1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,280 Thank you for listening to this message from Life House Church. 2 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:16,280 Good morning. 3 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:20,960 Listen, it is almost here. 4 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:23,600 It is almost New Year's. 5 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:25,480 People been talking about it. 6 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:29,560 It's amazing you get past Christmas and we start looking at that new season, that new 7 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:33,520 time that's coming up and we're literally entering the last few days. 8 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:35,720 You heard a couple of times this morning already. 9 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:40,480 Wednesday will mark the beginning of a brand new year and if you've been listening closely 10 00:00:40,480 --> 00:00:44,840 or if you will listen closely over the next few days, you're going to hear lots of chatter. 11 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:45,840 You're going to hear lots of talk. 12 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:50,440 You're going to hear lots of discussion in the media, social outlets, all those different 13 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:51,440 things. 14 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:53,280 They're going to be talking about the days behind us, right? 15 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:59,020 They're going to be reviewing the last 360 plus days and they're going to be talking 16 00:00:59,020 --> 00:01:02,480 about what happened, when it happened, how it happened. 17 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:07,400 You'll see dramatic video right unfolding of events that have taken place over the last 18 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:13,100 year and you'll hear lots of commentary along the way with it. 19 00:01:13,100 --> 00:01:19,760 But it always seems like every year that the last few days in December we reserve, right, 20 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:22,660 to look back, like to review. 21 00:01:22,660 --> 00:01:27,640 We kind of look over our shoulder to review what's taken place. 22 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:31,000 There's this kind of sense of evaluation that goes on. 23 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,080 A lot of people look back and evaluate. 24 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:36,920 I heard again this morning, has this been a good year? 25 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:38,360 Has this been a bad year? 26 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:39,920 Is it something in between? 27 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:42,000 Whatever you're good and bad looks like, right? 28 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:46,680 We start looking behind us and we start to get this feeling of closure that comes in. 29 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:51,080 As you begin to close out this particular year and you get to open the new chapter of 30 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:56,040 2025, it just feels like this closure that's taking place and it's kind of what we do. 31 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:57,720 We celebrate the new year coming along. 32 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:04,200 And as long as I can remember, even from a chowd up, everybody at this time of year takes 33 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:10,920 a peek back over their shoulder to take a look at what happened over the last year, 34 00:02:10,920 --> 00:02:11,920 right? 35 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:15,040 Turn to somebody right now, tell them we're going to talk about peeking behind you today. 36 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:16,800 Turn to somebody, tell them right now. 37 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:19,860 Tell them right now we're going to talk about peeking behind you today, all right? 38 00:02:19,860 --> 00:02:20,860 We are. 39 00:02:20,860 --> 00:02:21,860 That's what we're going to discuss. 40 00:02:21,860 --> 00:02:23,160 All right, we're going to talk about peeking behind you. 41 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:24,160 If you would bow your heads. 42 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:25,920 Father, we thank you for this day. 43 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:27,360 God, I thank you for your blessings. 44 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:29,680 God, we thank you for the year that you've given us. 45 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:33,040 God, the blessings that have been bestowed upon us in that year. 46 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,360 Lord, we thank you for the easy, the hard, and everything in between. 47 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:38,960 Lord, we ask that you would have your hand upon today. 48 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:43,280 God, that your word, God, will come into our ears and God, that it will move into our hearts 49 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,000 and God, it would shift who we are and what we do. 50 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,680 And God, that we would begin to look to you in all things. 51 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:50,840 We just give you praise and everybody said together. 52 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:51,840 Amen. 53 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:52,840 Amen. 54 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:53,840 Amen. 55 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:55,360 Listen, it's good to have you. 56 00:02:55,360 --> 00:03:00,200 And this is a very important spiritual subject to talk about. 57 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:06,920 Peeking over our shoulder is a spiritual thing to discuss because peeking over your shoulder 58 00:03:06,920 --> 00:03:10,560 can be a good thing or it can be a bad thing. 59 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:14,960 It could be that as you're looking back, if you don't do it at the right time, at the 60 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:19,580 right intervals, and for the right place, or looking at the right things, it could be 61 00:03:19,580 --> 00:03:22,560 a good thing or it can be a bad thing. 62 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,900 It depends how long you're peeking over your shoulder. 63 00:03:25,900 --> 00:03:29,480 It depends what your eyes are fixed on while you're peeking over your shoulder. 64 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:35,520 And scripture really has a lot to tell us about looking back and what that is for us. 65 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:40,520 Ecclesiastes 3.1 says this to everything, say everything, to everything. 66 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,880 There's a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. 67 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,920 And that includes looking back or even looking forward. 68 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:49,360 There's a season and a time to it. 69 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:55,560 Now it even goes far to say that peeking over our shoulder should actually only be an occasional 70 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:57,520 kind of thing to do. 71 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:04,040 I should only peek over my shoulder occasionally and generally I should stay positioned looking 72 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:05,600 ahead, looking forward. 