{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"New Hope Church | becomehope","title":"Can You Really Be Set Free From Your Past?","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2302,"description":"Week 2 of our \"Set Free\" Galatians series. Today we won't even mention Galatians—we're setting up framework by looking at PAUL'S STORY.\nSatan uses our past as a weapon against us in two ways:\nBelievers plagued by their past - Every time they sin, they remember who they've been. It holds them from recovering, from coming to God for forgiveness and guidance.\nKeeps people from coming to Christ - Their past convinces them they're too far gone.\nPAUL'S PAST:\nActs 8:1-2 - \"Saul APPROVED the stoning of Stephen.\" Stephen was the first martyr of the church—a good, honorable, godly man. Paul was there and APPROVED his killing.\nActs 8:3 - \"Saul started making trouble for the church. He went from house to house, arresting men and women and putting them in jail.\"\nActs 22:4-5 - Paul recounts: \"I persecuted followers of the Lord's Way. I had them arrested and put in jail. I even voted for them to be killed.\"\nPaul was going to Damascus with authority to arrest believers. But on that road, Jesus met him.\nTHE DAMASCUS ROAD:\n\"Saul, Saul, why do you PERSECUTE ME?\"\nPaul: \"Who are you, Lord?\"\n\"I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.\"\nWhen Paul persecutes the church, he's persecuting JESUS. When you harm God's people, you harm Christ.\nAnd Paul CHANGES. Completely. Post-conversion Paul writes most of our New Testament.\n1 TIMOTHY 1:15-16:\n\"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I am the WORST of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of His great patience.\"\nPAUL'S SIN ISN'T UNIQUE:\nPaul says he's the WORST sinner. But is he? Is Paul's sin worse than Jeffrey Dahmer's? Than Hitler's? Than yours? Than mine?\nPaul is looking at his sin and recognizing: ALL sin is equally heinous in God's eyes. Murder, lying, gossip, it's ALL the same.\nAnd if God can forgive PAUL, the chief of sinners, He can forgive ANYONE.\nTHE POINT:\nYou've been set free from your past. But Jesus never promises a free RIDE.\n2 Corinthians 1:3-4 - God comforts us so...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/QeSOhOM9pdl7ie6YwFiWKrFHSz-rrRbE1NzVv7jCKNA/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzIwMDk2LzE2MTc4/MDY0ODctYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}