Image Credit:  44833 - CCO Public Domain Image - via Pixabay

The following are my Bible study notes based on my pastor's sermon.

Letting Go of Your Past and Moving on to Your Future

Have you ever felt like you’ve made such a mess of your past that you can never be good enough for God?  Maybe you just really blew it and now you can never recover?  Well, I’m here to tell you that we have all blown it.  The good news is that there is hope.

The scripture passages are Ecclesiastes 7:10 and John 5:3-9

Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.  Ecclesiastes 7:10

In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted. A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?”  The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”  Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”  Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.  John 5:3-9

Gossip, adultery, lying . . . make a list of all the sins you can think of, whether you are guilty of violating them or not.  The list goes on and on, but there is no sin that the cross can’t cover

Letting Go of Your Past

How is your past hindering your future?

Years of dwelling on past mistakes can lead to a bad attitude.  Past guilt causes us to feel unworthy.  When we think of others involved, we might start to hold grudges.  The weight of our own faults causes us to grieve our past.  Dwelling on our past causes a bad attitude, grudges, self pity, and grief. 

 Do you want Jesus to change your life?

When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?”

If you want something better, it requires a change.  We must want to make a change.

Will you obey what Jesus says?

Jesus said, “Pick up your mat and walk.”  Are you willing to “pick up your mat and walk?”  Are you willing to get up from “your current condition” and walk into your future in a life of obedience to God?

If you already know Jesus as your Lord, then this is a matter of a changed attitude – a rededication of your life.  If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord, then please consider reading this post which explains how to receive Jesus.

Take up your mats and walk, my friends.