73 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,640 I only peek behind me once in a while. 74 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:10,480 I only do it on occasion. 75 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,440 I only do it once in a blue moon. 76 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:15,640 How many ever heard that saying before? 77 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:17,740 That's Western PA right there, okay? 78 00:04:17,740 --> 00:04:19,200 My parents used to say it all the time. 79 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:20,960 I had no idea what they were talking about. 80 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:22,760 We're only going to do that once in a blue moon. 81 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:23,760 I'm like, what does that mean? 82 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:24,760 You know what? 83 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,320 I was so curious about this week I looked it up. 84 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:29,040 I know what it means now, all right? 85 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,320 Once in a blue moon actually happens about every 34 months. 86 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:37,160 It's when the moon is full twice in a calendar month, all right? 87 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:38,760 That's a blue, they call it a blue moon. 88 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:39,760 So now you know. 89 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:41,940 You heard it right here for the first time, all right? 90 00:04:41,940 --> 00:04:42,940 Once in a blue moon. 91 00:04:42,940 --> 00:04:44,480 And listen, we should only peek behind us. 92 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:46,100 We should only look over our shoulder. 93 00:04:46,100 --> 00:04:49,840 We should only kind of look back once in a while. 94 00:04:49,840 --> 00:04:53,640 And if to do it more than that is downright dangerous. 95 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:54,740 It really is. 96 00:04:54,740 --> 00:04:56,080 It's downright dangerous. 97 00:04:56,080 --> 00:05:00,780 I drive a Toyota 4Runner and I know this. 98 00:05:00,780 --> 00:05:05,120 As I drive my Toyota 4Runner and I head down one on a bottom road here in Carlisle and 99 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:07,900 I'm heading to get on Route 81 North. 100 00:05:07,900 --> 00:05:09,820 How many know where Route 81 is, right? 101 00:05:09,820 --> 00:05:10,820 If you're here, right? 102 00:05:10,820 --> 00:05:12,640 How many avoided it all costs, right? 103 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:15,240 If you don't live in the area, you might not know what we're talking about. 104 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:19,600 Now if you're going to get hop on Route 81 off one on a bottom, if you're going up the 105 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:23,480 on ramp, you got to be quick about peeking over your shoulder. 106 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:26,760 If you want to look and see what traffic is coming, you better not do it for any length 107 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:31,100 of time because the on ramps on 81 are short around here. 108 00:05:31,100 --> 00:05:32,320 There's no lane. 109 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:33,320 You got to hop out. 110 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:36,520 You got to get in traffic or you got to slam on your brakes, one of the two. 111 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:40,720 And if you're looking behind you, right, while somebody else is stopping in front of you, 112 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:43,040 how many know you're going to get to meet them up front and personal? 113 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:44,480 Yeah, you are, right? 114 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:45,800 You're going to get to exchange names. 115 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:49,240 You're going to get to exchange numbers. 116 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:52,240 Looking behind you for too long is dangerous. 117 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:56,200 If you're walking down a dark alley, you should only look behind you for a few seconds. 118 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:58,680 Take a peek over your shoulder and keep going ahead, right? 119 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:00,520 Because you want to get out of the dark alley. 120 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:02,560 I was just in the dark alley not too long ago. 121 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:03,560 It's exactly what I did. 122 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:07,200 I was walking through, like, take a quick look, make sure nobody's following me, right? 123 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:09,600 And then just keep on going, right? 124 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:13,080 If I'm running down the road, which does not happen very often, right? 125 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:17,680 But if I would be running down the road and somebody would call my name, I don't keep 126 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:21,840 running with my head looking back because I'm going to trip over my own two feet. 127 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:27,560 It's a dangerous thing physically to be peeking over my shoulder for any length of time. 128 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:30,360 Anything more than to peek over my shoulder is downright dangerous. 129 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:31,360 It really is. 130 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:33,840 And this is true physically and it's true spiritually. 131 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:34,840 It really is. 132 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:38,680 It's problematic if you look back for too long. 133 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:40,180 It's true spiritually. 134 00:06:40,180 --> 00:06:41,640 It's true emotionally. 135 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:43,620 It's true mentally. 136 00:06:43,620 --> 00:06:47,680 It can even be true financially and socially in the right settings, right? 137 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:54,080 And God warns us to be very, very careful while we're peeking over our shoulder, while 138 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:55,680 we're looking back. 139 00:06:55,680 --> 00:07:00,640 The prophet Isaiah in bringing the word of God to Israel, he says this in Isaiah 43, 140 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:06,200 18, he says, do not remember the former things nor consider the old things. 141 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,200 Behold, I will do a new thing. 142 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:09,920 Now it shall spring forth. 143 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:11,200 Shall you not know it? 144 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,600 I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 145 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:17,360 How many know the new things not back there, right? 146 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,320 The new things out here. 147 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:27,440 Ecclesiastes 7 and 10 says this, do not say, why were the former days better than these? 