September 13, 2026 Bobby Dagnel - Now Is the Time

Good seeing you guys. You can be seated this morning. Good to be back with you. Mark and I are exchanging Sundays this month. I was just with Mark and the rest of the Denison Forum, Denison Ministries team Thursday night in Dallas. They unveiled a very bold vision for the future, which I'm sure we'll all be hearing more about in the days to come.

as all of this continues to unfold and what God has laid on their heart for this ministry. It's a centerpiece in that and to be a part of that ministry and just this global impactful vision that Denison Ministries has for impacting the kingdom of God. It's really a lot of fun to to be a part of that. Two weeks ago when I was with you, the fires had been raging. The Ross Fire and we all gathered together as wounded people, I would think. And many of you endured much just watching that fire. And, you know, there's always a worry that goes with that, as with any natural disaster. And we talked about how that can really have kind of a PTSD effect on you and your worries about the future and what might happen and those kinds of things and address that but and uh so in in thinking about that and what i would say to you this week is i thought we need to bring some balance to that uh that while many have a tendency to live in that domain of what if and worrying about the feature and are so often paralyzed by the concerns that weigh upon them regarding the the future, there are others that are paralyzed by the past. Probably more so, I would think, haunted by the fast. I want us to open our Bibles this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul's letter to the church at Corinth. 1 Corinthians 15, of course, is a significant chapter in talking about the resurrection, the hope of the resurrection. And not just the the resurrection that has occurred, the resurrection of Christ from the grave, from the dead, that Easter Sunday which we celebrate every Sunday as believers. But also the resurrection, that is to come, the fruition of this full salvation that God is accomplishing. And as I've said to you so many times before, we have to allow our definition of salvation to be comprehensive in nature. when the Bible speaks of salvation it has to do with the redemption of the entirety of creation sadly in the western church and especially in an evangelical tradition whatever that means these days but in the Western Church there tends to be this tendency to reduce salvation to just me making it to heaven and not going to hell when really it is so much more than that this great salvation that God is accomplishing has to do with the redemption of the entire created order. Paul would say to the church in Rome that all of creation groans for the day of redemption. So it may seem odd to us that when we address a message about not worrying about the past, not being held hostage by the past that we would come to a text like 1 1 Corinthians 15, but I think it is appropriate for us.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

If you're one who takes notes like I do, I call this message, now is the time, now is the time. And certainly that is the emphasis of Scripture is that all that matters in the becoming of what Christ would have us to become, what God is fashioning us to become is driven by the the present right now what are we doing with the time and the energy and the resources in the present moment where our feet are and what God has entrusted to us I'm sure most of you here are familiar with that famous quote John Greenleaf Whittier who said that for all sad all for all all sad words of tongue and pen. The saddest of all are these, what might have been. And many there are that live their life in that tense, that past tense mode of what might have meant. Now that can go two different ways and I'm only going to approach it one way this morning. But there is one that is a theological concern. There are many that that lament over the past, over some grievous sin from their past. They are haunted by that.

Their mind is always bringing it to remembrance, some terrible sin of the past. And they're haunted by the past by that thought.

In fact, for many, it is a crippling thought. I remember when I first went to Lubbock, there was this gentleman that had expressed a desire to be an older gentleman that Had expressed a the desire to be baptized, and so we baptized him. What I didn't realize was that being the new pastor, I didn' t realize that was the fourth time he'd been baptized that year.

And the staff kind of filled me in on his story and his narrative, and it wasn't two or three months later, here the guy comes again, coming down the aisle, you know, he's just pouring himself out on the altar and wants to be baptized again. And he became angry with me because I said, no, we're not going to do it. i said in fact i want to meet you in my office tomorrow morning at nine o'clock so he comes to my office at nine O'clock the next morning and i said listen i think we have a real theological issue that's pressing here i said do you believe in the sufficiency of christ and he said of course i do i said you believe like paul says that in christ there is no condemnation of course i believe that i confess everything i confess do you that his death was sufficient and atoning death for all sin past present and future he said pastor of course what's your point I said well if you if you truly believe all of that and if you truly believed that Christ crucifixion and his resurrection was the the testimony of that theological reality I said we're through baptizing you i said we're not going to crucify jesus every other sunday just for you it was a once and for all death and sacrifice and it is either sufficient or it is not some are haunted by some sin in the past and that's what this man was dealing with but for many of us it's over lost opportunity. What I could have done, what I should have done. Sins of omission, we might call them. Opportunities that were there and they were not seized. They were not taken advantage of. And we find ourselves looking back to those moments, having worked with student athletes for the past 40 years. My friend Ken Murray back here who was the head athletic trainer for Texas Tech Athletics. When I I went to Lubbock in 2002, Ken. I don't know how long you'd been there already. But he retired from that role, and he's seen this before.

