From this Point - Forward!

Good morning! Happy 4th July weekend..

This morning we continue our Summer series in the psalms.. We looking at importance of moving forward..

When pilots prepare for takeoff, they don’t just climb into the cockpit and hope for the best.

They follow checklists—detailed, step-by-step guides to make sure everything is ready for a safe flight.

They also rely on carefully mapped flight plans, which include specific checkpoints called waypoints—coordinates along the route that help the pilot stay on course.

Each waypoint is intentional, and the pilot knows that straying from them could throw the entire flight off track…

The Scriptures show us that everything In God’s plan moves forward with purpose.

Theologians call this the teleological view of God.

The word teleological comes from the Greek telos, meaning “end” or “purpose.”

It’s describes how history moves…it not cyclical but linear… It forwards toward a known and intended goal..

God knows every plot twist, every turn in the story.

And likewise Faith move forward —.. from Faith to Faith.

The apostle Paul capture this when he said.

Philippians 3:13–14 ESV

13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

One of the blessings of Faith is that is that we don’t have to keep looking back in the reviewmirror at all our failures and missed opportunities….

Faith moves from this point forward..

This morning, we are looking at  Psalm 90—

Moses is the Author of the Psalm..and it considered the oldest of all the Psalms —

The occasion was when Israel Got stuck at a place called Kadesh-Barnea and failed to enter into the promised land.

The story found in Numbers 13 and 14.

After Israel was delivered from Egypt, they came to the edge of the Promised Land.

Twelve spies were sent into Canaan, and they all returned with a good report. But only two—Joshua and Caleb—had the faith to move forward.

The other ten were overwhelmed by the giants in the land and saw themselves as grasshoppers in their sight..

Instead of moving forward, they got stuck.

They lacked the faith to enter the Promised Land.

They began to spin their tires by their grumbling and unbelief-

And their lack of faith brought about the Judgement of God.

God said that none of those who were twenty years and older would enter the Promised Land.

For every day the spies hesitated, it would be a year of wandering—until the whole generation died off.

Then God waited for a second generation—

Ironically…

those who had not witnessed the miracles in Egypt—

They would be the ones who would take possession of the land.

Even in Gods judgment we find his grace and mercy…

Evangelism While discipling Israel.. God was preparing a New generation who would rise up and walk into the future He had promised.”

This is the context…

Psalm 90 is Moses’ personal prayer in this crisis—turning to God for comfort… and then Bringing hope to following generation.

What we learn.. T/s If we are going to Move Forward in Faith..…we need

1. A fresh vision of who God is.

The well know Dale Carnegie .. author and lecturer… once was asked on a radio program,

“What is the biggest lesson you have ever learned in life?”

He said, the most vital lesson he had

learned is the importance of what we think.

If I knew what you thought, I would know who you are. In other words..

What we think about is important… ..

prov 23.7 says that has as man thinks so he is..

A.W. Tozer said

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Why? Because our view of God shapes everything—

how we see ourselves, how we approach our problems, how we live day to day, and how we face the future…

A small view of God leads to small faith

. But a great vision fuels great faith…

Psalm a 90 enlarges our our view of God..

Let’s read our text..

Psalm 90:1–4 ESV

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 3 You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.

Moses doesn’t begin talking about Israel’s failures or his own frustrations, but with a declaration of God’s greatness:

Moses lifts our eyes from the dust of every day life and challenges..and gives us a big-picture view—a view of God that stretches beyond the present moment.

Moses prayers..: “Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.”

Now .. for much of their history up to this point, they were a nation without land, without borders, and without a permanent home.

They lived in tents, wandered through deserts, and in a life that was temporary and fragile..

But Moses recognized Their true home—their refuge, their security—was not a place on a map. It was the presence of God Himself.

Home is about Presence…

My parents moved from Africa living in Wales.. snd is completely different.. culture.. house.. way of life ..they have adjusted..

But when I visit., it so different..but..it still feels like home—

The reason is..

Home is about who they are—it’s about presence..

Moses says Lord you are our dwelling…you are our home…our dwelling place.. Moses then Pans back.. and he wants us to see.

The eternity of God…the glory of God..

Moses reminds us of How Big God is.. that God existed before the mountains were formed—before the earth itself took shape.

God is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting….

It is hard for us to understand infinite God with a finite mind…

How do we define eternity? 

It has been said that.

Eternity is the length of time it would take a bird to take one speck of dirt at a time, flying with it to the sun, until it had moved the entire earth.

After having done this back and forth a dozen times, eternity would have just begun.

Moses wants us to know God is Eternal — Eternal means that there has never time when he was not..

