one question and that is where do you put your trust is it in someone or in something do you put your trust in some expert do you put your trust in some institution or instrument if you put your trust in anything like that I can tell you it will fail because heaven and earth will pass away only God's word and God himself shall stand forever trust who trust in God there would be a lot less pain in life if you would start with God yes and not start with you the proof that we don't trust
God even though we declare that we believe in him is that we turn to other sources first to address life's problems what you trust is where you go first yes did you hear me you can always discover what you trust because you go there first that is what you're banking on and you bank on the thing you believe will be the best thing to help you so that's where you go first so if you want to know whether you trust trust in the Lord answer the question where do I go first why should I trust
in the Lord first the reason that you should trust in the Lord is because his wisdom is infinite trust is a choice you say well I I want to trust but I'm just having a hard time with it well see you do trust something you're either trusting yourself or you're trusting the world or you're trusting your job or the government or your bank account or somebody else that you know we do trust something and the point is is we need to get spiritually smart enough to know what to trust and what not to trust or
who to trust and who not to trust we may give a certain amount of trust to people but don't ever give the trust that belongs to God to another person because although we can trust other people to some degree we can trust ourselves to some degree God is the only one that we can completely trust totally trust and say I believe that you will always take care of me now right away when I say there's probably some people that are thinking well wait a minute I trusted God and he didn't come through for me were
you trusting God to give you what you wanted him to give you and so now you're a little bit mythed because you didn't get what you wanted or are you trusting God to give you his very best for you in his timing in his own way as a reminder of where we are to put our trust hear what God's word says to God's people as he reminds us that he is our guide and light trust in the Lord beginning at verse 5 Chapter 3 of Proverbs with all of your heart and lean not to your
own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths hear this piece of wisdom literature emphatically States trust in the Lord you know trust is one of those big picture words of resting your confidence on something you've heard it multiple times when people talk about faith they say when you sat down you didn't check the seat you just rested your weight on it and actually that is the picture of what trust is you rest your weight on the confidence that that which is beneath you can sustain you the word trust
means to lay down on it has the idea of putting one's complete weight on it's much akin to what you're doing right now when you're sitting in the Pew when you're sitting in the seat and all of your weight is resting on the ability of the Pew upon which you're sitting to hold you up now in fact you are so secure about the Pew's ability to sustain your weight and everybody on there with you you're not even helping it out I mean I don't see anybody sitting but kind of pushing themselves up in case in
case this Pew doesn't make it I want to make sure I got a little bit of me in here I know that you want to put trust possibly in bank accounts and security deposits but all of that can be wiped Away by one doctor's visit put your confidence in him who will not leave you trust in the Lord with with all your heart lean not to your own understanding whenever you lean on anything other than God chances are you might end in the wrong direction let me tell you something you can plan your life for
one way and God can change directions let me say it again you can map your life out to go where you want it to go and God can route your root let me tell you something God has a way of directing our paths you see in life when you say trust in the Lord God probably won't shine all the light at one time on where you're supposed to go that's what we always say Lord show me the way and what we're saying is show me all of the way and God says no but what I
will be I'll be the light to the edge of where you need to take your next step and once you take that step I'll move in front of you and then I'll move in front of you you just make sure you follow the light I'm the light and you follow me my word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your pathway you follow the light and I'll take you to where you need to be and he will now don't ask me how he'll do it but I know he'll do it he will
direct your path there's some of you now you're saying I feel like I'm in the Maze of life and I don't know where the exit sign is keep following me he'll direct your path and when he does you too will be able to say like the one who declares I know how I got out of this Jesus is my way Jesus Is My Truth and Jesus is my life life if you've lived here long enough you know that it can be tough to navigate many of us here today would love the opportunity to start over
again because we've already run on some rocks it's full of twist and turns it's full of uncertainties and many times you don't know what's coming around the bend and yet there seems to be a disconnect from from my faith in Christ to get me to heaven and my trust in Christ to navigate me on Earth there seems to be a disconnect and I'd like to suggest to you the disconnect is that many of us maybe even most of us don't trust him you got to take the perspective of job though he slay me yet will
