HINDSIGHT: LOOKING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD | PART 2 | Healthy Hindsight & Heaven's Cancel Culture

Heat.

[music]

Heat.

>> [music]

>> Hallelujah.

[applause]

Oh, what? Where are you guys? Awake

today. What's going on?

>> Grace, Selummit Church, you guys

weathered this crazy weather out there.

What's up with that? Who Who loves this

snow?

You all need to come up here and repent

right now.

Start casting the devil out of folks. My

goodness.

Snowing sideways out there. I'm ready

for some sun. Who's ready for sun

sunshine? There we go. There's my people

right there. Give yourselves a hand. My

sunshine folks. Hallelujah. Hey, Pastor

Dan was talking about the the cassettes.

Oh my goodness. You guys, you guys, who

here remembers going to church and then

then getting the cassette? You get to

pay for it. Remember that?

>> Pay a couple bucks. I always keep a

couple extra dollar bills in my pocket

so I get the good word take home with

me. And man, I got I've been preaching

long enough. I got myself on cassette. I

remember the first time that I that I

somebody recorded me preaching on a

cassette, I felt like I was famous, you

know? It was like recorded. I was like,

"Woo, we're going big time now, man."

Yeah. Then we switched over to CDs. The

the issue is uh and anyone that's

preached, we got some preachers in the

house. Uh when you listen back to your

uh cassette tape sermons from 25 years

ago, you go, "Uh yeah, I uh wrongly

indoctrinated a whole lot of people and

I should have never been preaching to

begin with, right?" And I listen back

and I go, I sound like I was 12. I don't

know what it was with the recordings,

but they make you sound nasely.

It's like sound like a little kid

preaching back there. Well, hey, if

you're a guest with us, my name is Ben.

I have the opportunity to serve as lead

pastor. And uh we're going to get into

the word of God. You guys ready for the

word?

>> Pray with me. Father, we thank you,

Lord. God, for revival on the inside of

us. Father, I thank you, Lord, that we

are the temple of the Holy Spirit,

not this building, but you've called us,

Father, to be a home, a dwelling place

for the spirit of the living God. And

Father, I thank you Lord for your word,

your written word, God, connecting with

the spirit of God on the inside of us

and illuminating the truth to our souls.

Father, that we would hear from heaven

today.

Lord, we didn't weather this storm and

gather in this place to hear words from

men, but Father, we came to hear from

you. And so Lord, our ears are

attentive, our eyes are open, and

Father, we thank you God for speaking to

us in Jesus name. Amen.

Well, we're in a series called hindsight

and we have been looking back to move

forward. Uh last week, uh a couple of

highlights. We said, "My past is not my

prison, it's my weapon." That's the good

news, isn't it? How many times we become

a prisoner to our past, not a product of

our past. Uh we also said that your past

victory is the down payment on your

future deliverance.

Looking back and seeing what God has

done in our life kind of paves the road

for us to uh get the breakthrough in

this next season. We talked briefly

about New Year's resolutions and uh

really what God gave us is that a new

year doesn't change your life, a new

lens does. And God is giving us a new

lens in this season called hindsight.

Uh today we're going to go deeper. Say

deeper.

>> Deeper.

>> Some of you heard that message last

week. And sitting in this place uh felt

stirred and felt victory. Uh can I just

say this? I don't know how many times I

hear people say that uh Sunday morning I

felt on top of the world and Monday I

was right back on the struggle bus.

Anyone experienced that where it's like,

man, in this place, you know, God's kind

of stirring us up a little bit, man. You

get the old the old Holy Ghost

goosebumps. Oh my goodness. God God's

speaking. You feel all inspired. And

then somehow when we wake up Monday

morning, it's like the enemy wants to

kind of come back and and you kind of

lose some of that. And what God wants to

do today is to take us deeper into that

practical application piece. How do I

actually live this thing out and be

successful over the words of the enemy,

the works of the enemy? My guess is that

some of you uh throughout this week uh

the enemy was messing with you, playing

some of the old scenes. We're talking

about hindsight. uh playing some of the

old failures, some of the old uh

highlight reels of hell uh came rolling

up uh trying to attack you and and uh

this week we're going to learn how to

overcome that. Say

>> cancelled. Cancelled.

