Making Relationships Work!

Let me start off by saying “Thank You” for all the positive feedback I’ve received from the Hope Rising teaching series we’ve been in since Easter Weekend.
Yesterday we started looking at Hope For Our Relationships as I set out to answer the question, “How do we cultivate healthy relationships over the long haul of life?” Philippians 3:12-15 offers two broad ideas or “moves” for making progress in our relationships. We studied the first one yesterday...Leave the past behind you.
Here are a few questions to consider this week as we work out what God is working in our lives.

1.      Share a time or two when you learned something about God, yourself, or life because you took time to reflect on past experiences.

2.      In Philippians 3:13 it says, No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. Why do you think the great Apostle Paul expended so much energy to forget what is behind him and press ahead toward the goal of God for his life?

3.      Why does the Bible place so much emphasis on confession, forgiveness and reliance on God when it comes to leaving our hurts behind? Do you believe that relying on past experiences, or nursing old wounds is one of the ways we indulge desires that do not please or honor the Lord? Read Galatians 5:13-15 in as many different translations as possible and then discuss whether or not it applies to this question.

4.      Share a time when something from your past was affecting a present relationship. What did you do to move past it? Is there something you still need to leave behind today? If so, consider sharing it with your small group or a trusted friend, and ask them for prayer and encouragement as you work through the process of forgiveness.

I will never forget the day I chose to leave behind a wounded relationship with my father. My mother had recently passed away, and after the funeral I drove to my father’s house (they had been divorced for years). I stood in his kitchen where we had a heart-to-heart conversation...I confessed my hurt and told him I wanted to start fresh in our relationship. That took place in 1996. That day marked a renewed relationship with my father that I have enjoyed to this day.

My prayer is that the Albany First Assembly church family will continue to experience many fresh starts as we learn to leave behind the past and lean forward to the future blessings, joy, and opportunities God has for us all!

Grace and peace,

Pastor Frank