GOD’S MORE INTERESTED IN YOUR FUTURE THAN YOUR PAST
Isa. 43:18-19
INTRODUCTION
A. DO YOU KNOW YOUR TEAMS?
1. WHICH TEAM: CHIEFS OR EAGLES?
a. Which team holds the NFL record for the loudest crowd-noise in their stadium? (142.2 decibels) Chiefs.
b. Which team has the most “intense rivalry” of all time with another team – according to the NFL Network? The Eagles – with the New York Giants.
c. Which team has sold out every home game since the 1999 season? Eagles.
d. Which team used to be based in Texas? Chiefs. (Was called the Dallas Texans). Which team is knicknamed the “Legion of Doom?” The Chiefs.
e. Which receiver has over 90+ catches in each of the last seven seasons – an NFL record? Travis Kelce.
B. SOME SUPER BOWL HUMOR
1. Where do players go when they need a uniform? New Jersey. Why do football players never wear glasses at the Super Bowl? Because it’s a contact sport!
2. The 49ers star Christian McCaffrey wishes both teams would lose – due to their winning or being in Super Bowls that last few seasons.
3. 53 millionaires walked into a bar to watch the Super Bowl. The Bartender says, “Woah! It’s the Dallas Cowboys! What can I get you guys?”
C. SIGNS YOU NEED CHANGE
1. YOU’RE SPIRITUALLY STAGNANT. You’re spiritually stagnant if your Christian walk hasn’t changed much. You haven’t grown lately. You don’t sense the moving of the Spirit, or your prayers don’t seem to reach heaven.
2. YOUR SPIRITUAL FOOTPRINT IS TOO SMALL. Are you living a life that’s LESS than the life God created you to live? You haven’t RELEASED or enjoyed the gifts, skills, talents, and abilities God has put in you? Can you sense THERE’S MORE than you’re experiencing right now?
As long as you stay in your comfort zone, you’ll never know the reason God saved you! JESUS DIDN’T DIE ON THE CROSS SO YOU COULD SIT ON A PEW ONCE A WEEK! He died so you could fulfill your destiny. God didn’t save you just to go to heaven; He saved you and invested talents and abilities in you because He has a job for YOU to do. A third sign is...
3. YOU’RE SPIRITUALLY BARREN, UNPRODUCTIVE. You haven’t seen anyone saved through your personal ministry recently. Studies indicate that 95% of all Christians are barren. How do you minister to unbelievers? Do something fun with them. Ladies, invite your unbelieving friends to go shopping. Men, take your lost friends to a Cajun restaurant, gun show, fishing, or a ballgame. Ministry begins by being yourself and having fun.
D. TEXT & THESIS
1. “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 wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isa. 43:18-19.
2. God has a revelation for you this morning. The title of this message is, “God’s More Interested in Your Future Than in Your Past.”
I. THINGS TO LEAVE BEHIND
A. DISILLUSIONED & DISCOURAGED ISRAEL
1. Isaiah gave this prophecy during King Hezekiah’s reign. The nation had been through a wild and unpredictable time. King Hezekiah’s father, King Ahaz, had been an evil king, even burning one of his sons in the fire to the god Molech. Ahaz had set up idols in the Temple area and led the Israelites astray. Israel narrowly escaped being crushed between 2 bigger countries.
2. When Hezekiah became King, he cleaned out all the idols from the Temple and purified it. He reestablished the Passover, the worship of Jehovah, and strengthened the forts and cities.
3. But in the 14th year of Hezekiah, Assyria (Sennacherub) seized all of Judah’s cities except Jerusalem. He surrounded Jerusalem and said he would take it, but God sent an angel who put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. Sennacherub withdrew to his country and was assassinated.
4. Israel had been devastated by an evil king and with multiple invasions by foreign armies. The people had to be disillusioned and discouraged – they had just barely escaped destruction.
5. But the word of the Lord came to Isaiah the prophet to rebirth their vision and purpose!
B. YOU’VE PROBABLY HAD A TOUGH TIME. Many people had tragedies and difficulties occur in 2024. Many people have been hurt. Others have lost loved ones. Others have big problems that don’t seem to go away! So what do we need to do?
C. LEAVE SOME THINGS BEHIND
1. LEAVE YOUR RESENTMENTS BEHIND. We all have someone who has hurt us or mistreated us. The unforgiving heart continues to live in the past. We cannot erase our
memories, but we can let the offense go.
2. LEAVE YOUR WORRIES BEHIND. Worries are very much like rocking chairs; they give you something to do, but they never take you anywhere. Habitual worrying is life-controlling and damages our health and relationships – Give it up!
