HOW TO START THE NEW YEAR OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT.

Luke 4:14–15 KJV 1900

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

Every year people will try to get a fresh start on New Years, but fail to do so, because they wear their past on their backs. They just can’t get over what happen in their lives in the past years and it just weighs them down.

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I like to call the past problems monkeys, each problem is one monkey. Many have a lot of monkeys on their back weighing them down.

Tonight is New Years Eve. Tonight is your chance to start the New year off on the right foot. Tonight could be the night you free your self of all those monkeys.

Satan likes to keep people living in the past.

The Past can control you.

The Past can keep you from a relationship with God.

We can’t change our Past

The Past is what it is-- the Past.

The Bible tells us not to live in the Past.

You can’t change it.

Philippians 3:13 KJV 1900

13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

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I. Why Do People Carry Past Monkeys Of Their Past On Their Backs?

Emotions,

People are emotion driven.

What are Emotions?: A natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.

ii. In other words They are Feelings.

iii. In some it’s a Combination of Emotions, (Mixed Emotions)

What are some of these monkeys we carry from our past.

Sin

Guilt

Hurt

Shame

The Feeling of being a Failure

Stupid Decisions

Disappointments

Health Problems

These are just a few monkeys people carry on their back year to year.

These are monkeys we can control.

There are some monkeys people carry on their back from the past, that they have little or no control over.

Grief - Lost of a love one

Financial Problems or Difficulties

Health Problems or Issues

The problem we have as humans is giving up the controls, and letting God take the helm.

It’s in our nature to control everything.

Being a control freak.

Some are worse than others.

“Let Go and Let God”

II. The Way To Get Rid Of Those Past Monkeys

If your not a Born Christian, Then Salvation is your first stop.

You will never have Peace until you receive the Grace of God.

You can’t get rid of those monkeys of sin on your back, unless you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior.

When you Repent and asked the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness, and accept Him as your savior.

You become NEW.

2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV 1900

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2 Corinthian 5:17

If you are here tonight and you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal savior, You not going to be able to get over the past.

If you are Born Christian, Then your first stop is evaluate your life.

Are you living for God?

Has God called you to a ministry?

Do you have unconfessed sin in your life?

How is your Prayer Life?

Are you holding a grudge against your brothers or sisters?

Are you backsliding?

Somethings we will carry with us for the rest of our lives.

But, they don’t have to weigh us down.

We have to learn to give it to God.

God will never give us more then we can handle

Jesus said it best about the past in

: 25-

Matthew 6:25–34 KJV 1900

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

A. You might be here tonight facing your monkeys of the past.

There are somethings that we will carry into the New Year, but it doesn’t mean you have to face them alone.

The Lord will help you see it through.

You just have to ask Him.