Behold, I Do A New Thing

Pastor E. Keith Hassell

Isaiah 43:18-19 (NKJV) “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

Isaiah 43:14-19 (NLT) “The Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘For your sakes I will send an invading army against Babylon. And the Babylonians will be forced to flee in those ships they are so proud of. I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator and King. I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea. I called forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses. I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick. But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home. I will create rivers for them in the desert!’”

I. God has promised to do a new thing

A. Do you wish God would work as He did in days of old?

B. Are you tired of living under the weight of past sins?

C. Are you ready for things to change?

D. Are you ready for a new beginning?

E. Are you ready for God to do a new thing in your life?

II. Seven Principles in Embracing the New Thing God is doing

A. Don’t evaluate what God is about to do by what He did in the past

1. Do not remember the former things

2. God, who had brought Israel out of Egypt and had destroyed the Egyptian army, was promising to do an even greater thing

3. Stop looking back at the “good ole days” or “the way things used to be”

4. Stop grieving over the glory of the past

5. God is saying that glory of the former things cannot compare with the glory of the new thing that is coming

6. Where is your vision? We can’t move forward looking out of the rear view mirror!

B. Don’t live in condemnation over past sins and mistakes

1. Do not consider the things of old

2. Israel had been judged because of her sins. She had gone into captivity and bondage in Babylon like she had in Egypt. Obviously, there was great remorse over the sins and consequences of the past.

3. Stop living under the condemnation of past mistakes and failures

4. Stop evaluating your future by what you experienced in the past

5. Jeremiah 29:11-14 (NKJV) “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.”

6. Instead of living under the weight of the past, we must call upon Him, pray to Him, seek Him, and search for Him with all of our heart.

C. Believe in the God of a new beginning (second chance)

1. Behold, I will do a new thing

2. For I am about to do a brand-new thing (NLT)

3. This new thing is a work of revival and restoration of His people

4. Our end will be greater than our beginning

5. The glory of the latter house will exceed the glory of the former house

D. Expect God to begin NOW

1. Now it shall spring forth

2. See, I have already begun! (NLT)

E. Lift your vision

1. Shall you not know it?

2. Do you not see it? (NLT)

3. Vision and dreams are the language of the Holy Spirit that shows you the end of a thing before it has even begun

F. Follow the Lord

1. I will even make a roadway in the wilderness

2. I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home (NLT)

3. Expect God to show us the way back home

4. God will guide us as we follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit which is confirmed by His tangible and manifest presence

G. Embrace the work of the Holy Spirit

1. And rivers in your desert

2. John 7:37-39 (NKJV) “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

3. Ezekiel 47:1-5 (NKJV) “Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side. And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to my waist. Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed.”

III. God is doing a new thing