He is eternal—He has always been.

Eternity is God’s mode of existence—He stands outside of time as its Creator, unbound and in complete control.

If we are going to trust God fully, we must first grasp who he is..

Moses helps us by drawing a sharp contrast. He draws two columns...

On one side is humanity—finite, fragile, bound by time and brevity. On the other side is God—eternal, unchanging, and sovereign over all time.

Moses says.. While our days are like grass that springs up in the morning and withers by evening, His existence stretches endlessly in both directions.

He reminds us that man comes from dust and returns to dust—

IN CONTRAST..

God is completely different. For Him, a thousand years are like yesterday—like a single night’s sleep.

Time does not wear Him down or cause Him to change. He is constant, unchanging, and eternal—steady through all the ages…

What does this mean for us?

It means we can stop trying to control what’s beyond our reach

It means you can face uncertainty with confidence, knowing God is already present in your tomorrow. And it means that our small, fragile life is woven into His great eternal story—where nothing done for Him is ever wasted.

T/s If we are going to Move Forward from this moment to what has a head…first need

1. A fresh vision of who God is.

2. A Fresh Perspective of Our Purpose in Christ..

When Sir Leonard Woolf—another accomplished writer, thinker, and public servant—was 89 years old, just a year before he died, he reflected on his life.

He had spent decades writing books, serving on government committees, and shaping policy. Yet, looking back, he made a surprising confession:

He said, “The world today would be exactly the same if I had just played ping-pong instead of doing all that work.”

Then he added, “I have ploughed through 150,000 to 200,000 hours of perfectly useless work.”

Here was a man near the end of his life, wrestling with a question …did it truly make a difference?

None of us wants to come to that place. None of us wants to reach the end of our days and wonder, 

Did I waste the time God gave me?

Did I miss what really mattered?

This next section

Moses reflects on the generation that died in the wilderness..

Psalm 90:5–10 ESV

5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: 6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. 7 For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. 10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

Moses uses vivid words pictures of

—floods, dreams, and grass—to drive home the reality of how fleeting human life apart from God’s purposes..

Like a flood, generations are swept away—gone and forgotten. Like a dream, life feels vivid in the moment but slips from our grasp as soon as we wake.

Like grass, we rise in the morning full of life and promise, only to wither and fade by evening.

As we ..

Look back at the generations before us—they have come and gone. Their lives, their work, their dreams—most now only faint echoes in history.

And then there was Israel. They were so close to the Promised Land. Standing on the threshold of God’s promise

. But fear gripped their hearts. Doubt clouded their vision. Instead of moving forward, they turned back.

Psalm 90:9 captures that tragic moment:

Psalm 90:9 ESV

9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.

Don’t miss the last sentence — their ended with A sigh.

That’s how an entire generation ended—not with victory, but with regret.

Not with the songs of conquest, but with the quiet whisper of what could have been.

And isn’t that the danger for us too? That we would spend our days chasing shadows, paralyzed by fear, distracted by lesser things…

and come to the end of our lives only to realize they’ve slipped away like a sigh?

But it doesn’t have to end that way. God is calling us forward.

To number our days. To make them count. To step into His promises with faith, not fear

Verse 10 brings it into a time frame we all understand—

—We have the eternity of God

but we have in this life span that is within.. the range of 70- 80— some of us blessed with many more..

Psalm 90:10 ESV

10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

These 70-80 years can be challenging..

Moses says much of this time is spent working, struggling, and wrestling with troubles.

But.. Moses is makes the Point that life doesn’t have to be defined like this..

Moses’ prayer in Psalm 90 isn’t meant to depress us—it’s meant to awaken us.

He wants to strike a chord deep within us, to stir us from complacency.

What we doing with this time frame..

Maybe our vision is too short sighted..

C. S. Lewis gives us a vivid picture of this.

He said

“we’re like children content to make mud pies in the slums because we can’t imagine what is meant by a holiday at the sea.: C.S lewis..

So often we settle for less because we fail to grasp God’s eternity and His purposes for us.

Moses is calling us to step out of the mud and into God’s eternal perspective.

Application

You may have the phrase “seize the day”—comes from the Roman poet Horace’s Odes (23 BC).

Who said -  carpe diem—Literally, it means “pluck the day,” like ripe fruit.

Seize the day means – Live fully today, value relationships, take action instead of procrastinating, and prioritize what matters because tomorrow is not guaranteed…

What Moses writes

Psalm 90:12 ESV

12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

This isn’t about squeezing out every thrill—it’s about stewarding our time with God’s purposes in mind.

Wisdom comes when we recognize that our days are limited and choose to live each one intentionally under God’s direction… We are to number our days..