>> Man, this uh cancel culture thing. It's

starting to fade a little bit now, but

we've all kind of seen it in the

mainstream and and uh really what's

happening is is if uh you don't agree

with me or you don't uh believe like me

or all that stuff, all of a sudden

people get cancelled. And sometimes

we've seen people getting canceled for

things that had they did 10 years ago,

20 years ago, right? And there's this

this absolute blacklist shutdown of

individuals.

I want to talk about cancel culture

today,

but I want to talk about heaven's

version of cancel culture. Colossians

Colossians 2:14

2:14

says that Jesus canceled, say cancelled,

>> cancelled. Jesus canceled the record of

debt that stood against us. He nailed it

to the cross. Man, if you only knew one

scripture, that's a good one to know.

Amen. That he canled the debt of sin. I

have been delivered. I have been set

free because the culture of heaven

stepped in and looked at the devil's

work in my life and said, "Cancled,

you're blacklisted. You have no

authority. You have no power. Sit down

and shut up.

You say that to the devil. Oh my

goodness.

>> Yeah.

Cancel.

Today I want to talk to the person who

feels like their past

is constantly trying to cancel their

future.

What if we were empowered to look back

at every hurt, every heartache, every

failure, every struggle

and we aligned ourselves with heaven

and said, "Cancelled,

cancelled."

I want to talk today about healthy

hindsight.

Uh we all know and have experienced the

unhealthy side of hindsight. when the

old uh memories, the old things come up

and they come with a a type of weight, a

type of despair,

uh type of uh almost zapping our power.

Have you ever had that happen? Uh today

I want to talk about the healthy

hindsight that comes from God that

brings freedom. It brings life. It

brings power. And I'll say this, it

paves the way for God's future in your

life. I want to give you three steps for

healthy hindsight.

And I'm giving you practical

application. I love that we have

notetakers uh in the church uh because

they say that you only retain about 20%

of what's said on a Sunday morning. Man,

I got to write things down. Uh I I got

to I like to look back over it and kind

of digest it and go, man, man, there's

some things I want to put into practice.

Uh, I'm not just coming for Sunday

morning, but I'm coming for Monday

morning and Tuesday morning. I I want to

I want to be able to live this thing

out. And so, uh, number one in your

notes, steps to healthy hindsight is see

it for what it was.

See it for what it was before we can let

it go. Talking about our past failures,

our struggles, whatever it is, you've

got to be able to see it clearly.

In the Old Testament, uh, we see the

story of the Hebrew children, the

Israelites, and how they were delivered

out of slavery

and they were on their way to the

promised land. I resonate with that

group of people because I've been

delivered out of slavery and I too am on

my way to the promised land. Who's with

me?

>> On my way to the promised land. They in

their journey towards the promised land

began to look back

and they're looking back at their

bondage, their beatings, their slavery,

their forced labor. And listen to what

they say. They say this, "It was better

for us back there. At least we had

food."

Because they're journeying through the

wilderness and their bellies grumble a

little bit like God's not taking good

care of them. Amen.

You find that in Numbers 11, Exodus 16.

This is what they were doing. They were

romanticizing their bondage.

Romanticizing

their bondage. I've seen this up close

and personal

uh for years working with people coming

out of extreme addiction. And I would

watch individuals, man, they get they

get free. They get they get clean and

sober. they get uh Jesus in their life,

give their life to Christ and they start

walking through that disciplehip process

and uh I would kind of maybe hear them

overtalking

uh to a friend or a group of guys and uh

hear what they're talking about. Uh

ladies, you know how guys are, they like

to one up each other.

You ever been to those stories? Yeah.

