Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
September 27, 2015 - W1539

We all know sometimes it’s just easier to stay in the same place rather than to make any changes. We are either moving forward or staying in the same place or sometimes even moving backwards. But let’s look at this example, when you are driving a car, what do you see? You see a big window in the front of you, right? And then in the middle of this huge window is a tiny mirror to see where you came from. Why do you think the front window is so big and the rear view mirror is so small? Because what is behind you; where you came from, is not as important as what is ahead of you.

So why are so many of us still looking through the rear view mirror? Why do we linger in our past? We don’t have to keep reminding ourselves of our past mistakes, sins, setbacks or failures. We spend way too much time dwelling in our past.

So the next time we get in our cars, I want us all to look at that big windshield and that tiny rearview mirror and let God remind us that where we have been is nowhere near as important as to where He is about to take us. Let Him empower us with His will to move us forward. Remember the power He gave us for the first several years of our lives? We will learn today that it is the same power He will provide for us in the next several years and so forth and so on.

We can dwell in our past whether it has been good or bad - sitting around, polishing our trophies - but it won’t move us forward. We have to tap into God’s power to have us move ahead. We have to take hold of one moment and let go of another, then take hold of yet a newer moment and let go of another. See, if we want to get a hold of our future, we have to let go of our past, but if we are going to hold onto our past then we will be forfeiting that future. We can’t have it both ways. Paul said it this way:

“Forgetting what lies behind, I press forward to what lies ahead, that I may get hold of that for which God got a hold of for me.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

Even Paul teaches us that we can’t have both, we have to give up our past.

Now some of us have gone through some really bad times, it’s totally understandable, and it takes an emotional toll on us. The roots from those difficult moments goes deep into our memories. But we can’t let them keep us hostage, we can’t anchor ourselves to our past instead we have to push on into the future and anchor ourselves there. Otherwise we will start to use those moments of betrayal or hurt, those failures or losses to detain us in the past and it will start to define us. We can’t let the past identify us. Maybe we once were there, but that is not who we are now or who we can become.

In fact, I want to encourage us to define our past, not letting our past define us, and redefine it and work on it until our past starts to work for us instead of against us. In this sense, as we examine what happened in our past, we begin to learn from it and let it mobilize ourselves to that which we can use to do better in our futures. It will humble us, and make us wiser and smarter. It will teach us to take a better read on people, maybe not to be so lenient in this area or not so undisciplined in that area. Or maybe just not to take anything for granted. We shouldn’t let the things that are pulling us or tethering us backwards restrain us, but, rather work at letting these things push us forward to a better place.

Most of you know that I have a horse farm which my daughter and son in law run and live on. We have a few horses of our own and then we also board other people’s horses too. Every time I’m there I have a job to do of gathering up the pounds of manure that the horses produce each day. Now I want you to know that a 1200 pound horse puts out 50 pounds of manure each day. At the moment, we have 12 horses that we are boarding so that equals 600 pounds of manure a day. In a month it’s like 18,000 pounds or 9 tons of elimination that needs to be gathered up.

Now, some of us may have very stinky pasts, and here is a humorous example. We have on the farm, a huge manure spreader which can take three huge scoops of manure from the tractor. Then the spreader will help distribute the manure into the fields to fertilize and grow hay to feed the horses. So the horses will digest it and give back so we can again fertilize the fields again and so forth. But as we are spreading the manure stuff is just flying through the air. Now I did this all day and not only was I tired but I was pungent. People could probably smell me a mile away.

After that, I had to go to the grocery to pick up something for dinner. And you know the story about Moses and the Red Sea? In the checkout line, people magically started to part just like the Red Sea! And at the moment I was only thinking of one thing, “I hope no one recognizes me!” It really bothered me, because I stunk so badly.

Then I began to think about this, in several weeks I will have a healthy harvest of hay. So I figured I could sit the rest of the day feeling bad because I stink so awful or I can be joyful of what that stench will provide for us in the spring.

Some of us have a past that stinks, but we can and should focus on the good that can come out of it. We should think of the sweet smelling harvest to come, remembering that something great is going to come out from this stink if we let it go, but we have to let it go, then learn from it and grow from it.

Did you know that biologists and doctors all agree that if we’re going to have a healthy anatomy we need to have a healthy form of elimination? If we don’t, we will have problems in the next few days. So spiritually we also have to learn to eliminate, otherwise it too will harm us.

If we let our past rule us we will miss out on all the opportunities God has for our future. Our true destiny, our tomorrows will never be acquired if we are letting our past anchor us and define us instead of us defining it to help us move on. We have to let go so we can move forward.

Israel was caught in that same rut. When they were in Egypt they were slaves doing hard labor to the pharaoh. Then God lifted up a man named Moses who would lead them out of slavery and bring them into a promised land and into freedom. But when pharaoh had a change of mind and decided to pursue and kill the defenseless Israelites, they began to complain.

