DON’T LET YOUR PAST DETERMINE YOUR FUTURE!
Eccl. 1:9-10; Isa. 43:19; Mk. 9:23
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: BIBLE ILLITERACY
1. As of 2011, Pollsters found that in the Millennial generation (who ranged in age from 18-29) a full third of them had no plans to ever read the Bible. Hopefully that will change.
2. Max had been a confirmed atheist ever since college, but as he approached his 60th birthday, spiritual issues became important to him again. He decided to go to church -- first time in nearly 40 years.
3. He enjoyed the service and listened attentively to the sermon, especially the announcement at the end when the Pastor announced that next week would discuss the great flood.
4. At the end of the service, Max went up to the Pastor and said, "Pastor, I really enjoyed the service, but I won’t be able to attend next week. But don’t think I don’t care -- put me down for a $100 donation for the flood victims!"
B. TEXT
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” Eccl. 1:9-10;
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isa. 43:19;
“Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.’” Mk. 9:23
C. THESIS
1. We’re going to see how we can let our past limit us, why our destiny is greater than we anticipate, and how to get your future back on God’s fast-track.
2. The title of tonight’s message is “Don’t Let Your Past Determine Your Future.”
I. THE PAST IS VALUABLE BUT LIMITING
A. WE CHERISH THE MEMORIES OF TIMES & PEOPLE LONG GONE
1. The apostle Paul once said (Phip. 3:14), "Forgetting those things which are behind…." I don't agree.
2. We must not forget our previous experiences. Someone has said, "Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are bound to repeat them." That’s very true.
3. Think of how many wonderful people have been an influence on your life! Should you forget about them? No!
B. PAST = FOUNDATION OF OUR EXPER. & KNOWLEDGE
1. Who and what we are, is the cumulative sum of our past life and experiences.
2. We've had great experiences with the Lord we are told to remember.
3. God told the Israelites to make memorials to commemorate the great deeds He had done.
C. OUR PAST: THE SPRINGBOARD, LAUNCHING PAD
1. History can be the spring-board for the future, the launching pad for future.
2. That was Paul’s intent in saying to forget the past. He knew the tendency of Christians would be to stop working for God because they felt like they’d already done enough for the Lord.
3. The reason to “forget the past” is so we’ll work today like we’ve never done anything before! We need to seek God the same way!
4. HUMOR
a. The teacher says to her class, "I want you all to write an essay on what you would do if you won the $5 million lottery."
b. After 30 minutes, Jim Bob hands in a blank piece of paper. "Jim Bob," says the teacher, "why haven’t you written anything?"
c. "Because if I had $5 million, Miss, that's exactly what I would do – nothing!" [Common attitude spiritually!]
D. MAYBE YOUR PAST HASN’T BEEN ALL SUCCESSES
1. Israel had messed up royally. For many years they had turned away from God and been idolaters and indulged in every sort of sin, yet God told them to stop dwelling on it!
2. Maybe that is where you are tonight! The good news is, God is giving you a fresh, new beginning. Get the past under the Blood and move on!
3. We need to understand that God is more interested in our future than He is in our past.
4. Someone has said, “You can’t alter your past, but you can put your past on the altar!”
5. So we shouldn’t let our past achievements limit what we perceive God can do for us in the future.
II. YOU HAVE A GREAT DESTINY BECAUSE…
A. YOU BELONG TO GOD
1. “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” 1 Cor. 6:19-20.
2. God is jealous over what is His. He guards and fights for what is His own. Say; “I’m God’s Property!” God’s going to take His property with Him to Heaven before the Antichrist arises.
3. You have a destiny that spans the galaxies and supersedes the laws of space/time!
B. GOD HAS A PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE
1. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” Jer. 29:11.
2. God doesn’t like it when His plans get messed up. He always finds another way to complete them. Example: the Potter that marred the clay pot he was working on.
3. “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again into another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it” Jer. 18:4.
4. Even if your life has been messed up, God's not finished with you yet! He has developed a NEW plan for your life, taking you from where you are today, and moving you forward to a great future.
C. YOU’RE A WINNER, NOT A LOSER
You WILL eventually triumph!
1. “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” 1 Jn. 4:4.
2. In Adam you were born a loser, but in Christ you were born a winner! God isn’t a loser, so you can’t be a loser. You’re not an accident; You’re not a mistake. Before time began, you were a part of God’s plan. You were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
3. When you were born again, you were born in God’s image, created in His likeness and born of His Spirit. You’re a child of the Most High God; you’re a King’s kid, Royal Blood now flows in your veins! You’re not average!
4. You’re an Overcomer! The term "overcomer" doesn’t mean someone who wins every battle. In fact, this term was used of those who went from one defeat to another to another. But they kept on fighting until eventually they won the war!
5. ILLUSTRATION
a. Pro Wrestling is staged. Before the wrestlers ever go out, it’s been predetermined who will win.
b. The contenders go through the battle for entertainment purposes but the point of the battle is not to decide who will win but to give the crowd a show.
c. The winner of the match does not battle for victory but from victory. He battles knowing that he's already won.
d. Those who come to Jesus Christ have already won. God allows us to go through our Christian walk, not to win the victory but to show off to the world, that He that’s in us is greater than he that’s in the world! [Tony Evans Bk. Of Illus., p. 337.]
