How To Move Forward Into Next Year’s Journey
Good morning. Everyone. So good to see you. Hope your Christmas went well, hopefully your New Year's will be great. Let me see here. You know what happens so often to me that I it's hard for me to count the times accurately, because it happens over and over again and over the years of being a pastor, I've listened to many people share their experiences and their frustrations as the Lord takes them through this journey that all of us are called life. No believer and follower of Jesus Christ is immune to it. None of us, no one. In fact, every one of us here today, everyone is on a journey specifically manufactured by the Lord Himself. And each journey is different to some extent, depending on how our Lord accomplishes His purpose and in His timing. Now here's the thing, some, some of the journeys that we're on are short. They they don't last long. Parts, parts of them, some have bumps, some have turns, some of the journey, some of the parts can be real joyful, and there can be times when parts of the journey are long and at times lonely, and it all depends on what God is doing trying to accomplish His will in someone's life. But here's the thing, though, it's all done with grace, this whole journey that each and every one of us are on. It's all about grace. Now, on a personal note, you've heard me share from time to time about our daughter that we have been blessed with, the journey that Cheryl and I have been on with her has lasted 41 years, and it's still going. So like I said, some journeys are short, parts of them and some are long, but ours so far is 41 years, how you and I act now. Now here's the thing, when I say this, how you and I act while we're in the journey. It's not how we react, because the Bible calls us to act biblically, not react, but how you and I act while we're in the journey has a great impact on whether we move spiritually forward or we get stuck. You ever been stuck? I've been stuck. So as we move into the next year, in just a few days, let me ask you a question. This will be the question on the floor for this morning. How's your journey going? Surely, you've been on one this past year, different parts of it. Has it been frustrating? Has it been hurtful? Or maybe just maybe you're still wondering. And here's the thing, we all do it. We all still do it. No matter how long our our walk with Christ has been, there's still a time when whatever journey we're on, we ask the Lord, what are you doing? Window, what are you doing? You know, there have been times that the journey that we've been on, we have actually asked, I have, you know what? You know, what Lord, because you just, you know, he's kind. Sometimes he's constantly working on you. There have been times in my personal prayer time that I've even told them to, you know what? It's okay to take a vacation. Feel free, Lord, take a vacation, because I don't know how much more that I could take. If you got your Bible there, turn to Exodus. Chapter 14. This is a familiar truth that I'm going to share now. I don't know whether you've ever heard I know you've heard this story, but let me share something about this part of Scripture. There was a time to gotta be about 1012, years ago. I was. Teaching in Egypt. Okay. Now, my students were all Egyptians. I was teaching a graduate class on counseling, biblical counseling, and one of the things that my students told me that in the great libraries of Egypt. It's got all this, all of this, all of this is in there about slavery and Israel and in the plagues, all, all of its in there, in these great halls of the libraries, except for one part, the Red Sea. They conveniently left that out. Follow along. Chapter 14, I'm going to start on verse 10. You know the story, okay, many times the plagues, you know, the plagues have come Moses. God used Moses, you know, Let my people go. And finally, Pharaoh is fed up. He says, Go. He says, Now I'm putting it in my own words, get out of here. Get in. Get out of here. Well, then so they go, and verse five says, Uh oh. What did we do? And they changed their minds. Well, who's going to serve us now? Uh oh, okay. Verse 10, so he goes after them. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them. The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help. They said to Moses, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn't this what we told you in Egypt, leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. But Moses said to the people, do not be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord's salvation that He will accomplish for you today, for the Egyptians, you see today, you will never see again. I love that. Go ahead, take a look. Last look again, because they're not going to be around for very long. The Lord will fight for you, and you must be quiet. Verse 15, the Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to me, tell the Israelites to break camp. As for you, lift up your staff, Stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. As for me, I'm going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh, all of all of his army, his chariots and horsemen, the Egyptians, will know that I am the Lord. When I receive glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen, then the angel of the Lord, who was in front of the Israelite forces, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and stood behind them. It came between the Egyptian and and Israelite forces. There was a cloud of darkness. It lit up the night, and neither group came near the other all night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove back the sea into a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left. Wow, that's the part they left out. This is what I'm told. I'm not allowed in their libraries there, but this is what my students told me, that the story, the biblical account of Israel going through the Red Sea and the Red Sea dividing is not in the libraries of Egypt. Everything else is so here are three keys attitude, because don't, don't forget I put in the bulletin next week. Pastor. Early, starting, starting a series about trusting God in the journey. So here are three key, key attitudes to help us that so we can all keep moving forward. The first thing is, don't keep looking back. Don't keep looking back. Look at verse 10. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them. The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help. Wow. Don't look back. And when I tell you that our journey, our personal journey, Cheryl and I started our personal 41 year journey started November 27 1983 little did we know that life as we knew it was going to be over then and the struggle, let me tell you the struggle that I have 41 years later, I catch myself looking back and asking, what if? What if? What if things had had turned out differently. You ever done that? What if? And here's Israel, even though they have experienced God's miracles as they escaped from slavery in Egypt, they look back, and what do they see? They see the Egyptian army coming after them. And I am convinced, spiritually speaking, that the more we look back, the harder it is to move forward. You get that the more we look back, the harder it is to move forward and and here's the thing, all you know, what all it takes is one look. That's it, one look. They took one look and went, Oh no, I can't believe this. All it takes is one look, maybe one glance, maybe one negative thought, one disappointment, which is easy to do. And then fear, fear can set in. And then many times we we say that one thing. We say that one thing, we say, Oh, if only, if only, you know what? Israel does it right here too, if only, but that's what happens when we look back. Because it spiritually challenges us. It challenges us. And you know what? I have to catch myself all the time because, let me tell you something, okay, our 41 year journey hasn't been fun, hasn't? I often tell people I wouldn't wish our journey on anybody, but I wouldn't trade it for anything, for what God has taught us even now, 41 years later. But when we look back, and it's easy for us to do. When we look back, we start to lose focus, which, by example, here is what happened to Israel. They lost focus. They saw them coming after him, and right away they they said they were terrified, and cried out to the Lord for help. Don't look back. Try not to when you do catch yourself really because the more we look back, the harder it is to lose focus. And Israel lost Israel lost focus right away, because they were more concerned with what's behind them. And all these things just keep us they just keep us from moving forward. The journey you're on today is for a purpose, because God it chose this journey for for you in eternity past. Why he chose us? I have no idea. For on our 41 year journey. Sometimes I don't know, but I do know this, the harder he makes it, the more we rely on him. Is your journey hard? Is it a piece of cake? Well, let me tell you something. The journey can be hard, and it's hard for a purpose, so don't look back. Catch yourself doing that. The second thing, don't blame others for your circumstances. Dances, don't blame others for your circumstance. And this, this is so easy to do. Look at verses 11 and 12. Picture Perfect. Here. Watch this. They said to Moses, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn't this what we told you in Egypt, leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. Let me just put it into normal language. Okay, they look at Moses and go, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? You brought us all the way out here for this. You're kidding me. We've been. There ain't enough places to bury us in Egypt that we have to die out here. You know what? You should have left us alone. And for years, my mentor, we have this saying that goes back and forth, and maybe you've heard me say it here, the key to light now this is tongue in cheek, the key to life is knowing who to blame. We say that all the time, and I've said it to my kids and, you know, and and people do this all the time. We we all do it so in our struggle in the past 41 years, there, you know what? Here's the thing. Let me just share this with you. In our hearts, we wish things would have gone different in the delivery room for our daughter 41 years ago, we do the consequences of what went on in that room that day has physically, spiritually, emotionally and financially affected us to this day. And you know what? It's not going to end. It's not going to end until we go home or she goes home. And here's the thing, if I'm not careful, I can blame some of those people involved, but it keeps my heart, you know what happens? It keeps my heart from being soft, full of grace, full of love, full of mercy, full of compassion. And you know what I don't want to you know what I don't want to do that. And people do the same. You know what? We all do it. We do we we tend to blame others for our circumstances. And in all the years of all the all the people that I've spoken to, well, being a pastor, I can't tell you how many times people will bring up, and life is getting hard for them and and especially couples. They can't forget what their spouse did to them a month ago or two months ago or six months ago or 10 years