INTRODUCTION
Do you feel your life is just getting nowhere? You feel you are doing the same routine again and again, day after day. You feel you are in a sort of stuck-up position where you feel you cannot do anything to change your present condition with absolutely no hope. It is a desert experience, and you feel very dry. Somehow with a lot of baggage on your back, you are pulling on.
Good news this morning: God has a new promise for you. He wants to do something new in your life today.
Isaiah 43:18-19
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.
Last Sunday we looked at Hindrances to Restoration
Today we are going to look at God doing something new in your life.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Isaiah’s prophesies to the children of Israel came at a bleak period in their history. They are in captivity, in exile in Babylon. People lost everything back home that they thought would be theirs forever. They were homesick and dreaming of going back but life was going nowhere.
See what God says to them:
Isaiah 43:8
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.
God is telling He is going to do a new thing, a new beginning. He is going to make a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. This is the same promise for you today. He is going to change your desert into great highways.
How Is The New Beginning Possible?
V18 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
V18 (Message) Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history.
1. STOP LOOKING BACK – SOMETHING NEW IN MY LIFE
Stop looking behind and start looking forward. If you want a new beginning, you must stop looking at your back. If you keep looking back, you will never see where you are going. In order to change focus, you will have to forget the former things.
What are the things you need to forget to change your focus?
A. FORGET THE PAST GLORY
Forget your past victories.
The children of Israel had many victories and glorious times in the past. They defeated the Egyptians and left Egypt, and had many victories on the way to Canaan. They conquered Canaan, fought and won many battles against its enemies, they had a lot of victories and glorious times to talk about, they were dwelling in the past glory. But now they are in captivity. Their previous victories were doing nothing to set them free. They needed a new victory, new beginning, and a new miracle.
You cannot depend on your past victories and glory to come out of your present condition. Some of us are relying on our past good times and past glory. This year God is doing something new. So do not rely on your past. Your future is not based on what God has done in your life; your future is based on what God is going to do in your life today.
Haggai 2:9
The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house, says the LORD Almighty.
B. FORGET THE PAST FAILURES – SOMETHING NEW IN MY LIFE
Do not allow your past failures to defeat you.
The children of Israel had many failures. They did terrible things in the presence of God.
i. God gave them a land – They wanted a king. Kings misled the people.
ii. God gave them a temple – They did idol worship.
iii. God gave them wealth – They misused the money.
iv. Finally, when God gave them Jesus – They rejected Him.
The children of Israel did not deserve any good from God. They always sinned and failed. God was gracious. He still loved them and wanted them to change, have better future. See God’s message to them: v18 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. God was not condemning them for the past. They could do nothing to change them. God wanted them to repent and hold out the hand of hope.
Child of God, do not worry about your past failures, sins. God is able to forgive you and is lending you a hand of hope. God is telling – Forget your past I am giving you a new opportunity to start over again. If you have failed in the past, do not worry, if you have committed terrible sins in the past, do not worry, if your prayers are unanswered, do not worry.
Repent and come to God. He is doing something new.
Isaiah 1:18
18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
Isaiah 55:7
7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
What if you have not sinned, done everything right, and faced failures?
See what God says:
Proverbs 24:16
16for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again,
Job 8:5-6
5 But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty, 6 if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place.”
Forget your past: Forget past Glory and forget past Failures.
2. UNDERSTAND THE PRESENT – SOMETHING NEW IN MY LIFE
Isaiah 43:19
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.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.
God is telling you to look at your present life. I am doing a new thing. Some new beginning is happening. God has already started the work in you. How is your life now? Desert, wasteland. Yes, out of this desert and wasteland God is going to do something new.
This year God is going to use many of you:
To preach the gospel, to heal the sick and to release the captive. Many marriages are going to take place and many of you are going to get a new job/promotion.
Yes, I see it. Yes, you may see a wasteland in your life, but I see new beginnings in the Lord. Amen!
But how really are you to get the new beginning? How is it possible in your present condition?
Forget the past, understand the present, & look up to the future.
3. LOOK UP TO THE FUTURE
Look up from where you are to the future.
Isaiah 43:19
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.
If you want new beginnings, you have to lift your head and look to the future. Discover what God wants for you. Now you can only see desert and wasteland but if you look up, and lift your head you can see a way in the desert. Look like an eagle, not like a chicken.
See what God said
Jeremiah 1:11-12
11 The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied. 12 The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”
What do you see? You have to look ahead to see the new beginnings.
Abraham was in such a situation. Lot and Abraham had a misunderstanding. Lot selected the plains of Jordan for his cattle. Abraham was left with the desert. There was no way to feed his cattle. The vegetables and plants for his people would not grow in the desert. He felt dry and lost. See what God said.
Genesis 13:14-15
14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east, and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.
Abraham, the desert you are left with is not your future. Look up, lift your eyes. Look at the future. This is where I am leading you.
This morning you may be in a dry land, with no hope, surrounding disappointments and failure but God is telling you to look up to the future, lift your head am prepare a new beginning for your life.
CONCLUSION
God is promising every one of you here a new beginning. God is telling you to stop looking at the past, understand your present, and look up to the future. I can see that new beginning in your life through the eyes of faith, just look over in faith, and you will find it. Will you stand up with me to pray this morning so that the promises of God will be fulfilled in your life today?
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