Discussion Questions

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JOY IN OVERCOMING MY PAST Jason Strand

Introduction

June 28/29

No one is immune to the pains of life, and many of us seem hard-wired to replay our past as if we have tapes in our mind that play, rewind, and play again. It may seem harmless, but the truth is your past isn’t your past if it’s still impacting your future. The good news is that you can be free of those old tapes once and for all.

Discussion Questions 1.

Paul didn’t live his life being pulled back by the past, but instead lived it being propelled toward the future. What do you think Paul was striving toward?

2. Your sin doesn’t define you. For those who follow Christ, you are a new creation who is loved, able, strong, free, and forgiven. Which part of this new identity should you focus on this week? 3. Every one of us has experienced pain. Whether it was a hurtful word, a poor financial decision, or a tough breakup, what is it in your past that perhaps you still think of today? 4. Your biggest sins are not too big for God’s grace. By confessing and asking Jesus to forgive you, your slate will be wiped clean. Have you confessed the sins of your past? How can you live in the reality today that God’s power is greater than your past? 5. You can’t change the past, but Christ can change your future. What is true about you today that doesn’t have to be true about you tomorrow? Internalize the truths of this message and pray for God’s healing in your life, and with certainty, you will be set free.

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In Philippians 3:13, Paul said, “Forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead.” Whether that’s freedom from a current sin, redemption from your past, or joyful eternity with God, what are you looking toward this week?

Commit to Memory But I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. Philippians 3:13

KEY SCRIPTURE Philippians 4:4

Isaiah 43:25

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

I alone will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.

Psalm 38:4 My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.

Philippians 3:12-13 Not that I have already obtained all this or have been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. . . But I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.

1 John 1:8-9 If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.

Psalm 103:12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come!

Luke 5:13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “Be clean,” he said. And immediately the leprosy left him.

Matthew 19:26 “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”

Acts 13:29-30 . . . They took him down from the cross and buried him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead.