The Way Church Podcast

00:00:00
Isaiah 43, 18, 19. Be reading out of the new international version of scripture this morning. It says, forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing now.

00:00:22
It springs up. Do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland now. Philippians, chapter number three, verses 13 through 14.

00:00:46
The apostle Paul saying here, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. We're continuing our series, the Summer break Series. And I want to tag a title to this entire installment of this series that simply says, I'm over that. As you take your seats, just look at the person next to you and tell them, I'm over that. I'm over that.

00:01:39
I'm over that.

00:01:46
Family, as I said, we are continuing this summer break series, a season where we're not just taking a vacation from work, a break from routine, or taking a trip to get some sun. This is about taking a spiritual break, a break from burdens, the baggage, the bondage that has been weighing us down. You see, summer is a time when we look forward to travel. We look forward to rest. We look forward to relaxations, take in some new experiences.

00:02:27
We buy summer outfits and make plans to visit new places, posting pictures all over social hashtag summer vibes. But while we're packing suitcases, while we're planning trips, many of us are still carrying the type of baggage you can't check at an airport counter. This is the baggage of our past. What I'm trying to get you to understand this morning is that we can change locations, but if we don't deal with what's going on on the inside of us, we end up on vacation. We end up in new places, but with the same old pain.

00:03:14
You're on the beach, but your mind is still on the betrayal. You may be on the cruise ship, but your spirit is still chained to the shame that you had to endure. You're at the cookout, laughing on the outside, but your heart is chilling, still haunted by what they did to you. Family. This is not the kind of summer break that God has for you.

00:03:42
Encourage somebody next to you and tell them God has better for you. Yeah, tell them again, God has better for you. In this season, God is saying, I want to give you a real break. A break from your past that has been holding you high hostage. A break from the cycle that has been replaying the old wounds in your mind over and over again.

00:04:08
A break from dragging those old disappointments into new season. Isaiah says it in Isaiah 43 and 18, he says, forget the former things. See, I am doing a new thing. Somebody shout a new thing. This is not just about moving physically.

00:04:28
This is about moving spiritually and emotionally. And God sent me to tell you that you don't have to keep carrying it. He sent me to tell you you don't have to keep replaying it and you don't have to keep reliving it. Today is the day that you can get over it. Somebody shout, I'm over that.

00:04:53
Shout it again. I'm over that. Yeah. Today is your day to declare I'm over that. I'm over what they said about me.

00:05:02
I'm over who walked out on me. I'm over the mistakes I made, the shame I carried, the season I ended up in. I'm over that.

00:05:17
So today we're not just talking, talking about leaving it in the past. We're talking about breaking free from it once and for all. Somebody say it again. I'm over that.

00:05:36
This phrase new thing is found several times in the Old Testament, at least twice in the New Testament, in the scripture that we read in Isaiah 43 and 19, Isaiah boldly proclaims with fervor, I, the Lord will do a new thing. Many times. Preachers all over the world, when referring to something fresh and something new, many will focus on this familiar text. Why? Because it's speaks to us of the power of God to change the grimace of circumstances.

00:06:16
It speaks to us and says, stop brooding over your past history. Don't brood over the mistakes of years gone by. Don't even brood over what or where you are in your life right now. He says, I, the Lord, will do a new thing in your life. I'm going to do something, something fresh in your life.

00:06:39
I'm going to do something different in your life. I'm going to do something magnificent in your life. Things that you've never seen, that you've never imagined, that you've never dreamt of. He says, I'm going to do something new in your life.

00:06:57
Family. If we're going to truly move forward and step into the new thing that God has for you, us, there's something that we have to do first. Look at the person next to you and tell them, open your eyes. Yeah, we have to open our eyes to point number one. Recognize and release past wounds and wins.

00:07:22
We got to release the past wounds and wins. Paul says in Philippians 3, 13, 14, he says, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead. I pray press on towards the goal to win the prize which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Notice what Paul says. He says forgetting what is behind.

00:07:48
He did not just say forgetting the failures behind. He said forget everything that is behind. The good, the bad, the ugly. Most of us know how we need to move on from failures. But what many people miss is that sometimes our past successes can become just as dangerous as our past mistakes.

00:08:15
In other words, sometimes we get stuck celebrating old wins for so long that we miss the new assignment that God has for our lives. Oh y' all looking at me with that Bible way. Look, don't mess with me. I got Bible to back this up. We, we can agree and we all understand that failures can hold us back.

00:08:36
Yes or yes? Sometimes your failures can keep you stuck in cycles of shame and cycles of regret and cycles of self doubt. Peter denied Jesus three times. If he had stayed in that cycle and stuck there, he would have never preached. Peter Pentecost.

00:08:58
Moses killed an Egyptian, ran in the desert for 40 years, but God called him back to deliver a nation. This is a critical observation for us because it lets us know that God doesn't define you by your failures. He defines you by the future that he's placed over your lives. Proverbs 24:16 says, for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again. Do I have any righteous people in this place this morning?

00:09:34
This means and speaks to us and says that failure is not final.

00:09:41
Tell your neighbor all failure isn't final. Yeah, falling down is an event, but getting up is a decision. Yeah, I may have fallen down, but I made a decision. I'm getting back up. I made a decision I'm gonna change my life around.

00:09:59
Somebody in this place needs to know you can get back up again. I don't care where you've been, I don't care what you did, I don't care how religious people look at you. You can get back up again. Tell somebody you can get back up again.

00:10:15
Yeah, see we get that. We get that. But what we have a hard time wrapping our heads around is the fact that success holds us back too.

00:10:29
Some of us are stuck in what worked back then. We're living off of old victories, living off of old revelations, old season old structures. Please don't forget about Samson who got comfortable in his strength and kept living off of old victories. So much so he lost his anointing. And there are some people that's living off of yesterday and didn't realize you have lost your Anointing, because God says, I'm getting ready to do something new.

00:11:06
I want to do something special. I want to do something different. King Saul started strong, but he became obsessed with protecting his old position instead of obeying God's new instructions. Who am I preaching to today? God didn't call us to repeat what he did before.

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He called us to follow what he's doing right now.

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Your past is a reference. It's not your destiny. It's not the place that you're supposed to reside in.

00:11:46
Isaiah 43 and 18 says, forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. This does not mean that we don't honor or celebrate the past. This means we just don't get stuck there. And hear me, for some of us, the reason why God cannot move in your life the way he wants to move, the reason why he cannot send breakthrough and abundance as he's promised you, is because you've let nostalgia become an idol that's blocking your next move that God wants to do in your life.

00:12:23
You are so enthralled about what you used to be and how it used to be and the way it used to be that you are stuck right there. And God says, I'm not there no more. I'm trying to move over here. But because you are worshiping that idol, I'm gonna leave you right there. Because you can't hold on to what was and receive what is.

00:12:49
Don't forget Lot's wife. She looked back and turned into a pillar of thought. God was trying to lead them out of destruction, but her heart stayed in Sodom. Looking back cost her everything. And I wonder what it's cost some of us just by looking back and staying stuck in the area that God's trying to push us out of.

00:13:19
The Israelites were in the wilderness, but they kept saying we should go back. We should do it like we used to do it. They kept saying Egypt was a better place, but Egypt was a place of bondage.

00:13:35
But listen, they were so afraid of the new that they would prefer the familiarity of being in chains rather than exposure experiencing what God has new for them. And some people are so afraid of the new you that you prefer to remain the chained you or the enslaved you. But the devil is a liar. Not on my watch. You can't drive forward looking in a rear view mirror.

00:14:02
Old victories can become new vulnerabilities if you stop growing. And God sent me here to tell you that it's time for you to get over that and. And break the path so he can Give you the break that he wants to give you.

00:14:21
Look at somebody, tell them, honor the past, but don't idolize it. Don't idolize it because God is a God of movement. God is a God of movement. And you can hold on to old failures or old fame and expect to embrace the new thing that God wants to do in your life. Are you getting this?

00:14:48
Paul had so many reasons to boast about his religious successes, and he also had so many reasons to feel shamed of his past mistakes. But here's what he said. In Philippians 3, 7, and 8, he says, I counted all as loss compared to knowing Christ. In other words, he said, when I got to know Christ, what my accomplishments I received made me nothing. And the past mistakes I had are nothing.

00:15:22
All I'm focusing on is focusing on Christ. He was saying, I'm getting ready to let go of everything. But knowing Christ. And God wants to free us from both the prison of our pain and the prison of our pride.

00:15:41
Because some of us have so much pride about the things that you're doing or that you've done. And God said, I'm trying to break you from that pride. I'm trying to do a new thing. He's saying, let go of the guilt and let go of the shame, but let go of the highlight reels also. Let go of the good old days also.

00:16:02
Because what God has for you, hear me, what God has for you is better than anything that you've ever seen in your life. Anything that you've ever experienced in your life. And I just need about five people that will receive that. That better is in store for me. That what God has for me is greater than what I have experienced.

00:16:25
Somebody shout, I'm over that. Shout it again. I'm over that.
00:16:36
So once, once we recognize and release the weight of our past failures and even our past successes, there's something else that we need to deal with if we're really going to break free. Because here's the truth. Here's the truth. Even after we decide to move forward, many of us are still secretly carrying the wounds on the inside. Dressed up, but still got the wounds.

00:17:12
Speaking Christianese, but still got the wounds. Singing and ushering, and putting, working in the parking lot, but still, still have the wound. We might stop talking about it publicly, but we keep rehearsing it privately. We let go of the event, but. But.

00:17:31
But we keep replaying the emotions. We left the place, but we're living in the pain. But if we're really going to say, I'm over that. It's not just about declaring it vocally. It's about healing internally.

00:17:53
So after you recognize what's been holding you back, the next step is point number two to understand the danger of rehearsing old wounds.

00:18:08
Understanding the danger of rehearsing old wounds. Isaiah says, forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. Notice he did not say, don't remember. He says, don't dwell on the past because there is a difference between remembering something and living in it.

00:18:35
And some of us have stopped physically living in certain places, but. But we're still mentally and emotionally stuck there.

00:18:45
We don't just recall the old wounds. We rehearse the old wounds. We press rewind in our mind and keep replaying the betrayal. We replay the failure. We replay what they did and what they said that hurt us.

00:19:05
And each time we replay it, we reopen the wound that God is trying to heal.
00:19:14
You subliminally post about it. You don't want anybody to know, but you're reliving it again. Every person that calls you, you rehearse it over and over again. You call your prayer partner. Instead of y' all praying, you rehearsing it again.

00:19:29
And how is it that you a prayer partner, but you also are a gossiper? It's an oxymoron. You can't be a prayer warrior and a gossiper at the same time. What God is saying is that you have to understand that why rehearsing old wounds is dangerous.

00:19:48
Because I cannot heal you if you keep talking about it. Because watch this. Rehearsing wounds keep you trapped in the offense. When you keep rehearsing, you keep reliving. And when you keep reliving, you cannot release you wondering why you can't get over it, why you can't release it.

00:20:14
Hebrews 12 and 15 says, See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, that no bitterness root grows up and cause trouble and defile many. Listen to me. Bitterness is the fruit of a wound that has not been released. So you can praise God, you can speak Christianese, and you can still have bitterness in your heart. Everybody you talk to, it's that bitterness is going to come out.

00:20:44
You have a problem with this person and a problem with that person, because there is a seed of bitterness in your heart. But somebody say, I'm over that. Yeah, I'm over that. Rehearsing wounds also listen distorts your identity. In other words, you begin to define yourself by what was done to you instead of what Jesus did for you.

00:21:15
You remember Naomi, in ruth, chapter number one, verse 20 and 21, she said, don't call me Naomi, call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. She let her pain rename her. The name Naomi means pleasant and sweet, but the name Mara means bitter. She let her circumstances redefine her. Instead of seeing seeing her future the way that God designed it, she identified herself entirely by her pain.

00:21:52
I wonder how many people are identifying themselves by the pain that they've experienced. Naomi's story is powerful because it's an example to us of what happens when we release our wounds. We hurt. Excuse me, our wounds. Instead of releasing them, she allowed them to rename her.

00:22:13
She left her heartbreak become her new identity. She interpreted her story through the lens of bitterness instead of believing that God could still do something new. Can I tell you, I don't care where you've been, I don't care what you've experienced. God can still do something new in your life, that God can still turn your life around.

00:22:40
Watch this rehearsing. Your wounds also block new relationships and opportunities because you can't build new trust when you're holding on to old trauma. You don't trust anybody, everybody you are suspicious of. Or let me say it this way, you can't embrace the blessing that God has for you when you are hugging the old baggage that you have in your life. Joseph in Genesis 50, he could have lived his life rehearsing how his brothers betrayed him.

00:23:15
He could have lived his life rehearsing how Potiphar's wife lied on him, how he was forgotten in prison, but instead he said, you intended it for harm, but God intended it for my good. In other words, I don't have to get back at you. I don't have to square up with you. I don't have to get you told. I don't have to act funny with you.

00:23:39
You intended it for harm, but God intended it for my good. He chose his destiny over dwelling over his past. David, when he lost everything in ziglag and they were talking about stoning him, David could have rehearsed the betrayal, rehearsed the loss. But the Bible says that he encouraged himself in the Lord. Have you ever had a time where you had to encourage yourself?

00:24:13
Sometimes driving in your car, you gonna have to encourage yourself. Sometimes you gonna have to steal away and log off of social and log off on your phone and. And have to encourage yourself in the Lord.

00:24:29
See, listen, when you stop rehearsing, you give God permission to start restoring things in your life you cannot heal what you keep reopening. You can't move forward while living on replay because what you rehearse, you keep reinforcing it. I have to stop listening to certain things because people may want to rehearse it over and over and over again. But what you rehearse, you reinforce.

00:25:09
Your mind cannot be renewed if your memories keep being recycled.

00:25:18
I hope you didn't miss that. We're supposed to be renewed in our mind. But your mind can't be renewed when your memories keep being recycled. You keep going over it over and over again. Stop letting your old wounds have VIP access to the new season that God is trying to take you in.

00:25:45
No, I'm over that. I'm out of that. And yes, let me say this. Your wounds are real. I'm in no way minimizing your wounds, but they don't have to be your residents.

00:26:02
I'm all for therapy. I'm all for getting help. We gonna talk about it one time, and we gonna be over it, because I'm not gonna keep rehearsing it. I need to know, how do I move forward, not staying stuck in what happened to me. Because you cannot heal a wound you keep protecting.

00:26:26
Are you getting this? So today, family, we have to make the decision. Somebody say the decision. I gotta make the decision that I'm over that. That I'm not going to let the betrayal and the disappointment and the heartbreak dictate my future another day.

00:26:46
God wants to break your past. So when we stop rehearsing the wounds, we make room for God to start restoring and renewing us. Because we can't receive what he has for us while holding on to it. You can't move into a new house until you let go of the old house.

00:27:08
You got to pack up and let go of the old house. You can't walk in fresh purpose by holding on to old pain.

00:27:17
So once we recognize what's been holding us back. I'm almost done. And stop replaying the old wounds. There's one more step that we have to take. It's not enough just to say, I'm over that.

00:27:30
You have to also be able to say, I'm ready for this. And I wonder if there's anybody in this room that said, pastor, I'm ready for this. I'm not only over that, I'm ready for this. Whatever this is, whatever God has in store for me, I'm ready to move to my new thing.

00:27:51
So after we release the past, you have to, number three, boldly embrace the new thing that God is doing. Isaiah 43, 19. He says, see, I'm doing a new thing now. It springs up. Do you not perceive it?

00:28:09
He says, I'm making a way in the wilderness and streams, in the wasteland. After you let go of your path, after you stop rehearsing your wounds, you can't just stand still. You have to actively. Somebody say actively. Actively.

00:28:25
Say it again. Say actively. You have to actively embrace the new thing that God wants to do in your life. God is saying, I don't want to just give you a new thing. I'm getting ready to do more than that.

00:28:43
I don't want to just heal you. I'm ready to launch you into your destiny. I don't want to just take away and restore you from old stuff, but I want to give you and release you into something greater.

00:28:58
God doesn't just take away what you had, but God gives you something better. But hear me. The new thing requires new perception. Notice that he says, do you not perceive it? Ask the person next to you, can you see it?

00:29:20
Can you see what God is trying to do in your life? Can you see what God is? In other words, God is saying, I'm already working, I'm already moving, but can you see it? Sometimes the biggest barrier to God doing a new thing in our life is not the devil. Sometimes the biggest barrier is our own inability to see beyond what was.

00:29:51
You ask somebody, what is God doing? They immediately start talking about all the things that they're going through. But you got to be able to see that God is getting ready to take me to higher heights and deeper depths, that God is getting ready to plan and plant my feet in places that he wants me to go. We talked about it, the Israelites. God was giving them a new land.

00:30:15
But they kept seeing themselves as God grasshoppers. And they miss the new because they clung to the old mindset. Please don't miss your new thing because you're holding on to your old mindset. The new thing requires new faith. God says, I'm making a way in the wilderness, streams, in the wasteland.

00:30:44
Nobody likes being in the wilderness. The wilderness is dry. The wilderness is confusing. It's seemingly impossible. Anybody ever been in a wilderness season?