Numbering our days isn’t about living in fear—it’s about living with focus.

Israel wasted 40 years wandering because they couldn’t trust God to move forward.

T/s If we are going to Move Forward from this moment to what has a head…first need

1. Fresh vision of Who God is.

2. Fresh Perspective of the Passage of Time.

3. A Fresh Heart to see God move in this generation.

In our Fellowship Hall—at the back of the building—you’ll find photos from our church’s history.

There’s one of the old chicken coop where people first gathered to worship.

As you keep walking, you’ll see pictures from our 75th and 100th anniversary celebrations. But these aren’t just photos on a wall.

They represent men and women—families—who laid the foundation of our church.

God’s mission always requires vision, trust, and the courage to face the giants ahead.

When God delivered Israel from Egypt, they faced a new challenge—the fear of stepping into the unknown.

The problem with Moses’ generation they failed to trust God..

They had witnessed God’s power and provision, yet when it came time to move forward, they hesitated.

They chose to stay where it was familiar instead of stepping into the promise.

After reflecting on God’s eternal nature and our human frailty, 

Moses doesn’t just leave us there. He doesn’t end with despair. He intercedes—he turns to God in prayer and asks for help. He prays beautiful prayer that they would get a vision for the future..

Psalm 90:13–15 ESV

13 Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.

Each one of these verbs are written a Hebrew imperatives…

Asking God to act on behalf of the people with Grace in Mercy..

He prays-

 “Return to us, Lord… have compassion onus ”

Moses knows the pain of wandering, of judgment, of spiritual distance.

And he pleads- He knows the importance of God presence..

He prays..

2. “Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love.”

“Satisfy us early…”—in other words, Lord, don’t let us wait until the end of life to know Your love. Let us wake up to it now.

Let us feast on Your mercy first thing in the morning. 

Make us Glad…

Moses prays, “Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen evil” (Psalm 90:15).

Moses is asking God to take all the pain, all the loss of the wilderness years, and reverse it.

To redeem forty years of wandering and replace them with forty years of joy. To give beauty for ashes.

This exactly what Jesus has done this for us.

On the cross, Jesus entered into our affliction. He bore our sorrow.

He took on Himself all the years of sin, regret, and brokenness—not just Israel’s wilderness, but ours too.

He reversed the curse. He turned mourning into dancing.

He brought life out of death, joy out of despair, hope out of hopelessness.]

So when Moses prays, “Make us glad,” he’s pointing us forward to Jesus—the only one who can truly satisfy us in the morning with His steadfast love (v.14).

Only Christ can redeem lost time and fill our numbered days with eternal purpose.

Moses ends with his eyes on the future:

Psalm 90:16–17 ESV

16 Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

Moses saw way beyond his own life… He looked to the next generation….

He’s praying for a legacy of faith that outlives them.

Twice he cries, “Establish the work of our hands.”

 Why? Because he knows how fragile human efforts are.

But when our work is rooted in God, it carries eternal weight.

It’s a prayer that our efforts won’t be wasted.

That what we do—when it’s rooted in God— our work, small or large, would be eternal in its impact.

C.T. Studd wrote in his famous poem.

Two little lines I heard one day, Traveling along life’s busy way; Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last

C.T. Studd.

Conclusion

Maybe you’re like Israel—feeling stuck, overwhelmed, unsure how to move forward. You want to leave the wilderness behind, but the path ahead feels narrow, dark, and suffocating.

John Ortberg tells of his friend Danny who found himself stuck in a similar way, deep inside the caves of Iowa.

The passage grew so tight he had to lie on his back and push forward with his feet.

Then the ceiling dropped so low that when he inhaled, he couldn’t move at all.

Panic set in. Danny, an experienced thrill-seeker, pictured himself trapped—maybe even dying there. He told his guide, “I’m about to lose it.”

The guide calmly said, “Danny, you’re stuck right now. But you have to close your eyes and listen to my voice. I’ve been here before. You’ll be okay. You must focus on my voice—not your fear.”

Danny had no choice but to listen. And step by step, he was guided out of the darkness.

What saved him wasn’t trying harder not to panic; it was trusting and focusing on the guide’s voice.

Moses’ prayer in Psalm 90 teaches us the same truth. When we feel stuck, overwhelmed, or afraid, listen…his voice..

So here’s the challenge: Will you stop looking back or trying to move ahead by your own strength? Will you close your eyes to fear and focus on God’s voice? Will you trust Him to guide you safely through the tight passages of life?

. Listen. Trust. And move forward in faith, because with Him, there is always a way ahead.

lets pray