BUILDING LOVING RELATIONSHIPS                               EAST BAY FELLOWSHIP

(Series, #4)                                                                                                 March 26, 2006

CONFRONTING YOUR DEMONS

TEXT: Luke 8:27-37

INTRODUCTION

· If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him; he will not resent it. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to tell you, for a doubtful mind will be as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind; and every decision you then make will be uncertain, as you turn first this way and then that.            James 1:5-7 (TLB)

1) EVERYONE HAS A PAST

* …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…

                                                   Romans 3:23 (NIV)

2) THE PAST AFFECTS THE PRESENT

· Some of the most common ways the past impacts the present in our lives, in the language we identify them with, are:

a. buttons that can be pushed

b. voices inside the head

c. seasons we don’t look forward to

d. things we can’t help doing

3) JESUS CAME TO CONFRONT THE PAST

· “Thus it is with a great many Christians, instead of allowing their past experiences to fall, they cling to them and do not prepare for a new and better experience as it may come daily.”      J. Wilbur Chapan, Present Day Parables

4) JESUS CAME TO GIVE US A FUTURE

· For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.  They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.           Jeremiah 29:11 (TLB)

CONCLUSION

· “I’ll defeat you yet because you’re as big as you’re going to get—but I’m still growing.”                         Sir Edmund Hillary

· The past does not shape you.  The way you respond to the past shapes you.