Don't Look Back - Christine Caine
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00:00 you're not going to hear just a cute sermon. You're going to hear a prophetic word for the church.
00:06 Christine and Nick Cain have been consistent in the kingdom of God for decades now. I'm just in
00:17 a season of life where I'm not impressed with people's intensity. I'm impressed with your
00:21 consistency. I'm impressed when you keep showing up and you keep showing up, and that's what they
00:26 have done. I don't think there's a continent that Christine Cain has not preached the gospel
00:32 on, and I am so honored and so thankful that she is back. This is not her first time. This is her
00:38 second time, so that means y'all did your job the last time. You let her know that right here
00:43 at Social Dallas, Christine Cain is family, and she can preach the word, and we're going to respond,
00:50 and we're ready. Come on. Would you give God some praise for the powerhouse, Christine Cain?
00:57 Hey, church. Y'all can be seated before we go into orbit. You can only do one of two things right
01:08 now. We either can go into another stratosphere, or we sit and have the word. Wow. Y'all, I hope
01:16 you realise what is happening here is not normal. Now, I'm not saying your pastors are not normal.
01:22 I'm just saying what's happening here is not normal. There is such a sense of the palpable
01:28 presence of God that is so powerful. Honestly, we're going to go into orbit. I reckon you've got
01:35 one of the best drummers in the world right here. I'm just flowing. You ought to thank God for this
01:40 whole worship team. Could you? What a gift from heaven. I don't know. I am just standing side of
01:52 stage. I was hoping Pastor Robert was just going to keep going. I thought we could just have a
01:56 Holy Ghost revival. You've got nothing else going on. We could have just gone through lunch and into
02:01 dinner. What else have you got going on a Sunday? I said to the last service, because it's so true,
02:08 when I was in Copenhagen several years ago, it was one of my first times there. I was like,
02:14 you know, I'm from Australia, which it's like America only in this sense that like there's
02:19 nothing old until you go to Europe and you go, oh, that's what old means. And so I was looking at
02:25 the buildings and I was so captivated by the beauty and it was just breathtaking. And I was
02:32 telling the cab driver and being very Christine and very demonstrative and just about how awesome
02:38 this city was. And the cab driver literally pulled over the side of the road, tears streaming down
02:44 his face and said, because I was like going on so much about his city. And he said, do you really
02:49 think it is that beautiful? And I said, it's unbelievable. And he said, you know, sometimes
02:54 you can live right in the midst of it and not even see it. And my prayer would be that we would not
02:59 be people like that, that are living in the midst of a Holy Ghost revival and not even realise what
03:04 God is doing in our midst. It is awesome. And so in case you don't know me, I've known your pastors
03:13 for years and years and years. And Nick and I love Pastor Robert and Taylor so dearly. And we've been
03:21 married 20... I am here with a single most ravishing piece of masculine flesh. Stand up, honey. This is
03:27 my husband, Nick. Everyone over there. And Pastor Robert was about to stand up when I just said that
03:34 about the ravishing piece of masculine flesh, but it was Nick I was talking about. And so we've been
03:39 married for 27 years, which is pretty awesome. It's awesome to do anything for 27 minutes in our
03:47 world. And we've got two daughters. We've got Catherine Bobby, who's my 21 year old and Sophia
03:53 Joyce, who is 17. And I tell everyone that, you know, I'm Greek, so I'm a matchmaking mother. So
04:00 wherever I go and when my daughters are not with me, if they're with me, I can't try it. But if
04:04 they're not with me, I'm like, I'm matchmaking, I think my 21 year olds at marriage age. I don't
04:09 know if she thinks that, but I think that. So, and I've been speaking over her life since she was born.
04:15 I say to her, Catherine Bobby and to Sophia, you know, you are the head and not the tail. You're
04:19 above only and not beneath. You're a leader and not a follower. You're a woman of God. You're a
04:23 woman of prayer. You are a Holy Ghost terrorist. You love the house of God. You love the presence
04:29 of God. And this is the most important thing I've been telling her since she was born. And you are
04:33 going to grow up and marry a very, very, very wealthy Christian man. So I'm just saying, if
04:41 anyone is that has a son, nephew fitting that criteria, please see Pastor Robert or Taylor,
04:48 and they will send me your names and you have a standing dinner invitation. And then we're just
04:53 going to matchmaking mode. I love because my husband is number 14 of 15 children.
04:59 Y'all are hilarious. There was no television in that part of Australia. Do you notice that?
