At this time, children can be dismissed to Children's Church, and Mrs. Biener will be back there to take you to Children's Church this morning. If you want to open your Bible to the book of Philippians in Chapter 3, we'll get to that in a moment. We're thinking this morning about not looking back. As I was thinking and praying about what to preach today, these truths. kind of hung in my mind when I began to think about how to develop this message this morning. And there were a few times I had a tendency to back out, but the burden, the Lord just wouldn't let me get away from this truth. And so I want to share it with you this morning. We're kind of, I do want to, we're finishing up a series in the life of Christ and looked at everything obviously pertaining to Christ's life, but looking at some of his actions and teachings. And this kind of ties into that, it builds on some statements that Christ made that we'll look at in the message. But we're not going to begin with a text from the life of Christ. But this is Memorial Day weekend, a time when our country remembers those who gave their life to defend freedom at home and abroad. Many of you have served in the military, many of you have been in combat in service to your country and we appreciate that. You no doubt know somebody, many of you probably personally know somebody that gave their life for the defense of freedom in our country or you know of somebody But Memorial Day is a time when we look back and we remember those who have given their lives to defend our freedoms. And it is right to look back and remember at times. Both as a nation and as individuals, as families, we can look back. We have to be careful that we don't allow the past to so consume us that we don't look forward. We can't live in the past. We can't let the past divert us from living in the present. But I wanna talk this morning about a danger that there is in looking back. I'm not talking about Memorial Day or anything like that. I'm just talking about spiritually. There is a danger in looking back when it comes to spiritual things. And I wanna think about the danger of looking back in three different areas. Number one, the danger in looking back when we're talking about salvation. And I realize that probably everybody here this morning at least professes to be saved. Many of you are, maybe all of you are. I don't know your heart. I don't believe in any congregation there's probably always somebody who is not truly born again. And we're live streaming. And there may be somebody watching the live stream who is not born again, or these messages are recorded and people around the world are accessing either the live stream or the recorded messages. So I can be speaking to somebody in this room. I could be speaking to somebody out there watching the live stream or listening to the recorded message. But you may not be saved. And you may not be saved because you're looking back to something. that's keeping you from coming to Christ. Paul said, you know, if you wanna look back, if there's something that you can lay a hold of that would keep you from embracing Christ as Savior, Paul said, I've got plenty to look back to here in Philippians chapter three, beginning in verse four, he says, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Paul's looking back to what he was. This is after he has accepted Christ. But he said, you know, if you want to look back and put your faith in something other than Christ, I could claim it. Because I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin. And Hebrew of the Hebrews is touching the law of Pharisee. Paul said, man, if anybody, I'm a Jew. Salvation, Jesus said, is of the Jews. He said, man, I'm a Jew. I'm a Jew of the Jews. And I'm the son of a Pharisee, and I kept the law, and then I persecuted the church concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. And man, if anybody was good, it was me. I kept the law. But he goes on to say, what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. He said, if I would cling to those things, it would keep me from Christ. But I have given up those things, so that I can gain Christ, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, not looking back to what I was, and how faithfully I kept the law, What a good person I was, but rather I want to be, to have the faith of Jesus Christ, the righteousness. I want the righteousness that God gives by faith in Jesus Christ. Not my own righteousness, not my own good works, but simply faith in Christ. And then the righteousness that God gives me because I have believed on Christ. And there may be somebody this morning again, or hearing this message, and you're looking back at your good works, And you are not saved and won't get saved because in order to believe on Christ as Savior, you have to admit that you're not a good person. And you don't wanna admit that. You have to admit that all the good things that you've done in your life isn't good. But the reality is you are not a good person. and all of your goodness, all those good things that you've done are worthless. God doesn't look on that and say, oh, isn't that wonderful? You're such a good person. God doesn't look at you that way. He sees you as one who is a sinner. And all of your goodness in the eyes of God is like a filthy rag. That's what God says. This is not my opinion. That's what God says, Isaiah 64, 6, but we are all as an unclean thing, and all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. In the sight of God, we are all unclean. We are all of our good deeds, our righteousnesses, all the good things we do, it's like filthy rags in the eyes of God. and we will never be saved until we relinquish any sense of our own goodness. Do we stop looking back at what we have done and trusting what we have done and admit that we're not good. