Ditching the Past

Welcome

Intro

Today, We are completing our Christmas Series entitled Travel Light.

I tell you this series has really messed with me on a personal level. I have really enjoyed this warm weather because it has given me opportunity to get in my Garage and ditch some stuff…..

It is pretty sad when your garage gets so full and unorganized that you only have enough room to drive the car in and then squeeze out the door. Michelle just said Amen…..

We also looked at the distraction side of things. What is distracting us.

Anybody living in some freedom from bitterness this holiday season…

How about the letting go of control?

How many of you here have ever had a moment where an image of your past entered your mind and you began to relive a mistake like you were in that very moment…..You felt all the feelings of shame, regret, embarrassment, and the likes…?

Isn’t it crazy how the past doesn’t stay in the past?

As 2025 comes to a close We look back over the year and some of us are really looking forward to 2026.

As we make resolutions to change something from the Past.

Maybe your past eating habits

or your lack of exercise.

Maybe it’s the bigger stuff like your:

Struggle with anger-

Thing you said to your kids or spouse, that you can’t get back

Made financial decisions, made sense, spend every day regretting-

A decision you made in your marriage that has left you unable to move forward/

You ended up Divorced- and now you live in the “if only”

Sexual past, maddening cycle of reoccurring sin- I won’t, I do

You poured yourself into your children, they didn’t turn out like prayed for leaving you second guessing

Didn’t measure up to your own expectations, and now your left thinking is this it?

In Week three we dealt with Bitterness over the things done to us.

Today, we are going to deal with the things we have done, or maybe not done, the things we have failed at..

Today we are going to learn how to ditch our pasts.

Ditching the Past

Body

If anyone in the Bible understands regret and failure in His Past it is Good ole Peter.

You may be thinking but Peter stepped out of the Boat, He was the one Who first announced that Jesus was the Messiah……

Yeah but He is also the guy who Denied He even knew Jesus.

Luke 22:54–62 CSB

54 They seized him, led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house. Meanwhile Peter was following at a distance. 55 They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, and Peter sat among them. 56 When a servant saw him sitting in the light, and looked closely at him, she said, “This man was with him too.” 57 But he denied it: “Woman, I don’t know him.” 58 After a little while, someone else saw him and said, “You’re one of them too.” “Man, I am not!” Peter said. 59 About an hour later, another kept insisting, “This man was certainly with him, since he’s also a Galilean.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter. So Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Now before we move on I want to look at John’s account for reference

John 18:18 CSB

18 Now the servants and the officials had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold. They were standing there warming themselves, and Peter was standing with them, warming himself.

John uses the words charcoal fire only twice in his gospel later we will understand why.

But first,

Peter Denies Jesus three times…Deserts His Calling..Rejects all that Jesus has done for him and walks away full of Guilt, shame, and regret.

This is how the enemy uses your past against you.

He whispers in your ear…..

1. You are unforgiveable- You have done too much/not enough-

• Psalms 38:4- My guilt overwhelms me- it is a burden too heavy to bear!

Psalm 38:4 NLT

4 My guilt overwhelms me— it is a burden too heavy to bear.

• Guilt- You shouldn’t have done that, You should have done that instead- You shouldn’t have yelled at my wife, You shouldn’t have worked so much………

He whispers

2. You are unlovable-

• Using shame- if they find out- liar, cheat, spiritual doubt

Genesis 3:7 NLT

7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

He whispers

3. You are useless-

He uses insecurity –

what if it happens again, God could never use a person like you

You could never be part of family/

Get your act together

Everybody knows they are all looking at you…..

Hears what God wants you to know….

If you can not let go of your past, You can never take hold of your future.

Now let’s go back to Peters story…..

Jesus has returned but Peter has gone fishing….

We tend to go back to what we know best when we have given up on ourselves.

So what does Jesus do?

John 21:1–12 CSB

1 After this, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called “Twin”), Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples were together. 3 “I’m going fishing,” Simon Peter said to them. “We’re coming with you,” they told him. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4 When daybreak came, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not know it was Jesus. 5 “Friends,” Jesus called to them, “you don’t have any fish, do you?” “No,” they answered. 6 “Cast the net on the right side of the boat,” he told them, “and you’ll find some.” So they did, and they were unable to haul it in because of the large number of fish. 7 The disciple, the one Jesus loved, said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tied his outer clothing around him (for he had taken it off) and plunged into the sea. 8 Since they were not far from land (about a hundred yards away), the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish. 9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it, and bread. 10 “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus told them. 11 So Simon Peter climbed up and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish—153 of them. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 “Come and have breakfast,” Jesus told them. None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord.

Here they are all sitting together eating breakfast around a Charcoal Fire……

There is nothing special about a charcoal fire… it has no relevance anywhere else in the Bible except this story…..

However, have you ever noticed that certain smells take you back to a place, space, and time…they tend to bring up the Past…..

Here sits the Same Fire, the same Smell, and the Same Peter.

So Jesus lets him have it!

No out of the awkward silence Jesus says.

John 21:15–17 NLT

15 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. 16 Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. 17 A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.

Notice that the third time Jesus asks Peter it says that it hurt his feelings.

This would never fly in todays world. How dare Jesus hurt his feelings.

How dare the Pastor bring up things that hurt my feelings.

Jesus is more concerned with your lasting healing than he is with your short term feelings….

This one of those moments like for those of us who grew up in the 1900s experienced when we fell down and got hurt. Out came the Hydrogen Peroxide and the Monkey Blood Medicine that actually hurt worse than the skinned knee and no amount of blowing on it made it sting less.