05:05 There was like, but I'm glad his mother didn't stop at 13. That would have been sad. But my mother
05:09 in law did not think you were a chick until you like popped out 10 kids. So I would take Catherine
05:15 to my mother in law's house and Sophia. And I would say to my mother in law, this is Catherine
05:19 Bobby. She is the alpha. And this is Sophia Joyce. And this is the omega. And this is the beginning
05:25 and the end of my childbearing years. This is where it all ends. So we love it. And, you know,
05:33 I was so grateful, Nick and I, for your donation to A21. A21 is a global anti-human trafficking
05:40 organization for those that don't know. And we have 19, yes, I'm so grateful. We have 19 offices
05:48 in 15 countries around the world. And we have a freedom center right here in the great nation
05:55 of Dallas, Texas. And we have freedom centers all around the world, but we have one right here. And
06:03 it has been amazing what the Lord has done. And we have over the last 15 years been able to reach
06:09 truly hundreds of millions of people with prevention and awareness messages amongst
06:13 those that are vulnerable to human trafficking. And we have helped to, you know, rescue thousands
06:20 of victims of human trafficking and restore hundreds and hundreds of survivors of human
06:27 trafficking around the world and put the bad guys in jail as well, which is a good thing.
06:31 We don't want to just put ambulances at the bottom of the cliff. We want to put nets at the top that
06:36 stop the injustice from happening in the first place. So you are helping to do that. And I want
06:42 to say thank you. And I'm going to get to the Word of God because you didn't come to hear. You can
06:46 tell I feel like family now. And they tell me that the, you know, the second, the 1130 is the most
06:51 holy service at Social Dallas. And so, you know, they said that the heathens come at nine, but the
06:57 holy people come at 1130. It's not true. You all just woke up late. That's the only thing. That's
07:03 why you are here. I want you to turn with me to the gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 17. And I believe
07:13 the Lord's going to speak to people and set people free today. In Luke 17 verse 20, Scripture says,
07:21 "Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them, 'The kingdom
07:24 of God is not coming with something observable. No one will say, 'See here or there,' for you see,
07:30 the kingdom of God is in your midst.' Then He told the disciples, 'The days are coming when you will
07:35 long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you won't see it. They will say to you, 'See
07:40 there or see here.' Don't follow or run after them. For as the lightning flashes from horizon to
07:46 horizon and lights up the sky, so the Son of Man will be in His day. But first it is necessary that
07:53 He suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah,
07:59 so it will be in the days of the Son of Man. People went on eating, drinking, marrying and
08:03 giving in marriage until the day Noah boarded the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.
08:08 It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot. People went on eating, drinking, buying, selling,
08:13 planting, building. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulphur rained from heaven and destroyed
08:19 them all." Are you feeling encouraged? I bet you're so glad you came to church right now. You're like,
08:24 "Where is she going? Put Pastor Robert back up there." It goes on, "On that day, a man on the
08:32 housetop whose belongings are in the house must not come down to get them. Likewise, a man who
08:37 is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot's wife, whoever tries to make his life secure
08:43 will lose it and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you on that night, two will
08:49 be in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left." And I tell my husband, "Nick, I am not
08:56 going to be the one that's left behind. You do you." So two women will be grinding grain together.
09:02 One will be taken and the other left. "Where, Lord?" they asked him. He said to them, "Where the corpse is,
09:07 there also the vultures will be gathered." This is the word of the Lord and all God's people said,
09:14 "Pick another one." Okay, so here we are in the Gospel of Luke and Jesus is talking about the end
09:23 times. This is what we would call an eschatological discourse. I always tell people if you don't speak
09:28 in tongues yet, just say that three times and you will be speaking in tongues by the time you finish
09:33 eschatological discourse. Eschatological, there you go, off you're flying. And so in the midst of all of
09:38 this, Jesus is talking about the end times and I mean it is intense. No doubt about it. He's talking
09:44 about the kingdom that has been realised in the fact that Jesus came and he's saying the kingdom
09:49 of God is here amongst you. It is realised. It's already here but not fully realised yet.
10:00 We live between what N.T. Wright calls the already and not yet and we're well aware of that. We know
10:06 Jesus has come but we also know he is coming again. How would we know that? Because this isn't it.
10:13 Because we know that there is still so much pain, so much suffering, so much loss, so much grief,
10:19 so much crime, so much violence, so, so much injustice still in the world today that we long
10:27 and we wait for Jesus to come back. There will be a new heaven and a new earth and there will be no
10:32 more tears and no more suffering and no more death and no more disease and no more pain and no more
10:38 heart and we long for that but we're not there yet. We're not there yet. And then in the midst of it,
10:45 he's talking about Noah and the flood and the great wipeout and he's saying, you know what,
10:51 people will be wondering and people will be speculating as to when Jesus is coming back.
