11 10 102 https://church.jhkpress.com/files/original/aa4b6aa606a78496c97d83ef401f72b7.png ebd75cfde6caf2c83bf1d0e02a727ad9 https://church.jhkpress.com/files/original/3fa0f2dba496ee3d0adefb044088c849.mp4 3340ff70043ca1fc3a857c4cb897bc23 https://church.jhkpress.com/files/original/555a6869460723e4d2537fa27db870a6.png 1f2d07fd48b45d7615727909de5b7aa0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2026 Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound The Invisible Ceiling: Stop Waiting for Permission Deuteronomy 1:6–8 "You have stayed long enough at this mountain... See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession..." Let me ask you something before we go any further… What are you still waiting for permission to do? Not what are you waiting for God to do. What are you waiting for someone to let you do? Who exactly are you waiting on? Who has to sign off? Who has to say, "Go ahead, you're ready"? Think about it. Because here's what's strange: there is no locked door. No fence. No physical barrier. And yet, sometimes something keeps us from moving forward. We tell ourselves: "I'm too old." "I'm not qualified." "I don't have enough money." "What will people think?" "Maybe someday, when everything settles down..." And someday becomes next month. Next month becomes next year. And eventually we become very comfortable living beneath a ceiling that may not even exist! God, our Creator, may be calling us into something greater, but we cannot walk into a new life while continually asking permission from the limitations of our old one. So here is the question underneath the question: What if the greatest obstacle between you and the person God is calling you to become isn't your circumstances? What if it's the CODE you've been living by? For several weeks, we explored THE CODE—the beliefs, assumptions, and experiences that shape how we interpret our lives. Today I want to bring all of it to one practical question: What are we going to DO with it? Because transformation was never meant to remain a beautiful idea. At some point, faith must become movement. "You have stayed at this mountain long enough. It is time to break camp and move on." The Israelites weren't necessarily in the wrong place. They had simply reached the point where staying was no longer the next step of obedience. I wonder how many of us are there. We're going to work, paying our bills, attending church. But somewhere inside, we sense there is more. More to contribute. More to become. Maybe God is whispering: "You've stayed at this mountain long enough." (do you need to speak to your mountain?) Think back to where THE CODE began. We asked, "Who wrote the CODE you're living by?" And we discovered that God desires to write His truth upon our hearts Heb 10:16: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Eight messages. One unfolding invitation: let God change the way you see yourself, so you can begin living differently. Many of the limitations we live with were never consciously chosen. Someone criticized us when we were young. We experienced failure. We were told to be "realistic." And somewhere along the way, those experiences became instructions. We stopped saying, "That didn't work," and started saying, "I can't do that." An experience became an identity. A disappointment became a prediction. And a prediction became an invisible ceiling. When the angel of the Lord found Gideon, he wasn't standing triumphantly on a battlefield. He was threshing wheat in a winepress, hiding it from the Midianites. And the angel called him a mighty warrior! Gideon immediately began explaining his limitations. His clan was weak. His family position was insignificant. In other words: "You don't understand. I'm not that person." But God was calling Gideon beyond the identity he had built from his circumstances. Gideon was no fearless man. He questioned. He needed reassurance. And yet he responded. Biblical courage is not the absence of uncertainty. It is choosing to trust God while uncertainty still exists. How much of our lives have we spent waiting for permission from people who were never assigned to determine our potential? Waiting for someone to tell us we're talented enough. Educated enough. Young enough. Old enough. (Canasta) Experienced enough. Worthy enough. We want somebody to say: "Yes! You may now begin becoming the person God created you to be!" ( ) The permission we've been waiting for isn't theirs to give. This doesn't mean ignoring wisdom, accountability, or the counsel of others. It means recognizing that other people's expectations should not automatically become the boundaries of our obedience. ( ) When God calls us forward, our answer cannot forever be: "But what will everybody think?" Here is where I want this message to become intensely practical. We want the entire map before we'll take the first step. But faith rarely works that way. Thomas Merton: "You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope." Maybe that's the invisible ceiling. Maybe we're not waiting for permission from another person. Maybe we're waiting for permission from certainty. "When I know exactly how this will work out—then I'll move." But that's not faith. Prov 3 tells us to trust in the Lord rather than leaning on our own