I trust him see everything's going apart from me now it's killing me now but I'm still going to trust him I'm going to rest completely and rely completely on him to deal with this I'm not going to get out of it my own human way that is a way that is unprescribed by Him in all your ways consult him and he will make your path straight wow make your path straight he will make your path straight listen to that slowly then he will meaning you won't have to he will make your paths straight it doesn't
get any better than that life is crooked finances are crooked marriage is crooked single life is crooked future is crooked he says he will make your path straight now a path means you're going somewhere a path is always connected to a destination God wants you to start trusting him so you can start living again God wants you to trust him entirely some of you got to let go you've been holding on to your own way of thinking own way of living Own Way operating own way of feeling Own Way acting own way of cogitating all
of your life and while you come to church on tomorrow you're going back to your own way and God is saying let go yes you say yeah but you don't understand I've held on to that let go but you don't understand let go but God do you trust me and God is saying if you let go you can have your life back it's time to let go I think all of us have moments in life when we want to hear God's voice or receive some definite sign from him regarding a relationship perhaps a pending marriage
a business decision a career choice or a major expenditure you know our decisions really matter we make decisions our decisions turn around and make us and we face so many questions throughout all of our lifetime like how about should I get married if the answer is yes who should I marry should I go to college I've got a good job should I take the new job should I just hold on to the one I have is there any way to be 100% certain about God's will when you're making a major choice in life or a
college but remember we walk by faith not by sight and I want to say to you you are not going to get 100% assurance and confidence before you make a choice because it would require zero faith we pray about it we wait on the Lord and then we make our choice We believe what we don't see that's what faith is Faith is a substance of things hoped for the evidence of Things Not Seen once you see then you don't need Faith anymore Faith means you have it in your heart before you have it in your
circumstance but it really can be just as good as having it if you really trust and believe God you have to take the plunge you have to make the choice go ahead and make the best decision you can make and when you've done that leave the results to God because God's purpose will stand and if yours are not he will correct it he will redeem it and he will still keep you on the right path to your future Destiny and will not forsake you he wants you to know his will more than you want to
know it and I think one of the reasons that people live out of the will of God is they're not willing to take the first step God will say something and God will speak to them people say and I hear people tell me this all the time well God doesn't speak to me yes he does you may not be listening but he does God doesn't play favorites he loves us all but sometimes he'll require of us something that doesn't make any sense whatsoever if I'm going to follow the lord I've got to be willing to
listen to him and I've got to be willing to trust him when I don't understand it you may have some things you don't understand you can't figure out you don't see the answer that's okay you don't have to see it this is a key to Faith trusting when you don't understand trusting when you don't have the answers trusting when it seems like just the opposite of what you were hoping for quit worrying about those things you can't figure out God has you in the palm of his hand I know not how this is going to
work out but I do know who's on the throne I do know who's directing our steps I do know who's planned out our days before you were ever born God pondered plans he had for you before there was even a single day to your existence and he established your purpose before you were ever created in your mother's womb they were actually recorded or written in his book God has plans for me Jeremiah 29: 11 the New Living Translation reads God says for I know the plans I know them I know the plans plural so he
must have some plans plural ones I know the plans I have for you says the Lord they are plans for good and not for disaster to give you a future and to give you a hope so God has great plans for you he promises that his plans for your destiny are only good ones no disasters are planned for you by God he hasn't written down on this occasion when they're 35 40 years old I'm going to get them none of that no his plans are only good and they're only filled with grace and Hope hope
you're not God he is I think that is really comforting to know you know there is a God and it ain't me and that's why I'm hanging on to him and trusting him I think what happens is that we forget that he is in control of the life I gave him I do want to make good choices but I'm a limited human being I can't see the future but I can I've got scripture I've got prayer I've got wise people and then you've got a peace in your heart and it's the end of the day
I have to do that and trust God and I have to believe regardless of what happens he will orchestrate my life and I'll end up where I'm supposed to be doing what I'm supposed to do I don't have to obsess hyperventilate or control everyone and everything around me I don't have to worry about the minutia the little miniature things of life I can be have confidence that this God is going to take care of everything you know you can sleep well once you realize God's in control of your life I I don't like everything I