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one. We have to first of all admit, I'm not good, I can't save myself, I have no hope in and of myself. And if you won't, if you keep looking back to what you have done and you're depending upon that you'll never get saved. I mentioned recently, maybe it was last Sunday night, talking about people who ask them, are you saved or are you gonna go to heaven when you die? And they would say, I hope so. When somebody answers that way, that's a pretty good indication they're not saved. because what are you hoping in? If you follow up that, I hope so, well, what do you base that hope on? Most of the times it's, well, I've tried to live a good life and be a good person. I don't mistreat my neighbor and I've tried to work hard and do all these good things, take care of my family. I'm a good person. And they're looking to themselves and their goodness to get them to heaven. It'll never work. By the way, you can look back to a prayer you prayed And that doesn't necessarily mean that you're saved just because you spoke some words, because it's not the words that you speak, it's the heart behind those words that saves. Those words, if they're a true expression of the heart, when you cry out to God, Lord, save me, if that's the true indication you understand your sin before God and your need of his forgiveness and you ask him from your heart, Lord, save me, he will do that, he's promised to do that. But there's a lot of people that have prayed those words, but their heart wasn't really in it, and they made a profession of faith, but they never possessed it. So what are you trusting in to get you to heaven today? Or are you even going to heaven? Do you even care? Sometimes it's family that keeps people from getting saved. They look back to their family. I mentioned I'm reading Pilgrim's Progress and challenging you to consider doing the same this summer, read through Pilgrim's Progress. And by the way, if you're reading it, let me help you with two things. Number one, try to put yourself, don't try to read it as something that is detached from you. As I'm reading it and what little bit I know about John Bunyan's own experience of how he came to Christ, I really think Bunyan is writing Pilgrim's Progress out of his own experience. So try to put yourself in the story. You're a Christian. You're the one on the way to the celestial city. You have experienced the things that Bunyan writes about in that allegory. Put yourself there, and it might help you if you can relate what he's saying about what happens in the life of a Christian to things that you have experienced in your life. But the other thing I would say is there's gonna be times when it's just hard reading and you can't relate, just persevere, keep going. Because you may not get everything, every blessing out of it, you may not understand all of it, but you'll get the blessing from what you do understand. But when he's talking about Christian leaving the city of destruction to get on the road to the celestial city, he's leaving the city of destruction to go to heaven. And as he's leaving, his wife and kids don't go with him. And so as he's leaving the city of destruction, his wife and his children are crying out to him, stop, come back, come back. And he just has to turn a deaf ear to his family and keep going because he knows if he stays in the city of destruction, he's bound for hell. That's the thing that causes him to leave the city of destruction, his understanding that if he stays in the city of destruction, he's gonna spend eternity in hell and he's fleeing the wrath to come. And even though his family won't come with him, he's not gonna stop and stay there and suffer eternity in hell just because his family won't come with him. He's gonna go anyway. Don't let your family keep you from getting saved. What will they say? What will they think? Maybe they will try to keep me from getting saved. The other thing is, if I get saved, if I admit that I'm a sinner, then I have to admit they're sinners if they're not saved. And I also have to admit that those who died, in the past that I knew of that were even many who might have been close to me but who were not saved as far as I know they're in hell today. If I admit that I'm a sinner and I need Christ then I have to admit that all my family members who don't know Christ also were not saved, and if they've died, they're in hell today. And I can't admit that. There was actually, I think, a missionary that was telling of someone who was struggling to be saved for that very reason, because they realized, if I admit that I need Christ, then I have to admit that my family members who have died without Christ are in hell today, and I'm just not sure I can accept that. But that's the reality, that's what the Bible says. And it's not pleasant to think about. We all know family members or friends who died