DON’T ALLOW PAST SINS TO LIMIT YOUR FUTURE - God has a plan for every one of us to serve Him. We have become the righteousness of God in Jesus because He, the sinless one, became sin for us. We are not perfect, but God sees us through the righteousness of His perfect son. By God’s grace, our past sins have fled from us as far as the east is from the west. Jesus took our guilt onto himself on the cross. We can trust that God has forgiven us because Jesus took God’s just wrath for our sin and paid the price. Instead of guilt, God invites us to a place of rest, refreshment, exhilaration, inspiration, and intimacy through the Bible and prayer. He calls us to serve others in His name - let’s rejoice in all God has done - Do you ever struggle to forgive yourself for your past sins? Reminding us of our failures is a favorite trick of our enemy. If we wallow in the memory of our offenses, we could miss fulfilling God’s call on our lives. Don’t allow past sins to limit your future service to God. The devil tries to make us believe we can’t serve God because of our former sins. But why should we listen to him? God alone equips us to serve him. Granted, some of our failures will limit what we can do in the future. Scripturally, for instance, a divorced man cannot serve as a pastor. However, God can still redeem the future of every repentant sinner. He has a plan for every one of us to serve him. We need to remember what God says about us as believers.

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Don’t Allow Past Sins to Limit Your Future

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God has a plan for every one of us to serve Him. We have become the righteousness of God in Jesus because He, the sinless one, became sin for us. We are not perfect, but God sees us through the righteousness of His perfect son. By God’s grace, our past sins have fled from us as far as the east is from the west. Jesus took our guilt onto himself on the cross. We can trust that God has forgiven us because Jesus took God’s just wrath for our sin and paid the price. Instead of guilt, God invites us to a place of rest, refreshment, exhilaration, inspiration, and intimacy through the Bible and prayer. He calls us to serve others in His name -  let’s rejoice in all God has done

by Jeanne Dennis

Do you ever struggle to forgive yourself for your past sins? Reminding us of our failures is a favorite trick of our enemy.

If we wallow in the memory of our offenses, we could miss fulfilling God’s call on our lives. Don’t allow past sins to limit your future service to God.

Don’t Listen to the Devil

The devil tries to make us believe we can’t serve God because of our former sins. But why should we listen to him?

God alone equips us to serve him.

Granted, some of our failures will limit what we can do in the future.

Scripturally, for instance, a divorced man cannot serve as a pastor. However, God can still redeem the future of every repentant sinner.

He has a plan for every one of us to serve him.

We need to remember what God says about us as believers.

We have become the righteousness of God in Jesus because he, the sinless one, became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21).

We are not perfect, but God sees us through the righteousness of his perfect son.

Haunted with Doubt? Check It Out

Perhaps reminders of your past sins make you doubt your salvation. I have struggled with that problem and found the solution in God’s Word.

First, we need to make sure we are truly saved. Paul instructed the Corinthians to test themselves to see if they were in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).

We can ask ourselves these questions:

·      Was there a time when I confessed my sin – agreed with God that I am a sinner (Romans 3:23)?

·      Do I believe Jesus died for me (Romans 5:8) and was resurrected from the dead (Romans 10:9)?

·      Have I repented – turned away from my sin and toward God (Luke 13:3)?

·      Have I truly made Jesus lord of my life (1 Peter 3:15)?

·      Do I acknowledge to others that Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9)?

·      Has God made me a different person than I was before (1 Corinthians 5:17)?

These questions are not a to-do list if you’re not saved. Think of it more as a list of evidences that you are saved.

If you cannot answer yes to the questions above, then read the referenced verses as you prayerfully ask God to save you and help you live for him.

Remember, salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ. It’s a gift of God.

We can do nothing to earn it (Ephesians 2:8–9).

But we can know if we have eternal life in Jesus (1 John 5:13).

The Definitive Test: New Creations

We can know for sure we’re saved if we’re not the same persons we were before. Not by anything we did, but by a miraculous work of God in our hearts.

Praise God, we no longer want to sin! Instead we desire with all our hearts to live for Jesus.

Amazingly, through the Holy Spirit’s power, we actually can do it. And we’re miserable whenever we let Him down.

In short, we have become new creations. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (1 Corinthians 5:17 NASB).

