I have taken a line from Matthew 16:23 and called today’s teaching
GET BEHIND ME SATAN
I have found on my journey through life that it doesn’t matter if you are a new Christian or one of many years Satan is going to find a way to make you doubt yourself.
And the more you trust in what the spirit is telling you the more Satan in going to try and twist it to his advantage.
Maybe you yourselves have had these thoughts come into your mind, I certainly know I have.
That you’re not good enough.
Why would God ever pick someone like me with a past like mine.
I’m not worthy.
and there’s to many more to mention.
I want to encourage you today to live free of these thoughts and travel light, because it’s amazing as we go through life just how much stuff we end up accumulating.
And so, what I want to talk about is Letting Go of those thoughts, and putting down the stuff that holds us back, the baggage that weighs us down, so that we can live a life that honors God alone.
My goal for all of us is to learn how to let go of the past and take hold of the future, unpacking all that baggage, closing the door to the negative voices of Satan and the past, and embracing the truth of God in the present.
The problem is that everything around us, everything in our culture shouts just the opposite.
We are told that we need to talk about our baggage, we need counseling, we need to rehash it, reminiscing about the failures, the hurts, and the offenses.
Society in general teaches us to compromise God’s standards, trying to impress, trying to measure up, trying to conform so that we fit in.
And so many of us have spent all our lives accumulating all this emotional baggage, burdens and addictions, discontent and are depressed, because now we are loaded down with all this stuff that Satan loves to use.
In fact, some of us may feel like we are stuck, we are trapped under that weight, and so I want to encourage you to let go of the past and take hold of your future; because your calling is too great and your God is too good to waste your time on stuff like that.
I would like to turn to the Word of God and tell you about an interesting moment in the life of Israel.
It was just about 3,500 years ago, the people of God were in bondage, enslaved by Egypt, and so they cried out in desperation, because when you’re beaten, when you’re forced to work and you’re not getting paid for your troubles, it’ll make you cry out to God.
And so, the people of God cried out for deliverance, not because God had promised them a better life, but they cried out because their situation forced them to cry out. The Bible says in Exodus 2:24 that, “God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob”
You see, when you find yourself in a difficult situation and fighting Satan, it makes you seek God like never before, and he’s going to hear your prayer, and he’s going to draw you out.
Then Israel suddenly found themselves in a place of wilderness, they’d been in a season of captivity, when suddenly they’re released and now they’re free.
They’ve gone from slavery to wilderness, slavery to survival, and so now they find themselves in that season of survival.
Israel learned how to survive in the wilderness, but the problem with the wilderness was that now they’re on God’s welfare program.
They’d gone from slavery to survival, but now God is feeding them, and they’ve became complacent because they’ve got just enough.
They’re doing better than they were, they’re better than they used to be, and so now they plateau.
They’ve become complacent because they no longer have Pharaoh breathing down their neck.
And so, they’re no longer crying out to God, they’re not fasting and praying like they did in Egypt, because now they don’t even have to work and they’re getting fed.
Life was okay, they’re making it, they’re surviving, and then the Lord said to them in Deuteronomy chapter 1, “You’ve stayed long enough at this mountain.
Break camp and advance into the hill country go to all the neighboring peoples, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river.
See, I have given you this land.
Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore he would give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and to their descendants after them"
And so, God told them that it was time to move out, they’d been at this mountain long enough, because God didn’t get them out of Egypt just because life was unbearable; he got them out of Egypt because he swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to Israel, to their descendants after them, he would bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey.
And so, they’ve been camped around the mountain, they’re eating, they’re singing, they’re worshiping and enjoying God’s presence and provision, but they’ve become complacent.
They didn’t have a desire to go any further because everything was okay, and so God reminds them of his promise to their fathers, and his promise creates a new hunger within them.
You see, God’s Word doesn’t make people passive, God’s Word gives us a fervency deep inside, an urgency to move, because God’s Word is liberating, God’s word sets you free and Satan knows that and doesn’t like it.
And so, they have all these great promises of God, life is okay right now, but they’re letting go, leaving it behind, and pressing forward to the promise.
And his promise is that we would be the head and not the tail.
That God is for us and not against us, that we will soar with wings like an eagle, and that we are more than just conquerors.
And I’m telling you this, because of the likeness to the early church.
I’ve been studying the book of Acts again, where the church has really started to grow, but now it begins to experience growing pains.
Many had become complacent, because they were just happy to be together, worshiping and praying, but it became very difficult for the apostles to minister to everybody.
And it was also at this time that opposition came from the Jews.
One of the disciples, a deacon named Stephen was performing great wonders and miraculous signs among the people, and none of these Jews could stand up against the wisdom or by the Spirit by whom Stephen spoke.
And so, the Bible says at the end of Acts chapter 6, this opposition stirred up the people, they seized Stephen and produced false witnesses who testified against him.
They dragged him out of the city and stoned him, accusing him of speaking words of blasphemy against God.
And now in Acts chapter 8, the Bible tells us, “Saul was there, giving approval to Stephan's death.
And on that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria” In the words of God to Israel, “You’ve stayed long enough at this mountain.
Break camp and advance!” The time had come, it was time for the church to move out, the salt was now leaving Jerusalem, because it was intended to be spread all over Judea and Samaria.
You see, what persecution does to the church is what wind does to seed; it scatters it and produces an even greater harvest.
The Bible tells us, “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (Acts 8:4). Those believers were God’s seed, and it was that persecution that allowed them to be scattered so that they could bear much fruit.
These were the growing pains, these were difficult times, and the Bible says it was Saul who was there giving approval for the death of Stephen, the first martyr of the church.
It was Saul who would encounter Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus and be converted to Christianity.