don't understand everything just like you but I do know he's in control and I know no human being energized by Satan not even Satan himself can stop the purpose of God for your life or mine and and here's what I've noticed even if you trust God and make a mistake if you genuinely make a mistake God has the most awesome ways of correcting that mistake he knows your heart he knows you're willing to do what he requires of you and God God knows better we do that some things he requires of us is very difficult
but the question is are you listening and secondly are you trusting that whatever he says for you to do that you to do Abraham and I'm glad this in the Bible he made some wrong choices but God didn't stop blessing him he didn't cast him aside listen before God ever created anything in this life he knew that his finest children would make mistakes they would sin against him they would disobey him because living in the world in which you and I live in that we we make mistakes the times of weakness the times of failure
and God forgives and he keeps moving us he can put you exactly where he wants you to be he can arrange all the details of your life years in advance he can open doors that seem shut tight he can remove any obstacle obacle that stands in your way he can take your choices and fit them into his plan so you end up at the right place at the right time he can even take your mistakes and bring good out of them don't forget he's Our Redeemer he redeems things he can take tragedy use it for
your good and His glory all he needs is a willing heart just someone to reasonably cooperate this doesn't mean you won't have to make difficult and hard choices you will but it takes the pressure off because it means you can trust God to take your decisions your choices and use them to accomplish his will in your life Proverbs 35 and 6 trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not to your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path the steps of a good man are ordered or directed
by the Lord even when you don't know what the heck's going on he's directing them lay your head on your pillow knowing dad's up he's in charge and he's going to govern the Affairs of your life if he shuts the door and opens the door he's just directing you it's going to be all right God loves you so much and he's got such a great blessed wonderful life for you hear me God has plans for you they're awesome plans you have not maxed out your potential you will not have to fight this battle and God
sent me here today to tell you he wants his battle back there are some things that you have been trying to fight in your own strength and figure out in your own flesh and God says I want my battle back he says you don't have to fight it just stand firm and take your position so in other words you don't have to fight it you just have to face it and if you will face it God says I will fight it I don't know any better news in the world than to stand in the reality
that the god of Heaven and Earth is fighting my battles this very moment remind yourself that the battle is the Lord's it's not just your battle it's not just up to you it's not just your ability in all of life's battles listen it's the Lord's battle ble every single one of us here is facing some form of a battle I do not know what it is but God does it may be health related maybe some people are battling some really serious health concerns some of you maybe just found out and you're looking for answers or
it could be Financial maybe challenges with the current finances or decisions you want to make about finances moving forward that is the battle or it could be relationships or maybe the lack of relationships or a really strained relationship or a relationship you're asking whether you should keep on whatever your battle is the bad news is I don't know it the good news is God does and he wants to encourage Us by saying the Lord God is the one who will fight that battle for you and give you the victory your Victory is not dependent upon
you it's dependent on God the battle is not yours the battle is God's you do not have to fight this battle uh when you're in the battle you need to be reminded you need God you need God you need him notice this in Deuteronomy chapter 20 starting in verse one it says when you go to war against your enemies and you're this is what you're going to see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours why would you lead me to fight against enemies that are bigger and stronger and faster and more well equipped
than I am God's like cuz you have me he said this is what you're going to see armies that are bigger than yours they're going to have horses they're going to have chariots he says do not be afraid of them because the Lord your God will be with you that's so important for us to get that into our spirit today remind ourselves that God he promised he's going to be with us when God sent his son Jesus to the Earth he says his name Shall be Called Emmanuel meaning God With Us I think that will
change everything about your perspective if you just get a hold of that one concept he's with me it is a wonderful thing to know you're not alone it's a wonderful thing to know that God's going to fight your battles for you you're not alone you've got the best bodyguard in the world and he never leaves you and never forsakes you you've got a wonderful savior who has his eye upon you who knows every trial and difficulty you go through God fights are battles for us and this is the most important scripture I want you to