ago or 15 years ago, they keep bringing it up, because when someone has been heard and their life has been turned upside down, when life gets hard, listen to this. When life gets hard, you know what? It's easy to do, blame others. We've all done it. But here's the thing, the Lord never wastes the circumstance to accomplish what he needs to in all of our lives. And you know what? It's hard, and sometimes it hurts. But who's who's he trying to change? Just from our text, who's he trying to change? For one thing, he's trying to change Israel. Who else? Pharaoh, Egyptians, even Moses, because change for each and each and every one of us, especially as a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, is constant. Right, and when we look and then when we keep looking back and we blame others for our for our circle, for our circumstances, that stifles the journey. God uses other people and the hurts and everything else to change us. He does it, and he keeps doing it. The journey you're on right now could be a short one. Could be a long one. I don't know, but God's doing something. Think about this, how? Especially at the end of how has God changed you this year, I still more to do? You don't have to answer that. Of course, there is for each and every one of us. Don't keep looking back and don't blame others for your circumstances. The third thing, don't other don't underestimate what God's capable of doing. Don't underestimate what God's capable of of doing. I'm going to read verses 21 and 22 then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove back the sea with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left. How many of them doesn't say there? But you know, you know, how many, 2 million piece of cake for God, but how many times during the whatever journey God has you on, have things ever seem hopeless? We've been there, and here's a perfect example of people who were so focused on themselves and their circumstances that they lost sight of God and what he's already done, what he's already done for them, what he's going to do for them, and and they lost that heart for that short time to serve and worship him. He even freed them from slavery, and he was he was in the process of delivering them to the promised land, and he brings the sea back and drowns the Egyptians, and they saw the great power of the Lord. And what does it say? What does the text say? Then they feared him and believed in him. I, I gotta tell you a we were. I we were at the hospital with our with with our third child. I don't know whether I've shared this Angela now, we've already had one handicapped child, and Cheryl was pregnant with our third and they did a super sensitive ultrasound. I don't know what the name is, but and they said that there's a possibility that she, too was going to be handicapped. Now we're in Chicago, at the University of Chicago Hospital, one of the top five hospitals in the United States. It's rush hour. We get in the car to go home, and I'm mad because I can't believe God is doing this to us. How can he you ever ask God? How can you do this? Are you kidding me? And we're in rush hour traffic, and one of the busiest sections on the on the south side, and I'm looking at Cheryl, and I'm just, I'm just losing it. I'm losing I said I can't believe this. Not one. But now this, I cannot believe this. And as I looked up, I was going through a red light in the middle of rush hour, and all the traffic was stopped in the intersection, even the green light, people who had the green light. All traffic was stopped while I just and I got through there and looked at Cheryl, and I said, God, just showed up. And I shut my mouth. And. Uh, that's part of the journey. They saw the great power of the Lord, and that says, Then they feared and then they believed him. And every one of our journeys is form fitted for our every moment. And it's done by God's grace. His grace just doesn't forgive us, but it empowers us at the moment exact the moment we needed you know where God was that day, November 27 1983 when things were not going well in the delivery room for our daughter, you know where? You know where he was. He was right there. And he was filling that room with His grace. He was right there. So don't look back. You know why? Because trust in His sovereign control. Don't blame others. Why? Because he uses every every situation and circumstance and people to bring apart, to bring about the change that has to be done in us and never, never, ever, ever underestimate what God's capable of doing, because even the things we don't understand, even when things seem hurtful and remember the say here, I love this. Remember something as you're going through the journey, you ready for this? If you haven't heard anything I've said so far, remember this, the same God who part of the Red Sea is the same God we serve today, and he's full of grace and the journey we're on is a journey of grace specifically designed by him, for you and for me. Let's pray heavenly father, we do, thank you so much of the truth found in Your Word. We, thank you so much, Lord that You love us enough to bring us through these journeys. We, thank you, Lord that your grace fills us and empowers us to live the lives that we are supposed to do. Lord help us not to keep looking back. Please. Help us not to blame others for our circumstances and Lord help us to never, ever, ever underestimate what you're capable of doing because of you are all powerful and all knowing and sovereign over everything. Bless each and every one of our journeys as we go in to the next year, and may we give You all the praise and all the glory. Amen. Amen.