No Turning Back | Chad Veach

0:00 What's going on, everybody? Thank you so much for listening to this week's message from Zoe Church. Open up your Bible and turn with me to the book of Numbers 11. We are in part two of a brand new series called Rent Free. Go there in your Bible and we're going to jump in. Thank you so much to everybody that subscribes to our messages. and thank you to everybody that gives to and through Zoe Church. We are able to hand out over a thousand backpacks yesterday via your generosity. So thank you. Let's jump into this week's message called No Turning Back. Numbers chapter 11, go to verse number four. We are in part two of a series we started last week on freedom. And I just want to reemphasize something I said last week, it is God's plan for your life that you live in freedom. God wants you to be free to laugh, free to dance, free to love, free to root for the Dodgers.

1:05 Gloria a Dios. And the enemy wants you in bondage. Remember, if he can bind you, he can what? Blind you. And so it's the will of the enemy, the plan of the enemy to get you addicted to something, involved in something, tied to something. So that's why we got to fast and pray for 21 days because we're proving to ourself, nothing holds me but God. I don't serve nothing else but the Lord. Amen. And so God did not bring you this far just to bring you this far. he's got a plan for your life and i said it last week but i want to talk about the middle section freedom is received freedom is learned and freedom is fought for and i just let's start here freedom is first received because only the blood of jesus and only the cross of christ can set you free So the first thing you do with freedom is you receive it.

2:16 The second thing you do with freedom is you learn how to live in this new life. You live in this new temple, this new mode, this new purpose. I want to land right here and teach you because I said it last week. God can get you out of Egypt, but it take a long time to get Egypt out of you. You got to learn how do I live in this newfound freedom? Somebody say, amen. Amen. Numbers chapter 11, it says this, the rabble, which by the way, I did not know what the word rabble meant, so I had to Google it. It means like the mob or the group, the rabble, the group with them began to crave other food. And again, the Israelites started wailing and said, if only we had meat to eat. Remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost?

3:09 Also, man, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now we have lost our appetite. We never see anything but this manna. And the manna is like, I don't know how to say that word, coronator. Pastor Julia leaned over during my worship, and she told me how to pronounce it correctly, but I already forgot. and it looked like resin. And the people went around gathering it, and then the ground in it, they would ground it in a hand mill or crush it in a mortar, and they cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves, and it tasted like something made with olive oil. And when the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down. Can you hear what the Israelites are saying? They have been delivered out of slavery, out of bondage.

4:07 They have received freedom. And now that they're in their new life, all they crave is their old life. In that something else, all they can remember is the food. They have forgotten what the chains felt like. They have forgotten what it was like to be under that bondage. I want to preach to somebody today. Write down the title of today's message. It's called no turning back. I'm not going back to that old way and that old life. See, some of us will never walk in freedom until we stop romanticizing what once was. Oh, man, back in the day, it was so much fun. And we used to hang out and we used to play cards and we used to go here and there. And we stopped romanticizing what God delivered you from. You got to remember, I once was lost.

5:03 I once was dead. One of my favorite worship leaders in the whole world is Brooke Ligerwood. Brooke Ligerwood wrote that song, Beautiful Name, and hundreds of others. And when she leads worship, she leads with tenacity. She leads ferocious. And one time I asked her, I said, why do you lead like you're in a fight? Why do you lead so angry? She said, because I still remember what it was like to walk in a church as a 12-year-old girl living in sin. And the metallic taste of sin on my mouth. And God in that meeting set me free. I'm singing to that little girl to remind her you have been set free by the blood of the Lamb. Somebody clap and thank the Lord if you've been delivered by Jesus himself. So I receive freedom, but then I learn how to live in this new life. How do I live in this new way?

6:01 The Israelites are like, oh man, the cucumbers, the melons, water melon. Okay, it's a joke, you guys, come on. But you got to stop romanticizing the thing that you once begged God to deliver you from. you got to stop dreaming the bible says in philippians chapter 4 forgetting those things which are behind me i press forward to the things that are in front of me i've got a isaiah 43 verses 18 through 19 it says do not remember the former things forget the former things behold i am doing something new will it not spring up will you not recognize it i can make a river in the desert. I can make a road in the wilderness. There's no turning back to where you once were. It's all about moving forward into the call and the plan of God for your life.