without Christ and they are in hell today and they will be in hell forever. And it's not a pleasant thing and it's not something that's pleasant to think about, but it's reality. But don't let somebody else keep you from heaven. Turn to Christ and don't look back to family and keep them from causing you to trust Christ. They may disown you. Don't let that stop you from your own salvation. Don't let friends stop you. Well, if I get saved, you know, I'm going to lose some friends or some people. I know what they think of me. I know what they're going to think of me. If I get saved, you know, we have a good time together and they're not going to want to be around me anymore. Don't let other people keep you out of heaven. Don't go to hell because of others. Somebody says, you know, we're going to have a big party in hell. I know Kevin, a few weeks ago, preached about this. Heaven is not a party. I mean hell. I'm going to go to hell and I'm going to have a party in hell. with my friends. No, it's a place of outer darkness, the Bible describes it, a place where you can't see your hand in front of your face. It's a place of eternal fire, and yet it's a place of eternal darkness and outer darkness. It's a dark place. And it's a place of eternal torment. The Bible says it's a place where the worm doesn't die, the fire doesn't die, there's weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth due to the intensity of the pain that people are suffering in hell. When you are in intense pain, you don't feel like having a party. When the pain is so great you're gnashing your teeth, you're not thinking about anything but relief from the pain, and there is no relief. You're not gonna have a party in hell. So don't let your own trust in your good works, or some family member's situation, or their thoughts, or your friends, or whatever, don't let anything stop you. Don't look back to anything that would keep you from coming to Christ for salvation. Admit to God that you're a sinner. Believe on Jesus Christ as your Savior. When Christ died on the cross, He paid for all of your sin, and God will forgive you if you will believe on Christ as Savior. But there's a second area in which we need to not look back, not only in the matter of salvation, but in the matter of surrender, of yielding ourselves to Christ. Turn to Mark chapter 8, and here's where we'll bring in the teaching of Christ into this message this morning. Mark chapter 8. Beginning in verse 31, Jesus here is telling the 12 that he's going to go to Jerusalem to be killed, but after three days he's going to rise again. And so Peter began rebuking him. Verse 32, Peter took him and began to rebuke him. But when he, that is when Christ had turned about and he looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter saying, get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. Peter, you don't understand this matter of surrender. I'm doing the will of the Father. And he goes then on to say, in verse 34, he calls the people unto him and his disciples also, and he says to them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospels, the same shall save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? If any man wants to come after me, deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Don't look back. In Hebrews chapter 11, we read about Abraham. God called him to leave his home, his family, Ur, and his family there, and to go out to receive an inheritance in a place that he didn't even know where he was going when he left home. And he did. He walked away from everything that was familiar to him to follow Christ. And it says in Hebrews 11, 9, by faith he sojourned in the land of promises in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles or tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, for he looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. Abraham was willing to leave family, friends, his home, his house, everything that was familiar to him in Ur, he was willing to walk away from that because he was following, he was coming after God. And instead of looking back at what he was leaving, he was looking forward to what he was gonna gain. He was looking forward to heaven. He was living for eternity. He was looking for that city whose builder and maker is God. And the writer of Hebrews goes on to say, these all died in faith. Talking about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Sarah, the patriarchs as we sometimes refer to them. They died, they didn't receive the promise, but they saw them afar off. And they were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, if they wanted to look back, they might have had opportunity to return. If they had wanted to look back, they could have gone back. But what they were going to, they understood, they believed, even though many of the promises of God they never saw fulfilled in their lifetime, they still believed every promise of God and that what they were going to was better than anything they left behind. And so now they desire a better country that is in heavenly, and wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. There comes a point in your life as a Christian where you have to say, Lord, I surrender all. Whatever you want me to do, I will do. I'll deny myself, I will take up my cross, and I will follow you wherever you want me to go, into whatever you