But I see this kind of lamenting over missed opportunities a great deal in student-athletes today. I mean, guys that are 28, 29, 30, still changing their profile picture every week on Facebook of them in their uniform from Tech football back when they were 18, 22 years old. Lamenting. For the past, what might have been?

Opportunities missed. There's some practical things before I would even come to the text.

There's Some Practical Things. If this describes you and you find that your mind is often drawn back and pulled back into the past and lamenting and regrets, filled with regrets for things that were, things that missed, things things that were done there is a practical side of this and the counsel that that I would give to you and there's nothing wrong life of faith with utilizing common sense uh in fact you will remember that that Jesus even in Luke's gospel chapter 16 verse 8 when telling the parable the unjust steward he he he commands actually the unjust just a steward here where he says that the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the childrenof light he's talking about common sense and the first thing i would offer and this and then we'll get to the text but the first common sense counsel that i would offer to you in dealing with the past on issues such as this is do not give time and energy energy to things that you cannot affect change. In fact, some would even say that's irrational thinking, that I'm going to fret over the things in the past. I can't change the past, I can'T use time and energy that's actually going to affect change, I mean that that's Irrational behavior. behavior a second thing I would say and as far as common sense in dealing with these kinds of of of past issues is that if if you are hijacked if you were constantly hijacked by the past it pretty much guarantees failure in the present if you're allowing mental time and energy to be be poured into the past that it is stealing away the time and the energy and the resources that is necessary to redeem my opportunities in the present tense a third thing I would say it may be more of a question I would ask if you deal with this issue of being haunted by the past the question would be what are you doing in the president see for many people it just becomes becomes a crutch becomes an alibi paralysis of analysis I used to think it was a harsh question when Jesus asked that one by the pool of Siloam do you do you want to be healed I used to think that was so harsh do you Want to be Healed because first instinct you and I are going of course he wants to be healed but the basis of the question is is that this man's condition was actually his livelihood he was a beggar he depended upon the compassion and the sympathy of of others jesus is really making a point now if we heal you you you're no longer going to be able to make a living you're not no longer gonna be sustained by this former paradigm in which you are living your life now do you really want to be healed worry in that same sense cripples others and it's become something that has led to the paralysis or the analysis of paralysis paralysis of analysis always thinking about the past so that i have to do nothing in the present what are you doing in the president with what god has entrusted to you now i'm not saying we work for our salvation but listen to what Paul Paul's a man that that certainly has uh has a checkered past but you know what Paul did is he said even in verse 10 he said you know I labored I laboured harder than all the other apostles we don't work for our salvation but I'm sure that there was a drivenness by the apostle Paul because this was the man that persecuted the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm sure there's a part of Paul's mind is I've got to make up for all the bad that I did it now that has nothing to do with his salvation but there is a side of us that when we have regrets of the past instead of spending my mental resources on that i'm going to pour it into these present moments and see how god can use me right now how i can be a person of influence how i can be the presence of christ how i kan be the inbreaking of the kingdom of god where i am right right now well if you're one of those like me that oftentimes your mind is hijacked and taken to the past of regrets lost opportunities what might have been I want to offer you from our text this morning from the experience of the apostle Paul I wantと offer you when you sense that I want то offer you three focal points to consider the first thing I would offer from from Paul's experience and from his letter to the church in Corinth is that when you feel your mind being drawn to the past, and listen, this, this is the work, uh, the work of Satan seeks to keep, you know, Satan does his greatest work between our ears. You know, if we, if we want to confine Satan to being some character in a red suit with a pitchfork, we're going going to miss it because he works between the ears he works in the mind and one of the ways he works is to preoccupy us with things from our past or our worries about the future so when you find yourself in your in that trap consider first who you are that would be the first focal point that that i would point you to is who you are in christ jesus who you are as a follower of christ who you are as part of the redemptive purposes of god and the salvation the part that he is playing in your life in the work of salvation that he is accomplishing now listen to what what paul writes here in verse 9 he says for i'm i'm the least of the apostles now never mind he's the one that would be the greatest writer in the new testament but paul says i i'm not fit to be called an apostle because i persecuted the church of god but by the grace of god i i am what i am and his grace toward me did not prove vain but I labored even more than all of them yet not I but the grace of God with me in other words what Paul is reminding us of don't don't miss this what what matters in the life of faith it isn't who you once were but who you are who you are now and what God is accomplishing in you your relationship who you are is based upon this relationship with Jesus Christ that is having not only a conversion experience but is not only converting you but is having this transformational impact on your life of fashioning you in all of your life experiences and moving you along in linear fashion to the very thing that god would have you to become paul simply says regarding his own life he said i wasn't fit thing is neither were you neither was i but by the grace of god we are a part of this work of salvation that he desires to accomplish and so it has nothing to do with my past behavior it has everything to do with Christ Jesus Paul would say to the church at Philippi he would say this one thing I do forgetting what lies behind I reach forward to what lies ahead forgetting what lives behind I reached forward to what lies ahead Paul has a wonderful understanding of this work of God that is moving us along in linear fashion to what we are becoming. History has a destiny. History has a finishing point. You know a cynical view of history is to see it as a cycle. You know we oftentimes hear people say history just repeats itself. And that's a very negative, that's a very pessimistic view of history. In fact it's not a biblical view of history. A biblical understanding of human history is that human history is moving forward in linear fashion towards a consummation of the age. And Paul is emphasizing, listen, I was the least of the apostles. I wasn't fit for this role. But this is what God is accomplishing in me through Christ Jesus. It's not your past behavior. In fact, that is irrelevant to what God is doing in your life right now in my first pastorate the church was nominating some new deacons and I was excited about one young man 28 years old loved the church in fact if you were going to build a disciple from the shoelaces up this young man embodied that just loved the Church