10:57 And when you live in a world like you and I live in in 2023, there's lots of speculation
11:01 because the world has lost its ever-loving mind. Have you noticed that? Now I know in Dallas,
11:08 you're all normal but I'm from California so the rest of the planet has lost its mind. It doesn't
11:15 matter where I go, the world, there's so much instability economically, politically, socially,
11:20 morally, environmentally, in every realm, every sector. It is like the world, you just wake up
11:26 and go, I don't even know what to expect today. There is something and it's like, is this the end?
11:31 And it looks like the end and it looks like there's so much going on and people are going
11:36 down rabbit trails on Facebook. It is amazing to me. Listen, you know, according to this text,
11:42 Jesus is like, don't follow them, don't run after them. That in 2023 is like, don't go chasing those
11:48 latest little theories down on that Facebook, get your time back. I'm gonna save you weeks right now.
11:54 You're gonna be able to binge watch every Netflix series you want because you're suddenly gonna go,
11:58 I've got all this time because I'm not looking at the latest, what's the latest theory and is this
12:03 happening and is it gonna be and was that Jesus? And basically it's saying the sky's gonna light
12:08 up. Nobody is gonna be wondering when Jesus come back, oh, was that Him? Nobody's gonna be going,
12:15 oh, I think it might've been. We will know, just so you know, we will know, everybody will know
12:24 and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, that that will
12:30 happen. But in the midst of all of this, I'm talking Noah and we're talking the flood and
12:36 we're talking Sodom and Gomorrah and everything burning down and listen, I'm really not here to
12:41 talk about that this morning, even though I just read you all of those verses because if you were
12:46 to ask me, Chris, what really is going on here? I have to tell you the truth, I haven't got a clue
12:49 and anybody that tells you that they do is lying because this is my entire theory, my entire
12:56 theology on the end times. It kind of aligns itself with what Jesus said. This is it, two words,
13:02 no one knows. I'm gonna set you free. No one knows. So what do we do? We live like it's gonna happen
13:11 tomorrow and we plan like it's not going to happen for generations. Every Christian ought to be
13:18 living like that every day, every Christian. It should make zero difference to our lives
13:24 if Jesus Christ comes back tomorrow and that's very sobering. But I can tell you Nick and I
13:30 built our life and our marriage amongst many things, but it's not like, I can tell you,
13:36 nothing is gonna change if someone says to me, tomorrow is the time, other than I will just
13:41 not post anything but Jesus is coming back, Jesus is coming back, Jesus is coming back.
13:46 But other than that, I live prepared every day and I'm planning generationally, but that ought to be
13:55 normal. If you're sitting here going, I would change everything if I found out Jesus is coming
13:59 back tomorrow, I'd say change it now, change it now. But that's not what I'm here to talk about.
14:05 What happens is in the midst of this discourse about the end times, Jesus, it appears,
14:12 randomly throws out three little words. Now we don't have that much real estate when it comes
14:17 to the words of Jesus, that's the red words if you've got that kind of Bible. Those words that
14:22 are in red, we don't have a whole lot of them, the actual words spoken of Jesus while He walked on
14:29 this earth. So three words is a lot and it's the second shortest verse in the Bible. So the shortest
14:37 verse in the Bible is? Because your pastor is a scholar, he has taught you so well, that is a very
14:44 well taught church. Jesus' word, that's right, shortest verse in the Bible. Now if you want to
14:49 win Bible trivia, here's the second shortest verse. Remember Lot's wife. In the midst of this
14:56 discussion about the end times, Jesus, randomly it appears, throws out like, "Remember Lot's wife."
15:05 I'm like, "Okay, okay. I don't know, if I was Eve, I would be a bit offended." I'm like, "What do you
15:13 mean, remember Lot's wife? I was first, I came out of a rib and I've been blamed for all the problems
15:20 of humanity for all my life." If I was Sarah, I'd be like, "What do you mean, remember Sarah? I remember Lot's
15:27 wife. I had a kid, I birthed a kid at 90 without an epidural." If I was Deborah, I'd be like, "What do you mean,
15:37 remember Lot's wife? I was the first female judge in all of Israel. I arose when nobody else did."
15:46 Now we know God only used me because no men stood up, but you know, some of you will get that by lunch.
15:51 Anyway, we could go on. Imagine Mary, his mother, like, "What do you mean, I birthed you?" And you're like,
16:00 "Remember Lot's wife." There's 170 women that are either mentioned by name or alluded to in
16:06 Scripture, 170. But there is only one woman that Jesus ever tells us to remember. And I would say
16:14 that if Jesus expended the energy to make sure it is recorded in Holy Scripture, that we remember
16:22 Lot's wife, you've got to think this is more than a women's conference message. In the midst of a
16:29 discourse about the end times, a world not too unlike the world in which you and I are living in,
16:36 Jesus said, "Remember Lot's wife." I would wonder whether now would be a really good time for the
16:43 church to remember the one woman that Jesus told us to remember. So you go back and you go, "Okay,
16:48 what is it about Lot's wife?" Because we don't even know her name. I mean, this woman just appears on
16:54 the pages of Scripture only quickly enough to disappear. We don't even know her name. Her name,
17:01 like, "Lot's wife. What's your name? Lot's wife." I'm thinking that would not cut it in 2023. "What's
17:05 your name, Lot's wife?" "No, honey, that is not PC." Okay, so it's not going to cut it. So we don't
17:11 even know her name. So we go to Scripture and we start reading what is it about her, like, who is
17:19 Lot? Who is Lot's wife? Why would Jesus in the Gospel of Luke tell us, "Remember this woman of
17:28 whom there is so little written about, but while the world's burning down, while life is ending as
17:34 you once knew it, while the spiritual tectonic plates of the planet have shifted over the last
17:40 few years, I would probably remember this one chick." So we go to Genesis 13 and there we read,
17:49 we go, "Okay, what happened to Lot? How did he end up where he ended up?" And it says,
17:52 Now the men of Sodom were evil, sinning immensely against the Lord. So Abram and Lot, God blessed
18:06 them so immensely. Their herds grew so immensely. They separated. And what we know is that Lot set
18:14 up camp right near Sodom. So I don't know, is that where he met Lot's wife, i.e. his wife? I don't
18:21 know if that's where he met her. Did he meet her in Sodom and marry her? I don't know. But we know
18:27 that that's how he ended up right there on the border, on the edge of Sodom and obviously,
18:33 eventually moved right into town. Now, when we hear Sodom and we read of the iniquity,
18:41 most of us said this would be whether you're a Jesus follower or not, you're out there like
18:47 every time you want sort of a reference to immorality, iniquity. Of course, the first
18:53 thing that comes to mind is, "Oh man, that was Sodom and Gomorrah." That was just an anomaly.
18:57 That would imply great sexual sin. And of course, the sexual sin that we all love to highlight is
19:03 whichever one we're not committing that day. That's the one that we just think, "Awesome,
19:08 that's got to be the biggest one." And that's why God burnt it all down because of that one sin that
19:14 I'm just not doing today. And so normally, that's what we all think about. And let me just say,
19:21 there was great immorality, just like in our day. There was great iniquity, just like in our day.
19:28 But there was a little bit more to it. You go, "Man, that was a little intense of God to burn
19:33 it all down because of just that, because that's still happening." But the prophet Ezekiel speaks
19:39 to the situation of Sodom a little bit more broadly than the church historically has.
19:44 And if we actually put both of these things together in this cultural moment on the earth,
19:51 it could actually help to answer a lot of questions, things that have kept the church
19:56 polarised for a really long time. We can realise both things matter to God, personal righteousness
20:03 and justice on the earth. And I'm going to show you from Ezekiel 16, 49, if you would put that up,
20:09 it says, this is what the prophet said was the sin and the iniquity of Sodom. Now, this was the
20:14 iniquity of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters had pride, plenty of food and comfortable security.
20:26 But didn't support the poor and the needy. They were haughty and did detestable acts before me.
20:33 So I removed them when I saw this. So our focus tends to be the haughtiness, the detestable acts,
20:40 the immorality, the iniquity, the unrighteousness, and all that is very important. Personal sanctification
20:47 and personal holiness matters to God. It matters. As does caring for the poor and the marginalised
20:59 and the needy and those that are oppressed or disenfranchised or dispossessed, both matter to God.
21:06 People think it's either one or the other. It's not either or, it's both and. And I want you to
21:14 put verse 49 up again. It's interesting that it uses this phrase, but her daughters had pride,
21:20 plenty of food and comfortable security. There has been a reckoning, there is no doubt about it,
21:25 the last seven years in this nation, particularly the last three years across the world, the church
21:30 world. You see, when you have a church that is full of pride, plenty of food and comfortable security,
21:37 but forgets the poor and the needy, God is not pleased. God gets done. So when you think all
21:45 the shaking that has happened, the writer to the Hebrews says, "Only those things that can be shaken
21:50 will be shaken so that those things that cannot be shaken shall remain." Yes, there has been a
21:54 reckoning. Yes, there has been a shaking because the Lord's like, "You know what? I'm done. I want
22:00 my church to be the hands and feet of Jesus on the earth. I want my church to be salt and light
22:05 on the earth. I don't want my church to be full of pride, plenty of food, comfortable security,
22:10 and forgetting the very purpose for which I have sent her into the world to be the life and light
22:15 and righteousness and compassion and mercy and justice of Jesus in a lost and a broken world."