148 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:34,280 Oh, if you're 40 and older, how many of you have ever talked about, oh, the good old days? 149 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:37,520 Oh, the good old days. 150 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,360 If you're 30 and under, how many of you have done that? 151 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:42,840 Oh, the good old days. 152 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:48,560 The word of God says to you, do not, you do not inquire wisely concerning this, right? 153 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:50,000 How many know? 154 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,000 Sometimes we glamorize the good old days. 155 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:56,880 We glamorize what's back behind us. 156 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:01,240 Over the Christmas break, I watched a movie that I remember somebody was talking to me 157 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:03,120 about, I'm like, oh yeah, it's a good movie. 158 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,280 I saw that back in the 80s. 159 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:06,880 Remember way back in the 80s? 160 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:09,320 You know, I know it's ancient, right? 161 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:15,080 I remember watching this movie back in the 80s and I thought, well, I'll watch it again. 162 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:17,120 It was terrible. 163 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:18,760 It was awful. 164 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,000 There was nothing about it that was redeeming. 165 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:22,840 They cursed the whole way through it. 166 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:24,240 The plot was terrible. 167 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:25,800 The video was terrible. 168 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:29,080 And I thought I was saved back then when I actually watched this thing. 169 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:30,960 I'm like, this thing's awful. 170 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:34,160 We glamorize what's behind us. 171 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:35,160 We do. 172 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:36,700 We remember the good thing about it. 173 00:08:36,700 --> 00:08:39,880 We don't remember all the garbage that was along with it. 174 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:42,240 You know, I did the same thing a couple of years back. 175 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:46,000 I had a friend who had a classic car and I took it for a drive. 176 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:50,960 And I like, I love looking at all the old classic cars and this particular car that 177 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,360 this person has like, man, that thing is so cool. 178 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:56,860 You know, and they're like, go ahead, take it for a drive. 179 00:08:56,860 --> 00:08:57,860 So I took it out. 180 00:08:57,860 --> 00:09:03,240 I went, me, myself and I, right, we got in the car and I had it down the road. 181 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:08,340 And I thought, this thing's a piece of junk compared to the new cars, right? 182 00:09:08,340 --> 00:09:09,880 It didn't handle well. 183 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:11,620 It didn't steer good. 184 00:09:11,620 --> 00:09:14,880 You couldn't see out of the thing the way you sat down inside. 185 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:16,520 It looks really cool going down the road. 186 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:18,560 It's awful to drive. 187 00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:21,080 We glamorize what was back then. 188 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:22,660 We really do. 189 00:09:22,660 --> 00:09:24,060 Sometimes we glory in it. 190 00:09:24,060 --> 00:09:26,880 We get stuck looking back at the good old days. 191 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:33,400 In Ecclesiastes 7, 10, it says, do not say, why were the former days better than these? 192 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,920 For you do not inquire wisely concerning this. 193 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:38,960 We often miss the new thing. 194 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:40,660 We miss the God thing. 195 00:09:40,660 --> 00:09:42,600 We miss the good thing, right? 196 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:44,280 We miss the right now thing. 197 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:46,760 We miss the Rhema thing, right? 198 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:52,240 The now thing ain't God because we're too busy with our eyes fixed over our shoulder 199 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:56,460 and a heart stuck on what's back behind us. 200 00:09:56,460 --> 00:09:59,040 Can I point something out that's super obvious this morning? 201 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:01,240 I'm going to be Captain Obvious this morning. 202 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:02,240 All right. 203 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:03,240 Here it is. 204 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:08,760 The good Lord put, the good Lord only gave you two eyes and he put them in the front 205 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:09,760 of your head. 206 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:10,760 All right. 207 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:11,760 Look at the person beside you. 208 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:13,480 I want you to confirm what I just said right now. 209 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:14,480 All right. 210 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:16,640 Confirm that they only have two eyes in the front of their head. 211 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:17,640 All right. 212 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:20,640 Do you know why he put two eyes on the front of your head? 213 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:22,840 So you continue to look forward, right? 214 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:24,200 So you continue to move forward. 215 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,720 Do you know that God could have gave you two eyes in the back of your head and two eyes 216 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:28,720 in front of your head? 217 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:30,320 You might say, well, that's a little bit weird. 218 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,600 It wouldn't be weird if we all had four eyes, right? 219 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:33,600 It would be normal. 220 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:36,080 He could have put two eyes in front, two eyes in the back. 221 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:38,520 So you could be looking back just as much as you're looking forward. 222 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:40,640 He could have done that. 223 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,400 He could have made it easy for our head to spin around. 224 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,600 Turn your head right now and try to hold it back there for a couple of minutes. 225 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:49,020 How easy is that? 226 00:10:49,020 --> 00:10:50,020 The older you get, right? 