You caught one this big. I caught one

this big, man. I was way up in Alaska,

man. call, you know, we like always like

to one up each other. And it's like,

just chill out. We're not we're not uh

trying to compete here, right? And so

these guys are are talking about you

used to do that, man. I used to I used

to do more than that. I used to do more

cocaine. I used to do I used to, man, I

was on the streets. I I spent 15 years

in prison. And I'm like, uh, why are we

celebrating that? Like you're

romanticizing. You're talking about it

like it's a good thing. And what you're

not looking back talking about the party

life and all this stuff and all the the

women and all these things and and I go,

man, you're you're romanticizing it. And

what you're not doing is telling the

whole story. How you lost your children,

how you lost your wife, how you were

homeless, how you spent years in

institutions and rehabs. Yeah. You you

forgot that part of the story, huh? And

you're you're sitting here and you're

going, "Man, I I don't identify with

that type of extreme background.

Flesh is flesh.

Humans are humans. I don't know what

your story is, but we all have a

tendency and the enemy will play on it

for you to look back and romanticize

your bondage.

What was your bondage?

Don't say it out loud. We ain't that

kind of church.

Yeah. Romanticizing.

Romanticizing the rush, romanticizing

the fun,

leaving out

the bad parts,

telling what I call the highlight reel

of hell.

Just the highlights.

Just the highlight reel. But that's not

the whole story.

You might look back and have a different

kind of Egypt.

Think about

past relationships,

talked to different ones, and they

romanticize that that one relationship,

that dating relationship or that

whatever that was. They romanticize it

and they uh remember the attention, the

chemistry, the emotion, the lust. They

remember those things. What they don't

remember is the anxiety, the

manipulation, the comprom compromise,

the sinful relationship.

I've looked back. I'm in ministry. I've

looked back and romanticized seasons

where I made a lot of money

because in ministry you don't make a lot

of money, right?

Had more money but less soul.

Parents, you ever done this?

My wife and I don't think we would

confess publicly to this. romanticizing

about prekid life.

You know, when we had all the freedom,

we had that stuff. What's it called?

Money. Cuz you know, all the little kids

are expensive, right? Now we got big

kids. They get more expensive. It's

like, sheesh, man. How much for what?

Yeah. Romanticizing that freedom. Or

sometimes married people will

romanticize the single life. And you

look back at all that and and really

what the enemy is doing is he's giving

you the highlight reel but not allowing

you to see the whole story.

Say, "I want the whole story."

Romanticizing the version of yourself

that didn't set boundaries. We look at

it and say, "Man, those were the good

old days.

And those were also the days full of

compromise,

numbness,

and a version of you that was not

walking in the calling that God has for

your life.

Romanticizing the bondage.

Hindsight in the spirit, we're talking

about healthy hindsight,

says this. Let's tell the truth about

that season.

Let's tell the truth about that season.

If we want to talk about the past, let's

be honest.

If you're taking notes, write this down.

Never romanticize what God says destroys

you.

Never romanticize what God says

destroys you.

Your sinful past wasn't flattering.

And sometimes we like to tell the story

like it was. It was stealing your joy,

stealing your calling, and poisoning

your relationships.

You can't be free from what you keep

flattering. Amen.

You have to rewrite the story. If you

keep calling Egypt, like the Israelites

did, better back then, you'll never

actually make it to the promised land.

And how many know that God has something

better for you? So, here's my question.

What have you been lying to yourself

about from your past?

Quiet in the house of God.

What do you keep editing from your past

in your favor?

Editing it in your favor.

Sometimes we let nostalgia tell a nicer

version of our story, don't we?

The biggest question that I ask myself

is, who's narrating my story?

Who's narrating my story? Luke chapter

24:E 13. Want to spend some time in the

word of God.

says this that same day

that was after the crucifixion of Jesus

Christ before the ascension of Jesus

Christ and this is the day that the

women were at the tomb and saw that the

tomb was empty. It says that same day

two of Jesus's followers were walking to

the village of Emmas 7 miles from

Jerusalem.

As they walked along they were talking

about everything that had happened.

As they talked and discussed these

things, Jesus himself suddenly came and

began walking with them. But God kept

them from recognizing him.

He asked them, "What are you discussing

so intently as you walk along?"

