What will guarantee you a HAPPY NEW YEAR is the things I want to share with you from God’s Word.
Illus: For example, when President Bill Clinton was going through a sex scandal in the White House the pundits in Washington could not figure out how he could survive this scandal MENTALLY.
That is, almost daily he appeared on television during this time, and it seemed like the very serious allegations that were being leveled against him were not phasing him in the slightest.
1) Some said it was because he was shameless. There are people like this, no matter how evil they have done, nothing shames them.
2) Others, pundits in Washington, had a different take on it. They said, “The only way he could survive this scandal mentally was due to his remarkable ability to compartmentalize.”
That is, some folks have the ability to take something as serious as the allegations being leveled at them, and shove it in a corner of their mind and leave it there. They then go on about the routine of life as if the problem never existed.
I mention that to mention this, one of the remarkable abilities God has given us is the ability to compartmentalize things, such as: Past, Present, and Future.
But some folks have a difficult time compartmentalizing things.
Let’s look at those who have a hard time compartmentalizing-
I. THE PAST
Look at these words in verse 13. We read, “…This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind…”
Have noticed that some people live in the past.
If you listen to them “They talk about the PAST most of the time.”
1) They talk continuously how things were when they were young.
2) They talk about someone done them wrong years ago and they have never gotten over it.
3) They talk about a nasty divorce they went through and have never gotten over it.
4) They talk about the death of a loved one and never gotten over it.
Those things are stuck in the front of their mind as if it just happen a short period of time ago.
We all have heard people say countless times that they wish that they could go back to the good old days. REALLY!!!
Let me see…
• Do you mean you had rather have a clothes line instead of a dryer?
• Do you mean you had rather have an old pot bellied stove instead of a thermostat?
• Do you mean you had rather can your vegetables you have grown instead of going to the supermarket?
• Do you mean you mean you rather have a wash board instead of a washing machine
I like many of the modern conveniences.
• I like GPS in my car instead of a road map.
• I like air conditioning and heat controlled by a thermostat.
• I like a computer over the old typewriters.
• I like spell check instead of digging out a dictionary.
• I like coming to church in a nice car instead of coming to church in a horse and buggy.
What I am saying is this, there are many things about living in the PRESEENT I really like and if someone tried to take these things from me they had better be prepared for a good old fashion butt kicking!!!
One of the most foolish things a person can do in this life is to live in the past.
Illus: A young lady had a college romance with a handsome young man. They got into an argument at the end of the school year, and the next year she did not get a chance to go back to college.
He met another girl and he fell in love with her, and later married her.
But this other young lady is now in her sixties, and she has never gotten over this fellow. She still talks about him like it was yesterday.
Her life has been ruined, because she lived her life wishing she could return to what she thought of as the “Good old days” when she was dating this fellow in college.
Well the fact is, she can live the remaining days of her life still wishing for the “Good old days”, but she can never return to those days.
She cannot enjoy the PRESENT because she lived in the PAST.
So many people live in the PAST they cannot enjoy the PRESENT.
Illus: For example, in Columbia, S.C. there is a mother with two teenage daughters that cannot accept the fact she is getting old and drying up like an old prune. She wears the same kind of clothing her teenage daughters wear. And if you really want to make this woman happy, just walk up to her and say, “I can’t tell which one is the daughter and which one is the mother.”
There are so many people today who are still trying to live in the past.
They are grieving over a:
• Divorce or relationship breakup
• Loss of financial stability
• Death of a pet
• Loss of a friendship
Illus: Some lost a spouse many years ago, and they have never gotten over it.
Grieving is essentential to us getting over a death. But there comes a time we who are living have to put the PAST BEHIND US!
Because the living can not live with the dead!!!
That does not mean we no longer love them, it simply mean the living has to keep on living.
What we have to do with the past is what Paul did, he said, “…This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind…”
Paul is telling us there are things we are going to have to do if we are going to have a HAPPY NEW YEAR we got to put these things on the back burner!!!
Also, maybe you made some terrible mistakes in the past. You need to put those things behind you because the PAST IS THE PAST!
WHY SHOULD THEY PUT THE PAST BEHIND THEM
Because, most of the time when we think of the past we do not do it wisely.
Look at Eccl. 7:10. We read, “Say not thou, WHAT IS THE CAUSE THAT THE FORMER DAYS WERE BETTER THAN THESE? for THOU DOST NOT INQUIRE WISELY CONCERNING THIS.”
There are two things we need to be concerned with when we live in the past.
