April 19, 2020
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Topic: Doing A New Thing
Just prior to service: Talk about taking up prayer requests
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 wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
Sunday, April 19th
The Point: God is making a new way in the wilderness - but it’s still growing.
ME: Nostalgia for some older things. Old video games. Kids cartoons. And now, the market kind of exists based on that nostalgia value - disney + with old cartoons, remaking old movies, even releasing old video game systems again.
WE: What is that thing that you miss from before? Maybe it’s something ‘minor’ - a show, a shop, a dish. Maybe it’s something bigger.
We all miss things. And that’s fine. But i think, if we focus too much on the past, we can miss some genuinely good new things.
I’m a bit of a gamer. And old games were great. But i’ve been able to have some great experiences with my children playing some new games.
I liked a lot of the movies when I was a kid - but a lot of the new movies i’ve seen as an adult have been amazing as well.
New things have brought new joy to me. And sharing in the new things with my children and my family has brought me even greater joy.
Now, the reason I’m talking about this is this: I believe that, in the middle of a time where we all have cause to miss things that came before us, that God Himself IS starting a new thing.
GOD:
Let’s read from the bible
“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.
Now, i’m always one for context. And it’s important to talk about this one. This verse comes in the middle of God reasoning with Israel about their state. He argues that they have missed many things God has done.
You have seen many things, but you pay no attention;
your ears are open, but you do not listen.”
Now, I say this, so that you understand something. It’s easy for us to become blind to the things God is doing. Especially during a time like this. We are not immune, even if we love God and we’ve been serving him for decades. We’re not immune to becoming blind again.
But here’s a thing I’ve learned: we become blind to the new things, when we fix our eyes on old ones. It’s one thing to enjoy something for a time. It’s another thing to idolize it and define yourself based off it. A good blindness check is this: how do we feel about our faith when we’re cut off from the way we’re used to doing things - but we’re still connected to God? Does that cause us despair?
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Now, this is a great verse. But we forget where it came from - Paul wrote this verse while he was in prison. And not, i’m stuck in my basement with netflix and disney plus prison. Stuck in chains locked behind bars prison. He wasn’t even allowed to watch netflix.
If anybody had reason to despair of his current circumstances, it was Paul. But he found confidence and hope and joy. And i’m convinced that it’s because Paul looked towards the new things from God.
Paul saw the same cracks that we do. The difference is - to us, cracks are ways that our walls are coming down. They are ways that the floors beneath us are coming apart. For Paul, they were new spaces for God to grow new things.
PLANTS - IT SEEMS PLANTS I GROW REQUIRE CONSTANT ATTENTION AND DIE AT THE SLIGHTEST CAUSE. WEEDS OUTSIDE ARE LIKE ‘THERE’S A CRACK IN THAT PAVEMENT? GREAT, I’M GONNA THRIVE THERE’
YOU:
So what should we do?
Look for the growth God IS doing and WILL do rather than the problems that have already happened. Don’t miss the joy of something new from God because you miss something in the past. God never intended a relationship with him to be fueled by, ‘Hey, remember that awesome thing that happened 10 years ago?’. It’s new day by day. We should be able to say, ‘Hey, remember that awesome thing that happened yesterday? Let’s see what God is going to do today!’
Understand that God is a God of making paths in the wilderness, and he’ll do the same here. But we need to pay attention, because god’s new things are just starting to spring up. And we run the risk of not seeing it if we hold too hard onto the last things God has done. And that’s the tough part - because it’s all good stuff. But God is still moving and still doing things - and we can’t miss where He goes next.
Maybe you don’t have a relationship with God, maybe you’re sitting at home just struggling through your week, trying to make it day to day. This message today is a message of great hope for you. Because I bet you really do see the cracks in day to day life. Maybe you feel exhausted, or weak. But God is a god of breaking through cracks and growing something new. God can take your circumstances, he can take your life, and he can grow something amazing and new in it, if you’re willing to get to know him. If you’re willing to listen to what he has to say. Because God is the god of making a path in lost places, and lighting up the dark places. We just need to trust him to do His thing, and follow Him along the way.
WE:
So wherever you are at, we all need to learn what it means to tune into God’s new things.
If you’ve known him for decades, that doesn’t mean you’ve got him down pat. God is an infinite God, he should be able to surprise us every single day.
If you don’t know him at all, now is a great time to make that leap, because God specializes in working inside of weakness. He works best in the times when we feel the lowest, because then He can show just how awesome and loving and merciful and powerful he is.
PRAYER
April 26th - God’s ‘new way’ through the wilderness will be in the person of Jesus, not any particular practice
ME: Story - driving through the walking path in the van full of teenagers.
WE: We all have some experience with this. Maybe you’re like me and you’d drive your vehicle into a lake if GPS told you to do it. Maybe it’s the ‘putting our hope in the new fad / diet / way’. Maybe it’s ‘this isn’t right unless it’s done the way I’m used to doing it’. Maybe you’re feeling lost because an old path you know, an old practice or habit, just isn’t doing the job anymore.
GOD: Isaiah 43:18-19
“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.
So we talked last week about the idea that we need to keep our eyes open because God is doing a new thing, and that it’s just starting to spring up. That we could miss it if we focused too hard on the things we feel like we missed.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus doesn’t say ‘no one comes to the father except the people i’ve taught’. Or ‘nobody knows the way except me - I’m a good spiritual GPS’.
He says, ‘I AM the way’.
YOU:
WE:
May 3 - The ‘straight paths’ that God is making START in our hearts and our characters - not just in our circumstances
Springs up - indicative that it is currently growing.
way in the wilderness - this was a throwback to the jews wandering in the wilderness going towards the promised land.
part of the wilderness journey was God leading them in promise - part of it was God leading them away in rejection, waiting for their children. This is him making a way towards. A way to sustain in the wasteland
The bible calls being a christian ‘The Way’ a couple times in the book of acts. This verse isn’t just talking about God sending some new kind of food, opening a new grocery store. This is about him clearing a greater way towards Him, towards His plans for us. Clearing the path from us to him.
The bible also used this kind of language to describe the coming of the messiah - John called himself ‘a voice in the wilderness, saying ‘make straight paths for the Lord’.
To us, the wilderness sounds like a time of loss, suffering. To the jews, this idea of God making a way through the wilderness was a reminder of three things:
That they needed to stay faithful to the Lord, no matter what
That the Lord was going to be with them, no matter what
That the Lord had a promise- and he was fulfilling it!
The foundation for the Lord working is to bring glory to his name