understanding. Sometimes God doesn't show us the destination. He shows us the next step. Think how often Jesus invited people into a simple action: "Come." "Follow me." "Rise." "Stretch out your hand." "Go." James 2:17 reminds us that faith without action is dead. So maybe you don't need the entire plan today. Maybe you simply need to take the next faithful step. Make the phone call. Repair the relationship. Spend ten uninterrupted minutes with God. Start the project that's been living in your imagination. It doesn't have to impress anybody. It simply has to move you toward where God is calling. “Small steps taken over time lead to big results” Because sometimes the smallest step of obedience becomes the doorway to something we could never have imagined. Remember our message about the Secret Place? We don't enter it merely to escape the world. We enter to become better prepared to engage it. Spiritual growth should become visible in the way we love, serve, and contribute. We don't seek God simply to feel better about remaining unchanged. We seek Him because He transforms us. Philippians 3:13–14 describes Paul's determination to leave what is behind and press on toward what lies ahead. We are not prisoners of yesterday. We are not required to remain the people we were five years ago—or even five minutes ago. "The author of our story is still writing." Perhaps the next chapter begins when we stop insisting that every detail be revealed before we turn the page. As we close, I want to invite you to consider one question. Not ten. Not a five-year strategic plan. Just one. What is ONE thing I would begin doing if I stopped allowing fear, uncertainty, or the expectations of others to determine my future? What dream have you quietly placed on a shelf? What would one small step of faith look like? You are KNOWN. You can be TRANSFORMED. You can live in ALIGNMENT. You can discover GREATNESS through service. You can develop COURAGE. Your understanding can be UPDATED. You can rediscover WONDER. …And you can draw strength from the SECRET PLACE. Now it's time to LIVE THE CODE. I want to show you how to take that thing you know you need to do, and empower you to do it. Would you be open to that? (deep breath) Ask yourself: What is ONE thing I would begin doing if I stopped allowing fear, uncertainty, or the expectations of others to determine my future? Can you SEE what it would look like to take that step of faith? Now, how would it FEEL to have actually done it? Put yourself in that state now. Experience it as already happened. Breathe it in. Feel the elation—the breakthrough—the SHIFT. Romans 12:2 reminds us that transformation comes through the renewing of our minds. Don't allow an old experience to become a permanent instruction for a new season of life. You have stayed at this mountain long enough. Stop waiting for permission. Take the step—and discover what God can do with a life that is willing to move forward. Prayer Lord, renew my mind. Break my limitations. Give me courage to begin. Help me trust You—even when I cannot see the way. Today, I take one step forward. My life is Yours. Lead me into what is next. In Jesus' Name. Amen. The CODE declaration "I will not allow yesterday's limitations to determine tomorrow's possibilities. I will listen to God, trust His leading, and take my next step of faith." "You don't break the invisible ceiling by thinking bigger alone. You break it by taking the next faithful step." Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Invisible Ceiling 看不见的天花板 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 10/04/2026 Description An account of the resource Deuteronomy 1:6-8 “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. … See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers.” 申命記 1:6-8 “你們在這山停留的時間已經夠了。…… 看哪，我已經把這地賜給你們。你們要進去得這地，就是耶和華向你們列祖所起誓要賜給他們的那地。” Judges 6:12 “When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” 士師記 6:12 “耶和華的使者向基甸顯現，對他說：「大能的勇士啊，耶和華與你同在！」” Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” 羅馬書 12:2 “不要效法這個世界，只要心意更新而變化，叫你們察驗何為神的善良、純全、可喜悅的旨意。” Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” 箴言 3:5-6 “你要專心仰賴耶和華，不可倚靠自己的聰明，在你一切所行的事上都要認定他，他必指引你的路。” Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” 約書亞記 1:9 “我豈沒有吩咐你嗎？你當剛強壯膽！不要懼怕，也不要驚惶，因為你無論往哪裡去，耶和華 —— 你的神必與你同在。” James 2:17 “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” 雅各書 2:17 “這樣，信心若不伴隨行動，就是死的。” Philippians 3:13-14 “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” 腓立比書 3:13-14 “弟兄姊妹們，我不是以為自己已經得著了；我只有一件事，就是忘記背後，努力面前的，向著標竿直跑，要得神在基督耶穌裡從上面召我來得的獎賞。” Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pastor: Mike Koger Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Hillside United Methodist Church 3737 US 80 Phenix City AL 36870 United States https://church.jhkpress.com/files/original/a6d23ed4a6275f4db76679495bedfe80.png 78640caa3b6bbc4ec523e8bcacd793bd https://church.jhkpress.com/files/original/c2e26ef139826588a390f7197d33656b.png 79bcea086d342132c77a1a76afbb636f https://church.jhkpress.com/files/original/ba826ecd45d11d5763a0e8f9db78b1e5.mp4 a5d38287436162e4014e91cdaa306596 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2026 Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Remember to Forget Luke 17:32,33 Some of you have done this. You pull down an old photo album, or you scroll back through your phone to pictures from ten or twenty years ago, and an hour disappears. You smile. You laugh. And somewhere along the way, a quiet thought slips in: "Those were the days." The kids were small. The church was full. The family was all together. We felt younger and stronger, and we didn't know how good we had it. But think about what a photo album actually is. It's a collection of the moments we chose to keep. Nobody snaps a picture of the argument in the car on the way to the family reunion. Nobody frames the stack of unpaid bills, the sleepless night, or the diagnosis. The album shows us the smiling moments and quietly leaves out the struggle behind them. So when we say "the good old days," we're often remembering an edited version. Now, hear me clearly: Remembering is not a sin. Scripture tells us again and again to remember what God has done. The problem comes when remembering turns into longing, when we stop thanking God for the past and start living in it, as if today is just a disappointing leftover. That is the danger Jesus has in mind in Luke 17. He tells His disciples not to turn back for what they've left behind. Then, in just three words, He says something that should stop us in our tracks: "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32). Of all the people Jesus could have named, He picked her. We don't even know her name. She is remembered for one thing: she looked back. This morning I want to ask a question I'll keep coming back to: Why? Why would you keep looking back when your life is happening right here, right now? Let's go back to the story Jesus points to, in Genesis 19. Sodom is under judgment, a city marked by abomination, violence, cruelty, and a deep disregard for God and for people. In His mercy, God sends angels to get Lot and his family out. And notice how reluctant they are. Genesis 19:16 says that "while he lingered, the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city." They had to be pulled out. Then comes the instruction in verse 17: "Escape for your life. Do not look back." It's simple and clear, and it's given out of love. Vs 26: "But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt." Here is what we need to see. (by God’s Grace) She was already rescued. She had been taken by the hand. She was out of the city, and the destruction hadn't touched her yet. Physically, she had left Sodom. But in her heart, she was still there. Jesus tells us why in Matthew 6:21: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Her treasure was still in Sodom: her home, her memories, her comfort. Her feet were on the road out, but her heart followed her treasure back. Think about what Sodom looked like in her rearview mirror. Every photo album she owned was in that city. When she turned around, she probably wasn't thinking about the violence or the sin. She was thinking about the kitchen, the friends, the life she knew. That is how nostalgia works. It remembers the comfort and forgets the chains. That is how I remember boot camp. Some of you may be able to relate. I remember the friends I made – the funny moments. I forget the pain, the frustration and daily humiliations. Six weeks felt like six years. So let me ask the question again. “Why? Why look back?” Why trade the mercy of the hand that pulled you forward for the memory of a place that could not hold you? God did not rescue you so that you could spend the rest of your life facing the wrong direction. Even if some of those days were genuinely good, that season has done its work. God has moved you on, and He has not left you. He is in front of you, not behind you. Jesus doesn't stop at "Remember Lot's wife." He explains why it matters. Luke 17:33: "Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it." Look at the irony in that. The person who grips the old life tightly thinks they are protecting something. But Jesus says clinging doesn't preserve your life. It loses it. Lot's wife wanted to keep what she had, and she lost everything, including the future God was walking her into. So what does clinging cost us? First, it costs us the people in front of us. Think of someone who spends every family gathering saying, "Remember when? It was so much better then." The people at the table are alive and hungry for attention, but the one living in the album doesn't see them. Second, it costs us the purpose in front of us. God has work for you now: someone to serve, someone to encourage, a risk to take in faith. But you cannot do today's work with yesterday's eyes. Third, it costs us gratitude. When we say the best days are behind us, we are quietly telling God that what He is giving us now is not enough. Nostalgia can sound like worship, but it often hides a complaint: "Lord, things were better before." In Numbers 11:5, the children of Israel complained about the manna and looked back longingly to what they ate when they were in total slavery: We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. And fourth, it costs us the future. A quick glance in the rearview mirror is helpful. A long stare ends in a wreck. And we may miss the very thing God says He is doing. Through Isaiah He declares, "I am doing a new thing," but you can't see a new thing while you're staring at