Jesus Never Let His Past Lock Him In (Alternate Recording)

Sermon outline

As the year closes, put God on the throne of your life so He can carry you through impossible situations, and refuse to let your past lock you in, because, like Jesus, you can forget what is behind and press toward the prize ahead.

1. God took care of His house

   Out of COVID, with 30 to 40 per cent of the congregation still worshipping from a distance and the old building standing idle for over a year, God provided for one need after another: about R600,000 to replace rusted pipes so there was drinkable water, over R250,000 for security after break-ins, a new air conditioning system with a discount of more than R500,000, and the repairs after a flood just before Easter. Those who gave went through challenges, but God was preparing them for something greater.

   Illustration: The old air conditioner, which the company had once revived like Lazarus, finally died, and the replacement came at a discount he calls the hand of the Lord.

   “You take care of God's house. God takes care of your house.”

2. It is not a question of how, but when

   The church still has a front wall to build, a children's church facility and land to acquire. If we wait for the climate to be perfect and all the resources to be in hand, life, the devil and circumstance will always say no. When we cast the vision and start, the Lord brings the provision. The same applies to starting a business, opening a franchise or going to study, but God has to be on the throne of your life, not serving your every whim.

   Illustration: We dig the ditch, cast the vision and say, Lord, we are trusting You to do this, and as we start, He fills the ditch.

   “It's not a question of how, it's a question of when.”

3. God puts us in impossible places so He gets the glory

   Gideon's army went from twenty thousand to ten thousand to three hundred so that Israel could not boast that their own numbers won the battle. Every time God did something in the Bible He put the person in an impossible situation so He would get the glory. Is God on the throne of your life, or are you still at the steering wheel? If you keep taking steps forward and going backward, now is the time to change.

   Illustration: A pastor in Johannesburg, cleared at a first check-up, was found on a second opinion to have a clot in a main artery, yet a new vessel had grown around the clot and kept him alive for weeks until surgery, to the wonder of his doctors.

   “When we are in an impossible situation, only God can get the glory, because he's the one that can do it.”

   • Judges 7

4. A prayer over the children and the generations

   Before handing over, Pastor Wesley prays over every child, teenager and young adult in the church: that they would be sealed with the blood, hungry for God's house and Word, protected, in divine health, given the wisdom of Solomon and discernment, matched with godly future partners, and freed from generational predispositions to disease, so that their testimony is that the Lord's hand was on them all their days.

   “In this house, I'm not in control. God is in control.”

   • Psalm 91:10

5. Our past is over

   Dr RJ Sing has Philippians 3:13-14 read twice: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward, press toward the goal. With 2022 almost gone, forget the mistakes and blunders and look toward the high calling. Everyone makes wrong calls; stay teachable, and do not get bitter but better, because bitterness stops the flow of God's power in your life.

   “We must not get bitter. We must get better.”

   • Philippians 3:13-14

6. Jesus never let His past lock Him in

   Jesus had what people would call a questionable background: a carpenter's son born before Joseph married Mary, and only God and Mary knew she was a virgin. People asked what good could come out of Him, as they will of us. He ignored those who slandered Him because He knew who He was, and He never looked back as Lot's wife did. He waited thirty years for three and a half years of ministry that has touched billions.

   “Jesus never, ever allowed his past to have him locked in. He ignored people that slandered him.”

   • John 2:1-11
   • Genesis 19:26

7. Keep a table of victories, not a post-mortem

   You cannot build a future on the foundation of your past; give it a post-mortem and you will always find something to criticise. Be grateful for the past, because the hurdles let us appreciate what God has done, but stop camping on mistakes and stop advertising your pain. God has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west, so learn even to congratulate yourself, your spouse and your children on what God has done.

   Illustration: His home is covered in posters of things God has laid on his heart, which he reads in his prayer time to encourage himself.

   “Yesterday is gone. It's in the tomb. Your dreams and your tomorrow is in the womb, and God will give birth to that.”

   • Psalm 103:12
   • Proverbs 10:22

8. Never look back

   Keep running toward the finishing mark, not sideways or behind, like a horse with blinkers. There are better things ahead, and God is for your success. A winner's mindset produces the skillset to win the race. The afflictions of the righteous are many, but God delivers them from them all.

   Illustration: As a young sprinter in the 200 and 400 metres, his coach told him never to look back, because looking back makes you trip or lose your pace.

   “If you have that mindset, then you will have the skillset to go forward and win the race.”

   • Romans 8:31
   • Psalm 34:19

In this message