227 00:10:50,020 --> 00:10:51,600 You're like, I ain't even trying it. 228 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:53,080 I'm not even going to do it. 229 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:54,240 I'll get a crook on my neck. 230 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:58,640 I'll be working on my shoulders for three days with a massager machine, right? 231 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:03,520 The good Lord put two eyes in the front of your head so you continue to look forward. 232 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:06,240 So you don't waste too much time peeking over your shoulder. 233 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:07,640 Matter of fact, he made it uncomfortable. 234 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:11,140 If you look over your shoulder too long, you will get a crook in your neck. 235 00:11:11,140 --> 00:11:13,680 It's difficult to do, right? 236 00:11:13,680 --> 00:11:21,440 God the Father, God the, God the Jehovah God, He admonished the nation of Israel when they 237 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:25,960 were going through the desert, when He released them from slavery and they're traveling through 238 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:26,960 the desert. 239 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:27,960 He admonished them. 240 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:34,160 He corrected them over and over again because they were constantly peeking over their shoulder. 241 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:38,640 They were looking back at Egypt and they would complain to God and they would say, oh, that 242 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:43,200 we'd go back to Egypt and eat the leeks from Egypt. 243 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:46,360 They were slaves in Egypt. 244 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:48,720 They were beaten in Egypt. 245 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:53,440 They owned nothing in Egypt and they were long. 246 00:11:53,440 --> 00:12:00,120 They glorify looking back over their shoulder and God would get so angry. 247 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:02,540 Paul says the same thing in Philippians 3 12. 248 00:12:02,540 --> 00:12:07,680 He says this, not that I've already attained or I'm already perfected, but I press on that 249 00:12:07,680 --> 00:12:12,480 I may lay hold for that which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 250 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:17,960 Brother and I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing, say one thing, 251 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:22,480 one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things 252 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:23,480 which are ahead. 253 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:29,520 I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 254 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:32,680 He tells the Philippians, I've not apprehended anything. 255 00:12:32,680 --> 00:12:35,680 I've not gained anything by my own perfection. 256 00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:36,680 I've not. 257 00:12:36,680 --> 00:12:39,220 I've got nothing on my own. 258 00:12:39,220 --> 00:12:40,920 But he said one thing I got right. 259 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:44,080 I quit looking behind me and I press on forward. 260 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:45,080 Right. 261 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:46,080 I choose to forget. 262 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:49,560 Paul was telling them I choose to forget that I was a chief sinner. 263 00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:51,240 I was a sinner of all sinners. 264 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:53,320 I choose to forget that right. 265 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:57,160 I quit looking back that I used to consent to kill Christians. 266 00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:59,000 That's what Paul did before he got saved. 267 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,120 He consent to Christians being imprisoned and killed. 268 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:03,120 Right. 269 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:04,960 Ali, I forget. 270 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:08,440 I put back the fact that I used to be so stubborn against God. 271 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:12,580 Matter of fact, I was so stubborn against God that God had to knock me off a donkey. 272 00:13:12,580 --> 00:13:16,800 He had to blind me for a couple of days, send somebody to speak to me before I would get 273 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:17,800 saved. 274 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:18,800 Right. 275 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:20,600 Before I would confess, repent and turn my heart over to Jesus. 276 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:23,400 He said, I choose to put all that behind. 277 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:28,200 I choose to put behind me the fact that Paul got rejected over and over again by Christians 278 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:30,320 because they didn't even believe that he was converted. 279 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,480 They didn't even believe at the beginning that he was saved. 280 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:34,480 Right. 281 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:40,560 I choose to put those things behind me and I reach forward for the goal, for the prize, 282 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:44,040 for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 283 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:45,440 That's what Paul was saying. 284 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:51,160 I don't waste time peeking over my shoulder for too long. 285 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:52,880 The apostle Paul knew it. 286 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:55,680 Anything more than a peek behind me can get dangerous. 287 00:13:55,680 --> 00:13:56,680 Right. 288 00:13:56,680 --> 00:14:01,480 Anything more than a peek behind me, sometimes the devil will start messing with your head. 289 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,960 He'll start speaking things in your ear about what was back there. 290 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:08,080 And the apostle Paul knew this and he knew something else. 291 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:12,320 Anything more than a peek behind me can be a complete lack of faith in God. 292 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:13,320 It really can. 293 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:15,320 And you might think, well, that's a little strong. 294 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:16,320 Right. 295 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:17,560 That sounds a little over the top. 296 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:19,600 It's the truth. 297 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:24,240 Looking behind for too long for the wrong reason can be a complete lack of faith in 298 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:25,240 God. 299 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:26,880 And again, we see it in the Old Testament. 300 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:28,300 We see it in the New Testament. 301 00:14:28,300 --> 00:14:34,120 In Genesis, God sends angels to rescue Lot and his family, his wife and his two daughters 302 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,280 out of Sodom and Gomorrah. 303 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:41,680 And God does this because he's about to rain down judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. 