6:58 Come on, everybody. Clap and thank the Lord. This is the plan and will of God. So the first thing you got to do, write down number one, is don't look back and don't stir up. you're not called to live looking back at once what what once was you're called to live moving forward into your god-given potential god didn't call you to live your life looking back he called you that's why the bible says looking unto jesus the author and the finisher of our faith i don't know about you but i'm excited for 21 days of prayer and fasting anybody else why because i'm I'm not looking back. I'm trying to move forward into who God has called me to be and what God has called me to do. One of the craziest stories in all the Bible is in Genesis 19. If you've never read the Bible, Genesis 19 is a crazy one.

7:54 Genesis 19 is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah, some crazy things happen in it. It's just a lot of sin, a lot of bad. And God says, I'm about to take out the city. He's chosen to spare one family and the family he has chosen to spare is a man named Lot. He says to Lot, I'm about to take out the city. I want you to get out of town. And the number one thing I want you to do is go here and don't look back. The Bible says that he's called to get out of the town because God's going to destroy it. And the only instruction is flee and don't look back. The Bible says Lot lingers. I love this. The Bible's so good because some of us, we've been called into our future, but we keep lingering and hanging around the wrong stuff and the wrong people. And I don't know about you, but I'm grateful that sometimes God will grab you by the hand and say, it's time to get up out of here. You're called to something better.

8:48 Watch what it says here. Genesis 19, it says this. When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city. And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand and his wife's hands and the hands of his two daughters. See, just pause there. Sometimes God loves you enough to put some people around you that will grab your hand and say, uh-uh, you're not sleeping here tonight. Uh-uh, uh-uh, you're not, no, you're not hanging up. You're breaking up tonight. We're getting you out. Anybody thankful for the people in your life that love you enough to grab your hand and say, hasta luego, buenos noches. So the angel of the Lord grabbed Lot's hand, his wife's hands, his kid's hands, and says, uh-uh, we're not allowing you to linger in here no more.

9:47 We gone. And so they get up out of the city. Keep reading. Watch what it says in verse 17. So it came to pass when they had brought them outside that he said, escape for your life. Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains lest you be destroyed. Verse 26, but his wife looked back behind him and she became a pillar of salt. Why do you think Lot's wife looked back behind her? She looked back behind her because part of her heart was still back here. Some of us have to kill what once was. We have to destroy our old life to walk in this newfound freedom. I'm not gonna linger around it and I'm not looking back to who I used to be. I'm gonna keep my eyes forward onto who God has called me to be. So the first thing I want to say to you today is don't look back. Stop looking back at what once was.

10:48 And don't stir up that old lust, that old person. You know how you get around certain people and you're like, oh, these people are not good for me because they make me want to party. who am I preaching to right now these people are not good for me because they make me want to be negative these people are not good for me because when I get around them the worst version of me comes out the bible says don't stir up youthful lusts when I was a kid we used to go to this buffet called the golden corral you ever hear the golden corral heaven is in that place and we walk in the golden corral and all the food looks like it haven't been touched in three months and it looked like a film layer of sin on top of the enchiladas. I used to tell my little sister, give me 30 seconds.

11:46 I just stirred that thing up. Looked brand new. Looked like it's fresh out the oven now. And there are things inside of you that are dormant that need to stay dormant. Things inside of you of your old life that need to be gone and dead. Look here, watch what Paul says to Timothy. Look at this, 2 Timothy 2.22. Flee youthful lusts. Pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Flee this old life. Flee these old cucumbers and melons. Flee this old city that is not your city anymore. Flee this old friend group. Free this old thinking pattern. I've been called to pursue righteousness, to pursue faith, to pursue love.

12:43 I said it last week. Let me say it again. I'm not amazed by what God delivered you from. I'm more impressed what God delivered you for. It's all about your pursuit. It's all about your hunger and desire. Clap if you want to pursue the person of Jesus to continue to live in freedom.