had a passion for the church served in all facets of of the church and when his name was brought up in that deaconst being and one of the reasons I was drawn to this young man is that his story was very much like mine he wasn't raised in church didn't become a believer until his early 20s and it was just so transformational for him it's like throwing gasoline on a fire but when his name was brought up someone who knew that young man from his hometown brought up the fact he said well you know he can't be a deacon here he's divorced divorced. And I knew that, but also knew the rest of the story. See, context is always important, isn't it? Before we start judging and throwing stones. I knew the young man's story, him and his little high school sweetheart. He got married at 18 at graduation. Didn't really have anyone to offer them counsel. They were just kind of forging life on their own. They Were divorced by the time they were 20 married at 18 divorced at 20 he became a christian at 24 but my point was in asking in in asking questions to this older deacon body was now are are are we going to hold people accountable to a christ what we would call a christrian lifestyle are we gonna hold forth a christians standard even for unbelievers you see it's the church you know we we want to say the world is going to hell in a hand basket and it is that's why god sent forth his son into the world you know and and preachers have a tendency i've i've noticed when i listen to them which isn't often but they have a tendancy they get up there and rail on the world how terrible the world is it gets a stay oh people just clap and hoot and holler i mean that's kind of the low-hanging fruit talking about how bad the world is listen the church the body of christ the people of god we are the ones who have been entrusted with the burden of christian living not the world that paul would say paul said what do i have to do with judging the world paul's concern was for the church for the witness of the church the testimony of the church and my point to this group of men was that is that what what we must concern ourselves with at the body of Christ isn't someone's past behavior but who they are now who they aren't what we believe they are becoming in in Christ Jesus now the rest of the story is you'll be glad to know that young man was voted in as a deacon of first baptist church in hemp hill texas with only a little bit of grumbling out in the hallway but it's so easy to get caught up not just in judging others but even judging ourselves condemning ourselves over things in the past that god has redeemed that god has used informing you and forging you into the person that he would have you to be you know paul acknowledged his wrong wrong paul's called himself in a persecutor of of the church but you know what paul said to timothy he's trying to help timothy understand these kind of things first timothy chapter 1 verse 12 paul says to timothee you know timothy all that i did i did out of ignorance. I knew nothing about the redemptive purposes of God. I was arrogant enough to think I did. But what I did in persecuting the church, I did all of that out of ignorant. So the church must guard against becoming this kind of one-off culture, this kind of culture that condemns over some indiscriminate an act or words done said some 10 20 30 years ago that continually holds that over over someone's head paul says listen this this is who you are this is how you are in christ jesus you're a part you have been there is no condemnation in christ you have ben buried with christ you have been raised with christyou have been ascended with christ into heaven all of this is such a reality for paul in his mind in his writing he writes like it's present tense this is who you are don't be held hostage by the past when that happens when you feel yourself being drawn in that direction i say remember who you Are but also i would say what is a good focal point is where you are where you are right now we're all at different places in our faith journey our faith experience but what is significant is where you are right now and what your circumstances are right now and how God will redeem all of those circumstances good or bad all of this is a part of what you are becoming being mindful of where you are right now Paul said in verse 8 and last of all as to one untimely born he appeared to me also Paul says I was untimly born but what Paul recognizes is he was born for this moment one unttimely born but born for for this very moment he appeared to me also see timing is time in place i believe from biblical worldview i believe that god is in charge of time and place that gathering thursday night in in dallas listening to the unfolding of this vision for for denison ministries Mark Turman made a Mark made a during he Mark did a wonderful job him seeing that that event but he's he made a statement that that I that I jotted down it was about the fact that you may not like the time and place where you are but God is going to redeem your time and place in other words there's never a time when you are not providentially situated in your life life now make note of that there is never a time in your life there's never a moment in your life good or bad there's ever a moment where you are not providentially situated by that I mean that good or Bad God is using this as a part of making all things good God is a part of taking these circumstances these moments and in his transcendent ways in his spirit-led ways he is able to mold and fashion these things which satan might intend for evil he isable to take these things in the present moment and use them in the fashioning of what you would become in christ jesus god controls time and place he said paul said to the churches is in galatia when the fullness of time had come when the time was right when the circumstances were were just so god sent forth his son into the world in other words as mark said so well thursday night if god didn't want you in this time in place you wouldn't be in this time and place. It's in time and in places that God is fashioning us, teaching us to be a part of the salvation that He is accomplishing in us and in this world even now regardless of circumstances. Think about the thief on the cross. Jesus said to him, today you will be with me in in paradise this one who had asked remember me when you come into your kingdom today you will be with me in paradise now do you think the thief of the cross in that moment's going well yeah great where were you three years ago of course not where he was he was basking in that in that movement the glory of that relationship that was as being established imagine going going to a great art gallery, a museum, to see the works of the grandmasters on display, their majestic beauty, and you've got to stand in line three hours before you can get in. But you're finally inside and you see this magnificent work that you've only seen pictures of, and in the past now here you are standing mere feet from it, admiring the lighting, the beauty, beauty the majesty the glory of this work do you think you're going to sit in that moment and go well yeah would have been great if i could have seen this three hours ago you don't even think about the past you don'T even think about those three hours because this moment is so so overwhelming like a cotton farmer with prices at record high crop comes in bill accounts are all settled and the celebration of that do you think he's going to go back and say well yeah this would have been great you know four or five years ago now actually a cotton farmer may actually say that they're a finicky group sometimes having been around them they're never satisfied but no it's about it's just about this moment it's it's an exercise in futility it's It's in waste, wasting time and energy condemning yourself over something that is irrelevant from the past that has no bearing on where you are now and what you are becoming in God's providential purposes.