304 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:44,760 And he wants to save Lot because Lot is righteous. 305 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:50,560 He's one of the righteous people in this city that God's going to rain this judgment down. 306 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:55,080 And the Lord God at this point in time, he not only says, don't just peek behind you 307 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:56,080 for a little bit. 308 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:57,080 Right. 309 00:14:57,080 --> 00:14:58,080 Just make it short. 310 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:02,400 If you turn around when they leave the city, God says, don't look behind you at all. 311 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:03,400 Don't even turn your head. 312 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:10,360 Genesis 19, 15 says, when the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, arise, 313 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:14,560 take your wife, your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment 314 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:15,640 of the city. 315 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:19,800 And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand and the hands of 316 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,480 his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him. 317 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:26,040 And they brought him out and set him outside the city. 318 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:30,760 And said, so he came to pass when he had brought him outside of the city that he said, escape 319 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:31,920 for your life. 320 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:33,200 Do not what? 321 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:38,080 Look behind you, nor stay anywhere in the plain. 322 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:40,120 Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed. 323 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:44,920 Then Lot said to him, please know my lords, indeed now your servant has found favor in 324 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:49,280 your sight and you have increased your mercy, which you have shown me by saving my life. 325 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:51,000 But I cannot escape to the mountains. 326 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,200 Let some evil overtake me and I die. 327 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:58,840 See now this city is near enough to flee to and it's just a little one. 328 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:00,320 Please let me escape there. 329 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:03,440 Is it not a little one and my soul shall live? 330 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:08,280 And the angel said to him, see, I have favored you concerning this thing also in that I will 331 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:11,160 not overthrow this city for what you have spoken. 332 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:14,600 Hurry escape there for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. 333 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:16,920 Therefore the name of the city was Zor. 334 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:22,160 The sun had risen, the sun had risen upon the earth and when Lot entered Zor, then the 335 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:27,800 Lord rained down brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord, from the Lord 336 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:29,160 out of the heavens. 337 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:34,360 So he overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities and that 338 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:36,080 that which grew on the ground. 339 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:43,720 But his wife, Lot's wife looked behind him and she became a pillar of salt. 340 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:45,760 Why? 341 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:51,320 Lot's wife looks back and she physically crystallizes. 342 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:54,860 The angel of God told her, don't look back. 343 00:16:54,860 --> 00:16:56,260 What did she do? 344 00:16:56,260 --> 00:16:57,680 She looked back. 345 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:01,720 If the word of God tells you not to look back, what you do? 346 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:02,720 Don't look back. 347 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:07,840 This is a physical example of a spiritual truth. 348 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:11,520 If the Lord says don't, don't. 349 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:21,360 And Lot's wife was forever paralyzed, frozen in place, a pillar of salt because she peeked 350 00:17:21,360 --> 00:17:23,000 over her shoulder. 351 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:24,840 She began to look back. 352 00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:25,840 Right? 353 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:28,880 Peeking behind us can paralyze us. 354 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:30,240 It really can't. 355 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,800 Do you know how many people I know that are paralyzed? 356 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:38,640 Because they stopped looking at what was ahead and they began to look behind them. 357 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:45,280 Do you know how many people have suffered trauma in their lives and legit true trauma 358 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:46,460 in their lives? 359 00:17:46,460 --> 00:17:51,000 And what can happen is if you suffered trauma somewhere in your past, you can begin to turn 360 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:55,520 your head and you can begin to get focused on the trauma that was back there. 361 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:57,060 And it's so traumatic. 362 00:17:57,060 --> 00:18:00,360 Sometimes you can't turn your head around and even look to the future. 363 00:18:00,360 --> 00:18:05,960 We get fixed on things that were in the back and somewhere in our past, a hurt, a difficulty, 364 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:07,520 a strain of some kind. 365 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:13,520 And we stick with our heads turned backwards and we and it paralyzes us. 366 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:15,240 It stops us cold. 367 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:16,240 Right? 368 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:19,120 Lot's wife's just kind of an illustration of what that is. 369 00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:20,520 We get paralyzed. 370 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:27,360 And listen, if you can't stop looking back, you need to get with a good, godly counselor 371 00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:29,560 who can help you pass the paralysis. 372 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:30,560 Right? 373 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:36,040 A Christian counselor who can help you walk through and get you so you can turn and start 374 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:37,120 to move forward. 