see today says for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you Victory so he doesn't tell them exactly the tactics that they're going to use because those tactics change all the time the how always changes but the what never changes the why never changes don't be terrified don't be panicked don't be full of anxiety yes there's a lot of things when you start looking around at our world today things to be afraid of God says do not be afraid put your hope in
me put your confidence in me when you're on the Lord's Side defeat is the only thing that's not possible has God ever lost a battle no God has never lost any battle that he chooses to fight God doesn't lose battles he's God God wins God doesn't lose battles that he chooses to fight God will fight your battles for you and he will win them and that's a good way to live your life it's a wonderful way to live he will help you he wants you to trust him and put your faith in him and he
will remove all those worries that you have over certain problems or Temptations or whatever may come God wants you to remove those worries and those troubles and be free he wants to give you freedom and give you the joy you ought to have in this life God is in control and as if we've come into the family of God he is not just he's not fighting us he's fighting for us God is our refuge that word just means literally shelter from danger he's a shelter we cling to or run to in danger and not just
our refuge but also our [Music] strength the reason why you're tired all the time is because you're trying to fight battles that belong to [Music] God are you tired are you tired of facing all these battles on your own and and you're really if it were true you're about ready to say uh god um I don't know how much longer I can do this in fact Lord I'm on the verge of giving up and you may be at the point say I God I just feel like giving up and God says great why don't you
do that right now give up and give [Music] in I I I give up trying to win on my own power [Music] cuz I'm tired instead I Surrender myself and I Surrender my situation completely to you Psalm 30 says we put our hope in the Lord he is our help he's our shield in him our hearts Rejoice for We Trust In His holy name somebody needs to hold on to that scripture this week you're fighting through something trust him in the moments that we're at our lowest but God can do more in 24 hours than
we can on our best day and when you're at your lowest he does his best work so whoever this message is for God said you got to face it you can't fight this on your own and all of the ways that we manipulate our lives and all of the ways that we manipulate our situations and then we come to this point where we realize there's nothing I can do about this one this one is too big for me and God says really that might be a sign that the battle is not yours you know it's
one thing to trust God in the light it's another thing to trust God in the dark it's one thing to trust God when you think you got it figured out and you're getting what you want and you you can understand what's going on it's another thing entirely to not get what you asked for to have no understanding at all of why or what is happening and still be able to say God I trust you that's the kind of Faith we're after and you know what that's the kind of faith that the world needs to see
we can all trust him in the Green Pastures that's easy we can trust him beside the Still Waters I'm asking you to trust them even in the dark valleys he hasn't left you you may feel alone forgotten life hasn't turned out the way you wanted but God is still leading you the dark places are all a part of the plan to make you into who you were created to be it may not be easy you may not understand it but faith is trusting God when life doesn't make sense dare to believe that he's blessing you
even in the dark places that what's meant for you harm he's going to use to your advantage when you and I are walking through dark times the first thing to remember is this God is with us even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death the dark times he says I will fear no evil for what thou what art with me it is the fact and the assurance that God is with us that makes all the difference he says I will never leave you nor forsake you it is easier for us to
believe in the presence of God or sense the presence of God in life when when things are going our way it's sort of easy to believe yes I I do believe God's with me but what about when the light's taken away and everything looks dark and Gloom I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel out there anywhere then can I still believe that my God who promised to be with me who will never forsake me am I willing to believe that he's with me now when I don't feel his presence I don't
see his presence and somehow I can't conceive that he could allow me to go through this do I still believe he's with me yes yes he is God is with me no matter what friend God is always ahead of us he's got everything under control he's working everything in his absolute perfect timing he has a purpose for every single solitary thing it seems to you like God's forgotten all about you well he hasn't he hears you and he sees you can I tell you today that you're not invisible God knows exactly where you're at and
he knows exactly what's going on in your life and he knows exactly how much you can take and how much you can't take and he may not be early but he won't be late we're always walking toward the dawn of a new day when you and I walking through the darkness we're always walking toward the dawn of a new day because my friend God loves us he's always he's always moving us toward the Dawn and no matter where you are and what you're going through today there is light listen there is a dawn there is
