THEY WILL SOAR, THEY WILL RUN, THEY WILL WALK
Isa. 40:31
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A little girl was getting quizzed by her Sunday school teacher to determine how well she knew the Bible. The teacher asked several questions, and the poor girl had not answered any of the questions correctly.
2. The sympathetic teacher, trying to come up with an easier question, asked the girl, “Who was thrown into a den of lions and yet survived.”
3. The girl’s face brightened and she exclaimed exuberantly, "Oh! I know that one – it was Tarzan!"
B. TEXT
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” Isa. 40:31.
C. THESIS
1. This verse tells us the source of our strength and the three stages Christians can be traveling in, and yet be revived in. Lastly, we note the way we can be strengthened.
2. The title of this message is “They Will Soar, They Will Run, They Will Walk.”
I. ALL HUMAN STRENGTH DEPLETED
A. HUMAN VS. DIVINE STRENGTH
1. Human strength has many forms: physical, mental, spiritual. But no matter which form it is, one day it will fail. Why?
2. Because human strength is:
a. Derived, gained from another.
b. A Limited Resource.
c. Constantly Drawn On.
3. All nature needs renewing. Because we are human and imperfect, we cannot always be at our best.
4. The sky is not always clear, the sea is not always at high tide, the year is not always at summer, the sun is not always at its zenith, the moon is not always at her full, the tree is not always adorned with fruit, the vineyard does not always flow with wine, roses do not always blush, nor lilies always bloom.
5. Creatures have their rises and their falls, and to us there must be times when we need to renew our strength, and we shall renew it.
6. Contrast that with DIVINE STRENGTH! God is not limited by years of time: millions of years mean nothing to Him. No exertion taxes His powers. It would be no trouble for Him to create a hundred more universes.
7. God does not change. The fountain of His almightiness still overflows. “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable” Isa. 40:26-28.
8. WE SEE TWO VERY DIFFERENT THINGS – Man’s faintness, weakness, emptiness & God’s Inexhaustible Omnipotence. The two need to come together for us to be aided.
a. If, by an act of faith, the human can be linked with the divine – what miraculous things could happen!
b. We could be renovated, refreshed, filled up, increased, established, made strong!
B. WHAT WE NEED: STRENGTH
1. JOKE. A man was pulled over by a policeman. The cop looked at his driver’s license. “Hey, you have glasses on in the picture and you don’t have them on now. I’m going to write you a ticket.” “Officer, I have contacts.” The policeman said, “I don’t care WHO you know, I’m still writing you a ticket!”
2. We need to renew our strength. In spiritual things, it DOES matter WHO you know! We have a promise that God will refresh us. Have you become weak? Go to God and renew your strength!!
3. It’s brings glory to God when we’re strong. Weak people can’t help others; they require others to help them.
4. It’s not safe to be weak; you can fall, you can be susceptible to attack. Therefore, it’s our duty to be strong, so that we can sustain ourselves, help others, and build the kingdom.
C. HOW ARE WE TO GET STRENGTH?
1. NOURISHMENT
a. A man who hasn’t eaten in days needs nourishment. “Seven days without prayer make one week/weak.”
b. This is as true, spiritually, as it is physically. We need to come and feed upon Christ. Wait upon Him, feed upon the body and blood of Christ – it’s spiritual meat and drink indeed. It will renew your strength.
2. TAKE A LITTLE REST. “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength” Isa. 30:15. After hard work and exhaustion, rest rejuvenates you.
3. PLUNGING IN COOL WATER. It rejuvenates the body. The baptism in the Holy Spirit does the same thing for the spiritual man. Baptize means to “fully cover.” We need to be immersed in God’s Spirit.
4. BREATHING YOUR NATIVE AIR. After a hot day, a cool breeze off of a mountain revives people. We are born of the Spirit; it is our native air. We need to visit again the fountain of our birth, to breathe the strong, fresh wind of our native air to be reinvigorated!
II. 3 STAGES OF RENEWED STRENGTH
A. THEY WILL SOAR
1. I like to fly. If you’re traveling long distances, flying is best. In 3 hours, you can be ½ way across the USA.
2. Birds have 3 ways of flying; a. FLAPPING their wings to counteract gravity and produce lift. This isn’t particularly graceful and is a lot of work. b. GLIDING is where they build up enough speed to coast for a while. There is still air resistance on the bird’s body, so every now and then, the bird has to tilt forward and go into a slight dive so that it can maintain forward speed. But at least it doesn’t have to flap/work to continue flying. c. SOARING is where they utilize thermal currents, rising air, to stay aloft. Without moving a feather, the bird can climb to great heights.
