INTRODUCTION
Praise the Lord and welcome to our New Year Service message “I will Soar”. I am sure 2018 was a great year for some of you. Some of you made great progress. For some, it was a year of challenges, struggles, and pain. However, within a few minutes, we are going to say goodbye to this year, and yet another new year is going to welcome us. Therefore, shall we lift our hands and thank God for this year? Through it, God has been faithful. Seasons have come and gone but God has been good to us. God is the same yesterday, today, and even in the New Year. He will lead us successfully in the New Year and you will gladly say, “I will soar”.
Isaiah 40:30-31
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
God is promising us a word of hope for the new year, “My people are going to sore high in 2019.” Somebody says, “I will soar.”
Soar means to fly or rise high.
You are going to soar high in your spiritual life. You are going to soar in your ministry. God is going to take you to new heights. You are going to soar in your professional life. You are going to soar in your family.
The book of Isaiah focuses on the theme of salvation and the future blessing of God’s people. Now, Isaiah is prophesying this prophecy to the children of Israel not when they are going through a good time. The first 39 chapters focus on God’s judgment because of Judah’s sins. With Isaiah chapter 40 begins the second section of this book and the theme here is God’s comfort to his people. Judah was taken into Babylon as a captive because of their sin. Life has been tough. In captivity, Isaiah is prophesying God’s comfort and favor upon the suffering people of God.
WHAT IS GOD’S PROMISE TO SUFFERING PEOPLE? (I WILL SOAR)
Isaiah 40:31
…those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
God is saying, “I have plans to prosper you. You will soar on high.”
GOD’S INITIATIVE FOR HIS PEOPLE (I WILL SOAR)
We find in this chapter God is taking the initiative to come to his people to help them. See the initiative God takes:
1. GOD’S COMFORT (I WILL SOAR)
God takes the initiative to comfort his people.
Isaiah 40:1
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
In the previous 39 chapters, God warned Israel. The Assyrian threat forms the background for the first 39 chapters. Isaiah wants people to know that God can be trusted even when the enemies are at the doorstep. Isaiah 40 is the next section. Consequently, the Babylonians conquered Judah and people were taken into captivity. They are strangers in a new land. So wanted his people to receive his comfort. See how the passage starts, “Comfort, comfort my people.” God is a God of comfort. Today God is coming to you with his words of comfort.
2 Corinthians 1:3
…Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. The new year is going to be a year of God’s comfort for you. God is promising his comfort to you.
STEPS OF GOD’S COMFORT (I WILL SOAR)
Isaiah 40:2
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
A. GOD IS SPEAKING TO OUR HEARTS (I WILL SOAR)
You have gone through pain in 2018, you have gone through the loss of a loved one, and maybe you were rejected but God is speaking tenderly to you as a young man speaks to his lover. He loves you. He cares about you. God is feeling for your pain.
B. YOUR WARFARE HAS ENDED (I WILL SOAR)
Isaiah 40:2
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed…
Every struggle that you have gone through, every battle that was waged against you has ended. God is going to take over your battle. God is giving you victory. The battle is still there, but for the believer, the battle has ended, because he will fight the battle for you.
Romans 8:37
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
C. YOUR INIQUITY HAS BEEN PARDONED
Isaiah 40:2
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
God said in the OT that people will be punished for their sins in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. These people have suffered for their sins in captivity. But for us in the NT, our sins have already been paid for on the cross by Jesus. The good news is that you don’t have to suffer for your sins. Your sins have been completely paid for. God has paid double for all our sins. Jesus received the cup of wrath and paid for all our sins. Therefore we have comfort in the Lord.
Now the promise is that you are going to soar. You are going to soar firstly because God is taking the initiative to comfort you. Secondly, God is taking the initiative to tell us who he is.
2. GOD IS THE INCOMPARABLE ONE (I WILL SOAR)
We will soar because that is God’s promise and there is none compared to him.
Isaiah 40:18
With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken him?
There is no one like God. He is the true and only God. We serve a great God.
A. GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE CREATION ( I WILL SOAR)
Isaiah 40:12
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?
God controls nature. The mountains, the raging sea, the wind, and the waves obey God. The world emperors who claim they have sovereignty over large portions of the civilized world are not as fearsome or powerful as they appear. In God’s eyes, these rulers and their nations can be compared to a drop in a bucket or a speck of dust. God sets them up and in a short time, they will fall. In comparison to God’s time frame, their time of rule is extremely short and their sovereignty is very limited. Therefore, every audience that hears these words should be comforted because those human forces that oppressed them have very limited power. Instead, people should fear God and trust in him.
B. GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE NATIONS
Isaiah 40:15
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket.
Isaiah 40:17
Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
God is above the governments of this world. God is more powerful than all the superpowers of this world.
Now, look at the initiative God is taking to encourage his people. God is coming as a comforter, God is telling us about his greatness, and now through Isaiah God is asking us to trust him.