22:21 So God said, "I'm done with doing it that way." Sodom got burnt up. While it's burning down,
22:31 while it's burning down, the Lord sends two angels of the Lord to rescue Lot, Lot's wife,
22:38 and their two daughters. Now, it's so fascinating that He sent them in to bring them out because
22:47 God hadn't finished with them. Yes, things might've been burning down. Things were changing.
22:52 God was done with it that way in that place and those people in that particular distinct
23:00 geographical location. He's like, "I'm done." But God's plan for Lot had not changed. God's purpose
23:07 for Lot had not changed. God's provision for Lot had not changed. He was taking them out of what
23:14 was burning down to take them into the future that He had for them. So He sends two angels of the
23:21 Lord. And it tells us in Genesis 19, if you put up, it says, "And as they brought them out,
23:28 one said, 'Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley.
23:34 Escape to the hills lest you be swept away.'" And this is now the only thing we know about Lot's
23:42 wife. In Genesis 19, 26, it says, "But Lot's wife behind him looked back. But Lot's wife looked back
23:53 and became a pillar of salt." So in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is saying, "Remember Lot's wife."
24:02 And at the end of the day, all we know about Lot's wife is this verse.
24:07 "But Lot's wife behind him looked back." The angel of the Lord said, "Don't look back at what's
24:16 burning down. Don't look back at what I am finished with. Don't look back at the thing I am delivering
24:22 you from. Don't look back at that thing. Look forward to the future." It says, "But Lot's wife
24:28 looked back and she became a pillar of salt. She got calcified and stuck in a place that she was
24:36 only meant to be passing through. And our world has shifted and a shaking has happened and things
24:42 as we've known it are burning to the ground." And that word "look back" in the original language,
24:47 it's "look back with longing and a desire to go back." And I can't blame her. She's looking back
24:56 and of course she's longing. Her extended family's there. Her friends are there. Her whole life is
25:02 back there. Everything she knew is back there. I mean, she may have even just renovated her kitchen,
25:09 who knows? I don't know. So it's like, and there was a longing. But what happened was her attachment
25:16 to the past was greater than her commitment to the future. She wanted what she was leaving more
25:25 than what God had for her in the future. And because of that, she got calcified and she got
25:32 stuck. And can I just tell you, in all of my travels, and we just do constant laps of the
25:37 globe visiting all our offices, I'm speaking in churches on every continent, in nation after
25:42 nation. And there is nowhere I go where I do not hear a version of this phrase. "Christine,
25:49 I just wish things would go back to normal." "Chris, the world's just gone crazy. I just
25:55 wish things would go back to normal. I wish we could just get back to normal." And I'm looking,
26:00 I'm going, "What's normal?" The world as we knew it has changed. Life has shifted. Things have
26:11 shifted. Things have changed. God's like, "I'm done with that in that way." His purpose isn't
26:19 done. His plan isn't done. But the way things were done is done because it's a new day and it's a new
26:27 hour. And the Lord will say, "Behold, I do a new thing. Do you not perceive it? I'm doing something
26:32 new." But we are so busy looking back and longing for the old that we're not moving into the new.
26:41 Or we've gotten stuck. We got stuck because someone offended us in 2020. We got stuck because
26:47 we got betrayed in 2021. We got stuck because we had prayed that God would heal that person and
26:53 they died. We got stuck because we were believing that this business was going to be something that
27:00 would provide a breakthrough and provision and it went bankrupt. We got stuck because He said He
27:05 would be faithful forever and He left. We got stuck because I had believed God that I'd be
27:10 married by now and I'm not. We got stuck because I thought I was going to have kids and I haven't.
27:15 Oh, it's amazing where you get stuck. We got stuck because I just really loved the way things were.
27:24 And I just want to keep going back because I loved my friend group and I loved my comfort there and
27:29 I loved my security there. And it was awesome. And I loved it before everyone went crazy,
27:33 politically and economically and socially and morally. And it was just awesome. And I used to
27:36 love going to Thanksgiving dinners and I wish we could just go back to before it was all divided
27:40 and people stopped coming. I wish we could just go back. And it's like, "Whoa." There's no going
27:49 back and people are just stuck, calcified. Stuck in a place that God only meant them to be passing
27:55 through. Stuck in a place that was not meant to be permanent. It is amazing the language you hear
28:02 as I travel, even just simple things. I might be talking to someone about church and they're like,
28:06 "Well, church before COVID." I'm like, "Honey, did you know that was like three years ago?"
