Dec. 28, 2024

Oh No! Isaiah 43:18-19

Oh No! Isaiah 43:18-19

A review of a sermon on Isaiah 43:18-19

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A review of a sermon on Isaiah 43:18-19

WEBVTT

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective.

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This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central.

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All good things must come to and end. Right, That's

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what they tell you, right, All good things must come

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to an end, no matter how amazing it is, no

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matter how great it is, it has to come to

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some type of conclusion. It has to end. And in

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some ways, this is the end. Ladies and gentlemen, This

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is the end of our twenty twenty four sermons two

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point oh app sermon challenge. This is going to be

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really the end of that challenge. I don't know what

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we're going to do in twenty twenty five, but the

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sermon's two point oh app will still play a major

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part in it. But we will figure that out when

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we get there. But we need to bring this to

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some type of conclusion. But before we do that, before

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we kind of just have a very lengthy discussion before

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we get started on what we're really going to do.

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I guess I probably should at least give you an

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official introduction.

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Good morning everyone.

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It is Saturday, December the twenty eighth, twenty twenty four.

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It is currently eleven ten am Central time, and I

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am coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio

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located right here in Abilene, Texas well. It was December

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twenty twenty three. I don't know if you remember that

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far back. I know it was a long, long, long,

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long time ago, and it feels like in a galaxy

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far far far far far far far away. It does

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seem like almost another lifetime in certain ways. But I

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was sitting here in this studio and I came up

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with an idea. You know, we have this wonderful thing

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called the Sermon's two point zero app. Cermonadio provides this

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app free of charge. Anyone can download it on an

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Apple device, Android device that can access the content via

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you know, a web browser. And on this with all

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the content there, whether the Sermon's two point oh app

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or the Sermonadio website, there are millions upon millions of

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sermons available to everyone free of charge.

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About I don't know.

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I can't try to keep track between five, six, seven

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eight thousand sermons are added every single week.

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Just try to wrap your mind around that.

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Between five to eight thousand sermons are added every.

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Single week, So that means it's.

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A I mean, you could not listen to all the

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sermons available on that platform. If you spent twenty four

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hours a day, seven days a week of your entire

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life just.

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Listening, you could never listen to everything.

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But you have all of this content there, hours and

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hours and hours of this content, thousands of hours a

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lifetime of of content.

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How much of it just goes unutilized.

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Nobody ever discovers it, nobody ever finds it because people

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have a tendency. They're very much creatures of habit. Right, Oh,

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here's my favorite preacher. I like this church, and they

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have two or three and that's all they really listen to,

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and all of that other content just goes unnoticed, unused.

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And since it collects dust.

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And sometimes you can see that if you'll really just

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go through the app looking, you'll see some sermons that

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are five ten years old, and you're you know, and

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you'll be like, it's got what thirty four downloads, that's insane,

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But you'll nobody's listening to it, because nobody's ever going

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to discover it or find it unless you're really looking

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for something specific. And then people tend to narrow their

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searching down to certain churches or certain speakers. So I'm like, well,

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we can't just let all of this content, all of

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this resource, just go to waste.

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So I came up with a brilliant idea.

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The Sermon's two point oh app sermon Challenge. So I

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told everyone to buy another.

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Book, right, buy a notebook? Do I have my notebook here? Oh?

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Here it is, buy a notebook. Oh.

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I told everyone to get pencils, right, all right, get

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some pencils or right here we go. We got pencils,

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notebook pencils. And what did I tell you to do?

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Each day?

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You'll open the Sermon's two point oh app and you're

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going to look You're just going to go like to

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new sermons. You can click on any tab you want.

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You're just gonna find a random sermon. You're not going

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to look at You're not.

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Gonna be looking at anything.

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You're just gonna kind of swipe up and just kind

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of just pick and choose. You're not looking for a

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specific church, you're not looking for a specific name. You're

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just going to do the most random thing possible. Then

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you're going to write down the name of the sermon,

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write down the name of the speaker. You're going to

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listen to the sermon, and then you're just going to

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write out a little summary of that sermon, and then

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you'll do it the next day, of the next day,

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the next day. The goal was by the end of

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twenty twenty four, your notebook would have one sermon for

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every day of the entire year.

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That was the goal.