13:04 So the first thing is don't look back and don't stir up. Jesus is so about not looking back that he actually says, anybody that wants to follow me and wants to look back is not fit to be my follower. Watch what Jesus teaches us. Put it on the screen in Luke chapter 19. And another also said, Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house. But Jesus said to him, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking. What's that word? What's that word? Back.

13:36 Back. In Spanish, back. I don't know how to say back in Spanish. It would have been such a bar though, right? Ayer. I don't know. I feel like you're laughing at me now. I hate that. I hate when you guys do that. No one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.

14:07 And so many of us, we get free and we go through a fast or we come to a service or some event happens and we get free and then we go out and we're like. You start instastalking your old circle. looks like they're having fun I'm eating manna they're eating steak you gotta be careful not to look back don't look back and don't stir up you've been called to move forward by faith. By faith, I fast and pray. By faith, I show up in the house of God.

15:01 By faith, I give my tithe and offering. By faith, I'm in a connect group. By faith, I'm getting free. Come on, clap if that's your life. I live by faith now. And I just want to tell you, God did not bring you this far to bring you this far. There is more in store. The best is yet to come. The future is bright. And you'll never experience your God-given potential. And you say, you couldn't pay me to look back. You couldn't pay me to go back there. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Amen. So that's the first thing you've got to do. And if you want to stay free, write down number two. You've got to throw off your old life, and you've got to embrace. You've got to say yes to fall in love with your new life. Get rid of that old life.

15:53 And it's so funny. We went to Zoe camp this last week, and we took all of our staff and everybody's part-time and contract and a lot of our worship team. Can we just thank God for the great team that is here at Zoe Church? Unbelievable people. Unbelievable. And ain't nothing like a summer camp, man. If you grew up in church, ain't nothing like church camp. And when we got to church camp, I was saying to some people there, like, man, I really feel like I'm a high schooler again. Like, I feel like I'm at summer camp, and I'm loving it. I just love it. And I was like, man, when I was at summer camp, every summer, I grew up in the era of CDs.

16:29 I grew up with case logic. You'd have a binder of CDs, four to a page. and every summer camp without fail, I would bring my case logic full of rap music CDs and every summer camp, the Lord would set me free and I'd have to go to some cliff and I would have to throw away every great rapper you've ever heard of and just like Biggie, Puck, Outcast, Snoopy Doopy. I just throw them all.

17:05 And God would set me free at camp. And three months later, I would have to go buy again the same CDs. The next year, I come back to camp at the same cliff with the same case logic, have to throw Biggie back again. Because I didn't learn yet how to throw off my old life. I haven't figured out I could receive it. I didn't know how to learn how to live in freedom. Watch what the Bible says in Ephesians. Look at this scripture, Ephesians 4. Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and let the Spirit renew your attitudes. Romans 6, 4. We were therefore buried with him through the baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead to the glory of the Father, we too may live a new, it's a new life.

18:08 It's a new life. I'm in the, I remember my old life. I remember that old way that I used to think about money and I used to think about forgiveness and the way I used to think about relationships and the way I used to think about career and the way I used to think about time. I remember my old life, but God set me free. And now I'm trying to learn this new life. How do I operate? I wanna tell you, throw off your old life and embrace your new one. I'm so excited about my life here and today. If you don't love your life, who will? I don't know about you, but I'm blessed and highly favored. Anybody else? Anybody thankful today for what God's given you already? Come on, clap if you're filled with gratitude and thanksgiving for what you already got.

18:52 I'm already thankful. God doesn't have to do another thing for me. I've got a beautiful family. I've got four great kids. I've got an amazing, beautiful wife. I've got an incredible church. I live in the greatest city in the world. We have the greatest food. Have you been to Rancho Cucamonga? Their best restaurant is Chipotle. That's all they got. And the Israelites started griping and complaining about their new life. Man, it's not like it used to be. And it was more fun back then. And I used to, you know, man, weekends. Oh, remember that? Weekends were crazy. they were also filled with a lot of shame and a lot of disappointment and a lot of depression and a lot of guilt and a lot of anxiety.