Faced now between the pharaoh’s army to their back and the Red Sea to the front, they began to rant and rave against Moses. They yelled at Moses saying that he should have just let them stay and be slaves to pharaoh, because that is who they defined themselves to be, slaves. But they felt it was better being slaves than to die in the desert.

Some of us even think that way when we become Christians. We think we are better off as being a non-Christian because it just seems better that way. Our past has just defined us. It seems impossible to live up to being a good Christian because of what we once were. Well, with God, nothing is impossible. Like for the Israelites in the desert, God can and will defeat pharaoh’s army.

When they cried out, this is what Moses said to them:

“Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid.’” This is what God is going to do: “‘Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.’” Here’s His promise: “‘The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.’” Now here’s their part: “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.’” (Exodus 14:13-15 NIV)

If we expect to receive God’s promises we have to do our part which is to move forward. Remember, courage is not the absence of fear, but it is the ability to move forward in spite of fear. God says He will do His part if we do ours. We need to fight off our self pity, fight off the tendency to give up, fight off the feelings that we are not good enough, to stop saying we don’t have time or that we don’t think we can do it anymore. Don’t make any more excuses and stop thinking that we are not needed anymore. We’ve got to do our part and if we do it, God will show us, as we watch, how He will turn the impossibility into promise fulfilled.

Here’s another funny example of doing our part: There was this very poor man with a family, and he was praying to God. He said, “God please give me money. I’m so poor, my kids don’t have food to eat. Help me win the lottery.” So the next day he ran to his mailbox but there was no money.

So he cried out again, “God, You said You would answer my prayers. Help me win the lottery!”

The next day he again went out to his mailbox and still there was no money. So he cried out again, “God! You said You would give me money. I’m starving to death. Help me win the lottery!”

Just then BOOM, a big light appeared in the sky and the thundering voice of God rang out, “Hey, at least do your part, meet me halfway … BUY a ticket!” We have to do our part.

Well Joshua also had to face the same dilemma of moving forward. Here now he is faced with another body of water, but Moses has died and now he is also faced with taking down Jericho, but Moses is not with them. God had to urge him forward. You see, his rearview mirror seemed bigger than his windshield, so God spoke to him:

“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. (Joshua 1:2-3 NIV)

Now I want you to see something, the promises of God are trans-generational, it’s not limited to only one generation or person, so now in Joshua 1:5 God says:

“As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5)

Moses is dead, but you and the people of Israel have to move forward. God told them to cross the Jordan, and so, as they stepped out in faith, God parted the waters there also. God is saying to Joshua and to us, even if something or someone has died in our past we don’t have to die with it. Even if a dream died, we don’t have to let it take our life. Even if that investment didn’t pan out, we don’t have to let it bankrupt our heart. Or even if a loved one, or an expectation or a relationship died, God wants us to move forward to that which He called us to become. Remember in the end, it’s not how much we fell down, but, how relentless we are in getting back up. That is our greatest legacy.

A friend of mine once said, “Never despise anything that takes you to your knees, never despise anything that makes you better, and never despise anything that drives you closer to God.” How true that is.

I always like to relate this example to people: I jokingly say to people, we need to look at ourselves in the mirror, and we can see how God has designed us to keep moving forward. I ask, what side of our heads did He put our eyeballs, on the front or on the back? He put them in the front, right? But, why the front? It’s because He wants us to look forward. Which way do our ears face? Forward, because He wants us to keep hearing the promises of the future and not listen to the back talk of those behind us. Which way do our arms reach? Does it reach forward or do they reach awkwardly backwards? Why? Because God wants us to keep reaching forward. Now take a moment here, look in a mirror if you have to, it may have been awhile, but which way do your feet point? Regardless of whether we stumble and fall a lot or not, they are pointing forward, because He wants us to walk forward.

There’s only one part of our anatomy that is stuck on the other side because even with that God is reminding us that there simply are things we just have to leave behind. Joshua could have said, you know all the miracles of God that were done were only done from God through Moses, but, no, God says “as I have been with Moses so shall I be with you” you just have to be willing to move forward. God told Joshua there is a prerequisite and this is what you have to do:

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:8-9 NIV)

God wants us to be a people that will be guided by God’s Word. Then even as He once was with us so shall He continue to be. Let God define us.

If you have never come to Christ, let Him bring you to Him. He will exchange that weight in your life that was behind you and transform it into a motivation that will push you forward. God can do it. You just need to let Him.

“However, as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the hearts of man the things which God has promised to those who love him.’” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Please take up your Bibles and recite this creed:

“This is my Bible, the Word of God, and I boldly declare that this is the highest law in the land.  I am what it says I am.  I have what it says I have.  I do what it says I do because I am a citizen of heaven.”

1) What are some of the things in your past of which God is urging you to let go?

2) With God nothing is impossible, what do you see that is preventing you from moving forward?

3) What kind of experiences have you had when you trusted in God to take you to the next step?

4) What kind of journeys has God taken you on?