00:30:58
The God that we serve specializes in turning wastelands into water parks. He said, it may be dry right now, but I know how to rain and make it into a water park. I know how to give you more. I don't know how to refresh you. I know how to make it wet.

00:31:19
He says, I'm doing something new.

00:31:25
And oftentimes when God does something new. It does not make sense to the natural mind. It does not make sense. Noah, go build an ark. But it had not rained yet.

00:31:39
No. Abraham, leave your family and everything you know, and I'm not going to tell you the destination. You just start walking.

00:31:50
Sometimes it does not make sense to the natural mind. Mary, you're going to conceive and you don't even know a man.

00:32:02
The new thing requires faith. That says, even if I don't fully understand it, God, I still trust you. Even if I can't see it with my natural eyes. Even if I'm in the midst of darkness, even if I don't know where I'm going, God, I'm going to obey you.

00:32:24
Somebody say, lord, thank you for my new thing. Oh, say it like you mean to say, thank you for my new thing, because this new thing requires new identity. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, if anyone be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away, and behold, all things become new. When God does something new, he does not just give you a new situation, he gives you a new identity.
00:33:00
Which means you are no longer defined by the divorce that you went through. You defined by his grace. You're no longer labeled by your past. You are called by the promise that he's made over your life. I know that some people ain't never done nothing and they never had no problems in their life, but I'm talking to the people that, you know, you had a past.

00:33:25
You know, God brought you out of some stuff. He says, you are not labeled by your past. You are no longer stuck in old habits. But God is inviting you to a new place. Let people bring it up.

00:33:40
Let people talk about it. I'm not there no more. I'm over that. Look at me funny. I'm not there no more.

00:33:48
I'm over that.

00:33:52
Tell somebody. Your new thing requires a new you. Your new thing requires a new you.

00:34:02
Because God doesn't upgrade the old. He transforms it into something completely new. Stay stuck if you wanna, but I'm not there. I'm over that. I'm breaking the the path.

00:34:17
This is the break that God wants to give us.

00:34:23
Don't miss today's miracle because you're stuck in yesterday's mindset. God says, I'm doing a new thing. What he's saying to us is, will you perceive it? In other words, will you trust me with this new thing? Will you step into it?

00:34:44
It may look different than you used to. It may stretch your faith. It require you Leaving your comfort zone. It may challenge your old way of thinking, but when you embrace it, when you say yes to the new thing, when you declare, I'm over that and I'm ready for this, the joy that you want is there. The peace that you want is right there.

00:35:10
Everything that you're asking for that you could imagine is that there. Somebody declare it again. I'm over that. Say it. I'm over that.

00:35:21
And say this. I'm ready for the new. I'm ready for the new.

00:35:29
This is how we have the break that God really wants us to have. Not just because it's summer, but we have the spiritual and emotional break that God wants to give us. Stand with me all over this building.

00:35:50
I remember watching one of my favorite channels, the HGTV channel. And a show was on, and the guy was being interviewed. He was asked what goes into restoring old furniture. He took his time and he sat back and he said, it takes time. It takes imagination, and it takes love.

00:36:18
God is like that furniture restorer on hgtv. God invests time and imagination and love with each one of us. He removes the paint, the old paint of bitterness and guilt and shame. He sands down the scars, the wounds, the trauma, the heartbreak. And he repairs the broken parts, the broken parts of our mind, our hearts, the broken parts of our soul.

00:37:02
When he finishes us, he finishes with coats of grace and mercy and purpose for our lives. So much so that when he's finished with us, even our enemies can't recognize us. Because God is a master restorer. When he's done, you're so transformed, they can't even recognize that you've been restored. Because when God makes you new, you don't just look different.

00:37:36
You live different. Lift your hands all over this place. I speak over you now that you will no longer be stuck in old wounds or old winds. I speak over you that you will not be defined by your past pain or even by your past praise, but you will step into the new thing that God has prepared for you. I say that you will walk lighter and walk freer and walk stronger because your future is calling you louder than your past may be whispering your name.

00:38:17
May God give you the summer break that he desires. Father, today we release every chain to the past. We declare that we are over it. We. We are over the hurt and over the regret and over the replayed stories in our lives.

00:38:37
Thank you for making us new.

00:38:41
Thank you for the ways that you've made in the wilderness, the rivers that you make in the wasteland. We receive your new thing. Today we receive your fresh start.

00:38:57
We thank you for your divine restoration In Jesus name. Thank God and Amen.
Total Duration 00:39:08