going to be a new day God's going to bring you through it no matter what it may be tough right now you think God how am I going to be able to stand this he's going to enable you he will enable us and sometimes it's a day at a time and somebody may say well how do you stand this one day at a time we learn more in the darkness but we're always moving toward the light you see that's why you and I don't ever have to give up if God has said here's what I'm
going to do you can rest your eternal life on the fact that God in all of his Sovereign power everything in heaven is behind the promise of God he will make it a living reality no matter what he will do what he promised to do and you know what that means that no matter what's going on how much Darkness we walk through there's always light always light out there somewhere God will bring us through all of that now I don't know where you are in your walk with the Lord I don't know what kind of
darkness is covering you may be Financial Darkness relational Darkness family Darkness all kinds of Darkness that we all have to deal with in life I don't know what it is but this much I know if you're a child of God he's with you in it he has a purpose he's only going to allow you in that Darkness to accomplish his purpose when it's accomplished he'll bring you out of it if you will listen carefully and act wisely you'll learn things in the darkness you're not going to learn any other way there is a light there
is a dawn there is a new day you come you can come out of it and you will come out of it and not only that when you come out you should come out praising him thanking him declaring to others the greatness of God the dependability of God the faithfulness of God the love of God to provide for you so abundantly I can tell you I've learned 10 times more about the grace of God in dark times than I ever did in times of prosperity and here's what he's saying to you he says I am
your God not because you put on a happy face in the morning I am your God not because you say everything right not because you do everything right I'm your God because I'm a God of Grace you know how liberating that is not only are dark times the best places to learn about the grace of God they're also the best places to become a person of greatness it'll turn you into a person of endurance of stability of strength of greatness all of us at some time will'll go through Dark Places a loss a sickness a
divorce a child that broke your heart it's easy to get discouraged give up on your dreams and just settle there but God uses the Dark Places they are all a part of his divine plan think of it like a seed a seed cannot germinate in the light as long as the seed stays up on a shelf it will never become what it was created to be you have to plant the seed in the soil in the dark place so that what's on the inside will come to life in the same way there are seeds in
you dreams goals Talent potential that will only only come to life in a dark place and if you study the scripture every person that did something significant went through one of these dark places in those Dark Places is where we really grow that's where our character is developed we learn to trust to persevere our spiritual muscles are getting stronger in the dark places you pray more you draw closer to God you get quiet and listen to what he's saying in those dark places you re-evaluate your priorities you spend time with your family you have a
new appreciation for what God has given you you don't give up because your God is not going to give up on you he's not going to give up on you no matter what but here's the thing that makes it difficult when you're going through one of those dark moments and you don't see any end in sight and it looks like it's going to last the rest of your life life it looks like you're going to be penalized the rest of your life it looks like you're never going to be able to reach those goals somehow
it's just it just seems to be so hopeless it's never hopeless as long as you have God because God loves you and he's going to work out his will in your life one way or the other if you'll just trust him God will do in your life things that you'd never dream if you'll just trust him through those dark moment the world needs hope hope is a powerful word the Latins have a word for hope it it means breath to give oxygen to someone hope is a reality hope is something that is real hope is
what keeps us going that it is only God who can bring bring Hope and New Life out of dead situations God himself is the one that provides for us the hope that we need in times like these hope has the power to fill our lives with happiness we learn to cultivate hope the same way we learn to walk one step at a time there may be times when we must make a courageous decision to Hope even when everything around us contradicts this hope like Father Abraham we will against hope Believe In Hope or as one
writer expressed in the midst of winter we find within us an invincible summer hope sustains us through despair if only we could Glimpse for a moment what the Lord has in store for us not only in the next life but in this one as well our hope would be unshakable and despair could never overcome us hope teaches that there is reason to Rejoice even when all seems Stark around us and to all who suffer to all who feel discouraged worried or lonely I say with love and deep concern for you never give in Never Surrender
