The First Thing You Should Do Is Put Your Past Behind You

It's officially episode 8 and week number 2, and I am excited and ready to start. I want to welcome our first sponsor to the program. How exciting is that? Now, it wasn't all that hard to get this sponsor since I actually own the company, but here we go. Let's go, let's get into our first official sponsorship. 1211 Apparel, the most powerful clothing line in the world because it's based on the Bible and gives glory to God. Jesus gave his followers a Great Commission before He left, and that Great Commission includes you and me. But if you have ever struggled with sharing Jesus, 1211 Apparel created Prayer Wear and Share to help. It's a free training on how to fulfill Jesus' promise of light and easy found in Matthew 11:28-30. Since 1211 Apparel is Bible-based, they start out with giving first. Give and it will come back to you. This is not a theory, it's the truth. 1211 Apparel wants to give you access to unlimited Christian tracts and free training to help you get off the pew and into the battle for the souls of your friends and family. Use our special link, nodoubtonlybelieve.com/battle, to get started today. Well, there you have it, our first ad in our 8th episode. Well, you know the beginning of the story. In the beginning was the Word, and cue intro guy.

The Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Spending time in the Word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, where we will encourage, inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ. Here's Greg.

Welcome to episode 8. I'm gonna get right in the middle of it. It is the first thing that I believe you need to do, and it's found in Philippians. And this is just gonna be practical advice regardless of when you're listening to this or how long you've served Christ or if you just started. Every person, and I've gone at probably ad nauseam for some of y'all, on my past, and I haven't really even dug into— I hadn't even pulled back much of the curtain, but I've talked about we all have a past. And with all of that said, you and I have a past. Yesterday is behind us. And I want you to listen to Paul in Philippians 3, and it's in— it's 12 through, I think it's going to be 14. Not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do: forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. That is a mouthful, but if you will learn to practice this one thing, regardless of how yesterday went, regardless of how your first 29 years has— had went, if you're in my case, 29 years of not following God. The Apostle Paul was such a zealot for the Word of God. He was an animal, this guy. He was so passionate about God, he killed people who was challenging his perspective and his way of seeing life. So just imagine that this guy, you, he disagrees with you, and so he's gonna throw in for the people that want to stone you. That is incredible. And he did it. And it— and he had got a reputation of killing Christians. And so now here he comes, and he is— wrote two-thirds, I believe is the number, close to two-thirds of the New Testament. God used this man so much. He was so powerful when he was walking on this earth. But he said Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. Forget your past. God has thrown your past, God has thrown all of your sin into the sea of forgetfulness. And if you try to bring it up, God is going to say, what are you talking about? I know this because I constantly have beat myself up. Oh my gosh, if you knew half of the stuff I did. God knows all of the stuff that you and I have done. And God, when I go to him and if I bring up anything from the past, he's gonna say, "What are you talking about?" So when I tell you that God is not mad at you anymore, how can he be mad at you? He don't remember anything when he looks at you. He sees his Son. He sees his Son Jesus when he looks at you if you have been saved. And if not, he sees a, he sees a child, one of his kids that's just lost his way. God is so good, and I want to encourage you to memorize what love is because God is love. If you don't know what love is, you're gonna, you're gonna have a distorted picture of of who God is. Because if God is love, I want you to hear this, and I've kind of got this in my spirit. Again, I, I want to encourage you to memorize the word of God. You got to have it ready. But love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, love does not parade itself, love is not puffed up, love does not behave rudely, does not seek his own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth. Love— he, he bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Now I want you to put God in. If God is love, God is patient, God is kind, God does not envy, God does not parade himself, God is not puffed up, God does not behave rudely. And I'm going by memory now. Does not— God does not seek his own. God is not provoked. God thinks no evil. God does not rejoice in iniquity, but he rejoices in the truth. God bears all things. God believes all things. God hopes all things. God endures all things. God never fails. So when you start thinking about God, I need you to start thinking about love. And when you start— and one of the reasons I've got my little intro guy, because I want it to sink in that the Word of God, when you spend time in the Word of God, you are spending time with God. Jesus is the Word. God is the Word. I, I don't claim to have it all figured out.. But if you want to spend time with God, spend time in his word, spend time in prayer. In one of the previous episodes, I talked about how Jesus said it's to your advantage, and I think it was John 16:7. He said, it's to your advantage that I go away, because if I don't go away, the helper will not come. But if I go away, I'll— if I depart, I'll send the helper to you. That is incredible. You have got God in the word You have got God here as the Holy Spirit, and you have Father God. If you've accepted him, you have him on the inside. So we have no excuse. And, and forget— I want to encourage you today to forget all the garbage of your past. God has thrown it in the sea of forgetfulness. He don't know anything you're talking about when you start hashing up old stuff. And now that is Satan's job, the accuser of the brethren. He is such a punk. Quit listening to that voice in your head. Quit listening to anything that doesn't say you are wonderful. Remember, you are God's favorite. If God had a refrigerator in heaven, your picture would be all over it. God's not mad at you. He put all his anger, all of his— all of the punishment for sin, he put on his Son on the cross, and it died with Jesus there. Now, Jesus rose the third day And he's, he's forever making intercession with us, for us, in heaven. And the, and the third thing is Jesus is, is returning, and he's one day closer. Now I'm, I'm trying to make these a little bit quicker. I just want to give you something to think about. I want to encourage you that God loves you. God is love, and you are right where you're supposed to be if you're listening to this. And to be built up. Let the Holy Spirit just build you up, and I pray that you would just take this to heart. Know that it doesn't matter what you've done. Press forward. Keep going forward. There's no re— there's no rearview mirror. You can't relive a day, so move on. I appreciate you staying here with me and listening to me, and I'll talk to you on the next episode.

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