375 00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:40,640 And listen, here's the thing about a good Christian counselor, a good Christian counselor, 376 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,480 a good Christian therapist, what they'll do, they know this. 377 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:47,240 They know it's the Holy Spirit's work that actually sets you free from the paralysis 378 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:48,240 that you're in. 379 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,640 You're just kind of the tour guide to get you there. 380 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:51,640 Right? 381 00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:55,360 They'll just, they'll help you work and get to the person who can free you from that. 382 00:18:55,360 --> 00:18:59,200 And if that's you, if you're paralyzed from something that happened in your past, something 383 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:04,280 that's got you and you can't get moving forward and you're paralyzed, find a Christian. 384 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:06,760 Listen, this is biblical to find counsel. 385 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:08,660 It's all through God's work. 386 00:19:08,660 --> 00:19:09,660 Find that person. 387 00:19:09,660 --> 00:19:13,920 Find a good Christian counselor that can help you move towards Jesus and what the Holy Spirit 388 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:15,740 can do to set you free. 389 00:19:15,740 --> 00:19:21,840 Don't let Satan lock you up, freeze you up, right? 390 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:27,080 Paralyze you with whatever took place back there because the enemy will do it. 391 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:28,080 He'll do it. 392 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:29,920 He'll do it. 393 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:34,160 Because Satan knows sometimes that more than a peak can paralyze you. 394 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:36,880 If you get fixed on what's behind you. 395 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:42,600 Jesus died on a cross to help us get free from the paralysis, right? 396 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:44,840 He sent the Holy Spirit. 397 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:47,120 That's why the Holy Spirit came to dwell within you. 398 00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:51,240 He sent the Holy Spirit so you don't get in a state of paralysis. 399 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:53,880 So whatever's behind you no longer affects you. 400 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:56,360 So you can go to the new thing in God, right? 401 00:19:56,360 --> 00:20:01,260 So you can step into whatever life has for you as a new creation in Christ. 402 00:20:01,260 --> 00:20:05,040 So you can walk forward and not be looking back. 403 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:06,200 Amen? 404 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:07,200 It's true. 405 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:11,080 Because if he wanted you to do that, he'd put eyes on the back of your head. 406 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:18,080 I know some of you moms think you've got eyes on the back of your head, but you don't, right? 407 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:19,080 Here's the thing. 408 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:24,280 If God brought you out of the paralysis, if he stepped you through out of something, even 409 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:29,480 maybe some sin that was back there, don't go looking back over your shoulder, right? 410 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:30,480 Years ago I preached the message. 411 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:35,520 I was preaching along the lines of Samson and I entitled it, Don't Touch the Dead Thing, 412 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:36,520 right? 413 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:39,340 Don't go back to the thing that God's killed off in your life. 414 00:20:39,340 --> 00:20:40,680 Don't go back to the thing. 415 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:42,920 And sometimes we do that. 416 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:46,200 Sometimes God kills something off in our life that we don't need, that's no good for us, 417 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:51,300 that's going to tear us up, that's going to pull us down and we get turned around. 418 00:20:51,300 --> 00:20:52,360 Don't do it. 419 00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:53,360 Don't do it. 420 00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:55,600 Second Peter 2 20 warns us about this. 421 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:59,880 It says, for if after they have escaped the pollutions of this world through the knowledge 422 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:04,680 of the Lord and the Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, 423 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:06,060 they looked back, right? 424 00:21:06,060 --> 00:21:09,200 And the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 425 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:12,400 But what would have been better for them if they had not known the way of righteousness 426 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:16,020 than having known it to turn, say to turn, right? 427 00:21:16,020 --> 00:21:18,360 From the holy commandment delivered to them. 428 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:23,400 But it happened to them according to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit and 429 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:28,560 a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire. 430 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:30,480 Don't go back. 431 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:32,120 Don't look back. 432 00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:35,760 Don't spend time looking over your shoulder at what God's freed you from. 433 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:36,760 Don't do it. 434 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:40,840 Because more than a peak is dangerous, right? 435 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:44,400 And if God tells you don't look at it at all, don't. 436 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:45,920 Don't look at it at all. 437 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:48,520 Just keep moving forward. 438 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,880 So I only hit a couple of these. 439 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:54,120 There's more. 440 00:21:54,120 --> 00:21:58,280 But when should I look over my shoulder? 441 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:00,840 When is it safe to look over my shoulder? 442 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:06,400 What, you know, or should I look over my shoulder or should I get my vertebrae fused and never 443 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:07,680 look for it, right? 444 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:10,040 Just keep staring ahead all the time. 445 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:11,040 Never stick them back. 446 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:14,480 Listen, we peek over our shoulder to do one thing. 447 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:18,560 We do it to celebrate what God has done in our lives. 448 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:22,920 When you look back, you look back over your shoulder for a short period of time, you do 449 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:24,180 it to celebrate. 