want me to face, I'll endure whatever challenges you allow. Because as a Christian, your life is not about you, it's about God. Can I say that again? As a Christian, your life is not about you, it's about God. Do you realize there was a time when there was nothing but God? in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Before God created everything that we see and know, there was nothing but God. And everything that exists was created by God, including you. And everything that exists belongs to God, including you. And God created everything for Himself, including you. Romans 11, 36 says, for of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. Of Him, everything came from Him, everything is going to Him, and everything continues to exist by Him, by His power, and it's all to His glory, to whom be glory forever. It's all about Him. We forget that. And the struggle that we have is eternity and eternal things, we don't see them. You know, we talk about faith, faith is believing what God tells us is true and exists, even though we don't see it. And we struggle to not cling to what we see in order to lay hold of what we don't see. But again, we need to be reminded that everything is God's. And it's doubly so if you're saved. Paul would write to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20 verses that are familiar to you. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God? And ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's. And so the surrender of ourselves to God is the only natural response to our understanding of God. When we come to Christ as Savior, we receive Christ as our Savior, then we have an understanding of things that maybe we didn't have before we got saved. And we understand that God created all things and everything was created for his glory. And then we understand that that's why he created us and that's why he saved us. And so then life becomes all about him, not me. I don't deserve anything but hell. You don't deserve anything but hell. ANYTHING beyond that is a gift that God gives you that you don't deserve. And we've got to live with the reality of that every day. That, Lord, you're blessing me today, but I understand I don't deserve these things. And, Lord, there's maybe a lot of things my flesh wants in this life, but, Lord, I don't deserve any of it. And if you give me things, I'll praise you for it, because it's all about you, and you're the one that has gifted these things to me, and I thank you for that. If you don't give me things, that's okay, because it's all about you, not me. Even if I don't have the things that I would like to have, it doesn't matter, because it's not about me, it's about you. It's all about Him, and so we need to be able to say, like the Lord Jesus, not my will, but thine, be done. or like Paul in the Damascus Road when he said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Lord, my life is yours, now what do you want me to do? Paul wrote to the Philippian church, he said, according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death, for to me to live is Christ. and to die as gain. If God takes me home today, that's my gain. I get to go to heaven. I get to be with the Lord forever. What a wonderful thing that is. But if I live, you know, it's not about me. It's about Christ. And all I care about is that God be glorified, magnified in my body. He can use me however He chooses. It doesn't matter because it's all about glorifying Him. It's not about me. And by the way, Paul's writing those words from a Roman prison. He's not writing those as a free man who's walking about doing his own thing or has the freedom even to do his own thing. He's in prison in Rome because of preaching the gospel. And he says, I don't care whether I'm in prison or out of prison. I don't care whether I live or die because it's not about me, it's about Christ. And if Christ can be most magnified through my life, glorified in my life by putting me in this Roman prison and having me sit here and using me in this way, so be it, it's okay. because it's not about me, it's about Christ. And if he releases me, he goes on later to say, I think I'm gonna be released because if I'm released, then I can serve the Lord more. Not if I'm released, hey, I get out of prison and I can go back to enjoying life. No, if I get out of prison, I go back to preaching the gospel and ministering to the churches and serving the Lord because that's what life is all about for me as a believer is serving God. So it really doesn't matter where I am or what's going on in my life, it's all about Him and I just want to glorify Him and that needs to be the heart of every believer. Paul wrote to the Galatians, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. It's not about me. It's about him. And I need to live that way. And I need to say that to the Lord. If you haven't done that as a believer, you need to come to that plate. And maybe today would be the day that you could do it. Don't do it if you don't can't mean it. But to come to that place where you'd say, Lord, I am yours. I fully surrender myself to you. I'll go where you want me to go. I'll do what you want me to do. I'll endure whatever you allow in my life. And all I care about is that you're glorified through my life. That's all that matters. And you can use me however you choose. If you want to make my