3. Sometimes WE soar; we’re carried on the currents of God’s power and it seems effortless to stay aloft. This is when God uses us in amazing ways. We move with the Holy Spirit and we experience a strength and wisdom beyond our natural abilities. We all love those times. Next, Isa. 40:31 says that sometimes...
B. “THEY WILL RUN”
1. Some days, you can’t soar, but you can run without growing weary.
2. Running is a good thing:
a. It WARMS you;
b. You CLEAR THE GROUND – you rise above it and lose touch with it. It’s like getting part way to heaven.
c. It’s an ENCOURAGING PACE – David ran to meet Goliath. The prodigal’s father ran to meet him.
d. It’s a WINNING PACE. 1 Cor. 9:24, “run that you may obtain the prize.”
e. It’s a FITTING PACE for a believer. Heb. 12:1, “let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”
3. Promise to runners: YOU SHALL NOT GROW WEARY!
C. THEY WILL WALK
1. Walking. Some days pain, weakness, or fatigue make it impossible for us to soar or run. On those days all we can do is walk without fainting, and even that’s hard.
2. Today, give yourself permission to be where you are. Walking counts with God. When it’s the best you can do – it’s enough. God’s requirements never exceeds the grace He provides. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and follow Him -- for sometimes God values walking more than running or soaring.
3. It says of the Saints of God, “They walked with God [blank] number of years.” Walking with God is a pace for visiting and for being revived.
4. But the best is for us to SOAR.
III. TO SOAR, WE NEED THE WIND!
A. INSTANCES OF WIND IN THE BIBLE
1. At the Creation, the “Spirit of God (like wind) hovered over the waters” of the world (Gen. 1:2).
2. Gen. 2:7 says, “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he became a living soul.”
3. A wind blew at the Exodus (14:21) and drove back the Red Sea for their deliverance; a wind “from the Lord” brought food to them (Num. 11:31).
4. The Lord spoke to Job out of a tornado (Job 38:1); to Elijah God spoke out of a “great and powerful wind” (1 Kgs. 19:11).
5. God “sent a great wind upon the sea” to deal with Jonah (1:4); “the stormy winds…do His bidding” (Ps. 148:8).
6. God told Ezekiel to “Prophesy to the Wind” (Ezek. 37:9) in order to bring life to the nation of Israel (and by extension, the Church).
7. God is seen upon the wind (2 Sam. 22:11), and He “brings out the wind from His storehouses” (Ps. 135:7).
8. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost as a “rushing, mighty wind” (Acts 2:2). We need this wind blowing in our lives!
B. IT’S GOD’S PLAN FOR YOU TO BE FILLED!
1. Jesus said, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift
my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For … in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." Acts 1:4-5
2. “When the day of Pentecost came … Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house ….They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Acts 2:1-4
3. Christianity without the power of the Holy Spirit, is like the space shuttle without its booster rockets; the shuttle can't get into orbit without those rockets. The same is true with us, without the Holy Spirit. We need to be refilled.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: THIRSTY WOOD CAN SPLIT ROCK
1. In the old days, when men quarried rock, they’d find a very hard kind of rock. First, they’d drive in iron wedges with sledge hammers.
2. When this no long split the rock, they’d remove the iron wedges and insert small wooden ones which very hard/dense fibers. Once driven in tightly, water was continuously poured on them. The damp wood would swell.
3. The power of the thirsty wood, absorbing the water, was so great that the granite rock couldn’t withstand this new pressure and split asunder.
4. God does the same thing with the hardest hearts. He makes them incredibly thirsty and then pours in the water of His Spirit. The result is the breaking of all the worldly entanglements and bondages, and release into the liberty of the Spirit! The Holy Spirit is the most irresistible power in the world. [S. D. Gordon]
B. THE CALL
1. Do you need that kind of liberty today? It’s time to ask God to fill you and let Him decide how to do it. He promises to fill us with His Spirit if we ask Him.
2. While we pray, God may place "words" in your mind or in your soul, inside. Jesus said, "He/she that believes in Me...out of his/her belly shall flow rivers of living water" John 7:37-49. Open up your mouth and speak the words God gives you by faith.
3. If you want to be refilled, come to the front and let’s wait on the Lord for a fresh refilling. PRAYER.