never allow despair to overcome your spirit for the love of the Son of God pierces all Darkness softens all sorrow and gladdens every heart a traditional Russian saying is that hope dies last which is one Russian explain it means that as long as you are alive you have hope and that even if everything is very very bad around you if you have hope you can survive while it may not seem like much the smallest form of Hope the smallest desire to believe can be the first step in a miraculous process through which God can exalt
us so if at times you can't really see very clearly or really not at all if all you can do is hang on to one thread and hope it holds then hang hang on and hope that will be enough to start the process if you then turn to the Savior and sincerely ask for his help he will take what little you have to offer and turn it into magnificent exalting hope which can be an anchor to your soul in times of distress we can hold tightly to the hope that things will work together for our
good this type of Hope in God God his goodness and his power refreshes us with courage during difficult challenges and gives us strength to those who feel threatened by enclosing walls of fear doubt and dispair the adversary uses despair to bind hearts and Minds in suffocating Darkness despair drains from us all that is vibrant and joyful and leaves behind the empty remnants of what life was meant to be despair kills ambition advances sickness pollutes the soul and deadens the Heart despair can seem like a staircase that leads only and forever downward Hope on the other
hand is like the beam of sunlight rising up and above the Horizon of our present circumstances it pierces the darkness with a brilliant Dawn it encourages inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of an eternal heavenly father who has prepared a way for those who seek for Eternal truth in a world of relativism confusion and of fear because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we need not fear for we will live forever never to taste of death again because of his infinite atonement we can be cleansed of sin and stand pure and
holy before the Judgment bar the savior is truly the author of our Salvation put your hope in him put your trust in him put your hope in God he will not fail it is the constant exercise of faith in Christ that transforms what would otherwise be merely wishful thinking into the kind of hope that can become an anchor to our soul we have to plant our desires Our Hope in him because of his atoning sacrifice Christ has the power to transform all our righteous desires into reality our role is to believe in him and his
gospel and teachings enough that he can work with us that we will allow him to shape our desires so that our will aligns with his thus if we want to strengthen our hope we must focus more on the Savior especially when we feel hopeless and hope is not well you know I just hope something happens hope is an expectation that something good is going to happen and see you can do that on purpose you don't have to wait to feel something you can say tonight I am going to change my attitude from a hopeless attitude
to a hopeful attitude and I am going to keep believing that something good is going to happen to me until I see it take place listen I know what it's like to go through hard things I know what it's like to have so many bad things happen in a row that you just you're almost afraid to expect anything good because you just don't want to be disappointed one more time amen am and boy the devil loves it when we get hopeless when we begin to think that we've just made too many mistakes to ever recover
but let me tell you something nobody can out send God's goodness did you hear me there's no pit so deep that he can't reach down in it and get you out and God loves you and he wants a close intimate personal relationship with you Jesus didn't die so we could all just have some brand of religion he wants to have a relationship a personal in your face in your life every day relationship with you and God is a god of restoration and there's nothing in your life that he cannot restore amen so how about if
we have a new attitude today is the first day of the rest of my wonderful life that God has planned for me and I'm going to let go of what lies behind and I'm going to press on to the good things that are ahead you have a great life in front of you but your great life is in front of you it's not behind you what you did back there ain't got nothing to do with what God got for you what what you did back there was learn the lessons to get you to where you
are at this particular moment right here but what God got for you do you know man that you can actually mess your life completely up you can jack it all the way up and you can turn around and get it right do you understand that do you understand that you could have had a baby out of wedlock and still be all right do you know that you can be divorced multiple times and still be okay do you understand that you cannot have a degree and still be just fine everybody tripping through something everybody I don't
care who you are you're going through something but if you got God you can make it I'm just trying to tell you man God is really with you one of the ways the enemy tries to mess all of us up is to get us to push rewind when God is saying go forward what God is doing is always ahead of you never behind you you got to notice your front windshield is a large window the rear view mirror is a small window on purpose there is no point in spending your time looking in the rear
view mirror of your life yeah there's a whole bunch of junk back there whole bunch of mistakes whole bunch of things you should have never said should have never did decisions you that were not of God even if you thought they were at the moment you thought this is so wonderful there's no need of you spending your time in the rear viw mirror you can't move forward accurately if your gaze is in the rearview mirror imagine somebody driving their car and they're spending their whole time looking in the rear viw mirror while they're accelerating moving