450 00:22:24,180 --> 00:22:28,960 The reason to peek over our shoulder is to look back and realize what God has accomplished 451 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:34,360 in our lives, to testify of His mercy, of His grace, of His extended love towards you 452 00:22:34,360 --> 00:22:35,720 and me, right? 453 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:39,080 Towards the goodness and the provision that He's given in our lives. 454 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:43,040 When we look back over our shoulder, it's not about what we've accomplished. 455 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:44,720 It's not about what we've got through. 456 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:47,080 It's what we got through in Him, right? 457 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:48,480 It's about what He's done. 458 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:50,920 I don't glory in anything you do like Paul does. 459 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:55,440 You don't glory in anything that you've done, only what He's done and what you got to be 460 00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:57,180 a part of. 461 00:22:57,180 --> 00:22:59,560 We celebrate Him. 462 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:04,400 It's why Jesus said, scriptures like Matthew 5, 16, let your light so shine before men that 463 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:08,560 they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. 464 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:10,560 Because that's what you look back and peek at. 465 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:11,920 You look at Him. 466 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,560 We review what He's accomplished. 467 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:19,760 We inventory all the amazing things that God's done. 468 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:24,600 We peek over our shoulder to look at Him, to look what He's done in our lives. 469 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:25,880 And here's the thing. 470 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:30,120 If you peek over your shoulder for that reason, it raises you up. 471 00:23:30,120 --> 00:23:31,980 It does not take you down. 472 00:23:31,980 --> 00:23:36,640 It has the opposite effect of peeking over your shoulder for other reasons. 473 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:41,400 Instead of dragging you down, instead of locking you up, instead of paralyzing you, it will 474 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:43,240 actually lift you up. 475 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:47,320 It begins to remove the danger from peeking over your shoulder. 476 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:48,320 It really does. 477 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:52,480 Zach, if you'd come and the praise team comes, and as they come, I want to give you four 478 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:53,720 things real quick. 479 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:58,480 The peeking over your shoulder to look at what God has done and in His faithfulness. 480 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,080 I want you to see what this does for you. 481 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:02,320 You need to know this. 482 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:04,160 First of all, it builds your faith. 483 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:05,540 Say faith. 484 00:24:05,540 --> 00:24:09,640 If you look back over your shoulder and you look at what God's done, your faith will begin 485 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:10,640 to rise. 486 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:12,440 And I cannot spend enough time. 487 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:13,640 I wish I could. 488 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:14,640 You have to understand something. 489 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:16,920 God, you know what moves God? 490 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:18,240 Faith in God. 491 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:19,240 Your faith in God. 492 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:20,640 You want to see God move on your behalf. 493 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:22,240 You want to see God move in your life. 494 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:24,080 You want to see God shift something. 495 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:25,640 You can't work your way into this. 496 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:26,900 You can't be good enough. 497 00:24:26,900 --> 00:24:28,520 You can't shine it up enough. 498 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,040 But if you got faith in God, God will move. 499 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:32,360 God meets faith every time. 500 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:35,640 Psalms 27.1 says, The Lord is my light and my salvation. 501 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:36,760 Whom shall I fear? 502 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:38,720 The Lord is the strength of my life. 503 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:40,260 Of whom shall I be afraid? 504 00:24:40,260 --> 00:24:45,440 When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled 505 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:46,440 and fell. 506 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:48,320 Do you know what the psalmist was saying? 507 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:52,440 I just took a peek back over my shoulder and I just looked at all the enemies that God 508 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:54,260 took down in my life. 509 00:24:54,260 --> 00:24:58,240 Everything that came against me is now laying on the ground because of Him. 510 00:24:58,240 --> 00:24:59,240 Amen. 511 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:00,240 Come on. 512 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:01,720 We're celebrating right there. 513 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:06,760 Secondly, if you peek behind your shoulder for the right reason, it's worship. 514 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:08,040 It is praise. 515 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:13,440 Peeking over my shoulder and acknowledging what God has done is worship to Him. 516 00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:16,920 Psalms 9.1 says, I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart. 517 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:20,720 I will tell you of your marvelous works. 518 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:22,380 God knows the marvelous works He's done. 519 00:25:22,380 --> 00:25:24,460 He just wants you to repeat it back to Him. 520 00:25:24,460 --> 00:25:27,120 You just repeat because it's going to raise your faith. 521 00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:28,240 It's going to be praise. 522 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:30,160 I will be glad in rejoicing you. 523 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:34,600 I will sing to your name almost high. 524 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:37,160 It is a form of worship. 525 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:42,160 Looking back over your shoulder and recounting the things that He's done, verbalizing it, 526 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:46,000 saying it out loud to Him and just acknowledging what He's done. 527 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:47,000 It is worship. 528 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:51,080 Third, it gives me a bird's eye view of the redemptive work of God. 529 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:54,920 I don't know if you know this or not, but we got short term memory and we've got narrow 530 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:56,840 focus most of the times people. 