Touré Roberts - Forward Only

I want to draw your attention to Hebrews chapter 5. We’re going to look at a few verses therein, and we’ll jump to verse 6. In this particular passage, which we’ll get into in just a second, the writer of Hebrews is, to a certain degree, chastening his children. I’m not here to chastise, and I don’t believe that you need that, to be honest with you. I believe that this is a room full of people who have been pursuing alignment. If you’ve been pursuing alignment—and I thought I was in the right room—you’ve been pursuing alignment, and many of you are discovering alignment. You’re discovering the power of alignment, the breakthrough that comes as a result of alignment, the favor, the grace. Some of you are already beginning to experience the restoration of your pursuit. You track with me? Because as we talked about alignment very early in the year, two things happen when you find alignment. The two things are restoration and acceleration. Some of you are experiencing promotion—spiritual promotion, life promotion. I know, I know, and it’s beginning to happen. Some of you are at different stages of it, but some of you are just beginning to see progress. For some of you, there was no light at the end of the tunnel, and some of you have finally made the turn where you’re seeing your way out of the tunnel. It’s incredible! For some of you, doors have opened—things that you’ve prayed for for years are now starting to come to fruition. Others are still in pursuit of alignment and have fought some battles. Alignment has cost you. All of that to say, I can keep going on about that, but there has been progress. What was on my heart, too, is in the title of the message, «Forward Only.» Somebody got excited about that. I’m with you because the call of the believer is a forward call—it’s forward only. There’s only one way to go, and that is forward—forgetting those things that are behind, reaching forward to those things that are ahead, pressing toward the mark. The best of us and the best for us is always in front of us. That’s why we can never get too comfortable, never get complacent, never get content, because there is more. There’s more; there’s always more. I’m not saying don’t be satisfied because the Bible does talk about being content in whatever state you’re in, but that isn’t about you being stagnant. It’s about you saying thank you, Jesus, while you’re in the wilderness on your way to the promised land. Are you tracking with me? God wants us to be moving toward the promised land. There has been progress, but what I want to do in this message is show you how to protect your progress. One of the things I’m learning is that to continue to move in God, particularly from level to level, necessitates thoughtfulness because we like to get into cruise control. We like to figure something out, right? We like to determine the formula, plug it in, and then ride. That’s not how it works. God always wants us to be mindful—thinking, sharpening, and being aware—because we do have an enemy. We do have an adversary. I don’t preach about the devil because I don’t like to give him that much credit, but the reality is we do have an enemy to our soul and our future. Even if it wasn’t the devil, it would be the enemy within me because sometimes we can be our own worst enemies. So, I’m going to read this. He is going to, to a certain degree, chasten, but I want to pull out some principles from what he’s saying. Then I’m going to give you six things to think about as they relate to maintaining your progress, and then we’ll move on. Okay? So, Paul says here—well, there’s a theological debate about who wrote Hebrews, but you can tell who I lean toward. It says, «In fact, by this time you ought to be teachers.» In fact, «by this time you ought to be teachers.» You need someone to teach you. Let’s look at that real quick. At a time when you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you. There’s something wrong. I’ve been around the Word enough; I’ve been exposed to the Word enough. I’m so full of the Word now that what should come naturally, which should be the natural progression, is for me to not just be a recipient of the Word but a teacher. Oh, I feel that right there! There are some people in this room right now, and you’re supposed to be a teacher. This isn’t chastisement; it’s encouragement. That’s what he’s saying. He’s saying that at the time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths. That’s like being in high school.