19:52 My new life is filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, mercy, self-control. Come on, clap if you're thankful for your new life. Stop fighting your new life. Stop tolerating your new life. Stop coasting through your new life. Throw off your old life and embrace your new one. I'm happy to go to church on Sundays. I'm happy to give a tithe to the Lord. I'm happy to fast and pray for 21 days. I'm happy to serve God. I'm happy to hand out backpacks. I'm happy to forgive those that sin against me. I'm happy to stay in purity. Come on, clap if you're down to embrace the new life. So throw off your old stuff. Oh, I love this.

20:45 In our house, Pastor Julia just painted our younger boy's bedroom. And so, you know, when you paint a room, you start getting rid of all the stuff that doesn't work anymore. And they outgrew. And you put boxes. And, you know, we love to load up the van and take it to Goodwill. And we're clean. Some of us need to clean up our lives. Take 21 days of prayer and fasting to ask God, God, what about my old life do you not want in my life anymore? What shouldn't be here? What doesn't please you? Is there an attitude in me? Is there a thinking pattern in me? Is there some of my speech? Is there anybody in my life that I've allowed to pull me away from you? I'm trying to embrace my new life.

21:26 Don't tolerate where you're going. Celebrate where you're going. He didn't bring you this far to bring you this far. You got to deal with your old habits and your old hurts and your old stuff. No, I'm getting rid of that so I can move forward. And listen, I'm pro-therapy. And if you're in therapy, you're doing better than most people. I'm pro-counseling. In fact, can we just clap and thank God for everybody that's in therapy right now. You need therapy. I'm all for it. My only issue is, my only issue is, make sure that even as you go to therapy, you don't live your life in the rear view mirror talking about always what was, what happened, where you were. No, I'm trying to live through the windshield of faith to say, I know God's called me to go somewhere. God's called me to be something.

22:18 God's called me to do something on the earth. Come on, clap if you wanna embrace the life that is only found in Jesus. Because Jesus has a plan for you and Jesus has a future for you. And so I only say no to the melons and the garlic and the, how do you say it, Pastor Julia? Coronado? Coronado. And I only say no to this stuff and I don't want this stuff. I don't desire this stuff because it's not God's will. God's got better. He's got something better. Does it taste like what used to, some of you gotta just understand, sin is so enticing because it presents itself like it tastes so good. And maybe in the beginning it does until the bill shows up. And it's like, oh, it wasn't worth that. The life that is in Christ is filled with no regrets.

23:16 The Jesus way is filled with a path of righteousness. Flee your old way and pursue this new way. Fasting and praying is not just about saying no to social media or no to food or no to this, that, and the other. It is also simultaneously about what I'm saying yes to. I am starving my flesh. I am feeding my spirit. That's how you walk in your new life. Amen? And so I just want to give you the third thing. write down number three today. Feed your future. Feed your future. Feed it. Feed your future. You got a future in God. God's got a plan for your life. I want you to feed it. You ever notice in LA, people are really good at setting their alarm when they park somewhere because they don't want to get a ticket and they got to go feed the meter. Have you ever been with somebody when the alarm goes off and you don't even have to ask? You kind of look at them like, run.

24:14 I know what it's like. Run. Feed your meter. I just want to tell you that if you want to stay free, you have to feed your future. You have to feed your spirit.

24:36 Let me say it this way. You need to sow where you want to go. So I'm not sowing into my old life. I'm sowing into my new life. Years ago, I was preaching in Brazil, in Fortaleza. and we had amazing meetings. It was so great to be in Brazil. I love the church of Brazil. Very passionate and we had amazing time and the last service was Sunday night. It was pumping and we went back to the pastor's house afterwards and we had a great meal and when we were getting ready to leave, I was flying out the next morning. He asked to talk to me in his living room. He said, Chad, can I speak to you in the living room? Now I'm a pastor's kid. So if a man of God asks to talk, I'm in trouble. I did something wrong.