3. LEAVE YOUR FAILURES BEHIND. We get discouraged because we have failed. But have we failed in God’s eyes? God is the God of new beginnings. If we ask he will give us a clean slate to begin 2025 with. Would you like to start over? You can!
4. LEAVE YOUR GUILT BEHIND. You never have to feel unworthy again; you never need to feel inadequate again! Christ in you is the hope of glory – the key to God’s glorious future for you. Take Jesus’ hand and walk into a new future!
5. ILLUS.: “THE VALUE OF THE VIOLIN”
a. A violinist announced he would play a concert on a $1 Million Stradivarius violin. The hall was filled & the violinist began to play.
b. The music was sweet. The violin cried like a baby, sang like a bird, laughed like a child. The crowd was enraptured. “Did you ever hear such music! What a priceless violin!”
c. When the thunderous applause died down, the violinist took the violin and broke it to pieces on a chair. They said, “He is crazy! He is mad! He’s breaking a $1 Million violin!”
d. But the violinist reached behind him, and pulled out another violin, smiled and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, you thought I was playing on a $1 Million violin, but it was really only a $50 fiddle. This is how a $1 Million violin sounds. He played, but the music wasn’t any sweeter!
e. “Do you know why it’s no better? Because it’s not the violin, but the person who draws the bow that makes the music!”
f. It’s the same with us & God; it’s not what gifts you have but allowing God to use His talents through you! [Bob Jones]
II. GOD’S PROMISE OF A NEW DESTINY
A. GOD PROMISES A GREATER WORK IN YOUR LIFE
1. God promises to do yet greater things for the Israelites than He’d done before. The old deliverance at the Red Sea will be as nothing compared to the new. God’s people must turn their eyes forward and not backwards.
2. God didn’t want the Israelites to ask, by way of complaint, as Gideon did, “Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us of?” To dwell on former things is to undervalue the present things, as if the former days were better than these.
B. GOD’S DOING A NEW THING
1. God says, “For behold, the Lord will do a new thing,” no way inferior, both in wonder and mercy, to the things of old."
2. “Already it springs forth; DO YOU NOT PERCEIVE IT? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
3. God asks if we have the spiritual vision to perceive the opportunities God is dangling in front of us.
4. Next God says He is “MAKING A WAY in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” God is a Waymaker! God’s way out of bondage is usually through some kind of wilderness or desert. The good thing is that God makes a highway through unpassable zones and puts rivers in our driest deserts!
5. But God expects us to SEIZE OUR OPPORTUNITIES. Each new year God gives us fresh opportunities to work for Him, to advance the Kingdom, to win souls, to move the church forward in revival. The question is, are we ready to run with our opportunities?
6. FIVE GODLY GOALS TO SET FOR YOURSELF FOR 2025:
a. Determine to be a better witness for Jesus. Set goals. Penetrate some group of people and share the Gospel with them.
b. Develop a more Christlike nature. Fruit of the Spirit.
c. Gain knowledge of God’s Word. Memorize verses.
d. Increase your Prayer-life & prayer-ministry. Improve your personal relationship with God. Get closer to God this year than you’ve ever been with Him before. Let this be your “burning bush” year!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. This is the true story of a soldier who was at Pearl Harbor. On the night before they were attacked by the Japanese imperial fleet, he and about 12 of his buddies went to a Bible study. He was asked to quote his favorite Scripture from memory. Although he had gone to church all of his life, he froze and couldn't remember a single one. He had to say, "I'm sorry, I just don't know any verses."
2. He went home that evening, spiritually whipped. He thought, "Here I am. I've grown up in church and I can't even remember a Scripture verse. I'm still a baby."
3. Little did he know that on the next day the sirens would be raised high, and he would go to his battle station. He said, "I looked overhead and there was smoke all over the harbor, and those Japanese planes were flying all over us."
4. He continued, "I grabbed my gun, but all we had in them was fake ammunition. But in panic, I grabbed my gun and fired into the air at the planes. I was firing blanks for 15 minutes.
5. And while I was there God spoke to me. God said to me, "That's exactly how your life is; your life is full of blanks. There is no power, no effectiveness, no salt, no light, just blanks. And there's a real enemy all around you bombing you and shooting at you, but you have no power!"
6. The soldier said, "On the deck of that ship, I looked to God and said, "If You will let me live through this, I'll get out of this baby carnal Christian stage, and I'm going to grow up and become Holy Spirit-filled so that I will no longer fire blanks in my life!"
B. THE CALL
1. How many of you are open to something new God may want to do in your life?
2. What areas do you need God to be a Waymaker in your life? How many want a more Christlike nature? To gain new insight into the Word of God? To be an influence into people’s lives?
3. PRAYER