life easy and allow me to enjoy time with family and friends and be a blessing, that's great. I accept that. If you want me to have cancer and suffer for years with that, I accept that. If you want me to have Alzheimer's, I accept that. If you want me to struggle financially throughout my life, I accept whatever, Lord, whatever it is. You want me to go to Africa as a missionary in the jungles of Africa or India or wherever, whatever it is, Lord. Whatever it is you want, I will do because it's not about me, it's about you. And all I want is for you to be glorified in my body, whether by life or by death. No matter what I'm going through, no matter what I'm facing, it's not about me, it's about you. And by the way, Lord, you have the right To use me in whatever way you choose, because you created me. I belong to you. You can use me and do with me whatever you want, because I am yours. And it's not about me, it's about you. But once we've made that surrender, then don't look back. Back there in Philippians chapter three, as Paul talks about the fact that I'm not looking back to what I was, I'm looking to Christ as my savior. And then he says, as a believer, I'm forgetting those things which are behind and I'm reaching forth into those things which are before and I'm pressing toward the mark for the high prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. All I want is to become everything that God saved me to be, because it's all about him. And when you make that surrender, when you honestly can say to God, Lord, here I am, I'm yours to do and to be used in whatever way you choose, because it's your right, and I'm simply giving you what is rightful yours, then don't look back. It may cost you some acceptance by your family. They may label you a fanatic. They may try to dampen your enthusiasm. Why are you, you know, you act like Christ is everything, like Christianity is everything. Yeah, it is. They label you a fanatic or they disown you. Or in some other way, it costs you something. Or you have to, you know, if God calls you to go somewhere else to serve him, it may mean leaving family behind. Or as a parent or grandparent watching your children or your grandchildren leave and go somewhere where you're not able to enjoy their company all the time and you only get to see them every once in a while. But hey, Lord, I'm yours, they're yours. Whatever you choose is fine because it's not about me, it's about you. It might cost you a job or a promotion on your job because... You won't lie when the boss says, now, you know, you need to change these numbers a little bit to make it look better, whatever. They ask you to lie in some way on the job. Or don't, you know, don't tell them about this. And I don't necessarily always have to tell everything I know, but when I'm intentionally withholding some information in order to deceive somebody, that's lying. or they ask you to cheat, or they ask you to, you know, flatter somebody, you know, try to build them up, puff them up so they'll have a better attitude towards us. I don't care if what you're saying is right or not, whether it's true about them or not, just make them feel good so they'll want to do business with us. There was a man who served in the military, he got to the rank of colonel, but he never got above that, though he probably could have, but his thinking was that he never made general because he wouldn't go to the parties and drink with and hobnob with the bigwigs who would have made him general. Maybe true. Maybe that if you serve the Lord and you do what's right, it'll cost you some things. But don't let that stop you, because it's not about you. It's not about climbing the ladder. It's not about making that next promotion, that next place in the business world. It's not about that, it's about Christ. And you may have to suffer some things. And the Lord is very honest about that. You know, when you follow Christ, when you deny yourself, you have to take up your cross and follow him. And that cross is a symbol of suffering. And there are times when we have to suffer things for Christ. You know, there's something that we sometimes refer to as the prosperity gospel, and there are those out there preaching that, you know, God wants you to have your best life now, and God wants you to be rich and healthy, and if you're not, it's your fault, you just don't have enough faith, or you're not doing something right, because God wants everybody who believes on Him to be wealthy. and prosper, and healthy, and people buy into that, and they say they're gonna follow Christ because they get this rosy picture of what it means to follow Christ, and then all of a sudden, hard times come. I didn't sign up for this, and they walk away. They were told something that wasn't true, because Jesus said, if you wanna follow me, you're gonna have to deny yourself. It's not what I want. Lord, what you want, and you're going to have to be willing to suffer for Christ. Take up your cross and follow me. Peter tried to stop him from going to the cross, and Jesus said, no, Peter, you don't understand. You're looking at this world and the things of this world. You need to get your eyes on God and upon heavenly things. The cross is God's will for my life. I'm going. And Peter, you're gonna have to do the same thing because the Lord told Peter later, you know, Peter, there's coming