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Now, some days you may listen to four to make

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up for the days that you're not going to listen

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to any so, but you had an entire year to

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see if you could fill up one sermon for every

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day of the year. Now, sometimes I gave you specific

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things to look for, right right this week, you're going

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to look up random sermons on Proverbs chapter three, or

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random sermons on justification, or random sermons on long Gospel,

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whatever the case may be, trying to add a little

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bit of variety and creativity to it.

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And that that's and it was.

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It sounded like a great idea because the way, you know,

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the way I thought about it as well. On the

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days I can't broadcast, people have something to do. They

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get the sermons two points oh out. They're looking at

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random sermons. Whether they're listening to me, it doesn't matter

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if they're listening to me, if they're listening to other people,

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those sermons are being utilized, whether you like them, whether

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you dislike them, whether you you're going to benefit.

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In some way, shape or form.

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So I thought it was a great idea and we

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started it. And one of the things I said I

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would if you remember, was, hey, since you're gonna be

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listening to random sermons, I'll listen to random sermons. I'll

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look for a random sermon, grab it, and then we'll

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just review it live on the air, so that we're

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listening to the random sermon together, reacting in real time.

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It's not me listening to it first where I have

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some agenda. I'm just randomly listening and we'll see what happens.

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So it sounded like a pretty decent idea overall. I now,

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in my mind, though I had all these other things

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we're going to do in twenty twenty four, right, we

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were gonna do this, and we're gonna do this, and

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we're gonna do this.

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I had no idea.

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That the Sermons two point oh app Sermon Challenge would

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literally kind.

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Of just take over.

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The entire podcast, because it kind of became the engine

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that drove it, right, because I would review a sermon

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and look, I'm you know, I'm just gonna be honest.

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There were at times some of those sermons was just

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I don't know what was happening from a hermoneutical stand point,

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how they were handling the text, and it would get frustrating,

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it would get irritating. Sometimes that would be somewhat critical. Now,

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the goal was not to try to be critical, but hey,

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not everyone's going to agree on how scripture should be handled,

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and so I can obviously have my own opinion. But

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here's what I wanted to avoid. I didn't want to

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just criticize. If I criticize, then I was going to

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come back and say, Okay, this is how they handled

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the text. Well, now we're going to spend three, four

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or five weeks whatever, and we're going to just we're

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going to do more and more work on the text

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above and beyond reviewing the sermon. And so it turned

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into sometimes weeks and months of what we listened to

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one sermon, and that one sermon would lead to months

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of study and you know, creating our own interpretation, putting

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forth our own philological hypotheses and testing them. And that's

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what we have been doing really all year. Is so

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much of what I have done is not only the

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reviewing of a sermon, but then hours and hours and

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hours of really reaction and things that were inspired by

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that one sermon review which demonstrates that one sermon, whether

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you like it or whether you hate it, whether you

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think they were telling that they handled the text correctly

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or whether you thought they handled the text incorrectly, if

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you'll really do something with that one sermon, it literally

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could provide you hundreds of hours of spiritual food and

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research and study. So that means I mean, just again,

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the sermon's two point, oh app is so much is

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so much more valuable than I think anyone really understands.

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Because even if you listen to a sermon, you're like,

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oh that was horrible. Yeah, now what are you going

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to do with it? Just sit around criticizing it? Are

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you going to get to work dig into that text,

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really really work on it? And guess where this has

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all led us to this moment on December the twenty eighth.

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As we bring this challenge to some type of a conclusion,

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it brings us this is where it brings us. It

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brings us to this moment where we have found ourselves

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because of the sermon's two point oh out sermon challenge.

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We have found ourselves, now, are you ready, in Isaiah

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chapter forty to Isaiah chapter fifty five, because we have.

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Found sermon after sermon after sermon that.

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Completely mishandles versus within Isaiah forty to Isaiah fifty five.

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They misinterpret them, they twist them, they misuse them, they

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misapply them. It's been, in fact, at the number of

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sermons I've listened to on Isaiah forty to fifty five,

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I don't even know how many anymore, I've lost track.

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It's probably well over.

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I don't even know seventy now, I mean, and in

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many cases, I'm you know, I'm just listening to this

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and I'll be you know, I'll be doing something around

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the house. Just okay, Isaiah forty four, Okay, search boom,

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hit play, and then I'll be doing whatever and just

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listen and like, over and over and over, I'm like,

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what is what's happening here? Why is this section of

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scripture so mishandled? So that has turned into now me

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doing an entire study of Isaiah forty to Isaiah fifty five,

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verse by verse, and we have created a series for that,

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and we'll be working on Isaiah forty through fifty five

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all the well into twenty twenty five.