D. BC THE WORD IS WORKING IN YOU
1. “So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” Isa. 55:11.
2. The Word of God is the most powerful thing in the universe, because by it Jesus made the universe, Heb. 1:2-3. God's Word is an active force; creating, animating, sustaining, and propelling all things according to God's will.
3. The Apostle Paul once said, “For who is able to resist His will?” Rom. 9:19. Good point!
4. It doesn’t matter how bad hell fights you, “If God be for you, who can be against you?” No weapon formed against you shall prosper! No power in heaven or Earth can derail God’s plans.
5. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” Rom. 8:35, 37-39.
6. Don’t build your future around your past. Everything you’ve been going through - the battles, the afflictions, the tests, the setbacks, the strange trials, and abnormal hindrances that you’ve experienced -- is the enemy trying to keep you from your destiny.
7. Satan’s greatest fear is your tomorrow. Satan doesn’t want you to become who God said you would become. GOOD NEWS: The devil may hinder you but he can’t stop you!
III. HOW TO RESTART YOUR FUTURE
A. GET RIGHT WITH GOD
1. REPENT. Often we suffer because God is chastening
us for some sin or disobedience. For victory, the first thing is to eliminate any problem or break in relationship between us and God.
2. PERFORM FULL OBEDIENCE. Sometimes it’s not a sin that’s the problem, but not fully obeying God, and God won’t bless until you do. Like a parent who is waiting for a child to pick up their clothes off the floor before they can move on to another subject.
3. HUMOR.
a. A middle aged woman was driving through a school zone when a policeman pulled her over for speeding.
b. As he was giving her the ticket, she said, "How come I always get a ticket and everyone else gets a
warning? Is it my face?"
c. "No, ma'am," explained the officer, "it's your foot."
B. INTERCEDE, FAST & PRAY
1. James said, “You have not, because you ask not” (4:2). That’s pretty simple. At times, God wants us to ask, then seek, then knock. How bad do you want it?
2. We need to seek the Lord with increasing intensity until we touch God and know that He’s heard us.
3. Many great people in Scripture received answers from God because of fasting and prayer. Try it.
C. DO SPIRITUAL WARFARE AGAINST THE ENEMY
1. Paul talked at length in Eph. 6 and elsewhere about “wrestling with principalities and powers” in prayer.
2. We can bind and loose (Mt. 16:19; 18:18); we can cast out the enemy in the Name of Jesus (Mk. 16:17); we can plead the Blood of Christ(Rev. 12:11); we can ask God to loose His warring angels against the enemy (Mt.26:53).
3. Don’t take it off the devil any longer; let God’s holy indignation rise up in you to rebuke and take authority over the devil and send him packing!
D. STAND ON THE WORD & CLAIM YOUR BLESSINGS
1. “Through these He has given us His very great and precious Promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature” 2 Pet. 1:4.
2. It was by believing and laying hold of God’s Promises that Abraham received his promised son Isaac,
Rom. 4:21.
3. God has promised to you better days (Ps. 30:5), deliverance (Ps. 34:19-20), bodily healing (Isa. 53:4-5), comfort in sorrow (Isa. 43:2) your physical needs to be met (Phip. 4:19; Mt. 6:25,30), an eternal home (John 14:1-3), and sufficient grace (2 Cor. 12:9).
4. That's why we sing (occasionally) the great old hymn, "Standing on the Promises." We need to claim what is ours; when we do that by faith, we will receive what is promised. Standing, praying, believing, receiving, & expecting to receive it!
5. “35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be
richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” Heb. 10:35-36.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. In December 1986, I was driving a gasoline truck with 2,500 gallons of gas in the tanks. A drunk driver turned across the road and stopped in front of me. I hit him.
2. My truck rolled over, causing my fuel tank to bust. I found myself in a river of burning gasoline, trying to find a way out of my smashed truck. There seemed to be no way out.
3. [When] I realized I was going to die, a strange kind of peace came over me. I began to think of my wife and two small boys. What would they do without me?
4. But I was powerless against what was happening to me. I had lost my breath, and by automatic reaction, my body took a breath of flames.
5. Within seconds of sure death, I said in my heart and mind, "God, please don't let me die." That is when my miracle took place.
6. The flames parted. There was fresh air for me to breath. It was incredible. Later, I learned that the flames were reported by bystanders to be 80-100 feet high.
7. Yet, in the midst of all this, there was a path through raw gasoline that did not burn until I was cleared of the wreckage.
8. God is waiting for you [to] call out to him like I did. He heard me that day. He will hear you too. [Will's Miracle Story http://christianity.about.com/od/miraculousintervention/a/miraclestory.htm]
B. THE CALL
1. “Don’t Let Your Past Determine Your Future.”
2. How many of you will say, “I refuse to let my past limit me! I want my destiny to be the one God has for me!”
3. The only way to get on God’s fast-track is to repent of poor choices, intercede, do warfare with the enemy and stand on the Word.
4. Salvation Call.
5. Let’s stand and claim the life God wants us to have! Prayer.