1. Our memories of the “Glory days” can be SELECTIVE.
That is, our memories of the “glory days” are RARELY ACCURATE.
When we look back, we always look selectively.
We remember how GOOD THINGS WERE, but we forget about how BAD THINGS WERE.
Illus: There is a book that is titled, “The Good Old Days…They Were Terrible!”
Our memories of the “Glory days” can be SELECTIVE.
2. Also, our memories of the “glory days” can be SEDUCTIVE.
When we are looking at the past, there is a temptation to go back and desire the sin of the past.
SATAN WANTS YOU TO –
• Remember the taste of the alcohol on a hot day
• Remember the pleasure of a cigarette after dinner
SATAN DOES NOT WANT YOU TO REMEMBER –
• The hangover after the alcohol
• The bad taste in your mouth, the stained fingers, the smelly clothes, the cough, and the smoke covered lungs caused by the cigarettes
• The guilt and worry produced in your heart.
To have a HAPPY NEW YEAR there are thing you MUST PUT BEHIND US.
We look at THE MEMORIES OF THE PAST, and also we look at...
II. THE MISTAKES OF THE PAST
We can regret the mistakes we make, but we cannot change them. It is good that we have these regrets because that keeps us from returning to making those same mistakes.
A. THE PAST CANNOT BE CHANGED
What is done is done!
Everyone of us have done some things we wish we had not done and now we wish we could correct the wrongs!!!
THE PAST CAN NOT BE CHANGED, but-
B. THE PAST CAN BE CONFESSED
David tried to hide his sins but Nathan the prophet confronted him with his sins.
Look at Psa. 32:5. We read, “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”
Some folks are going to enter a new year trying to hide their sins, but I am here to tell you God know everything we ever did or ever said, so we might as well CONFESS OUR SINS and REPENT OF THEM.
The word REPENT is not just a word, it is a word that we are sorry for what we did, we are saying I deeply regret I did it, we are saying I am truly sorry for what I have done!!!
And if you are willing to truly confess your sins GOD WILL FORGIVE YOU!!!
THE PAST CAN BE CONFESSED - and needs to be!
When a person truly repent of their sins and the harm they have done it motivates them to WORK HARDER FOR THE LORD!
We have looked at:
I. THE MEMORIES OF THE PAST,
II. THE MISTAKES OF THE PAST,
but before we close, let us look at-
III. THE MATURITY OF THE PAST
Paul said, in Phil. 3:14, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
The past gives us something to measure our successes by.
God has made us that once we regret and repent of the sins in our life we can REPLACE them with good things.
Illus: Every brick layer knows that in order to lay a straight wall, he has to have a starting point and a place where he plans to finish.
Have you ever noticed that brick layers can be laying on a line and when they meet every time there is space for on brick.
HOW DO THEY DO THAT?
Each brick layer lays on a bond of the line above the line they are laying. If each brick layer lays his bricks on that second row when they meet their row of bricks will be same as that row.
And as a Christian we hold to our bond things will turn out alright.
While we see change, we know there is always room for greater maturity in our lives.
Look at verse 12, we read, “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 am apprehended of Christ Jesus.”
We all are aware that we need to improve. We should ask ourselves:
HAVE WE GROWN IN OUR LOVE?
There are two ways we should grow in love…we want to grow in our love…
(1) FOR THE BRETHREN
In 1 Pet. 1:22 we read, “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye LOVE ONE ANOTHER WITH A PURE HEART FERVENTLY:”
The Bible clearly teach you can not love the Lord without loving the brethren.
Also, we want to grow in our love…
(2) FOR GOD
Look at what the Bible says about our love for God. In Deut. 6:5 we read, “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
Illus: I like that song to TO KNOW KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM…
Listen to the words of this song, every word almost express our love for Him
YOUTUBE -The Teddy Bears - To Know Him, Is To Love Him
70K views · Apr 18, 2011
This wonderful Savior that we serve once you come to know Him you can not help but you want to know Him in a greater way.
Conclusion:
Happy New Year…Maybe! Depends on how you approach this coming year.
• This will be the best year that some of you have ever had. Why? Because they are willing to make some change that needed to be made in their life.
• This will be the worst year that some of you have ever had.
Why? Because some will enter this new year making the same mistake and expecting different results. But with this approach this coming next year you will be the same place they are now!!!
May each one of us have the determination and courage to continue to live in the Present and look to the Future, as we grow daily in the Lord Jesus Christ!
I. THE MEMORIES OF THE PAST
II. THE MISTAKES OF THE PAST
III. THE MATURITY OF THE PAST
