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Letting Go of the Past

Letting Go of the Past. St. Augustine SS Class. Letting go of past sins/mistakes. Immorality Sexual sins Losing our temper/reaction to others Immoral lifestyle (stealing, cheating, etc) Wrong Decisions or Missed Opportunities Marriage/Relationships Jobs Place we live Wasted time

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Letting Go of the Past

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  1. Letting Go of the Past St. Augustine SS Class

  2. Letting go of past sins/mistakes • Immorality • Sexual sins • Losing our temper/reaction to others • Immoral lifestyle (stealing, cheating, etc) • Wrong Decisions or Missed Opportunities • Marriage/Relationships • Jobs • Place we live • Wasted time • Not studying resulting in failure • Not working toward our desired career • Neglecting God and church activities

  3. Regret is a step in the right direction • 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 - Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

  4. Regret should come with hope • Luke 7:47 - Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” • Blessed is he who admits his sins works to correct his mistakes • Those that receive compassion will show compassion to others • “I wasted my life in pleasures and lusts and the day has past by me and vanished” (Litanies of the Vespers Prayer). • 1 John 1:10 - If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

  5. The Lord is merciful • Psalm 103:8-15 - The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

  6. Examples • Sinful woman caught in adulteryJohn 8:7 - He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. • St. Paul1 Cor 15:9-10 - For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am. • Prodigal SonLuke 15: 21 - And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

  7. Examples • King David2 Samuel 12:7-13 - Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’” So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

  8. Examples • Right hand thiefLuke 23:40-43 - But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

  9. Examples • St. AugustineToo late, have I loved You, O Beauty so ancient and so new, too late have I loved You! You were with me, and I was not with You; I was abroad, running after those beauties which You have made. Those things which could have no being but in You, have kept me away from You. You have called, You have cried out, and have pierced my deafness. You have enlightened, You have shone forth, and my blindness is dispelled. I have tasted You, and am hungry of You. You have touched me, and I am afire with the desire of Your embraces.

  10. Examples • St. Moses the BlackHowever, the Devil fought him intensively with his old habits of excessive eating, drinking, and fornication. He informed St. Esidorous about everything which came upon him in his fight with the Enemy. He comforted him and taught him how to overcome the snares of the Devil. It was told about him, that when the elders of the Monastery slept, he used to go round to their cells and take their water pots and fill them with water, which he brought from a well at a far distance from the monastery. After many years in spiritual struggle, the Devil envied him, and struck him with a sore on his foot which made him sick and bed-ridden. When he knew that this was from the Devil, he increased in his asceticism and worship, until his body became as a burnt wood. God looked to his patience, healed his illness, and removed all his pains.

  11. Letting go of past circumstances • Failures • Failing to accomplish a goal or get a desired job or degree • Being passed over for promotion • Abuse/Ridicule • Physical or emotional abuse • Not being accepted by peers • Circumstances • Dysfunctional family/divorce • Public embarrassment • Other hardships

  12. Letting go of past circumstances • These circumstances can take a heavy emotional toll • Why does God allow us to pass through such hardships? We live in a sinful world.

  13. Letting go of past circumstances • John 9:1-3 - Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

  14. Examples • JosephGenesis 37:23-24 - So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. • Years laterGenesis 50:20 - But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

  15. Examples • St. PachomiusBorn to a pagan family, forced to worship pagan gods in his youth, and drafted into the Roman army against his will at the age of 20. • He emerged from it all as a great monk who founded the coenobitic style of monasticism • O God, Creator of heaven and earth, cast on me an eye of pity: deliver me from my miseries: teach me the true way of pleasing You, and it shall be the whole employment, and most earnest study of my life to serve You, and to do Your will.

  16. How can all these circumstances affect us? • Relationships with others • Self esteem and identity • Turn from God or see Him as our enemy • Fearing the future • Apathy and hatred toward others and the world • Wanting to be isolated from others • Not wanting to take risks for fear of failure

  17. How to overcome the nightmares of the past? • 2 Corinthians 5:17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. • We are not doomed to repeat the cycle again and again.

  18. We CAN confess our sins • 1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

  19. We CAN stop committing habitual sins • Galatians 5:16 - I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. • The danger of being desensitized • Feel that they are beyond my ability to stop or that they are “normal”

  20. We CAN accept the forgiveness of God • Psalm 32:1-2 - Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit. • While God will always forgive, those we have wronged will not necessarily forgive us. • Romans 12:18 - If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. • Don’t dwell on our sins too much

  21. We CAN forgive those have wronged us • Colossians 3:13 - bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

  22. We CAN have restored confidence in ourselves • Godly sorrow produces repentance, but worldly sorrow leads to despair. • The devil seeks to take genuine guilt and sorrow for our sins and turn them into overwhelming agony from which we lose all hope. • Revelation 12:10 - Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

  23. We CAN have restored confidence in ourselves • When we learn the goodness and graciousness of God we will learn to accept His forgiveness. • Consider how many sins we commit against Him each day that we are completely unaware of, but He still accepts us.

  24. We CAN stop fearing the future • Isaiah 41:10 - Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ • Fear of repeating the pattern again

  25. We CAN redeem the lost time • Ephesians 5:15-21 - See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

  26. We CAN be healed • 2 Chronicles 7:14 - if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. • We still must deal with the consequences

  27. Conclusion • Regret: Sins or circumstances out of our control • Examples of many who have suffered such things • God is greater than our sin or painful experience • Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. • Healing comes through prayer and faith

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