forward that's a disaster waiting to happen and it as it is in driving so it is in your life you cannot spend another day of your life thinking what if forget your what ifs I got that's a word for you right now I could be done and some of y'all got just what you needed forget your what ifs because they are not an issue anymore there's some stuff you can't undo even though you would want to get out that rearview mirror stop looking backwards see some of y'all only think you're supposed to be blessed when
you did everything right I came to tell you God how many folk would qualify for those blessings I came to tell somebody God loves you so much he still got you he got you even though you know you did some stuff wrong he's got you even though you know you haven't been walking right in some area of your life God say yeah my love isn't fickle when I set my love on you it's forever I came to tell somebody quit worrying about that stuff in the rear viw mirror now you got to look at a
new promise the new promise is God said I got you well can I encourage you every time you get into a car and see the vast difference and contrast between the windshield and the rear view mirror would you be reminded that God is saying where you were is nowhere near as important as where you or headed let God say to you where you were is nowhere near as important as where I am leading you a lot of us still run our lives by looking through the rear view mirror we steer our lives at where our
lives are Guided by that maybe maybe an offense that took place or we focus on a past mistake we're constantly thinking about a stupid decision that I made or a relational breakdown something that just didn't work a lot of people go through life looking through the rear view mirror so listen you're either going to move forward stand still or fall backwards God is going to make available to you the power to move move forward because he's got yet promises for your future and just because you had an unfair past does not mean you have to
have an unfair future you're going to break through look man if you got something that's been bothering you in your life get past it see if God wakes you up in the morning it's a sign from God that he ain't through with you yet why don't you wake up to go see what that is he done got you past whatever it was whatever it was that's been on you he done really brought you through it because he keeps W you're done don't don't don't don't letay that don't lay that wallowing in your past man your
past is back there when it comes to living your life it's okay to look back but it's not okay to live that way because it is more important that you spend more time looking a head at what's in front of you than what is behind you when you find yourself feeling like you're in a rut when you find yourself feeling like you're just overwhelmed and you're just in a season where you just you just feel really overwhelmed with life with work maybe your your your spiritual whatever it is whever you feel overwhelmed my friends it
is a good time to remind yourself to look up because what lies ahead of you is greater than whatever you leave behind it is a good time to remind yourself that with God on your side your future is brighter than your past God will close up your past if you're willing to move forward Hallelujah because you have to understand you're either going to grab onto this and let go of your future or you're going to grab onto your future and let go of your past you only can have one only one and so God is
saying it's time to Anchor your life in your future don't anchor your life in your past CU as soon as you do it'll put you in a rut and your past is going to Define you you might have had an unfair past you don't have to have an unfair future if God got you through it it's done move on how many times have we as people allowed God to get us through something get us Beyond something get us over something get us through something and then even after its completion we sit there and we dwell
on it and we dwell on it to the point where it becomes an anchor around our neck and we can't move on because we just won't let it go it's done if God got you through it it's done move on stop harboring on the past stop hanging on to every time you fail stop hanging on to every time you slipped up and messed up stop hanging on to every time you didn't get it right everybody makes mistakes everybody messes up everybody don't get it right everybody struggling with something it's way more important where you going
than where you been don't you see that that's why the rear viw mirror is so small cuz it is nowhere near as important as it is as to where you going that windshield is for vision a man without a dream or Vision Shall Perish that windshield is for somebody going somewhere that windshield is for somebody up there trying to make another move now if you keep looking into the rear viw mirrror you'll never know how close you are you'll never know get out the rear view mirror if God got you through it it's done move
on anchor your life in your future don't anchor your life in your past because that'll always be tethering you and pulling you back anchor your life and your future and that'll give you the power to move forward see if you don't if you focus on the things of your past you'll you'll start to get defined by your past your past is going to Define you well what do you mean you'll always be thinking of yourself as oh I'm the guy that was divorced twice or I'm the guy whose kid ran away or really messed up
