Somehow, we have the impression that we can forget the past, especially our painful past. We misinterpret Philippians 3:13 where Paul says "Forgetting what lies behind me and striving forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" and think this means we just need to forget the past and become some super-Christian who is only concerned with what lies ahead. First of all, that's not a proper understanding of the verse. Paul has just listed all of the reasons he could be confident in the flesh, but is pointing out that this doesn't mean anything in comparison to what God has for us in Christ Jesus.

Honestly, we will never be able to forget the past, but thanks to God we can get past the past. Those vivid mental snapshots from long ago may never be erased from your memory bank, but they don't have to label you.

This is a biblical look at what is needed to prepare ourselves to be Christ to those around us.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT DIVORCE? God has a plan for marriage: leave your parents, unite with your spouse (cleave), and become one (ultimate intimacy). This is God's dream for your marriage. It is a level of intimacy that encompasses your whole life, for the rest of your life. It's so much deeper than sexual intimacy, though that is part of it. It's ultimate intimacy. So, when Jesus is asked to make a stand on divorce, he started by defining what a marriage was really intended to be. He also emphasized that no man should break apart what God had joined together. He didn't say it couldn't be broken apart; He said you shouldn't do this...

If you are new to Grace Bible Church, let me go ahead and prepare you: Tension doesn't bother us. We hit it head on and just deal with it. It's not that we don't get uncomfortable. We do. But, we want more than anything to be biblical. Biblical truth is one of our core values. God's Word trumps my feelings. As a result, this will be the standard of truth for what we discuss in this series.

TODAY'S QUESTION: Why would God create someone he knew would go to hell?

This question comes from a centuries-old debate over something called predestination.

What's predestination?

We can't imagine God's timing, God's thoughts, or God's ways. But, we know when He shows up. When God shows up it is evident! Pastor Josh tells the story of our Smith's Ferry Campus and how God is showing up from past to present.

If you are in Christ, there are a couple of things we are certain about. First, we are certain of what Christ has done for us. He has saved us by grace through faith. He has brought us to new life (we aren’t who we used to be; we’ve been born again). He has declared us to be righteous (justification). We now have a new identity in Christ (saint, not sinner; child, not condemned). If you aren’t certain of this, you can be.

Do you find yourself holding on to sins? Making adjustment for them? Excusing them? Let go. It needs to be sudden and it needs to be drastic. Some of you who are struggling with pornography, need to get a flip phone. You need to pay the price to break free. Though we do not do the inward work, it doesn’t mean we don’t have responsibilities as well.

God is more concerned with your eternal salvation than with your temporary comfort. When we as believers can grasp that, we enter a place of peace. Your present circumstances will be someone’s future hope.

We live in a loud world, we can get consumed by the business of things around us until we never sit still. We let things control our schedule instead of controlling our schedules. If You Don’t Manage The Noise, You Will Lose Out On Joy.