Finding Freedom From The Past (A New Years Message) Series

Finding Freedom From

THE PAST

The year is about 700 BC.

AND – God’s people were not doing so good.

UNDERSTAND - things are pretty tough for the nation.

A large part of Judah and all of the northern kingdom of Israel were in exile in various parts of the Assyrian Empire.

YOU SEE – because God’s people had sinned and turned their backs on Him…

BECAUSE - they had bowed down and worshipped foreign gods GOD - removed His protection…

AND IN CASE - you are wondering, that is never a good thing.

IN FACT – this is what opened the door for their enemies to invade and conquer them.

YES – things were bad…

AND - they would only get worse.

UNDERSTAND – in about 100 years (give or take) Babylon would come riding in to finish the job that Assyria had started in Judah. King Nebuchadnezzar and his army would: level the city, tear down the walls, reduce the Temple to rubble, kill thousands of men, woman and children, and take even more into captivity.

CAN – you even imagine what that would be like, if it was happening… to your nation, to your family, to your loved ones, to… YOU?

MGCC, LISTEN…

It was to a people WHO…

• Had seen better days

• Experienced great suffering

• Had lost – their hope, their joy, their peace

• Wondered where God was

• Longed for better days, but were beginning to think that those better days would never come

Ever been there?

Can you say 2020?

MAN – I am so ready to put 2020 in my rearview mirror.

AGAIN IT WAS – to such a people that God through His prophet Isaiah (2700 years ago)

SPOKE - the following words… some of the most powerful and hopeful words in all of Scripture.

WORDS – breathed by the maker of heaven and earth.

WORDS – that I am convinced carry a special anointing on this the first Sunday of 2021.

I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel's Creator, your King."

This is what the LORD says—

NOW – that you know who I AM, I need you to lean in to what I am about to say…

He who made a way through the sea,

a path through the mighty waters,

who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together,

and they lay there, never to rise again,

extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

IN OTHER WORDS - I AM, HE who…

• MADE - a way when there is no way

• CREATED - a path through the mightiest of waters

• DREW OUT - your enemies, those who opposed you, those who tried to steal from you the freedom, deliverance and life I ‘gave to you’ and ‘intend for you’ SNUFFING them out as easy as putting a candle

UNDERSTAND MGCC – that is ‘who’ our God is, is this is what He says to His troubled not just 2700 years, but also to His people today… in this room, watching online.

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way i the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

- Isaiah 43:15-19

that they may proclaim my praise

AND HEY – do not miss those last 6 words… that they may proclaim my praise

UNDERSTAND - it is always about His glory!

Prayer

MGCC… The year 2021 is off and running…

AND LISTEN – I am convinced that it is going to be an extremely HUGE year (BOTH - a break-through and break-out year) for some people in this very room and watching online… Why?

BECAUSE – our God is doing a new thing.

HE – always has, always will and always is.

I MEAN – even now it springs up… do you not perceive it?

UNDERSTAND MGCC - in 2021 God longs to…

• Make a way in the desert

• Flood the dry desert wastelands of our lives with streams of living water…

• Draw out

OKAY – here’s the deal…

TODAY - day 3 of the year 2021…

God is handing every single person in this room 363 blank pages of life…

AND HE – is inviting each of us to write a new future on them in the coming days, weeks and months.

A FUTURE – that is so much better than the past,

A FUTURE – a 2021 that is so much better than the year 2020!... AMEN?!

NOW – I know that some people, like to pooh pooh the idea of getting excited about a New Year…