By God’s grace, our past sins have fled from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

But sometimes our past sinful experiences open the door to ministry with people who have sinned in similar ways.

God Doesn’t Waste Anything

I met a lady once who ministered to the most hardened criminals.

This tiny woman would get right in the face of a six-foot-six man and say, “No matter what you did, you can’t shock me. Are you a murderer? I murdered four of my own babies. Are you a (fill in the blank)? Well, so am I.”

She followed her challenges with the gospel and said, “If God can forgive me, he can forgive you too.”

Many murderers, rapists, and other prisoners broke down in tears and repented when they finally recognized God’s tender love for them through this woman’s testimony.

Let Go of Guilt

If you know you’re saved, don’t hold onto guilt you no longer own.

Jesus took our guilt onto himself on the cross.

We can trust that God has forgiven us because Jesus took God’s just wrath for our sin and paid the price.

Instead of guilt, God invites us to a place of rest, refreshment, exhilaration, inspiration, and intimacy through the Bible and prayer.

He calls us to the power not to sin and the ministry to serve others in his name.

Let’s rejoice in all God has done!

As sinners saved by his grace, we can spread the wonderful news of his gift of salvation.

We have the Holy Spirit living inside us to comfort, empower, and guide us in all he wants to do in and through us.

And we can access his joy, peace and love all the time, because he has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

God is Faithful

So, the next time the devil tries to haunt you with your past, put your faith in God’s faithfulness. You have been washed clean by the blood of Jesus.

Turn the enemy’s ruse into a reminder to praise and thank God for his faithful forgiveness. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, NASB).

Then determine to do what Paul did: “… but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13b–14, NASB).

Press on toward the future God has for you. All in his strength and for his glory!

As an author, speaker and online host Jeanne Dennis helps families understand and apply biblical truth, answer tough spiritual questions, and pass on their faith in a confused culture. She is a commissioned Colson Fellow and Centurion and an award-winning author of a dozen books. She and her husband of over 40 years produce Heritage of Truth TV. Learn more at JeanneDennis.com

https://inspiration.org/christian-articles/dont-allow-past-sins-to-limit-your-future/

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YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FOR YOURSELF ANY GRAVEN IMAGE - Identify your gods - confess your sin of idolatry to God - break the cycle of idolatry in your life. Then, renew your vows before God - tell Him that He alone is worthy - make Him the Lord of your life. When the Lord Jesus Christ is the focus of all praise and worship, everything and everyone else takes their rightful place - Idolatry is the worship of anything or anyone other than God. Think about this as we try to understand the enormous significance of God’s decree to Moses from the top of Mount Sinai. God created us so that we might worship Him. This commandment is both an encouragement and a warning to us: “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” When we worship, we place our complete confidence and trust in God’s ability to do for us what neither we, nor anyone else, nor anything else, can do for us. This is what God expects and demands of all who believe in His name. The sweet aroma of worship between God and man was clearly seen in the beginning. God wants to have intimacy with us. He wants us to look to Him. He wants us to lean on Him.

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'You Shall Not Make For Yourself Any Graven Image'

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Identify your gods – pray and ask the Lord to help you. Confess your sin of idolatry to Him - break the cycle of idolatry in your life. Then, renew your vows before God - tell Him that He alone is worthy - make Him the Lord of your life. When the Lord Jesus Christ is the focus of all praise and worship, everything and everyone else takes their rightful place  

The Ten Commandments: Part One of Three

BY DON WILTON  

  

Idolatry is the worship of anything or anyone other than God. Think about this as we try to understand the enormous significance of God’s decree to Moses from the top of Mount Sinai.

To begin with, we must understand that God created us so that we might worship Him.

This commandment is both an encouragement and a warning to us: “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” (Exodus 20:4-5).

When we worship, we place our complete confidence and trust in God’s ability to do for us what neither we, nor anyone else, nor anything else, can do for us.

This is what God expects and demands of all who believe in His name.

The sweet aroma of worship between God and man was clearly seen in the beginning.

The fellowship God had with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden provides a precious picture of God’s intended purpose for those He loves.

He wants to have intimacy with us. He wants us to look to Him. He wants us to lean on Him.

He wants us to walk with Him. He wants us to be one with Him. He wants us to have peace with Him.

But when Adam and Eve sinned against God, this beautiful and harmonious relationship between the sovereign God and His created person was shattered.

