DON’T LOOK BACK
Luke 9:57-62
Luke
9:57-10:1
57 As they
were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you
wherever you go."
58 Jesus
replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of
Man has no place to lay his head."
59 He said
to another man, "Follow me."
But the man
replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
60 Jesus
said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim
the kingdom of God."
61 Still
another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say
good-by to my family."
62 Jesus
replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for
service in the kingdom of God."
V:57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him,
"I will follow you wherever you go."
58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the
air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
There is no permanent place on earth for the
Christian
This is not our home. We are passing
through.
Don’t attached to earthly possessions.
V:59. He said to another man, "Follow me."
But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my
father."
60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own
dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
A.
Following Jesus leads you out of the land of the
dead to the place of the living.
There
are some dead things we need to leave behind.
You have
shake the dust from those who refuse to accept the Lord as Savior.
Matthew
10:14-16
If
anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your
feet when you
leave
that home or town. 15 I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom
and
Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
V:61. Still another
said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by
to my family."
62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow
and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
A. Following Jesus means putting Him
first.
1.
When God is first, the family has a good second
2.
When God is first, family life is enhanced.
3.
When God is first, family takes on a new level
of importance.
Matthew 19:29-30
And everyone who has left houses or brothers
or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a
hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
DON’T LOOK BACK WHEN FOLLOWING JESUS
Following Jesus puts the perspective on the
future.
1.
Looking back takes the past into the presence
2.
Looking back colors the future with past
problems
3.
Looking back changes the course of the future
4.
You can’t drive a car forward looking back
5.
Looking back brings past failures into the
future
6.
Looking back keeps an attachment on past
problems
B.
Looking back puts the focus on guilt of sins God
has forgiven.
1 John 1:9-10
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1.
Don’t carry guilt of yesterday into today.
2.
God gives us a clean slate each day.
Micah 7:18
You will again have compassion on
us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
3.
God does not hold your mistakes of yesterday
against you.
C.
Following Jesus means putting complete trust in
Him.
1.
Following Jesus is allowing Him to handle the
problems of the day.
2.
Following Jesus is putting all your burdens on
Him.
DON’T
LOOK BACK AT THE DEFEATS OF YESTERDAY
A.
Failure is part of growing.
1.
We learn what doesn’t work so we can try
something different.
2.
If you don’t try something, you will never learn
anything.
3.
Its not how many times you fail, but how many
times you keep trying.
B.
Psalms 37:23-24
If
the Lord delights in a man's way,
he
makes his steps firm;
though he stumble, he will not fall,
for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
1.
Don’t define a defeat as a failure, but a step
toward success.
2.
Many successes are built on past failures.
DON’T SEE
THE PAST AS BETTER THAN WHAT IT WAS
A.
We always talk about the “good old days”
1.
The good old days had their share of problems.
2.
The good old days are stuck in yesterday’s ideas
and technology.
3.
Ecclesiastes 7:10
Do not say, "Why were the old
days better than these?"
For it is not wise to ask such questions.
4.
Throughout the book of Exodus are stories of the
Israelites looking
Back at what they had in Egypt as slaves.
5.
They couldn’t see the promised land for their
complaints in the deserts.
6.
They couldn’t enjoy their freedom for looking
back at place that was not
Their home.
Numbers 11:18-20
"Tell the people: 'Consecrate
yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard
you when you wailed, "If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in
Egypt!" Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. 19 You will
not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, 20 but
for a whole month — until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it —
because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before
him, saying, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?"
REFLECTING
ON OLD SITUATION CAN MAKE YOU SAD OR ANGRY
A.
Anytime you rehearse old hurts and pains you
bring them to
The surface to stir up hurt over again.
1.
You know you have not got over a situation when
you hurt
As if it was present.
2.
1 Peter 2:1-3
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice
and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of
every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave
pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may
grow up in your salvation, 3 now that
you have tasted that the Lord is good.
3.
Concentrate on improving yourself for God’s
planned goodness.
4.
Don’t let the past hold you captive.
5.
Don’t give someone who hurt you power over your
emotions.
6.
Start this new year with an outlook of peace,
joy and success.
DON’T
LOOK BACK AT VICTORIES AND THINK YOU ARE BETTER THAN WHAT YOU ARE
A.
What successes we had in the past belong to the
Lord.
1.
What successes we had in the past were purposed
so others be
Lifted up.
Philippians 3:12-14
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one
thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I
press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me
heavenward in Christ Jesus.
2.
Brothers and Sisters Don’t bring the mess of
2021 into 2022
3.
God has new and better things instore for us.
4.
Don’t limit what God can do based on what was in
the past.
5.
God has a time for our joy
6.
The best is yet to come
B.
Put your hope in the Lord
1.He can do exceedingly abundantly more than you can as or conceive.
2. Put your hope in the Lord and trust His plan.
3. 2021 was a time of growth
4. 2022 is the time of success
SUMMARY DON’T LOOK BACK
LOOKING BACK TAKES YOU
EYE OFF THE KINGDOM
LOOKING BACK TAKES YOU
FOCUS OFF KINGDOM SUCCESSES
LOOKING BACK TAKES
YOUR MIND OFF KINGDOM
PURPOSES
LOOKING BACK TAKES
YOUR FOCUS OFF JESUS JOY
LOOKING BACK TAKES
YOUR FOCUS OFF THE PEACE OF JESUS
LOOKING BACK TAKE YOUR
FOCUS OFF YOUR TRUE POTENTIAL
LOOKING BACK TAKES
YOUR MIND OFF THE GLORY
OF GOD
Rev. M. Mitchell
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