God Is A Waymaker

GOD IS A WAYMAKER

God Makes a Way Where There Seems To Be No Way

Isa. 43:16-21

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: Prison Breaks

1. I heard that two prisoners escaped from Ellis 2 prison. One is seven feet tall and one is four feet six. The police are looking high and low for them.

2. Why did all the prisoners at the AT&T prison escape?

Because they had no bars on their cells!

3. We’re going to look today at how God is our WayMaker!

B. TEXT

This is what the Lord says— He who MADE A WAY through the Sea, a path through the mighty waters, 17 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: 18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am MAKING A WAY in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. 20 ....because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to My people, My chosen, 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim My praise. Isa. 43:16-21

C. THESIS

1. What God is talking about here is how He made a way for the Israelites. HE MADE A WAY... out of Egypt (by the 10 plagues) ... for them to cross the Red Sea (pushing back the waters) ... a way for them to cross the wilderness (providing food, water, heat & cloud-cover), and ... to enter the promised land (giving victory over their enemies).

2. Just as God made a way for THEM, He’ll make a way for YOU! Aren’t You glad we serve a God of great power? Our God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever! He doesn’t change, neither is there a shadow of His turning! No matter what your problem, God has the solution!

3. How many of you know that GOD WILL MAKE A WAY, WHERE THERE SEEMS TO BE NO WAY!

4. We’re going to look at three impossible situations where ‘God will make a Way’ – 1). First, for Broken-Hearted People, 2). Next, for people facing severe Temptations, and 3). And lastly, to meet your Impossible Needs!

I. FOR BROKEN-HEARTED PEOPLE

A. LIFE HAS SOME TERRIBLE HURTS

1. “So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep” 1 Sam. 30:4. Some can identify w/ that.

2. [Say slowly] Loss can come many ways: the death of a loved one; a broken marriage; your children may remain lost or estranged from you. Maybe you made a bad decision that wrecked your life & hurt your reputation. The result?

3. Your life has become overwhelmed by sorrow. There seems to be no way to escape from the dark cloud that has parked over you. Time stopped, when the terrible event took place.

4. Question: How can you ever be whole again? “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” Has God lost the power to deliver people from sadness and grief? Is there no fixing what has been broken? Is OUR God so small that He doesn’t have the answer to our shattered life?

B. HOPE FROM THE WOUNDED SAVIOR

1. When Jesus taught in the Capernaum Synagogue, He quoted from Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach the Good News....to proclaim liberty to the captives & the open of the prison to them that are bound...”

2. But did you know the next verse? He said He came “to comfort all who mourn, [to bind up the broken-hearted, vs. 2], 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise instead of the spirit of despair.” Isa. 63:1-3.

3. God anointed Jesus not only to heal the sick and deliver the demonized, but to bring healing to the grieving, to the broken-hearted, to the sad and the despairing! So, my hurting friend, there IS healing for your wounds! There is hope.

4. God says, “I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow” Jer. 31:13. GOD IS GOING TO MAKE A WAY FOR YOU!

5. Next, we see God makes a way...

II. FOR THE TEMPTED SOUL

A. HOW TO RESPOND TO YOUR TEMPTATION

1. “There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also MAKE A WAY TO ESCAPE, that you may be able to bear it” 1 Cor. 10:13.