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I mean, I think it may take us most.

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Of twenty twenty five, and I don't even know if

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we're gonna finish it at this rate, but we're gonna.

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We're taking that section apart, we're dissecting it, we're taking

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it apart because of all because of the sermon's two

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point oh app sermon challenge. We listen to sermons and

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I'm like, this is a mess. Well, I can either

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criticize it or we can try to try to produce

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something drastically different.

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So that's what we're doing. So I think it's fitting

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because the.

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Sermon's two point oh app ultimately led us to Isaiah

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forty to fifty five, which is now going to lead

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us into all of twenty twenty five, that being a

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major focus. I thought it was somewhat fitting that I

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was looking through the sermons two point.

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Oh app.

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And I see a sermon entitled Happy.

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New Year exclamation point Happy New Year, and I'm like, oh, okay,

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we're already going to start. We're already over the Christmas sermons,

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and now we're going to go to the New Year. Sermons,

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and I'm like, Okay, this is good. So I clicked

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on it and I got ready to hit play, and

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then I noticed the text, and I'm like, You've got

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to be kidding me. We have a happy New Year

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sermon based off Isaiah forty three, eighteen through nineteen, And

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I'm like.

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You gotta be kidding me. You gotta be kidding me.

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Isaiah forty three, verse eighteen and nineteen. Do not remember

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the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold,

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I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth.

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Shall you not know it? I will even make a

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road and the wilderness and the rivers in the desert.

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And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. Familiar

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with people using this for a New Year, I.

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Don't have it behind me. See, I think it's downstairs.

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Let me look here.

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I have a devotional that I used for many years

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by Charles Stanley, and I believe that devotional begins with

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Isaiah forty three, eighteen through nineteen. Do not remember the

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former things, Do not remember the former things, nor consider

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the old things. Behold, I will do a new thing.

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I cannot tell you how many devotionals begin with Isaiah

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forty three eighteen through nineteen, and they start January the

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first Ooh, God's going to do a new thing. I

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have heard this countless time my whole Christian life. You

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know what drives me absolutely crazy about this Isaiah forty three.

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Eighteen nineteen has nothing to do with you or me.

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It's about specific people and a historical context which we

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have now talked about. It feels like a million times

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and we have to keep bringing it up. Isaiah forty

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through fifty five is a book of comfort.

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What do these people need comfort from?

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Well, if you go to Isaiah thirty nine eighteen or

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the last part of Isaiah thirty nine, I can get

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back here Isaiah thirty.

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Nine starting here where say thirty nine?

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If you go to.

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Yeah, probably verse five Isaiah thirty nine, verse five. Then

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Isaiah said, Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold,

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the days are coming when all that is in your

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house and what your fathers have accumulated unto this day,

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should be carried to Babylon. Isaiah forty through fifty five

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is words of comfort given to people who are.

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In Babylonian captivity.

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Now the words of comfort were given about a one

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hundred years before they even go into captivity. By the

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time they go into captivity, Isaiah is dead. But these

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words that he gives us an Isaiah forty through fifty

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five are to be brought to the people to bring

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them comfort.

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That's what the section is about.

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And for some weird reason, pastors just walk in and say, hey, guys, guys,

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guys in Babylonian captivity. I'm gonna mention you in the

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sermon just so that I give the appearance of caring

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about historical context. And then I'm going to shove you

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so far out of the way, and I'm going to

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insert all of us, and it's going to be about

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us having a new year. That's what it turns into,

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over and over and over and over again. And I'm like, well,

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you know, the sermon's two point oh app led us

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to Isaiah forty through fifty five to end twenty twenty four,

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and to go into twenty twenty five. What better way

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than to grab a random sermon on Isaiah forty through

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fifty five, in this particular case, Isaiah forty three eighteen

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through nineteen, and let's.

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Review and see what happens.

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Now you can already tell I feel that this is

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going to go in a bad way.

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I could be wrong.

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I haven't listened to the sermon yet, but I'm just

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trying to indicate devotional after devotional New Year's sermon, after

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New Year's s, after New Year's sermon, love to use

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Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen.

