. God knows that everyone has regrets and mistakes from their past.
2. God can take your past and make it for your good and His glory.
“God is able to take the mess of our past and turn it into a message. He takes the trials and tests and turns them into a testimony.”
- Christine Caine
3. God will allow you to learn valuable lessons from your past.
"Don't be bound by the past and its failures. But don't forget its lessons either."
- Billy Graham
4. God’s grace can reach back and cover and forgive mistakes of the past.
"When you replay the past, you poison the present."
- Mike Murdock
5. God knows that we all wrestle with an accuser that reminds us of our past.
Revelation 12:10b,
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
Accuser - To charge with an offense
1 John 2:1,
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
Advocate - One who is called to one’s side to plead their case
6. God will use your past to inspire and encourage others.
2 Corinthians 1:4-5,
Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
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