oh I'm the guy that uh made that stupid decision I'm the guy that has that addiction and I struggled with it for long for so long I'm the guy that had his house foreclosed on and and uh I just so hard I'm the guy and pretty soon your past action defines you listen very carefully your past is either going to Define you or you can Define your past it's up to you he said what do you mean Define your past yeah you know that it's not your past that messes your life up it's how you
define your past think about it this way you can have two couples they both have the same setbacks same Financial uh breakdown the same problem with a foreclosure but one rises above it and the other Falls beneath it was it the circumstances no it was how they defined the circumstances do you believe that God is wanting to work all things together for good to those who love God and the called according to his purpose how many of you believe that scripture okay all right so God is working all things for what good Genesis 50 and
verse 20 what the devil meant for harm I have turned for good how many of you believe God wants to turn everything in your past for good okay so that's what God is trying to do I think it's high time we cooperate with God and not the dev devil cuz the devil's come to steal kill and to destroy so he's going to work everything against you and God is trying to work everything in your past even negative things for you now who you going to cooperate with because God is a god of the future and
it's time for me to let go of the past if I want to lay hold of the future and that's why Paul said in the book of Philippians forgetting what lies behind I press forward to what lies ahead I'm not going to lead my life through the rear view mirror I'm going to look through the windshield why that I might apprehend that for which God has apprehended me for I want those to come together to not be defined by how many times we fell I want us to be defined as how Relentless we've been in
getting back up again to move forward now listen to what Paul says but one thing I do forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is is ahead I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus now here here's what I want us to see my friends where was Paul's attention what was he focused on he was he stayed focused on what's next he was focusing on what lied ahead even though he had experienced great victories and great loads in his life he was not
focused on the great victories of the past he was not focused on the hard seasons of yesterday he was focused on what's next one of the ways that you and I can overcome and can win the struggle against negative thoughts is by looking ahead is by focusing our attention not on the problem that we're going through and not on the pain and the suffering of our pain of our yesterday but instead to look up and know that there's still something good that is in front of us to stay focused on what's next stay focused on
what's next what does Paul say he says I press on to take hold of it when we are pressing on our life when you are moving forward and pushing on the gas pedal moving forward truly focus on all that God has for you Paul the most famous Pastor he's reminding us that in our life there might have been hard times there might have been traumatic years there might have been years where you feel personally victimized or there might have been someone was really hard to get along with a time where you had struggles and pain
and can you just stay fixated on that can you just stay fixated on the past looking at the rearview mirror Paul looks at the church in Philippi and he says press on stop looking behind look ahead keep pursuing Jesus and moving forward don't give up or given he says don't you realize that your rearview mirror is smaller than your windshield why because in our life you are only meant to glance at the past not to stay there out of out of the time in your life spend one second out of 30 seconds glancing at your
past learning learning from it allowing it to help guide you and continuing to press on Paul actually tells us that in order to do this he says forget your past Paul clearly references his past many times in the Bible he says this is who I was but it's not who I am my sin my failures those things don't Define me it's the grace of God that defines who I am and who I will be Paul says forget your past and look forward I don't they fixated it I don't uh just play it over and over
and over again in my head and I don't pretend like it never happened I glance back realizing that my rearview mirror is smaller than my windshield and my past has passed my future is before me one day this is all going to be gone and not matter anymore what are you doing to make the future the best that it can be I want to encourage you today to have a windshield mentality have a windshield mentality stay focus on what's next one of the things that we know about God is that God is Progressive that God
the Bible says that God wants to take us from glory to glory from Victory to Victory what is that mean that means that there's always something good on the horizon that means that that you may be in a hard moment right now you may be feeling overwhelmed today you may not even know why you are where you are today but you can look up and know that there's something good that lies ahead tomorrow the Bible says this in in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 it says that no eye has seen no ear has heard no mind
has been able to imagine what God has prepared for those who love him what is God saying what lies ahead is good what lies ahead of you is greater than what you leave behind stay focused on what's next [Music]
