Isaiah 54 “Sing, O barren,
You who have not borne!
Break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
You who have not labored with child!
For more are the children of the desolate
Than the children of the married woman,” says the LORD.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, (people, paralised man)
And let them stretch out – faith lion killer the curtains of your dwellings;
Do not spare;
Lengthen your cords – reach expextation
And strengthen your stakes – absolutes.foundation stakeos character prayer…
3 For you shall expand to the right and to the left,
And your descendants will inherit the nations,
And make the desolate cities inhabited.
Isaiah 54
The Message (MSG)
Spread Out! Think Big!
54 1-6 “Sing, barren woman, who has never had a baby.
Fill the air with song, you who’ve never experienced childbirth!
You’re ending up with far more children
than all those childbearing women.” GOD says so!
“Clear lots of ground for your tents!
Make your tents large. Spread out! Think big!
Use plenty of rope,
drive the tent pegs deep.
You’re going to need lots of elbow room
for your growing family.
You’re going to take over whole nations;
you’re going to resettle abandoned cities.
Don’t be afraid—you’re not going to be embarrassed.
Don’t hold back—you’re not going to come up short.
You’ll forget all about the humiliations of your youth,
In Isaiah 54 The people of Israel were experiencing spiritual barrenness. The people were thirsty for God to do something in their life. They were tired of the same old answers and the same old dialogue. They were people who were honestly seeking God. Isaiah is writing about people who are craving meaning in their life. He is saying that a day will come when God will ask something incredible of you.
Barren:
• This whole chapter is dealing with bareness ,Unfulfilled ,unfruitful, Unproductive, Not producing life.
• Maybe you in a season of Unfulfilled ,unfruitful, Unproductive, Not producing life and it is Frustration not seeing the result in your life that you feel God has destined you to have
• Thank God Bareness does not intimidate our awesome God.
• In this passage God is giving us instruction on how to get out of unfruitfulness, not producing, unproductive, barren life how to move into a life that is breaking forth on right and left and expanding.
• Notice the way out of a barren life is not what we think it is, sometimes we think that it is just going to happen but he gives four instructions to break out.
The Gospel is a message of hope that evaluates and raise up brings life.
Jesus never put any one down that tried,when peter step out the boat Jesus took him by the hand when Jesus teams up peter, they walked on water.
what you can’t do by yourself when you team up with Jesus you can do the impossible.
Eg. Walking on Water,
breaking of the chains at midnight with paul,
parting the red sea with moses.
1 chron 4:9 There was a man named Jabez who was more honorable than any of his brothers. His mother named him Jabez[d] because his birth had been so painful. 10 He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” And God granted him his request.
1. Enlarge
a. Word god wants to get into our spirit is not shrink back make smaller but believe and expect god to enlarge you
b. To be kingdom minded person we have to reject smallness, we have to learn to be enlarged; we think way too small for Gods economy, we have to reject small thinking reject smallness.
c. Stop being robbed of big things that god has for you; get to a place where small minded people rob you of you big vision. You get away what people say and what you say because with god all things are possible
d. If we don’t get enlarged with what god wants to do in our lives we will become petty and consume our conversations and thinking and faith with small and petty things, small people hang around small people , people who become enlarge are different, they walk different they talk different they believe different. They get fed up with limitations and can’t do talk. Circumstances.
e. Can’t wait for right circumstances over look small problems
f. When god is enlarging you cant
g. People: if you the smartest person in your group you need a new group.
h. Iron sharpens iron people to push you.
2. Friends people who lowered their friend
Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. 2 Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, 3 four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. 4 They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. 5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”6 But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7 “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”8 Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 9 Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man[a] has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, 11 “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
• We need to have friends that will enlarge us, friends that will bring out the best, friends that will carry us, and friends that will take you closer to Jesus.
• We notice that the friends went the extra mile to make sure he would get healed, they were willing to sacrifice their time and effort to make it happen.
• We need to have people that will push us closer to our dream, people that will encourage, pray, speak the best and believe the best for us and rejoice when we are blessed.
