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Getting Past Your Past

Forgiving Yourself

April 28, 2013 • Joel Reynolds • John 8:1–11

We are very good at calling ourselves http://names...the things that we have heard from others in the past, our past failures, and our general discontent with our own performance or place in life creates a negative self talk that is hard to bear AND that ultimately damages us in ways that God never intended. The old childhood adage, "sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me" doesn't stand up well in our real world experience. Jesus was amazingly kind to the self-condemning. Though He could have given each person he met a perfect evaluation of their life, He rather chose to extend forgiveness to them. In fact, finding Himself in the midst of a circle of people ready to throw stones at a woman who many very well have deserved her punishment, Jesus did something different. He forgave. For many of us, we don't need others to pick up stones to throw at us--we do that pretty well on our own. We may even justify bad behavior on our own conclusion that we are not good people. But Jesus has different words to drive into our minds and souls.

Getting Past Your Failures

April 21, 2013 • Chris Edmondson • Psalm 38:4, 2 Corinthians 7:10, Philippians 3:4–12, 1 Timothy 1:15–16, 1 Corinthians 15:9–10

Sometimes what holds us back from our past is our own failures in life. Whether it’s something we’ve done that was bad, something we should have done but didn’t, or just not living up to the standards placed upon us—our failures can feel final if we let them. By looking at the life of Paul the Apostle, we will see that everyone has a past full of failures. But our failures don’t have to define us because God’s grace is bigger than our biggest sins. We can find our identity in Jesus Christ and who we are in Him—a child of God that God can use, even in spite of our darkest past, to do some amazing things for Him!

Apologizing to Others

April 14, 2013 • Chris Edmondson • Matthew 5:23–24, Matthew 18:15–17, Romans 12:16–18

Sometimes what holds us back from our past is what we have done to someone else that is unresolved or unaddressed. We can feel guilty or ashamed, or there can be tension and hostility that is holding us back. Jesus says that His followers are people who take the initiative to go and make things right with others when we have wronged them. We need to be people who apologize without making excuses, being ambiguous, blaming others, deflecting responsibility, and doing anything other than owning what we’ve done to hurt someone else and humbly asking them to forgive us if they can.

Getting Past Unforgiveness

April 7, 2013 • Chris Edmondson, Jared Hodges • Hebrews 12:15, Matthew 18:21–35, Matthew 5:43–44, Matthew 6:14–15, Colossians 3:13

We all want forgiveness, but we're not always eager to give it out, are we? And for some of us, there are some very big hurts that have a grip on our lives. Things that were done, or not done, that wounded us. Even the very memory of those things brings up the emotions as fresh as they were when they were new. So how do you move on? How do you get past the hurt and pain? And how do you push past something you know you should do to the point where you can finally release it?

Getting Past Labels

March 31, 2013 • Chris Edmondson • 2 Corinthians 5:17, Philippians 3:13–14, Isaiah 62:2, Matthew 16:17–18, Jeremiah 29:11

We all wear labels. Many of the labels we wear were placed on us by others—parents, siblings, friends, teachers, coaches, or coworkers. But what if we’re carrying around the wrong labels? Who has the right to label you? Who are you going to allow to label you? Who knows best how to label you? Labels create expectations, and expectations influence the direction of our lives.