a day in your life when you're gonna be led where you don't wanna go. And Peter was led to his own cross and suffered a martyr's death in crucifixion. Peter, you have to understand, you're gonna have to just give your life to God and let him do with you what he will. And it won't always be pleasant. And we're thankful for the good times that God gives us. the blessings that we have, but we have to bear in mind that following Christ will often mean bearing a cross, and we have to be willing to do that, because it's not about us, it's about Him. So don't look back and say, but yeah, but, no, look forward. And just follow Christ. He's not going backwards. He's going forward. Follow Him. And turn your back on everything behind. Anything that would hinder you from following Him and going forward, turn your back on that. Make that full surrender to Him and follow Him. And then lastly, having made that surrender, then determine God's will about how He wants you to serve Him. Lord, what do you want me to do? Don't look back in the area of service. Seek God's will. Lord, do you want me in vocational ministry? Or do you just want me to serve as what we call a lay person? There's really no difference other than the task that we do. Pastors are not in a separate category from other believers. We just have a different calling and a different ministry, but we're all the same before Christ. I think I've told you about the guy who had surgery or was in the hospital and get ready to be released and he wanted the preacher to come pick him up, drive him home. He felt like he was safer with the preacher. He's not any safer with the preacher than he is with anybody. The preacher doesn't have some special dispensation of God on him, he just has a different calling. Preachers can have wrecks just like anybody else. So Lord, what do you want me to do? And whatever you're doing in service to the Lord, should be done because you know that this is what God wants me to do. Because again, it's not about me. It's not what I want to do, but Lord, what do you want me to do? And so I serve him in whatever way he tells me to do. And then don't look back. Don't turn back. When you know what God wants you to do, then do it. Don't quit. We've been in the teen class for the last few weeks, we've been thinking about young people in the Bible who serve the Lord. This morning we were talking about Timothy, last Sunday morning John Mark. At one point John Mark turned back. Now he, the Lord graciously, through probably Barnabas and Peter helping him, John Mark overcame his failure, but he started out to serve the Lord, and then he turned his back and walked away. Don't do that. Timothy was about the same age as John Mark, Timothy, though he was timid by nature, and though he saw a lot of things that Paul suffered and suffered a lot of things himself, at one point even was in prison for preaching Christ, Timothy didn't turn back. As a matter of fact, Timothy, right after he got saved, Paul was stoned and left for dead. Timothy saw that. And when Paul came back through Timothy's hometown and asked Timothy to join him on his missionary journey, Timothy went with him despite the fact he had previously seen Paul stoned and left for dead. So he doesn't have rose-colored glasses when he thinks about the ministry. He understands it cost something. And almost immediately after he joins Paul, Paul and Silas and Philippi are beaten and thrown in prison. Timothy was there. He didn't have to go through that, but he saw it, but he never quit. Find out what God wants you to do, and then do it. And don't look back, don't hold back. Peter said, Lord we have forsaken all to follow Thee. That's true, they did. And we all ought to be willing to forsake everything to follow God. We serve at God's pleasure. So understanding that I serve at his pleasure, I'm doing what he has called me to do, and when he closes that door of opportunity, or he moves me, puts somebody else in my place, I don't get upset. Because it's not about me, it's about him. And if he's using me now in this way, and then later on in another way, it's okay. John said he, when his disciples came and said, John, they're leaving you to follow Christ. He said, he must increase, I must decrease. It's okay, because guys, it's not about me, it's about him. Yeah, they're going to follow him. That's the whole point of my ministry, is to point people to Christ so they'll follow him, not me. And if they're following him, great. And so if somebody else gets your job in the ministry, in serving the Lord, don't get upset, God's in control of all that. He's opened the door for a while, He let you do that, then He's closed the door and put somebody else in there. It's not about you, it's about Him. And if He can use somebody else in that place now better than you, great, it's all about Him. And even if He uses some difficult or unpleasant circumstances to change your ministry, Don't get upset with people and circumstances, because God's in control, and it's not about you, it's about Him. We get bent out of shape when something happens, and it costs us something, it changes things in our life. We get upset with the people or the circumstances that brought about that change, and so then my focus is on me. I got my feelings hurt, I got upset, somebody did this, or I had to deal with this. Well, it's not about