12/31/2023 Church service

周日礼拜

视频

        REGRETS 遗憾

Phil 3:12-14: Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
腓 立 比 書 3:12-14: 这并不是说，我已赢得了奖励，或已变得完美，而是要继续努力，争取得到这奖励。为了这奖励，基督已先赢得了我。 13 兄弟们，我不认为自己达到了这个目标。但是我只专心一件事：忘记过去，尽最大的努力达到前面的目标。 我朝目标奔去，为的是要得到这个奖励。这个奖励就是上帝通过基督召唤我去领受的属天的生命。(page 1906)

2 Corinthians 7:10: The kind of sorrow God wants makes people decide to change their lives. This leads them to salvation, and we cannot be sorry for that. But the kind of sorrow the world has will bring death.
歌 林 多 後 書 7:10: 上帝要你们的悲伤给你们带来不会后悔的忏悔。它通向拯救。但是世上的悲伤将产生死亡。(page 1877)

Is. 43:18-19: “Do not remember the past events; pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
以赛亚书 43:18,19:“你们不要怀念先前的事， 也不要思念古时的事。神作一件新事 “看哪！我要作一件新的事；现在它要发生了， 难道你们还不知道吗？我要在旷野开一条道路，在荒地开挖江河。(page 1183)




 

 

 

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视频脚本 Script

REGRETS
Phil. 3:10-14

As we look ahead to a new year, we may also want to look back (quickly and temporarily) and assess how we feel about 2023.

Was it a big success? A huge struggle?

We don’t experience “Life” – we experience the parts of life we FOCUS on.”
“What’s wrong is always available”

Do we look back with… regrets?

"If we know what we truly regret, we know what we truly value."

“Identify the area of your life where you have the most regrets and reflect on it
to understand your true desires.”

Maybe you have lived a successful life so far – but now you somewhat regret the cost of that success?

“Good Success” – GOD will prosper you without it costing you your family, your peace of mind – or your time in God’s Holy Presence.

Prov 10:22: The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

Pastor Phil Pringle (on regret): don’t be complaining about the trial – how hard it is

don’t dig up your seed by voicing all your regrets and talking about this setback – this test

“Look UP and Rejoice” during your trials - you are learning to be an overcomer

Speaking blessings in the midst of trial

your seed will emerge from the ground – that is how faith works

The bamboo will shoot up out of the ground in 2024

Eph 3:20: Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us;
“He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.”

Regret (defined) Regret is sorrow or remorse over something in the past that happened or over something we did that we cannot change or repair.
The regrets we have can be about big things or they might be about small things, and they can be about what we did or didn’t do.
Your destiny is tied to helping others.
Don’t let regret hold you back from fulfilling your God-give destiny.
Here are a few examples of possible things we might regret:
We might regret having taken a promotion at work or not having taken the promotion.
We might regret having told that person off, or regret not saying something when we had the chance.
We might regret having gotten into a relationship with someone, or regret not mustering the courage to ask them out.
We might regret not paying careful enough attention to what we were doing because we ended up sending a sensitive text or email to the wrong person, or we might regret not paying enough attention while driving and got into an accident.

Regret for things we did

Fentanyl addiction (“if only I hadn’t taken it that first time”)

Words we said – actions we took – that cannot be taken back

Regrets for things we did in a moment of weakness

Godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10)
“The sorrow which God uses means a change of heart and leads to salvation”
“The kind of sorrow God wants makes people decide to change their lives. This leads them to salvation, and we cannot be sorry for that. But the kind of sorrow the world has will bring death.”

Regrets for things we did not do
Opportunities we missed
Unspoken words

“Unanswered Prayers”
Let’s face it – sometimes what didn’t work out for you REALLY worked out for you.
Grace in Action on Your Behalf

“Never be a prisoner of your past. It was a lesson, not a life sentence.”

As long as you are still living and breathing, we have this hope.

But there comes a day…
“It is appointed unto men once to die…”

The Ultimate form of Regret
“Depart from me – I never knew you”
“Weeping and gnashing of teeth”

1 John 4:9: This is how God showed His love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.

We all know the story of Peter’s denial of Jesus.
Jesus predicted that Peter would deny him three times before the rooster crowed the next day.
Peter boasted that that would never happen, that he would die for Jesus if necessary.
But then just a few hours later, when confronted on 3 separate occasions, Peter denied being a follower of Jesus or even knowing Jesus, and called down curses on himself for emphasis.
Then the rooster crowed and Peter immediately realized what he had done, so he ran out and wept bitterly.
Don’t you know that Peter deeply regretted what he had done?
Peter must have struggled to believe that God would still want him to witness for Christ after what he had done.
But Jesus made it clear that He still wanted Peter to be an apostle – on resurrection Sunday, He sent a message to Peter from the angel through the women at the tomb, then Jesus personally appeared to Peter, and then later by the sea of Galilee there was the three question reinstatement episode to offset Peter’s three denials.
The fact that Peter stood up on the Day of Pentecost and preached the first gospel sermon, and then went on to plant and minister to the church until he was put to death for Christ, is a tribute to the fact that Peter allowed God to redeem his regrets.
Peter could have allowed his regrets to destroy him, but instead, he allowed God to redeem them.
Just like God redeemed the regrets of Adam and Eve, David and Bathsheba, and Paul and Peter, He can redeem ours as well.
God does not regret our past, nor does He wish we could go back and change it.
God looks at our past and sees how He can redeem it and use it for good in the future.
God takes our mistakes and sins and sees how He can take them and shape them into a beautiful testimony of His grace.
God takes what we cannot change about our past and uses it to change us and others.
We don’t have the power to repair our mistakes, but God does.
And here’s the key – we have to allow God to do it.
We must surrender ourselves to God – we must surrender our past, present, and future and put it all in God’s hands.

In doing so, we stop relying on ourselves and start trusting God to work all things together for good.
We don’t have to live with regret. God can turn our mess into something beautiful.
Whatever we have done or not done in the past, God can redeem it.
Whatever mistakes we have made, God can use them for good. #GoodThings
We can quiet our minds by letting go of the past, and by trusting God with the future.
The thought, “I wish I could go back and change…” (regret) is something that we never have to allow to weigh us down again.
When we face regret, we have the same choice to make that faced Adam and Eve, David and Bathsheba, and Paul and Peter.

We can let regrets consume and destroy our lives, or we can put them in the hands of God, and allow Him to redeem them.
This process of salvation and sanctification that includes recognizing, repenting, and releasing of our sins and regrets is a gift of God’s grace.
And as a gift of God’s grace it can’t be earned or deserved, but must be accepted and received.
When we receive God’s grace through faith, repentance and baptism, our sins are forgiven and God commissions us to move forward.
Is. 43:18-19: “Do not remember the past events; pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
And doesn’t that sound a lot like what Paul said in our Scripture Reading for today:
Phil. 3:14: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.
Our God is the God of the second chance who is much more concerned about where we are heading than where we have been.
So let’s trust God with our past, present and future.
Let’s allow ourselves to feel the emotion of regret and let it lead us right to God, where we can leave our regrets in God’s hands.
Tis’ So Sweet To Trust in Jesus…

Hillside United Methodist Church
3739 US 80
Phenix City  AL  36870
United States
Pastor: Mike J Koger

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