IT'S TIME TO TURN THE PAGE

It's Time to Turn the Page

It's Time To Let It Go!

Sunday Morning Service - Blessed Trinity Church Of Deliverance

February 14, 2010

Philippians 3:12-14 – 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Five lessons we can learn from Paul:


1. We all have an imperfect past.None of us can look at our past and see nothing we aren’t ashamed of.We all have blemishes and stains that we’d just as soon no one knew about or that we’d just as soon forget.

The apostle Paul was no different.He had a pretty ugly past in persecuting the Church of Christ, and my guess is that he had plenty of time to reflect on the shame of that.

But we also have to remember that Paul was a RELIGIOUS PERSON even before he met Christ.

He was a Pharisee, he was an up and coming religious leader who had the trust of the religious establishment in place during the early days of the Church.

He could quote Scripture, he attended the synagogue probably every week, he had it going!!But all of his religion didn’t keep him from having a past that he didn’t treasure as time went by.

You might have grown up in church, you might have been involved in church, you might have been a church leader of some sort.But just the same, you have an imperfect past.

It’s imperfect because of the presence of sin in your life.
It’s imperfect because you have chosen your way over God’s way many times.
And there’s no way to get away from that fact. But the second lesson we can learn from Paul is that…

2. We don’t have to be a slave to that past.Paul could have said, “Look.

1. I put people in prison,
2. I voted for the death penalty for Christians I arrested.
3. There is no hope for me, and there is no way I could ever be used by Christ.

”But he insisted here that he had something work moving on for.He could look back on the fact that Christ redeemed him from his past, and was continually working in him.He says here that in spite of his past, he was moving on.

Inspite of the pitfalls - I'M MOVING ON
Inspite of the stupid mistakes - I'M MOVING ON
Inspite of my past it's time to - TURN THE NEXT PAGE IN MY LIFE!

How does he say it? “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what’s ahead.”He recognized his past, but he refused to be a slave to it.

1. I'm not going to be a slave to - Depression
2. I'm not going to be a slave to the memory of the - Rejection in my life
3. I'm not going to be a slave to the reflection that - Almost killed me

Paul was a few years away from his death when he wrote this book.He was under house arrest, with a Roman guard hanging out all the time, in a time when being a Christian was a pretty dangerous thing.Here’s a guy who had an imperfect past, and then had decades of fruitful ministry.

I know i have be a disappointment but now is the time to be fruitful!!

I having giving God my best!

Pastor, I know I could have giving my best and I seen you struggling and all I did was complain. Paul was the most successful evangelist and church planter in the history of the early church.And yet he still felt he had something to shoot for and work for.

1. Paul still was'nt satisfied

Have you ever been to a place in your life that just going to CHURCH every sunday was'nt enough?

It was more!!!!

He still felt that he had a ways to go in his relationship and service for Christ.And in spite of his circumstances, he still wanted to strengthen those things.

They might think they’ve got it all together and don’t need to work on strengthening their relationship with Christ.Or they may be in a particular life situation that causes them to think that it’s not worth the effort.

I don't care were you are at!

Your faith maybe low today due to circumstances that took place!
We can see that it’s never too late, and our circumstances don’t need to stand in the way of our effectiveness for Christ.


3. No matter our current circumstances, we can move on to better and greater things.Paul was an old man, under house arrest in Rome, just a few years from putting his head on the chopping block when he wrote this letter to the Philippians. He could have just sat back and “retired” from living for Christ and from ministry, but

he still had work to do.

1. It didn’t matter that he was under house arrest.
2. It didn’t matter that he was an older man.
3. It didn’t matter what his current circumstance was.
4. He needed more of Jesus and he was willing to make the effort to make it happen.

Point ~

1. Refuse to blame your past for your present, or let it ruin your future.

2. You can’t go back into your childhood, that marriage, or a past failure Accept it!

3. Dismiss what used to be.

4. Move on and turn the page!

Isaiah 43:19 “Remember not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing.”

It's TIME TO TURN THIS PAGE!!!!


Prophet Antonio Schroeder
Kingdom Tabernacle Ministry International
http://www.ktmiglobal.tk/