But the idea was to clean out the wound so it could heal.

The Problem we live with is .

If you can not let go of your past, You can never take hold of your future.

But there is Good News:

Although you can not change your Past, God can change your future.

So let’s look at how with God’s help we can Ditch our Past.

Close the door on your past.

By accepting that God’s grace is bigger than your sin.

1 John 1:9 CSB

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

This is a big hang up for so many seasoned saints. They think this is a verse written for the lost. When in actuality John is writing to The Church… Those who had already chosen to become followers of Jesus……

When we show up to breakfast just like Peter.. Jesus doesn’t bring up the past, the shame, the should of, could of

He simply asks do you love me?

Why because He loves us……

John 3:16 NLT

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

He proved His love by staring down the very consequence of our Moral failures, Death, and then He Conquered the consequence and rose again on the Third Day.

Romans 6:23 NLT

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:55–57 NLT

55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is something big you need to take hold of this morning.

Your standing with God is determined by relationship not rules.

You are probably thinking Pastor you don’t understand…..

I have been a terrible husband, lived a lie, had an abortion, lost everything financially, was a terrible parent, walked away from God,- Your probably right- I don’t understand…..

John 21:17 CSB

17 He asked him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved that he asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” “Feed my sheep,” Jesus said.

Don’t miss this

He knows everything!

When we hold on to our past- what we are saying is,

“the power of my past is stronger than the power of the cross”-

The power of what I did is stronger than what Jesus did for me

Galatians 4:7 NLT

7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

John 1:12–13 NLT

12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

What was Jesus’ response to Peters betrayal and denial? 

What did Jesus do in light of Peter’s past? 

He forgave him and he restored him.  

The Undaunted Disciple posted something on this subject last week, Let’s look at a portion of what was posted.

In John 21:15–17, three times Jesus asks him,“Do you love Me?” Not because Jesus needs reassurance,but because Peter needs restoration. Each question corresponds to a denial, not to shame Peter, but to rebuild him. Jesus does not ask,“Why did you deny Me?” He says,“Follow Me.” (John 21:19) Because grace does not interrogate the past. Grace reassigns the future.

The Enemy is whispering:

You need to be better person, clean up, straighten some things out

Jesus doesn’t whisper, He is speaking loudly:

You are not what you have done, you are who God says you are.  Forgiven, his Child, God’s chosen instrument.

2. Step into your future!

God saves you from your past, so that you can step into your future.

Let’s take one more look at the Undaunted Disciple Post:

“Grace reassigns the future.

Jesus could have restored Peter anywhere.

But He chose the place closest to Peter’s failure,

because redemption is not about pretending the fall never happened.

As 2 Corinthians 5:17 reminds us,

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”

New creation does not mean erased memory.

It means redeemed meaning.

The charcoal fire that once marked fear

now marks calling:

“Feed My sheep.”

I believe many of us have our own anthrakia,

a place where we compromised,

a season where fear shaped our choices,

a moment when silence felt safer than obedience.

We often ask God to take us far from those places.

But Scripture shows us something better.

Sometimes Jesus meets us right there,

not to accuse, but to restore.

The fire that once heard Peter say,

“I do not know Him,”

now hears Jesus say,

“Follow Me.”

Failure did not disqualify Peter.

Fear did not end his story.

Grace finished what failure started.”

The Problem is:

So many of us read this story as Peter’s Failure:

Instead of reading it as a story about Jesus- His Forgiveness, love, His call on our life

We Ditch the Past when we stop looking at what we have done and start looking at what he has done, What he is doing, and what He will do!

I can look back at my past and see a lot of terrible terrible mistakes……But God has given me an amazing ability to see how He was working through all those moments to get me here today…

When I get it right, when I look to my past and I don’t see my failure,

When I see God’s faithfulness.

When I don’t see my defeat,

When I see God’s victory.

When I don’t see how bad I was, and I see how good God is. 

When you begin to step into your future.

Your story is will not be a story about your failure, but a story about God’s victory! 

We should not be held captive by our past, but set free for a new future with God. 

Our success in life is not dependent on our perfection, but Jesus’ presence. 

Peter fishing on his own leads to empty nets

Peter fishing with Jesus present leads to nets full of fish!

You story is not a story of your failure, but about God’s victory.

Philippians 3:12–14 CSB

12 Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

I is not about what we have done, it is about who God says we are.

So as we leave 2025 in our Past-Let’s let Jesus be the main character in our 2026.

You can not change your past, but God can give you a new future.   

Invitation

Call to Christ

1. I want to let go of my past, to take hold of future God has for me?

2. I want to receive God’s forgiveness, relationship with him, step into the future he has for me!

Let’s all Pray together this morning:

Heavenly Father.

- Heavenly Father.

- I'm ready.

- I'm ready.

- To receive your grace.

- To receive your grace.

- Your mercy.

- Your mercy.

- And your forgiveness.

- And your forgiveness.

- Because I know.

- Because I know.

- That I'm a sinner.

- That I'm a sinner.

- But I believe.

- But I believe.

- Jesus died on the cross.

- Jesus died on the cross.

- And was raised from the grave.

- And was raised from the grave.

- So that I can be forgiven.

- So that I can be forgiven.

- I'm ready.

- I'm ready.

- To follow Jesus.

- To follow Jesus.

- With everything I have.

- With everything I have.

- And it's in Jesus' name that everybody said amen.

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