They stopped short, sadness written

across their face.

Now listen, these guys were followers of

Jesus. They had spent time. They had

seen Jesus perform the miracles right in

front of their eyes. They had heard the

teachings of Jesus Christ coming out of

his own mouth. They were in Jerusalem

when Jesus Christ was crucified and hung

on that cross and salvation for all

mankind was released into the

atmosphere.

They were there to catch word that the

tomb was empty. That's these two guys.

And it says that they stopped short and

sadness was written written across their

face. Verse 18. Then one of them,

Cleopus, replied, "You must be the only

person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard

about all the things that have happened

there the last few days."

"What things?" Jesus asked. Now Jesus is

a jokester sometimes. He knows all

things. And they're not it's not like

what happened. It's him. He was there.

It was his story and he says, "Hey, what

things? What are you what are you guys

talking about?" Basically, what Jesus is

saying is, "What story are you telling

yourself about what happened?"

"Who's narrating the story?"

"What things?" Jesus asked. The things

that happened to Jesus, the man from

Nazareth, they said, "He was a prophet

who did powerful miracles.

He was a mighty teacher in the eyes of

God and all the people." But our leading

priest and other religious leaders

handed him over to be condemned to death

and they crucified him. We had hoped,

catch this, we had hoped he was the

Messiah who had come to rescue Israel.

This all happened three days ago.

How many know that the devil will try to

narrate your miracles?

Amen. The things of God in your life.

I've watched it time and time again. Uh

years ago, there was a young man in our

church that uh he got saved every week.

And like after 15 times, I was like,

"Man, I want to hang out with this dude

and just see what's going on in his

mind." I've seen a handful of people

that get saved every week and it's

almost like the first one didn't take.

And and I know how that goes because

because you you come make this

profession of faith. You come do exactly

what the scripture says to do and you

believe it and then the enemy wants to

come right behind it and sew seeds of

doubt and narrate the story about what

Christ just did in your life. You look

at the devil and you say, "Cancelled,

cancelled, devil."

Sometimes God will do things in our

lives and we'll play it off like it's

coincidence. The enemy will whisper in

your mind, "Well, that's just happen

stance."

Or he'll paint it in a negative light.

We've seen this deconstruction

of Christians gaining popularity where

people that were raised in the church or

have spent time serving in churches.

Somehow the enemy starts to narrate the

story and they look back on their church

experience. And even though while they

were in the church experience, God was

moving in their life and doing things in

their heart and in their mind and in

their family and in their finances and

all these things. And then somehow they

start believing the wrong narrator and

they look back with a negative light on

the experiences of God.

Sometimes we retell

God's story through doubt's lens.

I want you to hear this. The problem

isn't that you replay it. The problem is

who's doing the commentary.

Who's doing the commentary? The enemy

loves to grab the remote and replay your

past and be the narrator.

One of the things I've learned is that

the devil is not creator. He's

corruptor.

He can't create your story, but he loves

to get in and try to corrupt your story.

He edits the script. He adds that dark

soundtrack.

Then he hits repeat.

Yeah, I was thinking about it. Maybe

it's because it's the holiday season.

Just made it through Thanksgiving and

Christmas. Anyone in here ever watched

the Hallmark movies?

Yeah, I can't watch them anymore. My

brain is like too quick and they're so

predictable, right? Then I'm like I'm 20

minutes in and I already know the whole

plot line and how this thing's going to

end. Like of course they're going to

fall in love blah blah blah. You know

what I mean? We we watch the story and I

have to watch something that's, you

know, a little more, I don't know,

intellectually engaging.

And I'm not picking on you if you like

the Hallmark movies. They're great. I've

watched them. But well, we all know the

story, right? It's like the same same

team, the same director, uh, said, "Man,

let's just take the same story, get a

different cast and different setting."

And it's always what why is it always

the city person, right? the business

exec either goes back to their small

town or to some other small town for

some whatever reason, right? And there's

always a festival or something in this

small town and they always meet the

person of the opposite sex that they

don't like and there's all this tension,

right? I'm telling the story. You guys

know this story and we all know that

they're going to fall in love at the end

cuz we've seen this story before, right?