Saul, who is now renamed the apostle Paul wrote, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
In other words, you may not like it, you may not have asked for it, but even though you can’t change your past, God can change your future.
And so, the apostle Paul knew firsthand that our past doesn’t always stay in our past, and until you deal with it at the cross of Jesus Christ and close the door on it the past has visitation privileges and Satan uses them.
There are some of you who woke up today and you hoped things would be different, but the past didn’t stay in your past, and what you thought you had left behind without a forwarding address showed up on your doorstep.
And if there’s anybody who understands what that’s like, it’s the apostle Paul, he knows what it is like to be haunted by guilt, he knows what it is like to persecute the church, harming good people, and even taking innocent lives.
And so, for those of you who think that everything in your life has to be perfect before you can serve God, I want you to know from personal experience that God has a way of using ordinary, broken, wounded, hurting people for the sake of the gospel.
You see, even though we can’t go back to it, our past continues to haunt us, reminding us of what we’ve done.
That’s why it’s so important to remember the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 11, verse 28. He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” And so, we need to accept his invitation, we need to give our baggage to Jesus, letting it go, because if we don’t our spiritual enemy Satan will use it against us.
Not only will the Satan remind you of what you’ve done and what you haven’t done, but he will tell you that what you’ve done is unforgivable and you’re unlovable.
He’ll tell you if people really knew what you were struggling with, what you said to your friend or your spouse, if people really knew they wouldn’t love you.
And so, Satan wants us to believe that God could never use a person like you or I because of what we’ve done, but the Bible tells us to demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, “Taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
And so, we’ve got to bring our baggage to Jesus, letting it go, letting go of the past, so that we’re able to take hold of the future that God has for us.
The good news is that Jesus doesn’t leave us holding the bag, holding onto our past, but instead he comes to set us free when we need him the most.
We know that, because that’s what he did with the apostle Paul.
He told Ananias to lay his hands on Saul, praying so that he may receive his sight, and he did but it wasn’t without some resistance.
And what I mean by some resistance from Ananias is because he replied, "Lord, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.
And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
But listen to what the Lord said to Ananias, in Acts 9:13-16.
"Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.
I will show him how much he must suffer for my name”
In other words, God is far more concerned with your future than your past, he’s far more concerned about what you’re going to do than what you did.
And so, how do we let go of our baggage when we can’t change the past?
Well, the first thing we need to do is close the door on the past so that Satan can’t continue to speak lies to us.
And the most effective way to do that is by confessing our sins, the Bible tells us in (1 John 1:9) “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”
You see, the apostle doesn’t say deal with it, hide it, bear the weight of it, or even you should be ashamed of yourself, but he simply says, “If you confess your sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive you.”
In other words, God’s grace is bigger than our sins, and so our standing with God is determined by our relationship with Christ and not by the rules that we’ve broken or the things we have done.
I know I sometimes struggle with the baggage of something that I did five, ten, or fifteen or more years ago, but all of us would do well to give ourselves the same grace that God has extended to us through Jesus Christ.
You see, the power of your past was broken when Jesus died on the cross, and so you simply need to make the decision to close the door to those lies that we continue to hear from Satan, because we are not what we have done, we are who God says we are.
And today, if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, we are loved, and we are a child of God.
That’s what the Bible says, in (John 1:12). “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”
Today there are so many that need to close the door to the lies of Satan, letting go of the past so that they can take hold of their future.
When we respond to Jesus’ invitation to “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened” When we respond to him in faith, receiving his grace, he saves us from our past so that we can step into the future that he has for us.
We are not what we have done, but we are who God says we are, we are his children, forgiven, and loved.
And so, God doesn’t just save us from something, he saves us for something, and that is to be his witness.
No matter who we are God can use us to show the love of Jesus to people just like you and me.
To people who live where you live, where you work, where you shop, or where you play.
Now, up to this point we’ve talked a lot about Paul’s past, Paul’s failures, Paul rejecting Christ, Paul killing Christians, but that’s not the point of this message. It’s not about what Paul has done in the past, it’s not about Paul’s baggage, it’s about what Jesus Christ has done for all of us on the cross.
And it’s so important that we’re able to see what God is doing, because when we look at our past from the right perspective, we don’t see our failures, but we see God’s faithfulness in our lives.
You see, the apostle Paul knew that he was a sinner, he struggled with the fact that he persecuted those who believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah. In fact, he said this to the Corinthians, “I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1 Corinthians 15:9). But the most important thing when he looked at his past wasn’t how he could’ve been so blind, it wasn’t to see how bad he was, but to see how good God is.
The question I have for you today is what is your testimony going to be about?
Is it going to be all about you, about your past and what you’ve done, or is it going to be about what Jesus Christ has done for you?
You see, when you’re in Christ, your identity is not found in what you’ve done, it’s not found in your past as Satan wants you to believe, but when you belong to Christ, you’re called to let go of that baggage, to live free and travel light, because you’ve been forgiven.
And today I pray that God is speaking to all of us, he’s breaking through all of our excuses, he’s tearing down every monument we have built of “I can’t or “I didn’t” and he’s encouraging us not to settle on a life that’s less than what he created us to be.
The question I want to ask ourselves today is will we trust him with our baggage, letting go of the past and taking hold of the future?
You see, it’s not a question about whether God will show up, because he’s always shown up, he’s always been faithful, but will you trust God and not Satan with your future?
Because that’s when the real test begins, when you’re about to step out, and you feel unworthy and unable, but that’s exactly the kind of person that God wants to use.
And so, I want to remind you that we can’t change the past, but God can change your future.
And so, let us press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of us, forgetting what is behind, and straining toward what is ahead for his glory. Amen