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So I basically I grabbed.

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Ai and I said, Hey, Ai, I'm about to review

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a sermon on Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen.

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Do you have any words for me? And this is

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this is what Ai said. Are you ready? And I'm

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quoting this is hilarious.

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AI said it would be wise to approach this sermon

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with great caution, and I just had to start laughing.

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And then Ai went on to say it would be

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wise to approach this sermon with great caution, as Isaiah

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forty three eighteen through nineteen is often taken out of context,

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especially when used as a motivational art topical text for.

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Something like a New Year's sermon.

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I was like, AI knows more than I, Like how

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this is why we need to remove all pastors and

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just insert Ai into all churches, because even Ai is like, whoa,

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whoa whoa, you're going to review a sermon on Isaiah

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forty three eighteen through nineteen. Hey, just be aware this

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sermon is constantly used and misused for something like a

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New Year's sermon. What is the name of this sermon,

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Happy New Year? What is the text Isaiah forty three

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eighteen through nineteen. You can't make this up. AI is

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even aware, like, hey, hey, be careful, be careful, be careful.

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So then AI is like, so we let's evaluate the

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passage and textual, historical, and philological context in order to

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discern potential pitfalls and how it how this passage can

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be mishandled. Well, I don't think there are any pitfalls.

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The only pitfalls are pastors want to preach sermons.

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Instead of preaching the text.

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So I think this is the most appropriate way to

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kind of this. This is going to kind of be

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the end of our sermon's two point oh app sermon challenge.

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It really is.

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I don't know what you've learned from it. I would

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like that maybe maybe even in January, we'll still have

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some conversations about it, looking back over everything that has

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occurred in the sermon's two point oh app a sermon challenge,

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I can. I am going to look here really quick

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so that I can be accurate here, because.

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I don't want to make up I don't want to

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make up inform. I don't want to give you wrong information.

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Here if I look it up, Yes, there have been

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one hundred and twenty three one hundred and twenty three

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messages in the Sermon's two point oh APP Sermon Challenge series.

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That's one hundred and twenty three hours of content content

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just in the Sermon Audio Sermons two point oh APP

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Sermon Challenge one hundred and twenty three hours. But that

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doesn't even begin to describe vibe how much that this

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challenge has influenced. Because if you go look at other series, right, like,

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let me just look at some other series.

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If I just go to let's see here, where do

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we want to go?

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If we look at oh, Psalm eighty three. So the

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entire series on Psalm eighty three all came about because

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of the Sermon's two point oh apps Sermon Challenge. That

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was twenty five hours of content.

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Right, So there's that. If I go to.

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A new interpretation, that's seven hours of content. If I

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just go through so much of this the Isaiah forty

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through fifty five, which is that series is because of

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the sermon's two point oh apps sermon challenge. Guess what,

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that's twenty five plus hours of content. So yo, you

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put it all together, The sermon's two point oh apps

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00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:03.240
sermon challenge by itself has led to well over two

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hundred hours of broadcasting for this year. The sermon's two

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point oh apps sermon challenge by itself has led to

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over two hundred hours of broadcasting. That's crazy, and that

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just shows you that whether a sermon is good, whether

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a sermon is bad, you can do a lot with

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it if you're willing to put in the work.

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I don't know what we're getting ready to. I don't

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know if this is going to be good. I don't

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know if it's going to be bad. Am I skeptical?

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Yes, even Ai is telling me be cautious. Because a

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it's a sermon called Happy New Year, and the text

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is Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. So we're going

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to get another example of well what pastors do with

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this text of scripture. But more importantly, we're going to

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get another example of well listening to sermons and listening

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to them cautiously, and that whether they're good or whether

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they're bad, we try to pull from it something beneficial.

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And that's what we are going to do. So I

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hope you're ready. Bible's open. Isaiah forty three, eighteen through nineteen.

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I got got some paper, got pencils. Here we go.

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I think we know where this is going. I'm gonna try.

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I'm gonna try not to I'm not gonna I'm gonna

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try not to be so cynical and skeptical. I'm gonna

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try to be positive. What we're about to hear, ladies

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and gentlemen, is the greatest exegetical study of Isaiah forty

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three eighteen through nineteen ever given on the face of earth.

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Now I know to say that I'm not being necessarily

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sincere because I don't really necessarily believe that.

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I definitely want to hope that. And so here we go.