And then the whole town falls in love

with a city person and all this stuff. I

mean, we've seen this story and I

thought about, you know, that that it's

like the same director, the same team

that keeps making these. What if a

director from a horror film got a hold

of the story, the Hallmark movie,

and he'd be playing like the dark,

creepy music, you know, same cast,

same guy that goes to the same small

town, but putting that kind of twist on

it and could change the whole feeling

of the movie. That's what the devil

does.

He likes to take your story from

hallmark to horror.

I almost started preaching right there.

Hallelujah.

It's why some of you feel stuck

because you're not just remembering it,

you're letting hell narrate it.

That was kind of like a bomb dropping in

the atmosphere, wasn't it?

You're not just remembering it, you're

letting hell narrate it.

Is it okay if I preach this morning?

>> It's thick in here. It's getting heavy

in here. What's going on?

Look at verse 25. We'll continue in Luke

24.

Luke 24:25. Then Jesus said to them,

Luke 24:25

"You foolish people." I just got to say

this. I love the cander of Jesus Christ.

Right. Not politically correct. Just

calling cats out.

Yeah.

that you foolish people. You find it so

hard to believe all the prophets wrote

in the scripture. They stood there. They

lived it. They watched the miracles.

They watched the crucif they watched all

this stuff. And now they don't even

believe what they saw. Verse 26. Wasn't

it clearly predicted? This is Jesus

talking to them that the Messiah would

have to suffer all these things before

entering his glory.

Then Jesus took them through the

writings of Moses and all the prophets,

explaining from all the scriptures the

things concerning himself. Where did

Jesus take them? Hindsight.

This is last week. It is written, right?

He took them right back to the word.

Have you forgot what the book says?

Amen. I mean, you live. You're in the

you're in the story of the book. You saw

all these things happen, these miracles,

and all this stuff happen. But do you

not believe what the book says about the

things that are happening now?

How many times we've read a scripture

about freedom, about power, about

healing, and you go, I don't know if

that's for me for now, for today. I

don't know if I believe that.

You're only able to receive what you're

willing to believe.

Some of us have a believe problem.

Verse 28.

By this time they were nearing Emmas

and the end of their journey. Jesus

acted as if he were going on.

But they begged him stay the night with

us since it's getting late. So he went

home with them. As they sat down to eat,

he took the bread and blessed it. Then

he broke it and gave it to them.

Suddenly, say suddenly,

>> suddenly their eyes were open and they

recognized him. And at that moment, he

disappeared. Jesus is a jokester.

Look at this. I mean, he comes in

undercover. He's sneaking up on these

guys, right? Doesn't even let them know

that it's him, right? That sounds kind

of shady, but Jesus is doing what he

does, right? So, he comes up. He's

listening to these guys. He say, "What

what story are you telling yourself

about what just happened? because now

you're in defeat. You're walking away

from Jerusalem, going seven miles away

and not even staying for the outpouring

of the Holy Spirit in the whole book of

Acts to be released, right? And so he

sneaks out telling him and he's about to

go away. They think that he's leaving

act like I'm going away and they invite

him into the house and then he blesses

the bread and breaks it.

Their eyes are open. They see that it's

Jesus. And in that moment, what's he do?

Disappears.

Jesus is messing with them in a good

way. Verse 32, they said to each other,

"Didn't our hearts burn within us as he

talked with us on the road and explained

the scriptures to us?" And within the

hour, this is the good news. Within the

hour, they were on their way back to

Jerusalem. Can I tell you that it takes

an awakening from Jesus Christ to get

you back where you're supposed to be?

Within the hour, they were on their way

back to Jerusalem. There they found the

11 disciples and the others who had

gathered with them who said, "The Lord

has really risen. He appeared to Peter."

Then the two from Emmas told their story

of how Jesus had appeared to them as

they were walking along the road and how

they had recognized him as he was

breaking the bread.

