Yesterday Can't Fit Into Tomorrow

“Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing” (Isaiah 43:18-19, NKJV). God said that through the prophet Isaiah to a people who knew what loss and captivity felt like. It still speaks today, maybe more than ever. This Sunday Pastor Richard Wilson, who has pastored for 29 years and planted three churches, brought it to Crossfaith as a word for our church: God is ready to do something new in this place. The real question is whether we’re ready to receive it.

Every new thing comes with a hard truth. You can’t take yesterday into tomorrow. Think about Israel in Egypt. They were there for generations. Parents did the same things every day, got the same results, and taught their children that this was just how life worked. Egypt’s idols, its habits, and its ways of thinking became their own. Then God raised up Moses and said, “Let My people go.” God had something new for them. He wasn’t going to let them stay owned by their past.

Imagine walking through the Red Sea on dry ground. You look back and watch the water close over everything that had enslaved you. Israel celebrated on the far shore. Miriam picked up her tambourine and the whole nation worshiped. But they had left Egypt without Egypt leaving them. Not long after, while Moses was on the mountain getting the blueprints for the tabernacle, the people took the gold they’d carried out of Egypt and made a calf to dance around. That’s the danger of leaving your past halfway. We praise God for getting us out and then keep building the things He saved us from.

The trip from Egypt to the promised land was meant to take about eleven days. Instead it took forty years, and the reason was mindset, not distance. Twelve spies went into Canaan. Ten came back and saw giants. Two of them, Joshua and Caleb, came back and saw opportunity. They reasoned that if God could part the Red Sea, He could deal with whatever was on the other side. The ten looked through their own lenses. Joshua and Caleb looked through God’s. A generation that couldn’t let go of Egypt spent forty years walking in circles, and as Pastor Richard put it, a rut you don’t climb out of slowly turns into the place you live.

Many believers live this way. We keep asking God to touch us the way He did the first time. When it doesn’t happen, we decide our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. Maybe God isn’t silent. Maybe He’s saying, “The way I met you yesterday is not the way I’m going to meet you tomorrow.” What you experienced before was never meant to be where you stay. It was meant to carry you forward.

The second truth from this message is that your past is too heavy to carry where you’re going. We came from the dust of the earth, and since the garden we’ve passed down broken patterns: hidden habits, old hurts, insecurities, and things we push under the rug. Even Paul admitted that he didn’t do the things he knew he should. The enemy loves to use those things against us. He whispers, “I thought you got saved. I thought you were baptized.” But the blood of Jesus is bigger than anything you’re carrying. Isaiah 55 calls us to turn to the Lord while He can be found, to let go of our old thoughts, and to come back to a God who is always ready to forgive. The fight usually happens in the mind. That’s why we take our thoughts captive and fix them on what is good.

Pastor Richard closed by sharing a vision. Before he had ever seen Crossfaith’s building, God showed it to him. On one side he saw an older generation worshiping, and then the scene moved from shadow into light. He saw a younger generation, then crowds of people coming up a road toward a building that looked like ours, only bigger. He also saw a river. It wasn’t flowing into the church. It was flowing out.

Revival isn’t about crowds. It’s about individuals. It happens one person at a time, when the Holy Spirit brings someone back to life and they realize there’s a new day and a new way. God has already prepared the ground. The well is dug and the altar is set. What remains is for each of us to let yesterday go and step into what He’s doing. Your best days are ahead of you, and Crossfaith’s best days are ahead of this church.

So here’s the question: what are you still carrying out of Egypt? This week, name it, give it to God, and take one step of faith toward the new thing He’s already doing.