Forward with Jesus Behind me With Satan

When we look at what is going on today

many people confused, angry, depressed

people are just wanting things to get back to normal

People are trying to find answers to get us back to normal,

Our governor, or president cant give definite answers on when things are back to normal,

and what they will look like totally.

So People are itching for answers...

What I will be sharing with you today is something taught all over scripture…

that is so crucial for us to understand in days like today

Today I want to share with you what the Bible says what our tomorrow looks like.

Just in case some of you might be thinking I am speaking about literally tomorrow or yesterday

when I speak about yesterday or tomorrow I am talking about the times before and after the virus

My goal tonight is to share with you what the Bible says about our tomorrow

in order to do that we need to quickly like at yesterday and today.

Lets pray

Yesterday

Just a few months ago

Things in life were going great

Economy was great.

we were safe

protected.

So many things to do.

so many options in life

So we would periodically talk about how strange it is that depression was a major cultural issue

despite the quality of life being so good.

Maybe the culture lost its appreciation for what it had.

and is now being reminded of how good we had it???

idk

but

One last thing I want to point out is

that Christianity growth has been declining

we know that

more and more young people were leaving the church

and becoming atheist or agnostic

some were leaving church because of disagreeing with Bibles views of homosexuality, and more

Also Christian churches were becoming more & more professional professional & less & less personal.

There were these great mega churches that the mid sized churches would try to be like.

There were celebrity pastors

Many churches focused on how many people they have… and how professional they can get.

Today

our cultures idols have been stripped away.

whether it was money, or work - jobs are tight and economy has tanked.

whether it was health, fitness, - gyms are closed, and as we all know their is a disease out there with no definite cure.

whether it is church buildings, events, and productions - it is all gone

Whether it is sports or entertainment - it is gone

All that the world & church may have idolized.... is gone.

People are looking for answers

Specifically people are looking for answers to get back to normal.

Whether they are stressing stay at home orders, wearing masks, and being the most hygienic.

their line of thinking is if we can have our hospitals, medicines, capable to handle the virus we can start getting back to normal

others are saying its not so bad… the government is controlling us and we need to get back to our jobs & get back to normal…

while they all disagree & make protests against each other

on both sides...

they both share the same common goal… to get back to normal.

Now what if both is wrong?

What if seeking an answer to get back to normal is not the solution

That God has other plans then getting us back to normal

With that lets look at tomorrow.

Tomorrow

What does God say about our tomorrow?

the best way to find out Biblically

is to ask

what did the tomorrow look like for the different crisis in the Bible

Let me point out to you one thing:

while the world is trying to get back to normal...

God uses crisis to keep us from the normal

to get us to a new normal...

one with less idols, & more personal walking with God.

Let me explain:

I am going to teach you like Stephen in Acts 7

by going through the Bible and showing you the different crisis’s in the bible and what God did.

The first thing I want to show you is from Abraham and Moses

1. Abraham & Moses Example

Abraham lost the comfort of his home in Ur and had to wander in the wilderness (Gen 12)

this is quite the opposite of a crisis we are facing.

while we are stuck at home Abraham was forced to leave his.

Moses had a similar situation he had to leave his palace in Egypt & spent 40 years in the wilderness before God would use him (Ex. 2-4)

while this would have sucked no doubt....

through this wilderness journey God builds the character of Abraham & Moses that will begin to create the nation Israel

So

It is possible that God has taken us out of

our luxury

like how Moses had to leave his palace in Egypt, or Abraham having to leave is home in UR.

and has brought us

into a wilderness

not to bring us back to Ur or to the palace of Egypt

but to create something new.

So God may bring us through hard times to build our character to create something new

Maybe you are thinking well would God really allow something like this pandemic?

Check out example number 2

About Israel in Egypt and wilderness

2. Israel in Egypt & Wilderness

God had placed Israel in Egypt to grow in population (ex 1)

and as we read from Gen Exodus

Israel grows from brothers to a small tribe to a nation

but they become enslaved to Egypt as they are growing in population

Pharaoh wont let them leave

so God sends plagues to make Pharoah let them go. (Ex 7-12)

Note … God’ people had to live through most of these plagues

blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness

They had to endure the plagues to get to the place God wanted them

No doubt I am sure that some of the Israelites were wanting those plagues to end

so they can go back to normal...even though their normal was not that great.

But what God had for them was so much better…

what God had planned was worth going the the Plagues

Teaching us that what we are having to endure today

may be something we shouldn't be wanting to end to go back to normal

because God can take us to a place better then before

Now check this out

Later on Israel was able to escape Egypt, (Ex. 12)

and

they fled into a wilderness before entering the promised land. (Ex. 13)

which you may note that

with Abraham, Moses, and now Israel God had sent His people to a wilderness

to prepare them for the blessing God had for them

The wilderness is like a transition from normal to God’s blessing.

Now much like us ....

While Israel was in the transition in the wilderness

They started to want to go back to their old normal

Numbers 14:4 NKJV

4 So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”

We like Israel when put into a transition often try to go back to normal

because that is what what we know

The transition is scary, and we dont have the control

but like Israel we need to learn that

God can do more with our surrender than we can do with our control.

So here we learn that God used slavery, plagues, and the wilderness

to take His people from man’s evil to God’s blessing

Now some may say is God evil to use evil?

