Wearing your varsity jacket years after you graduate high school = living in the past

"You can't focus on the past to be the future."

This was a line I heard on ESPN radio coming into church today.

So much truth behind this.

If you want to do something in the future you can’t focus just on the past.

It's like wearing your varsity jacket years after graduating high school, nobody cares about what happened in your high school.

Sorry if you just found this out.

Does this mean the past doesn’t matter?

No.

I would say the past does matter.

There is a line, “When you forget the past you are destined to repeat it.”

If we don’t learn from the past we could make those same mistakes again.

Our church has been going through the Bible in a Year program as an entire Church.

This is usually the time when people that make this commitment give up on it.

It can be hard to learn from something you don’t understand and quit.

There is benefit behind studying this.

Paul knew this and he was able to sum up over 1,000 years in about 12 paragraphs in Acts 13:13-52.

He sums up going into slavery in Egypt and continues on to sum up the entire Bible until his time.

If you have never read the Bible, check this several chapter out for a little history.

This is pretty impressive.

One of the lines I love through this section is verses 39-40…

“There, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.  Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.”

Paul is talking to some people that know this history and others have no clue on the history of the world and the Bible.

He focuses on this part Jesus is the reason sins are forgiven.

I am guilty.

I am a sinner.

Anybody who knows me for longer than five minutes knows that I am a guilty sinner.

We all are.

Yet through Jesus and only through Jesus are sins are forgiven.

People grasp this section of scripture and comeback to Paul to hear more.

Many gave their lives to Christ.

Someone died for you.

They didn’t deserve it and face one of the worst deaths imaginable just for you, your sins and mistakes.

Jesus loves you.

He cares for you and wants you to have eternal life.

Life doesn’t end on earth.

It does go on for eternity.

The choice of where you get to spend eternity is up to you and your faith in Jesus or not.

There is no other way to heaven other than through Jesus.

I thank God for giving up his sons life for a sinner like me.

How about you?

You can’t focus on the past to be the future.

You can’t live in the past, but you can live on in the future.

Where do you want to live past this earthly life?

Have a great day.

Can a product be new and improved?

Advertisements can crack me up.

I love seeing those commercials where they talk about a product changing.

Often they say it’s new and improved.

It cracks me up because how can it be both new and improved?

The product is either new or it’s improved but it can’t be both.

That is just one of the little things that make me laugh that I cherish everyday.

The company that does this, wants to make sure you know there is a change in the product.

Can people be the same way?

Saul was a ruthless man when it came to him and Christians.

He was known for throwing them in jail and killing them.

Now because of the grace of Jesus he was a changed man.

People were still hesitant about this major change.

Acts 9:19-22….

“Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.”

Saul was the guy who was 100 percent against Christians and now he was claiming to be one of them.

Christians didn’t buy it and thought otherwise.

They didn’t think this man would change and the Jews at the time thought the same thing, how could this man change?

Yet that is how God works.

He can take those that are completely far from him and make them close to him.

Nobody is too far from God and Jesus.

People thought there was no way Saul could improve or become new again, but that is the beautiful thing about faith, God’s grace is for everyone.

You can be new.

You can be improved.

There is nothing you can’t do to be forgiven by Jesus.

Saul was a murderer and killed Christians, now he was one of them.

Jesus’s grace extends to everyone who accepts him as Lord and Savior.

You can be new and improved.

Your sleight oops I mean slate can be wiped clean and blank and blameless when you believe.

Forgiveness is always there for you no matter how far you feel from Jesus.

Are you ready for a clean slate and a chance to be improved?

You don’t have to carry those burdens anymore.

Saul was a murderer, but that is not who he is known for anymore.

Who do you want to be known for and would you like to be known for something greater.

Today can be a great new start for you.

No matter what Jesus love you and wants to know you more.

Make a decision that can have an eternal difference.

Or maybe you can share this amazing story with another person, Jesus love isn’t just for you, it’s for everyone.

Share this amazing story of Jesus, it can make another new and improved.

Have a great day.