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Damon Pearce: Remember to Forget (Philippians 3:13-14)
Damon Pearce, pastor of First Baptist Church in Abernathy, suggested a certain kind of amnesia—spiritual amnesia—could be a good thing. He based this thought on Paul’s instruction to the Philippian Christians.
The forgetting Paul calls for is not absentmindedness, but turning one’s attention to the future, Pearce said. This is a deliberate and continual process, he explained. He exhorted his hearers to forget past failures and also past successes.
Pearce referenced biblical examples of people who purposefully forgot past failures. He outlined three steps for his hearers to do the same: “break the cycle,” “seek to learn,” and “do not be identified by it.”
Addressing the need to move beyond past successes, Pearce declared God gives a new commandment, makes people new creations and makes everything new. To forget past successes, he offered three tools involving thanksgiving, acknowledging the power behind them and investing them in God’s kingdom.
This sermon was delivered Jan. 1, 2023, for the morning worship service of First Baptist Church in Abernathy.
Sermon notes and a sermon outline are available here.
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