Number one, see it for what it was.

Number two in your notes is say goodbye

to what can't stay.

Say goodbye to what can't stay.

Isaiah 43 18 and 19. God says this. He

says, "Forget the former things. Do not

dwell on the past. See that I'm doing a

new thing." Say, "A new thing."

>> Here's the calling. We look back,

catch this, for a purpose. We look back

to move forward.

We look back to move forward. He says,

"Forget the former things."

Forget the former things. Everyone say,

"Forget."

>> God's not saying erase your memory.

He's stay He's saying stop giving the

former things power over your future

things.

Some of your past you remember as a

testimony.

Some you're supposed to release as dead

weight.

This is where we look back and say

goodbye.

Say goodbye.

Goodbye. Come on. Say goodbye.

>> Goodbye.

>> Goodbye. Keeping you awake, man. Some of

y'all didn't get coffee this morning. I

can tell.

Your strong goodbye breaks the cycle.

Deuteronomy chapter 2 verse 1. Then we

Deuteronomy 2:1

turned and set out for the wilderness by

way of the Red Sea.

As the Lord spoke to me and we circled

Mount Seir for many days and the Lord

spoke to me saying, "You have circled

this mountain long enough. Now turn

north.

You've circled the mountain long enough.

I I got to say this. This is the word

for today.

We go around the mountain,

different season, same issue,

same struggle.

I counseledled too many people over the

years and and I've had individuals that

uh we counsel and counsel and counsel

and have years invested in them. And

every time I counsel, it's giving them

man, he who the son says free is free

indeed. man, we're giving them the the

word of God and and giving them the

freedom of the power blood of Christ and

all this stuff. Then next year, it's the

same circle with the same struggle. And

after so many of those, I go, man, I

don't know if I got anything else to

offer you because you're not willing to

step up and step out and go north. You

just keep walking around the mountain.

And God says, stop circling the mountain

and go north.

Some things don't need a suitcase. They

need a funeral.

Amen.

I'm thankful when I look back some of

the things I'm able to say goodbye to.

You guys ever look back at old photos

with some of your hairstyles, [laughter]

you know, man, I'm glad we said goodbye

to that. Yeah. Some of the outfits that

we wore. Oh, yeah. Back in the 90s, man,

I had me a mohawk. Yeah. Had me the

earring. I was working. That was looking

good. Yeah. I look back at that, I'm

like, you young punk kid. What in the

world? Glad we said bye to the mohawk.

Unless you guys want, I got to bring it

back.

>> No. Okay.

[laughter]

I didn't catch that, but I'll see you

after church. I don't know what that

was.

>> Lincoln, [laughter]

man. [laughter]

That's my son, by the way.

We'll talk later.

[laughter]

Break the cycle. What is the cycle? The

cycle is the repeated sin,

that repeated reaction,

the self-limiting narrative.

I remember this and

uh

I used to struggle with anger real bad.

Used to fight, drop of a hat. I was

young, I was a fighter. And if you talk

to me a certain way, I certain words or

the lady that's with me, talk to her a

certain way. It was like a a formula

that this plus this equals this.

any guys in the house of God,

right? And I remember going through

disciplehip and and being in this

experience where I'm out in public and I

see the the plus signs going

there dude over here running his mouth

and I'm seeing the this plus this and

the interesting thing in Christ is it

didn't equal this.

I stopped going around the mountain

and the spirit of God that dwelt on the

inside of me began to speak peace to my

soul that you don't have to go around

that mountain again because nothing

good's ever come out of that.

What's your mountain?

Keep circling around.

Your goodbye breaks the cycle of

repeated sin. It breaks the cycle of

that reaction,

calculated reaction. And it breaks the

cycle of the self-limiting narrative.

God says, "You've circled this mountain

long enough.

Now turn north."

I love Isaiah. Forget the former thing.

Say, "Forget.

Forget the former things. Do not dwell

on the past. See, I am doing a new

thing." Look at your neighbor and say,

"Forget about it."