531 00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:58,440 We see what's going on around us. 532 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:02,160 But if you peek over your shoulder to what God has done, He will give you a bird's eye 533 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:06,680 view of life and what He's doing across the globe. 534 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:10,440 Not just here in Carlisle, not just in your life, right? 535 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:12,880 Your little world, but all across the globe. 536 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:16,240 Isaiah 55 says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. 537 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,480 Know your ways my ways, says the Lord. 538 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:23,480 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours and my thoughts 539 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:25,920 more than your thoughts. 540 00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:27,480 God is so grand. 541 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:28,780 He is so big. 542 00:26:28,780 --> 00:26:33,040 He is accomplishing so much that we can't even get our little brains wrapped around 543 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:34,040 it. 544 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,800 You start thinking about it, it's going to blow your mind. 545 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:40,560 You start realizing what He's unfolding in the world around us, what He's going to do 546 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:41,560 in the future. 547 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,160 It'll blow your mind. 548 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,220 His ways are so far above our ways. 549 00:26:47,220 --> 00:26:50,120 Every time I get into nature, I see this, I realize it. 550 00:26:50,120 --> 00:26:53,520 That's one of the reasons I like going out hunting or even hiking. 551 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:57,440 Because every time I get into woods, I realize, you know, God just breathed this into existence. 552 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:02,040 There's this amazing ecosystem out there running all the time and it is so much bigger than 553 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:03,040 I am. 554 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:05,600 You stand by the seashore and you think, how far does that go out? 555 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:09,120 You get in a boat and you start going out across that and you understand that there's 556 00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:11,440 a whole world below that that He runs. 557 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:14,480 He's so much bigger than we ever give Him credit for. 558 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:18,600 The fact that you're on, sitting on a planet earth, you might have not done anything today. 559 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:19,920 You just traveled a thousand mile an hour. 560 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:21,320 I don't know if you know that or not. 561 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:26,680 The earth revolves at least a little over a thousand mile an hour. 562 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:29,160 And you're just standing on top of that thing, right? 563 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:30,720 Doing what you do. 564 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:32,540 He's big. 565 00:27:32,540 --> 00:27:35,800 You start looking over your shoulder and recounting who He is. 566 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:36,800 Amen? 567 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:37,800 It's true. 568 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:40,920 Peeking back will build your faith. 569 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:41,920 You will worship. 570 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:43,040 You'll begin to see the bigger picture. 571 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:46,280 And fourth, it will help you launch forward in Him. 572 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:48,480 It'll help you launch forward in Him. 573 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:53,800 Romans 8 says this, for what then shall we say of these things? 574 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,000 If God is for us, who can be against us? 575 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,360 Come on, you should be excited about that one just right there alone. 576 00:27:59,360 --> 00:28:05,180 He who did not spare His own soul but delivered Him up for all of us, how shall He not with 577 00:28:05,180 --> 00:28:08,040 Him also freely give us all things? 578 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,080 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? 579 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:12,920 It is God who justifies. 580 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:14,080 Who is He who condemns? 581 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:15,760 It is Christ who died. 582 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:20,360 But furthermore, He is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes 583 00:28:20,360 --> 00:28:24,860 intercession for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation 584 00:28:24,860 --> 00:28:30,460 or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, as it is written, for your 585 00:28:30,460 --> 00:28:32,440 sake we were killed all the day long. 586 00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:35,020 We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 587 00:28:35,020 --> 00:28:41,600 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 588 00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:43,560 Come on, right? 589 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:48,320 Brian persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor 590 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:52,640 things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall 591 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:56,320 be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 592 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:59,480 If that doesn't launch you forward, I don't know what will. 593 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:01,580 Amen, come on. 594 00:29:01,580 --> 00:29:03,660 We got a reason to praise. 595 00:29:03,660 --> 00:29:04,660 We got a reason. 596 00:29:04,660 --> 00:29:08,920 If you're going to peek back over your shoulder, take a look at what He's done. 597 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:09,920 Recount what He's done. 598 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,440 Quit focusing on all the other stuff. 599 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:15,240 The problems, the issues, the difficulties. 600 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:19,440 Stop staring at all that and let Him launch you forward. 601 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:27,000 Thank you for tuning in to this message from Life House Church. 602 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:35,480 We pray that you were impacted powerfully by this message. 603 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:39,600 If you have been personally affected by our ministry and you would like to partner with 604 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:48,360 us as we love God, love people every day, visit our website at www.lifehousecog.com.