Wednesday Service | Re-New | Part 8: Don’t Never Go Back

[1] When the past has a hold of us… we need some ministry to our

Isaiah 43:18

Forget the things that happened in the past. Do not keep on thinking about them.

Philippians 4:8 (MSG)

⁸ Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.

[2] When something in the past possesses us we will subconsciously our future

Exodus 16:3 (NIV)

³ The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

Exodus 17:3 (NIV)

³ But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

Numbers 14:1-4 (NIV)

14 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.² All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Exodus 3:7 (NIV)

⁷ The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.

Numbers 14:30-33 (NIV)

³⁰ Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. ³¹ As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. ³² But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness.³³ Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.

• When we are possessed by the past we can’t follow God into our future

• The Hebrews were no longer in Egypt but the problem is Egypt was still in them

[3] The people of God walk by

• Walking by faith means… I I’m not going back

Proverbs 26:11 (KJV)

11 As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

Genesis 19:26 (NIV)

²⁶ But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Dr Henry Cloud

“Before returning to anything that didn’t work, make sure you ask the right questions:

• Have I truly changed in a way that would make this work?

• Has the other person truly changed?

• Is the situation really different?

If not, going back isn’t moving forward; it’s repeating the past. Life is forward-moving. Make sure your choices reflect that.”

• Not going back to our Egypt may mean… walking in a new of faith

• Not going back to our Egypt may mean… not allowing someone back into our life that hasn’t proven they have

• Not going back to our Egypt may mean… joining a support

[4] Faith isn’t about having a religious feeling, its what walking in the God has called you into

Isaiah 43:18-19 (MSG)

“Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.