• We need to also be that friend to their people.
3. Stretch
Which one is bigger, a water bottle or a balloon? The water bottle is bigger. Which one will hold more? The balloon. Now what is the problem with the water bottle? It is restricted. It cannot expand. It is not elastic. This isn’t about your size, it’s about your ability to stretch with what God wants to do. If you take this same balloon it holds even more because of its ability to stretch and expand.
a. When God begins to stretch you he takes you out of comfortable place.
b. Truth that It is easier:
i. not to trust for anything
ii. not to want change
iii. to sit and do nothing
c. If you are tired of a unfulfilled unproductive life then you have to stretch your faith
d. You will never get a miracle until you stretch your faith
e. You need to be in a Church that will stretch you and not let you be comfortable, not let you settle for less than God promises you. A church that will stretch you in:
i. Faith
ii. Worship
iii. Walk
iv. Holiness
4. Here is an example of a man who stretched his faith: benaiah.
2 Samuel 23:20
The Message (MSG)
20-21 Benaiah son of Jehoiada from Kabzeel was a vigorous man who accomplished a great deal. He once killed two lion cubs in Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he climbed down into a pit and killed a lion. Another time he killed a formidable Egyptian. The Egyptian was armed with a spear and Benaiah went against him with nothing but a walking stick; he seized the spear from his grip and killed him with his own spear. 22-23 These are the things that Benaiah son of Jehoiada is famous for. But neither did he ever get ranked with the Three. He was held in greatest respect among the Thirty, but he never got included with the Three. David put him in charge of his bodyguard.
Notice what the scripture says, he went to hunt a lion on a snowy day
• Snowy day: snow not the best conditions to do anything never mind go and hunt a lion.
• We can’t wait for perfect conditions to stretch our faith and stand on the word, Faith does not look at the things that are seen but look to the things unseen, we can’t wait for perfect conditions to trust God.
• What defines a man is the obstacle and conditions that he has to overcome.
The lion fell into the pit.
• Most of us would have rejoiced and said God has delivered us from the trial the test.
• No one would have blamed him if he walked past the pit and never did anything further in fact we would have still rejoiced with him that God delivered him.
• But he did something strange: he jumped into the pit, people of faith, people who know who their God is will do mighty exploits they jump into the pit because the know that God is able, they know God can do anything, God is mighty, God able to do what he said he can do.
• He jumped into the pit and did the impossible he killed a lion
• We have to jump into the pit and kill the lions that face us it might be a lion of
o Fear
o Lack
o Sickness
o Marriage
o Kids. etc.
• We need to Kill the lion in our lives.
5. Lengthen
a. Lengthen your reach : come out of average
b. Believe for bigger and better, talking about action to change circumstances.
6. Strengthen your stakes.
a. Put stakes down and drive them deep
b. Foundation
c. No matter how big, how great, how much God is blessing you there are some absolutes in your life, will not change, never get away from them
d. Don’t wait for things to get bad or the storm to come before you drive those stakes into the ground. If they not driven down when the storms come you going to be in a mess.
e. There some place I don’t belong, there are things that I don’t do as I property of Jesus. I have core beliefs.
f. When I reach out it does not change me I change it.
i. Character
ii. Integrity
iii. Faith
iv. Prayer
v. Word
vi. Faithfulness.
g. Long ropes need strong stakes.
Here are examples of men with strong stakes.
Daniel 3:14
New International Version (NIV)
14 and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? 15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace.
25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”
So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, 27 and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them
7. Sing - worship
a. Worship and praise God in the good times and the bad times
b. Always have a song in your heart .
c. Always be grateful for what God has done and what he is going to do.
Example of worship God at all times.
acts 16:22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.
• Paul and Silas where placed in the inner cell not just placed into prison. The inner cell was the place all the human waste of the prison ended up.
• They were placed in the lowest of lowest places.
• When they worship God the doors were opened.
o God can open doors that no man can open
o God can set the captives free in worship
• Chains were Brocken
o Chains of
Lack
Depression
Loneliness
Anything that would keep you tied up.