28:12 Like, is Jesus still here? I don't know, in 2023? Numbers before COVID, giving before COVID,
28:20 attendance before COVID. I mean, the world used to be divided. BCAD, i.e. before Christ and Odomene.
28:29 Nowadays, it's like before COVID, after COVID. I'm like, "Honey, COVID did not split time.
28:35 A resurrected King is the only one that split time. Jesus Christ is the only one that did that."
28:41 And Paul wrote in Corinthians, "All the promises of God are in Christ Jesus. Yes and Amen." Last
28:49 I checked, all the promises of God were not in the economy. They were not in any other system.
28:55 They are in Christ Jesus. And Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But Christine,
29:01 everything's changed. I know it has, but Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And
29:07 because He changes not, nor is He man that He should lie. Every promise He's made in His Word
29:19 is in Him. Yes and Amen. So just because everything has changed, doesn't mean God's
29:25 promise for your life has changed, or God's purpose for your life has changed.
29:29 But somewhere we got stuck because we thought God let us down.
29:33 Because we thought God should have done something a certain way, like the two disciples on the road
29:39 to Emmaus. Jesus had died, was buried, had been resurrected. But they were disappointed because
29:46 they didn't know He was resurrected. And in Luke 24, 21, they're walking back to Emmaus.
29:51 Because when you're disappointed with God and He didn't come through for you in the way you
29:56 thought He should have come through for you, more often than not, you'll go back to what you came
29:59 from. And in the last few years of hemorrhaging people out of the kingdom and church, it's like,
30:08 "Man, I'm just going back." Because deep down, they felt God did not come through for them when
30:14 in fact it wasn't God. Maybe some person let them down. Maybe a circumstance let them down. Or maybe
30:20 they put their hope in something that could never deliver. Many of us expect from people what we
30:26 can only get from God. And then when people let us down, we think God has let us down.
30:31 And when things don't deliver, that paycheck, that title, that position, that car,
30:38 when that doesn't deliver, we blame God. And they were going back and Jesus was walking amongst
30:46 them. And they're saying to Him, "We had hoped, we were hoping He was the one." They're saying
30:52 this to Him. But they're so blinded by their disappointment and their disillusionment that
30:58 they can't even see that Jesus is walking with them. And so many of us have been so blinded in
31:02 the last few years by our disappointment and our disillusionment that we haven't seen the fact
31:08 that He said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So whether you believe it or not, He's never
31:12 left. Whether you believe it or not, He's always been there. It's just what has been revealed in
31:18 the last few years is our misplaced hopes. What has been revealed in the last few years
31:27 are our own idols. Because we thought they would deliver. And then when we lost it and it all got
31:34 burnt up, we thought, "Man, God, are you really real?" And He's like, "Oh, I'm still here. I never
31:42 went anywhere. I was just showing you what you had put your hope in." And that thing cannot deliver.
31:48 That thing will not provide. That thing will not give you ultimate satisfaction,
31:54 nor will you gain your significance or your security. You can only get that from Christ alone.
32:00 It says in the book of Hebrews 6, verse 19, that Jesus is this hope we have as an anchor for our
32:06 soul. So when you've seen people in the last three, four, five, six years swayed to and fro,
32:12 and just upended and drifting out to sea, it's because they're anchor. They were not connected
32:18 to their anchor. Because our anchor is so secure, it goes into the other side, into eternity.
32:26 So Jesus is this anchor that we have for our soul, both firm and secure. Yes, I am not denying or
32:34 dismissing or diminishing in any way the turmoil, chaos of the last few years. But I'm saying we,
32:42 of all people, should have been anchored. We, of all people. Oh, you feel the wind and you feel
32:49 the waves, but you're anchored. So those of us that have been tossed to and fro have to check,
32:57 were we really connected to our anchor? Or were we hoping all of these other things that would
33:02 never hold in a storm were our anchor? So they went. And Jesus is like, "Oh, this would be a
33:09 good time to remember Lot's wife, because we're not going back to that." But to move forward with
33:14 Him, you've got to be anchored in Him. And you've got to understand that He, hope has a name. Hope
33:21 is a person. His name is Jesus. Jesus is this hope we have as an anchor for our soul, both firm and
33:29 secure. You know, we live in a narrative in this world that basically says, "You know what? Let's
33:36 just keep looking back and blaming everyone for everything. Let's keep looking back and you cannot,
33:42 man, that's it. That's your history. It's going to define you. That's what happened to you. That's
33:46 going to define you." Church, I'm the girl that was left in a hospital unnamed and unwanted when
33:51 I was born. My birth certificate does not have a name on it. It says, "Child's name unnamed,
33:56 number 2508 of 1966." Some of you are just freaking out about 1966, because you're like,
34:03 "She's as old as that." Yes, I am. Okay. The dinosaurs roamed the earth back then. So there
34:07 you go. I was the kid that was sexually abused for over a decade, for 12 years. I was the kid
34:16 that was the daughter of Greek immigrants, so marginalised because of my ethnicity and my gender.