Man had not only succumbed to the deceit of Satan, he had transferred his confidence away from God, thus violating God’s supreme demand.

It immediately became impossible for sinful man to have any semblance of fellowship with a righteous and holy God.

Consequently, man was thrown out. God would not share His holy space with another.

This is why the Lord Jesus Christ came to this Earth to take on Himself the sin of man. By virtue of His death and resurrection, Jesus conquered this rupture in the relationship between God and man.

When we confess our sin, repent before God and put our faith and trust in Him, we can, once again, have peace with God.

The Israelites did not get it. After more than 400 years of slavery, God delivered them.

He parted the sea and provided every means for them to survive — even in the wilderness.

And yet, when their leader went up Mount Sinai to hear from the Lord, they began to worship another god.

Our world is not very different. How blessed we are. Despite so many who have immense needs and who suffer greatly, we are still a blessed people.

As a hymn writer has reminded us; “Count your blessings, name them one by one. And it will surprise you what the Lord has done!”

Despite our blessings, we have become an increasingly idolatrous people.

God cannot be pleased. We worship so many of our blessings instead of simply thanking God for them and enjoying them.

We worship sport, celebrities, clothes, money, church buildings, politics, positions, abilities and capabilities.

Idolatry is the worship of anything or anyone other than God.

So, what should we do? This second commandment is no joke. After all, it is here that God invokes our children.

Why would the Lord involve our children and grandchildren? Here is what I suggest we do in order to grasp fully God’s intended understanding of this commandment.

Five things will help position us to hear from the Lord.

First, pray. Talk to the Lord. Have a conversation with Him.

Second, affirm His greatness. God wants us to praise His name. Jesus taught us to do this upfront when He said: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9).

Third, release any and all personal opinions and pet peeves about what you have and what you may think about this subject.

Tell the Lord Jesus you are letting go of anything and anyone other than God.

Fourth, listen! We are surrounded and constantly accompanied by a cacophony of sound and distraction so that it is increasingly difficult to listen to God.

Whatever it is, turn it off. Lay it down. Stop and listen, because the Lord will speak to you from the mountain.

Remember, the Ten Commandments are God’s invitation to come up to where He is, rather than to go down to where man is.

Finally, determine to obey. Make the decision to submit to all the Lord says, and you will be blessed indeed.

Having positioned ourselves before God, we now can consider the meaning of what it was God was saying about idols and images.

First, God was cementing an absolute truth. He is the only one we can trust in all things.

Jesus Christ affirmed this even at the entry point of salvation when He said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Back in the very beginning, God, who is both the beginning and the end, makes this truth both absolute and irrevocable.

He, alone, is worthy of worship because He alone is the only one qualified to “meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

Second, He was settling an absolute issue. One of the foremost issues in our world today concerns which god is God.

“I am the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:2) summarily eliminates anything or anyone else — whether in Heaven or on Earth or under the Earth.

Third, God was charting an absolute course. He was showing us the way to forgiveness, reconciliation, peace and eternal life. No other god could offer what only He can offer.

Fourth, He was issuing an absolute warning. Whether we like it or not, God was warning all of us about the generational consequences of worshiping idols.

It is very clear in Deuteronomy that “each will die for their own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:16), but children reared in an idolatrous environment will become infected by that environment.

They will become practitioners of that environment. They will become victims of that environment.

Finally, God was giving an absolute invitation. From Genesis to Revelation we hear Him say, “Come to Me! Worship only Me. Trust in Me.”

Here is what I suggest you do. Identify your gods. Pray and ask the Lord to help you.

Confess your sin of idolatry to Him. Break the cycle of idolatry in your life.

Then, renew your vows before God. Tell Him that He alone is worthy. Make Him the Lord of your life.

Here is the bottom line: When the Lord Jesus Christ is the focus of all praise and worship, everything and everyone else takes their rightful place. 

Don Wilton is senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Spartanburg, S.C., and president of “The Encouraging Word” broadcast ministry. He is a frequent speaker at The Cove, where he is scheduled to lead a Seminar this November. For more information about the Seminar, visit TheCove.org or call 1-800-950-2092 or 828-298-2092 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.

https://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/march-2013/you-shall-not-make-for-yourself-any-graven-image/