Summary: <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/westside-christian-fellowship/id386117063">If you want to stay up on the latest audio messages from Westside Christian Fellowship, don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes.</a><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="%22http://westsidechristianfellowship.org/WP/wp-content/uploads/Audio/9_10_2017_How_God_Uses_Your_Past.mp3</a"><br><br> </a><a class="twitter-share-button" href="http://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="%22http://westsidechristianfellowship.org/WP/wp-content/uploads/Audio/9_10_2017_How_God_Uses_Your_Past.mp3</a"></a><br><br> Complete Sermon Notes<br> How God Uses Your Past<br> <br> Find two spots – Acts 26:12 and Isaiah 53 [Notes are under the video]<br> <br> Acts 25 – Paul appeals to Caesar then stands before King Agrippa. He was in jail for at least two years.<br> 1. God can use what we call “wasted time” – Prison time can be an opportune time; time on the backside of the desert is not wasted time.<br> <br> <br> Education, or a lack thereof – affluent, or no influence.<br> <br> <br> <br> Isaiah 64:8 “But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.”<br> Lies We Are Fed: Younger people say, “But I don’t have a past.” The Middle group says, “God can’t use me now!” The Older group says, “My whole life is behind me.”<br> <br> <br> Upcoming Gracefest event –<br> <br> <br> <br> Acts 26 – Paul Recounts His Conversion<br> 12…as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, 13 at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’<br> <br> <br> Kicking against the goads is painful – the goad is met to direct.<br> <br> <br> When we kick against God’s prodding it hurts: “Hard is the way of the transgressor.”<br> <br> <br> 2. God can use our kicking [rebellion] if we learn from it –<br> <br> <br> Romans 8:28 – And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> 15 So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.<br> <br> 3. God will answer if you ask – “Who are you? What do you want me to do?”<br> 4. God uses our pain and brokenness to humble us.<br> Psalm 25:9, “…He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way.”<br> A.W. Tozer — ‘It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.’<br> <br> 16 But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. 17 I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, 18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’<br> 4. Your past is about helping others. This removes a great deal of anxiety, fear, and confusion. GET UP! GO!<br> <br> <br> BIG issue for Christians: how can i get ahead…how can i market myself?<br> <br> <br> <br> 19 “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles,