1 Timothy 1:12

You know, Paul had no use for self-judgment. You know Paul really didn't care about the judgment of anyone. one. If you're familiar with this letter, one of my favorite passages is over in 1 Corinthians chapter 4. In fact, I used to always say this is the passage I won't read at my funeral service.

1 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

Paul said, but to me it is an insignificant matter that I would be examined by you or by any human court in fact I do not even examine myself for I'm not aware of anything against myself however I'm NOT vindicated by this but the one who examines me is the Lord Paul so Paul had such little regard for for fickle humanity he knew that the judgment of others was just subjective based upon their personal preferences and and opinions but paul had such little regard for fickle humanity and the judgments of humankind paul said i don't even judge myself i mean i can't think of anything in my my life but i don'T know my heart in my mind the way that god knows my heart and my mind so i'm just going to leave judgment to god god is only god is the only one that is in in any position to know fully the circumstances of my life the context of my life and so because no one else can know that because I can't even know that fully because now I only see in part now I see through a glass darkly Paul says I'm just going to leave judgment to God and the interesting thing is listen don't miss this the interesting thing has always been to me that this one the Lord our God the only one that is in a position to judge rightly that knows us through and through our heart and mind that the only one that is in position to do that chooses not to condemn but to forgive in that an amazing thing that the The only one who is in any position to judge rightly a person chooses to forgive and to exercise grace.