you, it's about Him. So don't get upset with people that God uses. And even if they do you wrong, God has used wrong that people have done to accomplish his purpose in somebody else's life. So just trust God. Be surrendered to him. Lord, here I am. Use me however you will. And it doesn't matter, because I'm serving you. And I'm not gonna quit. just because things change, and maybe I didn't like the change even, but it's your will, and so I accept it, and I go on. Go when God calls. In Luke 9, Jesus encountered a man who said, Lord, I will follow thee, but first let me go bid them farewell, which are at my house. And Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of heaven. don't look back. God calls, and you say, well, Lord, I will follow you someday. Lord, I will do that. I hear what you're saying, and I want to serve you, but not right now. There's a guy that I worked with years ago. His father had been a pastor. He was just working in the secular world, but he had the goal of making a fortune. He was a believer, and he was serving the Lord to some degree, but his goal was to make a fortune. And even thinking, I'm gonna make my fortune, and then I'll do something for the Lord. But one Sunday night, I don't know what the pastor preached on at his church, but at the end of the service, he went forward and surrendered his life to the Lord. He came in on Monday morning and told us all what had happened that night, and it wasn't long before he was in vocational ministry. Serve God when he calls. Don't say, well Lord, you know, there's something I've got to do first and then I'll follow you. No, just go when God calls and don't stop. Don't look back. Don't quit until God stops you. Paul would have to write of a man named Demas. He's forsaken me having loved this present world. He looked back to what he had left and he decided he wanted to go back. And he did. I was reminded of, and I may have shared this illustration about a pastor friend. He was saved later in life and called to preach. He had left a good job in a manufacturing business up in Michigan and gone to Bible college and then took a church as a pastor. And it was a difficult church. I would have not wanted to pastor the church he took in his first pastorate. But it was a struggle for him. And he kept talking about that good job he had left behind. And eventually he left the ministry and eventually moved back home. He looked back and he turned back. Serve God and don't look back. Don't give up. Don't quit. Go where God calls you to go. Do what God calls you to do. Don't quit. So let me ask you this morning, are you saved? Do you know for sure if you die today that you'd go to heaven? You're not afraid to die because you know, there's no question in your mind that if you die right now, if you drop dead right now of a heart attack, you know you're gonna be with the Lord. So death doesn't scare you. I mean, I like the thought of how you're gonna die, but the fact that death itself is not a problem for you, because you know where you're going. But if you don't know that, you can know. and we would urge you to be saved today. Have you, as a believer, have you surrendered your life to the Lord? Has there been that time when you said, Lord, I'm yours? I understand. That's the only right thing to do. And so I give myself to you. Use me however you will. All I want is to do your will. And are you serving the Lord? Are you doing what you know God wants you to do? You're in ministry in some way. We're all called to serve. Not everybody's called to serve full time, but everybody's called to serve. Are you doing what you know God wants you to do? And you're not gonna let anything stop you. You're gonna keep on serving him as long as he wants you to do what you're doing. As long as he allows you to do it, you won't stop no matter what happens. Don't look back, look forward, and keep moving forward for Christ. Let's stand together for prayer. Father, you know our hearts this morning. I pray that your Holy Spirit has touched our hearts, that there's some area of life that we needed, that this message has come from you, because it needs to do something in our lives. I pray, Father, that if there is one even here in this room this morning who doesn't know they're saved, they can't say for sure if they die today, they go to heaven, that they wouldn't be content to leave here in that state, but that they would want to know. and that they would be willing to seek someone out to help them to know that indeed they are saved. Lord, help that believer who's never surrendered their life to you. They're saved, they're on the way to heaven, but they never even thought about what you want them to do. They're just living life and doing what seems right to them. And I pray that they would make that surrender to you today, that they would just say, Lord, whatever you want me to do, I'll do. Lord, help us to serve you faithfully in the calling that you've given us. Help us not to be discouraged or turn back even, Lord, if people mistreat us or misunderstand us or whatever may happen, Lord, may we faithfully serve you, not look at others, but look to you and keep on for you. Lord, may we just understand that principle that it's not about us, it's all about you. And may that truth guide us in everything that we do. And we pray in Jesus name. Amen. As we close this morning,