3. TRUST GOD
Do not doubt the promises of God. Trust in the Lord and you will soar.
Isaiah is rebuking those who distrust God.
Isaiah 40:27-28
27 Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
The people who were in exile in Babylon largely doubted God. They thought God had discarded them and was not concerned or aware of their plight. Isaiah is convincing them through these chapters. Some needed to come back to faith. Most of them needed to rekindle their faith in this truth.
But Isaiah affirms that God is the Creator and the Preserver of all things. He will not forsake what He has made. His first point to prove his trust is that God does not grow tired like humans. No problems are hidden from God, or too much for Him to handle. And his second point God is trustworthy is because God is incomprehensible. His ways are right, even though we do not know them. We will never understand Him, but He knows all about us. So do not doubt God. God is going to make you soar.
Coming back, God is a God of comfort, God is the incomparable one; so trust God.
4. HOW DO I SOAR ON HIGH?
A. RELY ON GOD’S STRENGTH
Isaiah 40:29
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Human life is frail. Man is born into trouble. Our strength will fail. Therefore, we rely not on our strength but on God. God will give strength to those who are exhausted and suffering under oppression. God’s strength is reserved for those who know they are weak and have no strength. God will strengthen you. By God’s strength, you will soar. He will increase your power.
B. WAIT ON THE LORD
Wait on the Lord.
Isaiah 40:30-31
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
The word “wait” means “to hope, and” to look to God for all that we need.
Isaiah 26:3
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you. This involves meditating on His character and His promises, praying and seeking to glorify Him
The word “renew” means “to exchange,” as taking off old clothing and putting on new. We exchange our weakness for His power (2 Corinthians 12:1-10). As we wait before Him, God enables us to soar when there is a crisis, to run when the challenges are many, and to walk faithfully in the day-by-day demands of life.
C. GOD WILL ENABLE YOU TO SOAR
Isaiah 40:31
..but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Some recent commentators have taken the phrase to refer to an eagle lifting its wings to fly. The definite article, “The Eagles,” denotes the class.
D. GOD WILL GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH TO MOVE FORWARD
Isaiah 40:31
..but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
We mount up with wings like eagles. We will run and walk and not faint. As we rely on God’s strength and as we wait upon the Lord, God will enable us to soar on high, run, and walk.
For that reason, what is our response? What does God expect us to do now that he is enabling us to soar?
5. OUR RESPONSIBILITY: SERVE GOD.
Prepare the way for the Lord.
Our Responsibility is to prepare the way for the Lord. When we soar, we serve God.
Isaiah 40:3
A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Jesus was the coming Messiah and King for the Jewish people. Isaiah was talking about the coming of the Messiah and someone preparing the way for the Lord. When we study the gospels, John the Baptist’s ministry was to be one crying in the wilderness. Through his message of repentance, he prepared the way for the Lord for the first coming of Jesus.
Today, our responsibility is to prepare the way for the Lord.
HOW DO WE PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD?
Those who have found pardon for their sins and those who share the good news with others prepare the way of the Lord.
Today, we are looking forward to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our responsibility is to prepare the way for the Lord. We are to serve the Lord preparing ourselves and being busy in his work for His coming.
When you are busy serving the Lord, every obstacle to the gospel will be removed.
Isaiah 40:3-5
4 Every valley shall be raised, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
The Kingdom of God is going to expand. 2019 is going to be a year of world evangelism. God is going to build his church. There is going to be an Indian revival that is going to break out. City Harvest is going to see an increase.
Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.
People are like grass. People will come, and people will go. Governments will come and governments will go but the word of God will stand forever.
In 303 A.D., the Roman Emperor Diocletian demanded that every copy of the Scriptures in the Roman Empire be burned. He failed, and 25 years later, the Roman Emperor Constantine commissioned a scholar named Eusebius to prepare 50 copies of the Bible at government expense.
CONCLUSION
God is promising that you are going to be sore in 2019. It is not that you will not have difficulties, but amid your problems, God is going to comfort you. We need to believe in the incomparable power of God. We need to trust in God, depend on God’s strength, and wait upon the Lord.
When we wait for the Lord to give us strength, we can, as the psalmist said, “go from strength to strength” (Psalm 84:7).
As we wait before Him, God enables us to soar when there is a crisis, to run when the challenges are many, and to walk faithfully in the day-by-day demands of life.
The Lord will enable all of us to soar on high, run, and walk in 2019. Our responsibility is to be busy in the Lord’s work, serve the Lord, and prepare the way for the Lord.
For more sermons visit our:
Website: https://cityharvestag.com/sermons/?sermon_topics=faith
Podcast : https://city-harvest-sermons.simplecast.com/episodes/pain-to-praise
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CityHarvestA...
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cityharvestag/
YouTube: https://youtu.be/oPWrXLxQTNA