25:26 I blew it. I said something wrong. And he pulls me into his living room and we sit down. He looks me in the eyes and he says, I felt like God gave me a word for you. Felt like God spoke to me for you. And I felt like the Lord wanted to tell you to take the next 15 years of your life and sow it into your future.

25:47 Sow it where you're gonna go. and this is before we moved to LA and I really felt like it was a word from God to take the next 15 years, came home, I told Pastor Julia, this is what God has called us to do and not there long after, we would move to LA and start Zoe and I'm just telling you, I spent the last 12, 13 years sowing into the future that God has for Zoe and God has for my family. I wanna say it prophetically over your life, sow where you're going, feed your future. Starve your past. Kill your past. Destroy your past. Your past is, we are dead to sin. We are alive to Christ. Come on, clap and thank the Lord if that's your prayer. Philippians 1 verse 6, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. The same God that delivered you is the same God that will sustain you. The same God that broke that chain is the same God that's going to carry you by his outstretched arm. And I just want to encourage you this morning. I felt like telling somebody the same God that delivered you from your darkest place, the same God that pulled you out of depression, the same God that found you when you were suicidal, the same God that pulled you out of that relationship is the same exact God that is going to help you tomorrow morning.

27:18 We do not serve the God that starts projects and leaves. being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful. Has anybody here found God to be faithful in your life? Anybody found God to be a faithful God? Clap if God's been faithful all the days of your life. Just give God a, just take a moment and clap and thank God that he never abandoned you, never left you, never betrayed you. I'm confident. I'm confident that he started a work in me. Every time I threw away those CDs in July, bought them back in October, he didn't throw me and go, you don't figure, how come you can't get it right?

28:11 How come you can't? Why do you want the cucumbers and the melons and the car? Why do you go back? What's wrong with you? he just keeps setting me free keeps working on my heart he who began a good work in your life is going to be faithful to complete it i think the frustration for most of us is like i don't know how to live this new life i didn't grow up with godly parents i didn't have an example I don't, I don't, what is it like to live for Jesus? He starts stuff, he just keeps talking. He just keeps molding. He just keeps shaping. That's why the Bible says, look at this next verse, put it on the screen. Ephesians chapter five, verse 28. And do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. What are we full of?

29:08 the old stuff that caused headache and turmoil and bad decisions? Are we filled with wine or are we filled with the Spirit of God? You cannot stay free off effort. You can only stay free by the Spirit. And if you'll yield to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will guide you, mold you, shape you, change you, free you. So don't be filled with stuff that is filled with heartache and disappointment. Be filled with the Spirit of the living God. Anybody thankful for the Holy Spirit today? I'm thankful for the Holy Spirit. Taking 21 days to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

30:02 Holy Spirit, fill me. Holy Spirit, fill me up. Holy Spirit, empty me. Less of me. More of what? More of you. I've got to decrease and you've got to what? Increase. I just tell you, feed your future. Feed your future. Your future. That was not a word for me in Brazil. that's not a word for one of us, you would not begin to imagine the things that God has in store for your life. If someone were to whisper into your ear all that God has planned, you'd go, stop it right now.

30:44 No way, Jose. No offense, Jose. God has... feed your future find out feed your future see what God has I had no idea in Fortaleza Brazil what my future had for me I had no clue what God had in store but he did and if I would have been drunk on wine I would have never fulfilled the plan of God but I've been trying my best to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that God can move me forward. And maybe some of us, you've been lingering like Lot's wife, lingering like Lot in the old plan. Maybe some of us have been so tempted to look back what it wouldn't give to have that old life back.

31:40 I'm preaching to somebody today where the power of the Holy Spirit is telling you, I've called you to greater things. I've called you to bigger things. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can imagine. Oh, come on, y'all help me today. Clap and thank God that greater is he that's within you than he that's within the world. Come on, clap and thank him today. Stand to your feet. Again, thank you so much for listening to this week's message. We pray it brought you great strength and great encouragement. Make sure you stay with us as we study this rent-free series. And we'll see you back next Sunday here at Zoe Church.