an old one. We'll come back to that promise in a moment. So, in our text today, Jesus isn't being harsh - He is being honest, because He loves us. He is saying, "Don't spend the life I've given you trying to hold on to a life that's already gone. Let go, and you'll find the real thing." The Gospel is not about preserving the old. It's about being made new. Paul puts it this way in Philippians 3:13: "I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead” Paul had a past too, with both achievements and regrets, and he refused to let either one set his direction. So here is the invitation this morning: Close the album. I don't mean throw it away. Keep the pictures. Thank God for every good gift in them. But don't let the album become your address. Don't live there. Because today is not yesterday. Yesterday is finished. Whether it was wonderful or painful, it has done what it was going to do. But today is real, and God is present. Lamentations 3:23 says “His mercies are new every morning.” This morning's mercy was not available yesterday. It was made for today. The God who rescued you did not bring you out just to leave you with a good memory. He brought you out to bring you into something new. Lot's wife missed that. Listen to what God Himself says in Isaiah 43:18-19: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!" Notice who He is talking to. Just before this, He reminds Israel of the Exodus, the greatest rescue they had ever known. And then He says, "Don't dwell on it." God is not asking us to erase our memories. He is telling us not to treat even His greatest works of the past as the ceiling of what He can do. The God who parted the sea is not finished. Now, some of us hold on to the past for very different reasons. Some of us are holding the golden years, afraid that if we let go, we'll lose the best we ever had. And some of us are holding the wounds: the failure, the betrayal, the loss. We replay them again and again, as if guarding the pain could keep us safe. Hear me. God is asking both hands to open. To release their grip. Open the hand that grips the glory, and open the hand that grips the grief. You are not dishonoring what was good, and you are not excusing what was bad. You are refusing to let either one be your master. And you cannot take hold of the new thing while your fists are full of the old. So ask yourself: Where is your treasure? Is it in the album, or is it in what God is doing today? Your heart will follow it. The new thing is not a threat. It is a gift from a Father who has never once lost track of you. The hand that pulled you out is the hand that will lead you on. So here is a simple challenge for this week. When you catch yourself saying, "Those were the good old days," or when an old hurt starts to replay, do two things. First, thank God for what He gave you then, or hand Him the pain and open your hand. Second, ask Him, "Lord, what are You doing today?" Then do one thing in response. Call the person you've been meaning to call. Serve someone. Take the next small step of obedience. Lot's wife was rescued, and then she looked back. Jesus says to us today, "Remember Lot's wife," so that we won't. Our scripture today says, “Don’t forget the example of Lot’s wife and what happened to her when she turned back. All who are obsessed with being secure in life will lose it all—including their lives. But those who let go of their lives and surrender them to me will discover true life.” So let go. Open your hands, open your heart, and say yes to what He is doing next. Today is NOT yesterday. So why look back? “For your heart will always pursue what you esteem as your treasure.” Let's pray. Father, thank You for every good thing You've given us in the past. And we bring You the hurts we've carried too. Forgive us for the times we've held on to what was and missed what You are doing now. We open our hands. Take the glory and the grief, and fill them with Your new thing. Pull us forward by Your hand, as You pulled Lot's family out. Give us open hearts, and eyes for the people in front of us. Help us trust that You are with us today and already in our tomorrow. In Jesus' name, Amen. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Remember to Forget 记得要忘记 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 10/11/2026 Description An account of the resource Luke 17:32-33 “Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.” 路加福音 17:32-33 「你們要記得羅得的妻子。凡想要保全自己生命的，必喪掉生命；凡為我失去生命的，必救了生命。」 Genesis 19:17 “Escape for your life. Do not look back.” 創世記 19:17 「你要逃命，不可回頭看。」 Genesis 19:26 “But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” 創世記 19:26 「但羅得的妻子在他後邊回頭一看，就變成了一根鹽柱。」 Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 馬太福音 6:21 「因為你的財寶在哪裡，你的心也在哪裡。」 Philippians 3:13-14 “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal.” 腓立比書 3:13-14 「忘記背後，努力面前的，向著標竿直跑，要得神在基督耶穌裡從上面召我來得的獎賞。」 Isaiah 43:18-19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” 以賽亞書 43:18-19 「不要記念從前的事，也不要思想過去的事。看哪，我要做一件新事！」 Lamentations 3:23 “His mercies are new every morning.” 耶利米哀歌 3:23 「他的慈愛每早晨都是新的。」 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pastor: Mike Koger Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Hillside United Methodist Church 3737 US 80 Phenix City AL 36870 United States