Untitled Sermon (2)

Video | Avengers: Endgame” Teaser

If you haven't seen Avengers: Endgame yet, number one — why? And number two — spoiler alert.

If you're up to speed on the Marvel universe (I mean multiverse), you know that just before this movie begins, a supervillain named Thanos has destroyed half of all living things in the universe.

But the Avengers are determined to find a way to change the past and save everyone who had their futures stolen by Thanos. Our heroes attempt to move through time to change the past. You'll have to watch the movie to see how everything unfolds, but there's one detail I want to point out.

In this movie (as well as just about every movie that deals with time travel), there is one major rule that every time traveler must obey: their past selves can never come into contact with their future selves.

Question | If you met your future self, what would you want to know about the future?

Story | A time you wished you could see the future

Like me, I'm guessing you've had a time in your life when you wondered what was going to happen next.

Sometimes these moments are fun! Maybe you've had moments when you felt like a dreamer, excited about your future possibilities. 

But sometimes these moments are scary. Maybe you've had moments when you were terrified of the future, wondering how things were going to work out or which path you should take.

IT’S EASY TO COMPARE

It's normal to wonder about your future, but have you ever felt stressed because you were comparing your possible future to someone else's possible future?

Some people seem destined for success because they have everything going for them. When we compare ourselves to those people, we might worry that our futures seem a little bleak in comparison. 

Other people seem like they have it all figured out. They have a clear path, specific goals, and big dreams. When we compare ourselves to those people, maybe we worry we don't have enough vision for our own futures.

It's easy to compare what other people seem to have with what we fear we don't have. This is true for a lot of areas of our lives, including our futures.

So this month, we've been trying to help you think about who you are and what you have in a new way. We want to help you focus less on what you think you don't have so you can better see what you already have.

Object Lesson | A Fast Forward Button

We've already talked about two important things that everyone has (a past and a present) and how God can make those things valuable.

Today, let's talk about the third thing each of us has, and why that thing is so valuable. We all have a future.

Discussion

If you could see the future, how do you think it would change your present?

On a scale of 1-5 . . .

How easy is it for you to imagine your future?

How anxious do you feel about your future?

How hopeful do you feel about your future?

What makes you most excited about your future?

What is your biggest fear about your future?

WE ALL HAVE A FUTURE

As much as I know we'd all love to fast forward our lives into the future sometimes, that's (of course) impossible. So our challenge today is to learn how to trust our tomorrows to the only One who knows exactly what's in our futures.

Of course, I don't know how many days I have left, or how many days you have left. Not a single day is guaranteed to us.

But whether we have one day or one hundred years left on this earth, here's what I know to be true: you have a future, and in God's hands, your future can be good.

VIDEO | (Bible Project)

For the last two weeks, we've been talking about a guy named Moses. Moses lived a long time ago, but he was a lot like you and me. He had a past (and it wasn't a very happy one), but God showed up to remind Moses that he also had a present — a new opportunity to be used by God. 

Video

God asked Moses to return to Egypt (the land he had just fled, after murdering a soldier who was abusing a Hebrew slave) and help God free the Israelites from their slavery.

Understandably, Moses was terrified, because he couldn't see the future. God was asking him to do something risky and seemingly impossible.

For all Moses knew, he would be walking toward certain death, but God had a plan for Moses' future — even if Moses couldn't see it.

Even though Moses feared, doubted, and questioned the future God had in mind, God kept showing up and keeping promises. Although Moses needed a lot of reminders, God kept saying, "In my hands, your future is good." And it was.

Through Moses, God delivered an entire nation from bondage into freedom. Moses continued leading God's people until the day he died, but his legacy lasted long after his death.

Scripture | ;

Here's a fun fact: Moses (the guy who tried to run from his past, who wasn't sure God could use him, and who made tons of excuses to get out of the mission God had for him) — Moses is mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible more than any other Old Testament figure. Jesus even taught about Moses several times!

In the book of John, Jesus throws it back to a time in Moses' life when God used Moses to save God's people from deadly snakes.  

Numbers 21:4–9 ESV

4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Forgetting (for the millionth time) how God could be trusted to save them, God's people were complaining, upset, and questioning God. But when they were attacked by venomous snakes, they quickly came to Moses and acknowledged what they had done.

God answered Moses' prayer by instructing Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten, God said, would live when they looked at the bronze snake. 

Hundreds of years later, Jesus referenced that exact moment in Moses' life to foreshadow the incredible sacrifice Jesus was about to make for all of humanity.

John 3:14–15 ESV

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

In the wilderness, God used Moses to save God's people (again), but Moses had no idea how important that moment would be hundreds and thousands of years in the future.

Moses had a future, even when he couldn't see it or believe it. But God knew Moses' future, and in God's hands, Moses' future was good.

Does that mean Moses' life went perfectly and nothing terrible ever happened? Of course not! The best stories always involve obstacles and struggle, but God always knows how to craft good endings, even from the messiest stories.

Scripture | ;

Just like Moses, we're invited to trust God with our futures. Our futures might hold grief, or joy, or success, or failure — more than likely, they will hold a little bit of everything.

We won't know what our futures hold until we get there, but we do know that God can be trusted with our futures.

Romans 8:28–30 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

No matter what happens in our futures, God can be trusted to use it for our good, both during our lifetimes and afterward too.

1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

No matter what happens today, tomorrow, or any day in the future, if you have trusted in Jesus, you have a future with Jesus, now and forever. 

When we live our lives apart from God, the future is a scary place. But when we trust God with our past, present, and future, the future can be pretty exciting.  

Just like Moses, you have a past that God can redeem. You have a present that God can use. And you have a future that God can be trusted to hold. In God's hands, your future is good.

How does change the way you see or feel about your future?

Reflection | My Life Map

What do you want to do? Write down some goals, but don't just play it safe. Dream! Don't just list goals you know you can achieve. List things that would only be possible with God.

Who do you want to be?

Who do you want to be? At each of these benchmarks in your future, what kind of person do you want to be? What kind of life do you want to live? And how will God's hope and mission for your life be evident?

What do you want to do, and who do you want to be . . .

This year?

Next year?

In 5 years?

In 10 years?

What's one way you need to trust God with your future right now? What are you going to do about it?