When you feel the pull to the past, Paul says, you know what I do? I focus on who I am. Focus on who you are. Focus on where you are, right?

focus on on what you are notice again verse 10 see if you notice the resounding theme but by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace toward me did not prove vain but i labored even more than all of them yet not i but the grace of god with me what's the word that is redundant grace grace is the theme of this text grace is theme of of the new testament grace dominates scripture the spirit of grace the nature of grace it is the dominant theme it's the dominant theme of paul's life it's the dominant thing of my life and yours grace is a wonderful thing one sunday night we were getting ready to leave church this is when i was pastoring before lubbock down in netherland texas on the gulf coast and our children were small and patty out of the blue after church was over you know it's exhausted after church on sunday night and uh and my son hunter who was probably probably second or third grade he said i'm gonna ride with you dad well i soon found out why patty comes bringing up the rear and she says you spank him when he gets home i want you to spank him i'm tired of dealing with him this weekend when you get him home you spanking well you know as dads we have no context for that i mean i i mean I like context if i'm going to do some punishing you know so i didn't have any context for this and so i know what she's told me to do when i get home he's over there crying knowing what i'm supposed to do and uh you know i'm thinking oh come on i need something good here to get out of it i already know i might go spank him and i'm trying to think of something and i dawns on me and i thought it was this wonderfully divine moment an answer to prayer i said hunter you know what grace is i hear it in study school all the the time and I hear you talk about it and I said well I said do you know what it means though well no not really I just hear it all the time at church I said what grace has to do with being forgiven I said it's being forgiven for something that you know you deserve to be punished for but God chooses instead to show grace and mercy to forgive us so that we learn from it and we go go forward. And I said, you know what's far more important to me than spanking you? I said as your dad, it's far important to you that you understand grace. I said now what has your dad, what has your mom been getting on to you about all weekend? It was a variety. He named a couple of things and I said well you deserve to be punished for that don't you? Yes sir I do. And i said but it's more more important to me that you know about grace and I said you know you deserve to be punished I know you serve to be punish you deserve a spanking but because grace is so important to me and I want it to be so important to you I'm not going to spank you when we get home because I want you to have an example of what grace is like so that you could learn from it well he just burst out in tears crying harder than he was before and I say well what what are you crying about? For now you're not even getting the spanking. He said, I'm just so happy about grace. Now that's a great story and I wish it ended there. But he did the same thing a week later and I wore that behind out. And what I learned is that grace is a divine action. god's a lot better than grace as a father than i am as a father but in this a wonderful truth what i am i'm a product of god's grace you're a product of god grace lewis smeeds the late lewIS smeed's ethicist theologian i like the way he said it grace is what happens when you come to the realization that in Christ your past isn't going to catch up to you. Isn't that wonderful? Let it go. Let it go and move forward into the future that God has in store for you. Let God's grace grace do its work there's a wonderful passage in joel chapter 2 and verse 25 spoken to the the prophet as he was given this this this great vision of the kingdom the messianic kingdom this understanding of the coming messiah the promise is then then i will make up to you for the years years that the swarming locusts has eaten. This is what's going to happen to the past.

Joel 2 · chapter mention

Then I will make up to you for the years that this swarmy locust has eaten." My paraphrase of that passage is, don't be bugged by the past, rest, let it go, and let God's grace do its work. Let's pray together. Our Father, how grateful for the work of grace that abounds in each of our lives, in each of our stories. Lord, we can point to nothing that makes us deserving of this great salvation that you are accomplishing. It is a work that you and you alone are doing and father how grateful we are in our present tense lives where our feet are for this unite unique opportunity that you have entrusted to us to be to be a part of your people to be part of this great offensive into our world to be the offensive presence of christ Christ, where we are in our respective worlds, to bear testimony to the inbreaking of the kingdom of God. Father, how grateful we are for our community here at PK, to be a part of this community, to Be a Part of this Fellowship. And Father, might we each one have this keen awareness awareness of our providential standing and our providencial situation. And that as we disperse from this place, as we go to our home, as мы go into our worlds, that we might be all the more mindful of how You are working and stirring in our lives to serve You and to be an influence upon the world around us. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Good seeing everyone. See you in a couple