No, God is so good that He knows how to take man’s evil actions

and use it to become something amazing

Romans 8:28 NKJV

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

3. The whole book of Judges + Judah in Babylon

The book of Judges is full full of the exact same cycle through the whole bookL

God’s people growing in evil..

and so God backs off them

then evil takes over

then God’s people end up over powered, and under the control of an evil nation.

God’s people repent

God restores them to something better.

I think we can see a similar cycle taking place with us

God’s people have lost focus of what God’s will is:

Make disciples - Mt 28:19 (great commission)

Love each other - John 13:35, John 15:12

God says if we love Him we will do His commands

Most Christians were going to church, not cussing, not getting drunk,

but doing little to nothing of what Jesus commanded

How many christians can say they have just one person they are discipling?

It makes me wonder if this pandemic is not just to get the world to turn to God but for Christians too.

Okay so most of my example are in the OT but the same lesson came up with Jesus and the disciples.

4. Disciples with Jesus

So

Jesus is healing people, talking about a coming kingdom, teaching with authority, and doing miracles

then all of a sudden He starts talking abut His death.

Matthew 16:21–22 NKJV

21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

Peter much like us

liked what he had with Jesus

he had a pretty good program…

there was a routine,

things were going good.....

however God had an even better plan so

Jesus says in Matt 16:23

Matthew 16:23 NKJV

23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

What Jesus was saying was being mindful of the things of men

is not quite the mind of of God

Jesus shows us that while Peter/ mankind are trying to keep things normal...

God has a bigger plan.

Peter wanted to keep things the way that they were...

but as we have seen before God uses what we call bad and He does something God.

Jesus knew His death would bring life to the rest of the world.

but this is how we naturally are… we don’t want any bad things to happen..

Well we are not promised heaven on earth

So bad things will happen

but praise God that He knows how to make bad things into incredible things (John 8:28)

So when we follow the mind of men, Satan goes ahead of us

but when we follow the mind of God, Satan gets behind us

So we need to say get behind me Satan & study the mind of God in times of crisis

because He has an infinite wisdom and knowledge

that is capable of turning the worst pandemic into the greatest blessing we have ever experienced.

& when we study the mind of God we got to realize that...

God has always had a plan

God is not surprised by anything

Covid 19 was no shock to God like it is to us.

So like Peter, mankind wants things to go back

But Jesus tells Peter “you don’t know the mind of God”... yet.

& same for us ....We dont know the mind of God yet either..

we dont know why this pandemic is happening...

we can guess..

but we dont know

So we got 2 options since we don’t know exactly what God is doing...

1. We can continue in the mind of men… and make every effort to get back to normal

The mind of man is all around

whether social media, or the news

but every time that happens in the Bible things get even worse....

Israel, kept trying to maintain their normal… and eventually fell to Assyria

Judah did the same and so they fell to Babylon.

so continuing in the mind of men and letting Satan get ahead of us..

will give us the destiny of Satan which is destruction

our second option is

2. To seek the mind of God

I actually will be teaching this next Monday

because we don’t have enough time to learn what the Bible says about seeking the mind of God

but

God wants us to go to Him. and to seek His mind

SO when Crisis hits… and pandemics arise

we should seek the mind of of God…

with his infinite wisdom , and knowledge

knowing that where God can take us is so much better then our past.

We got to learn Is 55:8-9

Isaiah 55:8–9 NKJV

8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

We need to quit thinking naturally but supernaturally.

God is above all and its time to start acting like it.

If we complain and says it sucks…

were making God seem like He is out of the control.

So its time to be looking forward to what God is doing and quit looking back

To quit desiring our old Egypt ....

...and while we wander in the dessert

lets press into the mind of God who can take us to the promised land

Its time to quit looking for answers to bring us back to our past normal

but to press into Jesus and allow Him to make the necessary changes that bring us to God’s goal and His upward call into our lives

Philippians 3:14 NKJV

14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

While the world is pressing back to normal..

may we be pressing towards the goal of God…

seek what is in the mind of God

to continue in the mind of men and seek the normal

is to be resisting the goal God has

And many believers condemn Israel for resisting God so much and needing a harder lesson

but we may be in the exact same place

spending much of our time seeking answers to normal

but maybe God is trying to work on our hearts? Maybe He is trying to cause us to surrender?

just like Israel

Maybe He has a better plan and we need to surrender

So instead of asking for answers we should be asking

What is God wanting to do?

TBH I dont know the answer to that but what I do know is this..

instead of 1st trying to answer what God is doing in the world i need to ask what is God trying to do in my heart.

based on previous crises in the Bible we should expect

Closer to Jesus

Humility

Thankfulness

intimate relationship with God.

but how will that look

I dont know

each Crisis lead to some new normal..

Its time for us God’s people to quit reacting to the problems, and taking political positions

but to act in seeking the things in the mind of God…

Matthew 6:33 NKJV

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

voting, and political debates dont change the heart of the issue.

God works at the heart..

but do we believe that if we seek first the kingdom of God, not the American dream, that all these things will be added?

Look God is in control, he knows what is going on today, this virus is no coincidence

God is trying to globally get the attention of people

He has even affected the church.

God’s people need to quit sounding like the world, and start surrendering to God.

Seeking His will .

because

God can do more with our surrender than we can with our control.

So what will it be

will you be seeking the mind of God and Satan behind us?

or

continuing in the kind of men seeking answers to bring us back to normal with Satan

for me it is

Forward with Jesus, Behind me with Satan