God Will Do A New Thing After Covid-19

GOD WILL DO A NEW THING AFTER COVID-19

Isaiah 43:18, 19 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.(KJV)

“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 in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”(RSV)

INTRODUCTION: Isaiah’s writings to the children of Israel came at a bleak period of their history. In their captivity, they have lost everything, and they were home sick for the land and the blessing God had promised them. I hope this message will motivate each of us to seek a new vision and a new interest in the things of God. If God wants to do a new thing, How we do embrace it?

Your past need not be your future. God has a bright future in store for you, if you will accept it and believe it. “I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

There is a desire to see things return to normal like before the pandemic. That’s probably never going to happen. Our new normal is a part of God’s new vision for his people. Israel’s homeland would never be the same. The temple would never be the same. Even the priesthood would be different. God has a new plan. We must take His plans and make them our plans. You can’t do that if you are always looking to your past instead of to His future. His plans for you are in His promises, and those precious promises can come alive only by seeking Him about them. He can give you the directions in His word on how to get there. Jesus is the way, the road to blessing and salvation. Seek Him and hear from Him, this is the way of faith, and faith is the way to victory. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: even our faith. I John 5:4

I found out that one cannot be both a fear filled, and faith filled at the same time. We must choose to be one or the other. Religion, most of the time, tries to be both and ends up being neither. Fear, guilt, and a low spiritual self-esteem will keep you in the prison-house of the past. It will keep you looking to the past instead of looking to the future. Being in Christ is being led by his Spirit. Moving towards His future plans for us.

Your past is not His future for you. It is not easy to put on the ‘new man’ in Christ (the ‘new you’ In Him), but we must. The ‘new man’ is the ‘new you’ made for a ‘new future.’ You are valuable in His eyes, so treat yourself as valuable in your own eyes. This is not always easy. Sometimes you are going to have to choose to forget the past and become more aware of the opportunities all around you. Walking by faith is not walking by sight, or walking by feelings, and it sure is not walking in the past. Treating yourself as valuable is not pride but true humility before God. To do anything less is disobedience to the God Who has great plans for you and has promised great things for you. Walk with Him in the light of His love and mercy. Israel’s difficulty was that they heard the promises of the Prophets before. Now after seventy years of captivity it seemed impossible. Yet Isaiah reminds them, God has not changed His mind. How can we participate? How can we believe? How can stop looking back? The 1st step to embracing the new thing what God wants to do in your life is to…

I. Change Your Focus -- Start looking Ahead v.18 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. If you are continually looking behind you cannot see where you are going. Life is like driving a car. When you drive a car you should look through the windshield and glance at the rear view mirror. Every now and then you should glance the side view mirror because the object behind maybe closer than it appears. If you are ever going to move on to new things in Christ you must learn that ...

A. Celebrate Past Victories; Don’t Try to Relive Them - Forget the Former Things. The children of Israel had many victories in their past: (1) Leaving Egypt (2); Conquering the Land of Canaan; (3) Fighting of prospective conquerors; (4) and Survived a split in their country.