34:21 I had every reason to get stuck in shame, stuck in unforgiveness, stuck in bitterness,
34:27 stuck in disappointment. All of that, every tick, every box, marginalised because of gender,
34:35 marginalised because of ethnicity, being full of shame because of abuse, being abandoned in a
34:40 hospital when she was born, being then adopted and then experiencing abuse after all of that.
34:46 All of those things, if I go with today's narrative, I could say, "Well, that has defined me,
34:52 and that's why I'm stuck." But guess what? There comes a time where you've got to make what Jesus
34:56 did for you bigger than what they did to you. You've got to make what Jesus did for you bigger
35:02 than what they said about you. And when He shed His blood at Calvary, that blood still sets us
35:08 free. That blood means that that history does not need to define my destiny. That means that what
35:13 they did to me does not define me. What Jesus did for me is what defines me. I am old school
35:22 enough to still believe that the blood sets us free. In a culture that would tell you, "You
35:29 can't be free, and you have to be defined by what happened to you or where you came from." I'm here
35:33 to tell you that you can become a brand new creation in Christ Jesus. Behold, the old has
35:39 passed away and the new has come. I am living proof that you can start bad and you can finish
35:46 good in and through a relationship with Jesus Christ. And it would be just like Jesus to take
35:51 an unnamed, unwanted, abused, adopted chick from the back of Sydney, Australia, and say, "I'm not
35:58 only going to rescue you, I'm going to now use you to open the prison doors for those that are still
36:04 bound and locked in captivity." Can I tell you, church, every time we put a trafficker in jail,
36:11 every time we rescue a child or a woman or a man anywhere in the world, I literally, I think,
36:18 "Devil, you could stick that in your pipe and smoke it." I bet that you wish you left me alone.
36:24 I feel like Joseph, who stood before his brothers and he looked at them and he said, "You meant this
36:31 for evil against me, but God, but God, but God meant it for this very purpose, to save many people
36:39 alive." You can stop looking back and you can start looking forward. We can fix our eyes on Jesus,
36:46 the author and the finisher of our faith. He's the one that started it. He's the one that will finish
36:52 it. It's time to stop looking back, start looking forward and step into the promise and purpose of
36:59 God for your life in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name, it's time. Church, it's time for us to get unstuck.
37:08 At the start of 2023, the Holy Spirit said to me, "Everywhere you go, tell people you have permission
37:15 to stop looking back. Some of you feel guilty. You think like, 'Oh, I need to...'"
37:20 Just because of the narrative of the culture, I need to linger where we've been. It's like,
37:25 done, done. It's time to start moving forward and it's time to stop looking back.
37:34 It's time to get back on mission with what God has called us to do and who He's called us to be.
37:41 The apostle Paul put it this way. He said in Philippians chapter three, "Forgetting
37:49 those things that lie behind." Now, I want you to know, I want you to hear me very clearly.
37:52 When I say forgetting, I am not saying that the blood of Jesus gives us amnesia.
37:58 I was abused. I was adopted. I was marginalised. It doesn't mean forgetting like it never happened.
38:08 And I don't want you to mistake this because sometimes if you've experienced this, you think,
38:14 "Well, this faith stuff doesn't work." I need you to hear, faith is not calling those things that
38:20 are as though they are not. That's called lying. Let me give you an example. Like if you're feeling
38:26 sick, faith is not going, "I'm not sick. I'm not sick. I'm not sick." That's called lying.
38:30 Faith is calling those things that are not as though they are. So I'm calling forth my healing
38:37 as if it was, or I'm calling forth my wholeness as if it was, even though it's not yet. So the
38:44 blood of Jesus does not give you amnesia, but it does give you a life beyond your past. Forgetting
38:50 those things that lie behind. And straining, Paul writes, "The church has forgotten how to strain."
38:58 We went into COVID lockdown and we haven't come out in our minds.
39:03 Some of you are still not wearing hard pants. You're still wearing sweats. You're still turning
39:08 up on your Zoom meetings with your pretty cute little shirt on, but you got sweatpants or shorts
39:12 on under that. It's time to put some hard pants on again. It's time to strain again, church.
