““But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19
Sunday Service: He Makes all things new!
Posted by Freddy Santos Jr. on Sunday, 15 January 2017
Sermon Notes:
Their current condition
- Enslaved in Babylon
- Abandoned
- Homes and lives destroyed
- The temple destroyed
- Feeling a sense of hopelessness
- Entrusted with the worship of the one true God
- Prostituted themselves to other lovers
- Turned to others for help, and not The Lord
In that condition God promises to save
- He reminds them of their past victories
- How he fought their battles and called out their enemies
- Because He keeps His word
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Jeremiah 1:12 – And the LORD said, “That’s right, and it means that I am watching, and I will certainly carry out all my plans.”
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Don’t focus on your past failures
- God told them: “But forget all that.”
- Forget about your failures and faults
- Forget about your sin and shame
- I know what you have done… but forget all that… it’s nothing compared to what I’m about to do for you
Don’t lean on your past victories
- Forget all of that, there is more
- You are not limited to your past victories, there is more
- Nothing can compare to the plan he has for you
When we hold on to the past failures
- We miss that God wants to do something new
- The enemy would want to keep us in guilt and shame, but God wants to do something new
- He is committed to his word, he is committed to you!
- Our past can hinder us, God says, forget all that for I have dealt with it.
- Easy as asking for forgiveness
- 1 John 1:9 says “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”
- He is faithful and just and forgives by cleaning us of all wickedness!
- God wants you free, not bound to the past
- Enemy wants you bound so that you won’t see what God is doing
- God says, you confessed it, I forgave it, now forget it.
When we hold on to our past victories
- We can miss what God is doing now.
- Put God in a box that only allows for what you have experienced
- God wants to do something new that pales in comparison to what he has already done.
- He saved you to give you His freedom
I have already begun, do you not see it?
- If your bound to the past, you will miss what he has already begun
- If your leaning on last years victory, you will miss what he has already begun is year
- Philippians 4:6 – And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
The Lord says: I will make a way
- A pathway through the wilderness
- Where you may feel lost, He makes a way
- Rivers in dry wasteland
- Where you are dry, he refreshes with life giving water
Let 2017 be the year you forget all that, and focus on the possibilities!
- Don’t bring the same old destructive memories of your pain and failure, God says He is about to make something new happen, don’t dwell on that, forget that!
- Don’t bring the destructive behavior, believe God at this year your breakthrough over those struggles are going to turn things around
- Experience all of His goodness, even when in a difficult place in your life. He is faithful to continue what he started in you!
- Things are already different in you, do you not perceive it?
- See him making a way, where there seems to be no way out of the wilderness.
- See him filling your dry wasteland with the glory of his living water
God also said in Isaiah 43:
2When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up;
13“From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done.”