Sermon Central
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Rewriting Your Life Story Series
Contributed by Marty Baker on Mar 10, 2003 (message contributor)
Summary: This messages encourages you to move on with your life. Stop living in the past; press on to a new future.
Rewriting Your Life Story
www.stevenscreek.net
Dr. Marty Baker / January 26, 2003
The human brain is composed of over 12 billion nerve cells, with the analytical ability of a room full of Pentium-equipped computers. The brain indiscriminately receives and stores every kind of information thrown its way.
Researchers tells us that the average adult in America is bombarded by 560 advertising messages a day, and of course, if you are online, half of those are pop-up ads. We have the ability to store around 75 of these ads, so when you add it up, your brain stores over 500 slogans, ditties, and jingles every week.
In addition, the average adult absorbs another twenty to thirty thousand words per day form newspapers, magazines, search engines, books, and televisions. This mountain of infobits shapes the way we view life.1
Infobits definitely help shape our view of the world, but I believe that the greatest influence in our lives stem from defining moments from our past. These pictures often provide the canvas on which we paint our future. Together, they become our life story.
This is well and good if you have had a perfect life, but truthfully none of us have had perfect lives. We’ve all had experiences that have negatively influenced us and have produced painful memories that constantly plague our minds. These experiences have developed little voices in the corner of our brain that constantly speak messages of fear, doubt, shame, inadequacy, discouragement, and so forth.
Left alone, we follow their direction and find ourselves hiding in the corner while life is passing us by, repeating past mistakes or living our potential. It seems that every time that we take one step forward the voices are there telling us that we do not belong there and we should step to the rear of the line. Our story becomes cyclical, one step forward, two steps backwards.
How do we break the cycle? How do we eradicate the negative voices that bombard our minds? Last week, we began a five week series called Mind Games. It is my opinion that the only way to defeat the negative voices that seek to control your thought life is to spiritually renew your mind. The foundation of this study is based on Romans 12:2.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.
All of us have a story. Many of the chapters have already been written by choices that we have made, situations that that we have encountered and by people that we have met. Our story is filled with challenges that attempt to stretch us to our limit; pressures that pull the energy right out of our soul. We grope around looking for direction and at times the only voice we hear is the negative voice calling us back into our painful past.
So we have to make a decision. Do we risk going into a future filled with more uncertainty or do we retreat into the painful past just because it’s familiar?
The Old Testament contains a story of a group of people who were oppressed, mistreated, and demoralized. At one point in their lives they were enjoying peace and success, but circumstances changed and they found themselves enslaved to a foreign government. Their days were filled with hard labor and unrealistic expectations. In their despair, they cried out to God for help.
God heard their cry and sent a deliverer. His name was Moses. Through a series of miraculous events, Moses led this group of slaves out of Egypt. They were headed to a new land filled with new opportunity, but something happened in the process. Their road to success took an unexpected turn.
8 The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.
9 The Egyptians-- all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops-- pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea...
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD.
The Israelites felt as if their luck had run out. The promise of a new life was waning and it looked as if their options were running out. They felt immense pressure as they saw the Egyptian Army headed their way. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.
Their prayer, however, was not one of faith, but of fear. Instead of looking to God for their deliverance, they chose to blame Moses for their predicament. If he had never led them out of Egypt, they wouldn’t be on the verge of death.