>> God says, "Yeah, that was horrible." You

guys, you guys need a little Italian

flare. Okay, you got to look back. You

got to say, "Forget about it." Huh? I'm

done with you. Huh? Get out of here. You

guys need some of that. Oh, man. Well, I

need more Italians in my life, man. I

was eating some good marinara sauce. Oh

my good.

You got to look back. You got Forget

about it. I mean, IT KEEPS COMING BACK,

doesn't it? YOU SAY, "GET OUT. GET GO

get out of here. I'm not listening.

Forget about it. Forget about it."

And it's not just the the former things

that we think are bad or sinful. I want

to quickly look at the Apostle Paul. Uh

this man had the right to brag about his

hindsight.

He had the resume. He had the pedigree.

He was called a Hebrew of Hebrews. He

was a man of status, of power, of

influence. And then he meets Jesus on

the road to Damascus. and and Jesus

shows up and knocks him off his high

horse and humbles him pretty quick,

right? And so this whole story of Paul,

I mean, we're talking a Pharisee of

Pharisees, one of the top religious

leaders of his day, and and had this

power and influence and after an

encounter with Jesus, what does he say?

He doesn't say, you know, those things

in the past, they were okay, but but

Jesus was better.

What does he say? He says, I count them

all. All those trophies, all those

accolades, all those accomplishments,

all those degrees, all those titles, I

count them all as rubbish.

The English translators were very kind

translating that word rubbish because it

literally translates dung.

It's the stuff that you accidentally

step in, you got to scrape off your

shoe,

right? The the funny thing about rubbish

is that you can smell it even when you

can't see it.

I've had prideful people walk into the

room and you can smell it, can't you?

Like, what in the what is that?

Yeah. And they come in with all the It's

good stuff. I accomplished this. I have

this degree. We went on this missions

trip over here. We gave this much money

to that. And I'm like, who cares? You

know what? Paul the Apostle called

himself chief among sinners, the least

among you. He said, "I resolve to know

nothing else except Jesus Christ and him

crucified."

That's the title that he took.

I count them all

as rubbish.

The very things that he used to

celebrate, he now considers waste.

You realize that his pedigree was

actually his prison.

And some of us still continue to find

our identity in what we used to be.

what Paul's saying, he's saying that

status didn't save me. That title didn't

heal me. And that success didn't give me

peace.

Write this down. Stop trying to recycle

what God told you to refuse.

Stop trying to recycle what God told you

to refuse.

Healthy hindsight.

Healthy hindsight. It looks at all those

accolades,

all those accomplishments, that old

identity identity, and says, "Forget

about it. It's rubbish."

Number three, and I'll close with this.

Number three is step in

where you've never been.

Step in where you've never been. I want

to jump back to the Israelites for a

minute. I I just identify with these

guys. Joshua 3 and four is where I'm

kind of pulling from. They they left

Egypt.

They've been on this journey. And now

they're standing at the Jordan.

Be behind them is the bondage Egypt, the

wilderness, the 40 years of circling.

And in front of them is a flooded river.

And what God says to them in Joshua 3:4,

Joshua 3:4

God says, "You have not passed this way

before.

You have not passed this way before."

Remember Moses parted the Red Sea and he

held out his staff and part of they

they've seen this miracle before. But

God says, "They're standing at the bank

of the river. We know that we've got to

get across. We know that we can't do it

with God." And God says, "You've never

gone this way before." And there's no

Moses and there's no staff. And what

they see

are the priests begin to step into the

water and the waters part.

Can I say this? The way that God did it

in last season is probably not the way

that God's going to do it in this

season.

God is not a God of formulas.

He's not a God that's going to do it the

same way. We see that in Jesus. All the

different ways he did miracles. No two

were alike.

Same God,

new step.

hindsight and a healthy perspective

says, "I know that God's gonna God did

it before. I know God's going to bring

me through it. I don't know how he's

going to do it. And I put no

expectations on how God's going to get

me there. But one thing I know is that

God did not bring me this far to leave

me hanging."

Amen. If God brought me to it, God will

take me through it.