39:19 Some of you need to come back to church. We're just straining. Man, you want to build some of
39:28 that spiritual muscle. You got to pick up what you go to the gym and you, oh, strain. We've gotten
39:34 lazy in those muscles of atrophied in the last few years. Forgetting those things that lie behind
39:41 and straining. Paul says, "I press on." And if I could just give you a picture. Some of you,
39:51 so frustrated with God, so frustrated that things haven't come to pass yet. And Nick and I were
39:58 coming out of our hotel and we were at the elevator and this chick was so frustrated
40:06 with the elevator. I mean, she was like yelling at it, saying lots of four letter words. None of
40:10 them were love. And so she was going for it. And she was so frustrated that the elevator wasn't
40:16 coming. And I'm looking, I'm standing behind her. And I like leaned around, I went, "You got to
40:21 press the button." All I'm saying to you is some of you are almost spiritually so frustrated with
40:28 God and God's saying, it's time to press, to exert a steady force against the things that you need to
40:34 start pressing on. You're standing there waiting for the thing to come. And God's saying, it's
40:39 time to press, press beyond that pain, press beyond that betrayal, press beyond that offense,
40:44 press beyond that disappointment, press beyond that disillusionment, press beyond that mistake,
40:49 press beyond that failure. It's time to press. It's time to press. I wonder if you're stuck, friend.
40:58 And before I even go to where you might be stuck, let me tell you the ultimate place
41:05 that you're stuck is if you have not even yet stepped into a relationship with the Lord Jesus
41:12 Christ. Friend, you're not here by accident this morning. You are here in the divine timing,
41:15 the divine plan and the divine purpose of God. God has brought you here to restore you to
41:20 relationship to Himself because you were created by Him for a relationship with Him. And it's Jesus
41:27 that connects us to God. And it's Jesus that connects us to the grace of God. Maybe a friend
41:34 invited you here. You didn't even know what you were coming to. They said, "Let's go to a nightclub."
41:38 And you're like, "Yes." But you are here in the timing and the plan and the purpose of God.
41:46 Some of you, you once walked with God. But if you're honest today,
41:51 you've been away from God and you've been cold in your heart, maybe even backslid.
41:55 Today, friend, I want to invite you to stop running from Him, to come home to Him,
42:02 to make your peace with Him, to put Jesus Christ first in your life.
42:07 Some of you, even as I'm saying that, you're thinking, "Chris, I would love to."
42:13 But man, you don't even know where I've been in the last couple of years.
42:16 You don't know what I've been doing. You don't know what I've been posting.
42:23 Chris, I'd love to come back, but man, I've done some really dumb stuff.
42:30 But can I just tell you, I don't know what you've done. That's exactly right. I don't know what
42:35 you've been doing. But I don't need to know what you've been doing. Because I know what Jesus did
42:39 in 2000 years ago, when He died on the cross for all of our sins. He says, "If we confess our sins,
42:45 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
42:52 And that word means all. So wherever you've been, whatever you've been doing, don't allow
42:57 the enemy to lie to you for one more minute to say that you've blown it too much, it's too late.
43:02 You cannot outdrift the grace of God or the love of God or the mercy of God or the goodness of God
43:08 or the kindness of God. Come home to Jesus this morning. I want every head bowed and every eye
43:14 closed wherever you are. From the front to the back, friend, from the left to the right, just
43:20 in this moment, I am not speaking to the person next to you. I'm speaking to you. And if you say
43:26 to me this morning, "Chris, I want what you're talking about today. I need a fresh start with
43:31 Jesus Christ." Either for the very first time, or you've been away from God, cold in your heart,
43:36 but this morning you acknowledge, you see that you need a fresh start with Jesus. I want to
43:40 pray with you, just a very simple and powerful prayer right where you're sitting. And if you say,
43:46 "Chris, include me in that prayer. I want a fresh start with Jesus today, just so that I know who
43:50 I'm praying for right now." Would you just raise your hand and say, "Chris, pray for me. I'm seeing
43:54 dozens of hands go up all over the room." That's it. Keep those hands going up. Say, "Chris, pray
43:58 for me. I need a fresh start with Jesus Christ today." I can see you right to the back. That's
44:03 awesome. Awesome. I see you right back there. That's phenomenal. Keep those hands up high.
44:08 I'm going to pray. And I want everyone in the room to pray this out loud after me. Those of us that
44:13 are believers, we are adding our faith to yours right now as you say yes to Jesus. So church,
44:18 let's pray this together. Dear Jesus, I've raised my hand today because I acknowledge my need for
44:24 you. I'm sorry that I've been living my life my own way and ignoring you. I'm sorry that I've
44:33 sinned against you. And I ask today that you would forgive me for all of my sins, that you would give
44:42 me a fresh start today and a hope for the future. I want to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus
44:51 Christ every single day for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Can we thank God for
45:01 people saying yes to Jesus?