Joel Osteen @ Lakewood Church
We all make mistakes but living guilty wears you out and stops your progress. Guilt can keep you from your progress.
The enemy wants you to live with a dark cloud. If someone is bringing up your mistakes thats the accuser.
When you ask for forgiveness, God forgives you and forgets.
God makes you righteous. All of our righteousness is as a filthy rag.
• For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
Romans 5:17 NIV
BE BOLD
• The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
Proverbs 28:1 NIV
I may not feel worthy, holy, blameless or righteous but God has made me that way.
BAGGAGE
We go through carrying things that we were never designed to carry. If the enemy can't get you off track then he will try to weigh you down.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
Hebrews 12:1 NIV
RECEIVE THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS LIKE A CHILD
Children know how to receive a gift.
There should be a convinction but once you ask for forgiveness the price has already been paid.
• WE SERVE AN ALL-KNOWING GOD BUT HE CHOOSES TO STEP OUT OF CHARACTER
"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
Isaiah 43:25 NIV
• Receive God's mercy. When you're tempted to ask for forgiveness turn it into gratitude. Father thank you for your mercy in my life.
• Stop giving yourself time in the penalty box.
A lot of times we categorize our mistakes.
JONAH
Jonah did the total opposite of what God asked and got in a lot of trouble but God never gave up on him.
But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, 'Salvation comes from the Lord .' " And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Jonah 2:9-10 NIV
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."
Jonah 3:1-2 NIV
After Jonah's mistake He repented then God put him back in the game. God doesn't do timeouts.
SAMPSON
Sampson had made a lot of mistakes but God never gave up on him.
Then Samson prayed to the Lord , "Sovereign Lord , remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
Judges 16:28-30 NIV
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
Romans 8:1 NIV
FEELINGS DON'T ALWAYS TELL US THE TRUTH
You may not feel holy, righteous, or guiltfree but you are because God says so.
DON'T ASSIST THE ENEMY, RESIST THE ENEMY
The enemy always talks to you about your past but that's when you tell him about your future!
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7 NIV
Remembering the good is important for our life and our family. The negative tries to weigh you down and alter your life.
We live out of experiences so choose to remember the good. It can stifle relationships and skills. This is not what God wants.
John 16:33 NIV
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
There's a transforming power in remembering what God has done because then we can remember what He can do!
2 Peter 1:12 NIV
So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.
Celebrate with festivals.
Sometimes we forget what we should remember, the joy, the victory, and the success. Then we remember the things that we should forget, the defeats, the pain, etc...
Loosen the grip of past negative experiences and put together the pieces of your God story.
Rewrite your story and rehearse it in your mind. The only reason to get out of your past is to not live in it.
If God isn't holding our past against us then why are we letting it have power over us.
Stones of rememberance
Joshua 4:2-7 NIV
"Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight." So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord . When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."
Modern Memorial Stones: cars, degrees, etc...
Sylvester Turner
Tomorrow will be a better day than today.
Psalm 78:4 NIV
We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord , his power, and the wonders he has done.
We should be laying down memorial stones so that my memorial stones can be stepping stones for those who come after me.