And once you see it, the past for what

it really is,

once you say goodbye to those things

that don't need to come with you, the

only direction left is to step in.

The Bible says it's impossible to please

God without faith.

Impossible to please God without faith.

Sometimes we just got to step in.

Look at your neighbor and say, "Come on

in. The water's fine.

I'll ask the worship team to join me up

here.

I'll ask you a question. What is the

Jordan step

that God is asking you to take in 2026?

[music]

Who is the commentator that's going to

get you across the river?

Because my guess is that you've stood at

the bank of the waters before.

The wrong commentator spoke defeat over

you and you said, "I don't think I've

got what it takes to go where God wants

me to go."

Who's the commentator that's going to

get you across the water to the new

place, to the promised land?

And I was thinking about it. Revelation

12 calls the devil the accuser of the

brethren.

He's the accuser.

He's a full-time critic, professional

accuser. And the devil has one job to

keep using your old footage to stop your

new future. [music] And when the devil

comes in and says, "Man, let me narrate

your past. Let's talk about your past

for a second." I like to look at the

devil and say, "You know what? I want to

talk about your past for a minute,

devil. If we're going to start looking

back, let's I want and think about this.

Heaven is the most perfect place there

ever has been. And and I mean it's

perfect. Full of grace and mercy and

power and love and devil, you were the

first idiot to get kicked out of there,

right?

Ignorant.

Why would I listen to you?

Tell me about your past and I'll tell

tell you about your past. The devil,

don't make me start talking about your

future, cuz I know where you're going.

I was thinking about heaven and hell.

You know that hell is the most unfair

place.

I'm sorry. Hell is the most fair place

in the universe.

The Bible says that the wages of sin is

death.

That everyone that ends up to hell in

hell uh got there because we deserved

it.

Do you know that heaven

is the most unfair place?

Because none of us deserve heaven.

None of us earned heaven, but Jesus

stepped in and canceled the debt and

nailed it to the cross and said, "I'll I

I'll I'll make payment for you." And we

don't deserve to get there. It's unfair

that we're even able to live this life

that we're living here on earth free and

delivered and healed and set free. It's

not even fair.

M

we get what we don't deserve.

Let's stand to our feet all over this

house.

I wrote this in my notes.

Hell is what you get when you insist on

being paid what you're worth.

The enemy will not relent trying to

narrate your story.

He'll walk into your life like the

director of the film.

[music]

He'll take his liberties.

He'll he'll push you and push you.

We've all had that pushy salesman,

right? Keeps pushing and pushing and

pushing, manipulating and working the

angle. Enemy will come in like he like

he runs the show. And the only thing

that will stop is when you have been

cleansed through the blood of Jesus

Christ, given your life to Christ, and

have a spiritual backbone enough to say,

"Hey, you don't call the shots here." He

does.

I don't know where you're at or what's

happening in your world, but there's

some people in here today that are about

to get free that are about to look back

in the past and say no to the things

that are not welcome into my future.

[music]

Let's pray. Father, I thank you.

Thank you, God, just for letting us see

what we need to see.

I thank you for saying to us what needs

to be said, Father, for shooting

straight with us. And God, I thank you

for calling up

those areas that need to go away that we

need to break free from. Father, I thank

thank you, God, that not only you call

us to it, but Father, you empower us.

God, you gave us the authority. You gave

us the freedom

to be able to say no, to say goodbye, to

say forget about it, to say cancelled.

Father, [music] I'm thankful for those

that have taken a step of faith today to

cross that river, to stop going around

that mountain. Father, I thank you for

the call that you've put upon us to go

north. So, Father, I release blessing

over this people that every man, woman,

and child would leave with the freedom

and the power available to them from

heaven through the blood of our savior

Jesus.

Lord, I thank you for it now in Jesus

name. And God's people said, "Amen."

We're going to close the service with

worship. I'm going to ask our prayer

team to come forward. Listen, if you

need prayer for anything, I want to

invite you to come and let us lay hands

on you and pray with you and believe God

for your miracle [music] in this season.

[music]

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