Key Text: Isaiah
43:14-19:
“The Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel, says: ‘For your sakes I will send an invading army against Babylon. And
the Babylonians will be forced to flee in those ships they are so proud of. I
am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator and King. I am the Lord, who
opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea. I called
forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses. I drew them
beneath the waves, and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like a smoldering
candlewick. But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to
do. For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you
not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come
home. I will create rivers for them in the desert!’”
I. GOD'S PROMISE OF A NEW THING
a)
Do you wish
God would work as He did in days of old?
b)
Are you
tired of living under the weight of past sins?
c)
Are you
ready for things to change?
d)
Are you
ready for a new beginning?
e)
Are you
ready for God to do a new thing in your life?
II. THE
DESERT:
For those tired with the monotony of life, and those praying for a
breakthrough, God wants to do something new in your life. The Word says, “I
will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
1.
IT IS A VERY HOT PLACE:
Some of us are tense and heated up
inside, though outwardly we may be in a comfortable space. But God will open a
new way: you will be cooled and comforted by the Holy Spirit. The heat in your
heart will be loosened in the name of Jesus.
2.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIGURE OUT
DIRECTION:
The desert looks the same all
around and one cannot know the way forward. In your desert experience you might
be wondering, “How will I get out?” Perhaps others in church or in your family
have gotten a breakthrough and you feel like a failure. Your heart may be
heavy. However, God will make a road for you in the wilderness and exalt you
higher than the others. He has a plan for your life, so seek His face. Jesus
declared that He is the way, the truth and the life. He is not just the way to
heaven, but the way out of your difficult situations– be it career, marriage or
finances.
3.
IT IS A DRY PLACE:
There are no provisions or
resources in desert. No water either, to quench your thirst. The devil may be
exploiting the worry in your hearts about various issues. But the Holy Spirit
will make you free today, and reveal unto you more than one way of supernatural
provisions. God has promised not a river, but many rivers in the desert.
III. THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES IN EMBRACING THE NEW THING GOD IS DOING
1.
Don’t evaluate what God is about
to do by what He did in the past
1.
Do not
remember the former things
2.
God, who had
brought Israel out of Egypt and had destroyed the Egyptian army, was promising
to do an even greater thing.
3.
Stop looking
back at the “good ole days” or “the way things used to be”.
4.
Stop
grieving over the glory of the past.
5.
God is
saying that glory of the former things cannot compare with the glory of the new
thing that is coming.
6.
Where is
your vision? We can’t move forward looking out of the rear view mirror!
2.
Don’t live in condemnation over
past sins and mistakes
1.
Do not
consider the things of old
2.
Israel had
been judged because of her sins. She had gone into captivity and bondage in
Babylon like she had in Egypt. Obviously, there was great remorse over the sins
and consequences of the past.
3.
Stop living
under the condemnation of past mistakes and failures.
4.
Stop
evaluating your future by what you experienced in the past
5.
Jere. 29:11-14 (NKJV) “For I know the thoughts that I think toward
you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and
a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to
you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your
heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from
your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places
where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from
which I cause you to be carried away captive.”
6.
Instead of
living under the weight of the past, we must call upon Him, pray to Him, seek
Him, and search for Him with all of our heart.
3.
Believe in the God of a new
beginning (second chance)
1.
Behold, I
will do a new thing
2.
For I am
about to do a brand-new thing (NLT)
3.
This new
thing is a work of revival and restoration of His people
4.
Our end will
be greater than our beginning
5.
The glory of
the latter house will exceed the glory of the former house
4.
Expect God to begin NOW
1.
Now it shall
spring forth
2.
See, I have
already begun! (NLT)
5.
Lift your vision
1.
Shall you
not know it?
2.
Do you not
see it? (NLT)
3.
Vision and
dreams are the language of the Holy Spirit that shows you the end of a thing
before it has even begun
6.
Follow the Lord
1.
I will even
make a roadway in the wilderness
2.
I will make
a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home (NLT)
3.
Expect God
to show us the way back home
4.
God will
guide us as we follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit which is confirmed by
His tangible and manifest presence
7.
Embrace the work of the Holy
Spirit
1.
And rivers
in your desert
2.
John 7:37-39
(NKJV) “On the last day, that great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and
drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will
flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom
those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given,
because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
3. Eze. 47:1-5 (NKJV) “Then he
brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from
under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple
faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple,
south of the altar. He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me
around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was
water, running out on the right side. And when the man went out to the east
with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me
through the waters; the water came up to my ankles. Again he measured one
thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees.
Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to my
waist. Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not
cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that
could not be crossed.”
IV. God Is Doing A New Thing
1.
Don’t
evaluate what God is about to do by what He did in the past
2.
Don’t live
in condemnation over past sins and mistakes
3.
Believe in
the God of a new beginning
4.
Expect God
to begin NOW
5.
Lift your
vision
6.
Follow the
Lord
7.
Embrace the
work of the Holy Spirit