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I want you to turn to Isaiah forty three. Isaiah

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forty three.

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Happy New Year.

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No, I mean that's the title of the sermon, and

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that is the title of the sermon, Happy New Year.

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I'm so thankful for you that are here worshiping with

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us today. Some have been sick and you're back. It's

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good to have you back. We appreciate you so much.

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Some are in from out of town that's visiting family,

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and still they choose to spend part of their time

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here with us in worship. And we are so glad

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that you're with us today. And I pray that the

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Lord will certainly bless you for giving your time to

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be in this place. In Isaiah chapter forty three, let's

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look at verses eighteen and nineteen.

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Hypothetical question.

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By no means, am I implying anything about the sermon

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we're going to listen to. But by no means I

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am not implying anything about the sermon we're going to

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listen to. But we throughout twenty twenty four, I've raised

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this question over and over and over. You take a church,

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You look at all the money it costs to keep

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that church operating, for the building materials, staff upkeep the grounds,

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mowing the lawn, all the different things, you know, landscaping, signs,

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all electricity, all all the things. It takes a lot

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of money to keep a church operating. I mean, just

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if you go to church, just ask for your budget

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and just look at how much how much money it

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took to keep the church operating for one year, one year,

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and then you and then the all the cost of

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your time to get dressed, to get ready to drive there,

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go there and then get then leave and come back home.

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You may turn back right back around and go back

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that evening. You may turn back around and go back

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there on Wednesday. You look at all the effort, the time,

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the work, the money to keep a church operating and

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for attending. Is how much is it really worth when

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in the end, either number one, you hear sermon after

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sermon after sermon where the text is really not being

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handled even remotely in a correct way or even in

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an in depth way. Many cases it's very surface. And

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when you take how much it costs to keep that

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church operating, how much content did the church even produce

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within that calendar year? How many sermons were actually preached?

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So people took time out to show up at this

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church for a sermon on Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen.

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Now only you can determine whether you think it's great

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or wonderful. I don't know, but I do question it

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a lot, because I know how much it costs to

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keep churches going and it's a lot of money. And

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00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:46.359
then sometimes you'll be like, man, they basically produce like

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forty eight sermons the entire year. I mean, really that's

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the best forty eight sermons. Look at how much content

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this podcast has.

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Produced all of this.

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I mean, we've done over two hundred message jiz just

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related to the sermon's two point oh app sermon Challenge

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series that doesn't have anything to do with anything else

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we did. We've done over two hundred just on that that.

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Like, it's it's sometimes like, how do you I don't know,

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I don't know.

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You can draw your own conclusion that's going to take

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us in a different direction. But well, maybe we'll return

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back to that by the time this sermon is over.

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Here we go.

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Isaiah, Chapter forty three, Verses eighteen and nineteen. Remember you

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not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold,

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I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth,

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shall you not know it? I will even make a

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way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. You know,

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this is New Year's Eve for us here in America.

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Okay, now you can hear the people the best.

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Amen.

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That's right, Amen, that's right.

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As they're reading that, okay, and then immediately look what

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he does. He just read Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen.

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And then immediately where where's the hard pivot us?

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Hey?

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For us here in America it's New Year's Eve. Now

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00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:22.039
he may just be hard pivoting to us so that

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he can move back.

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Now I can.

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Almost guarantee he will at least mention the historical context.

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But you watch what happens.

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Typically what we have seen, the historical context will be

474
00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:37.319
mentioned so that people get a sense a feel that

475
00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:38.160
we're really.

476
00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:40.359
Studying the text. And then it's just going to be like,

477
00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:41.480
forget it.

478
00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:45.799
Now it's us us us as us us us us

479
00:25:45.960 --> 00:25:47.559
as us as us.

480
00:25:47.400 --> 00:25:50.440
And the original recipients. We don't care about them.

481
00:25:50.839 --> 00:25:52.960
That's what typically happens. I'm not saying that's what's going

482
00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:56.720
to happen. That's what typically happens. So AI told us

483
00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:59.839
to be cautious, So let's be cautious here we go.

484
00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:05.359
But also for the majority of the world, now I

485
00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:09.359
realize that New Year's Day doesn't come to all cultures

486
00:26:09.400 --> 00:26:15.759
and all religions on this day. For example, the Jews,

487
00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:19.720
they celebrate Rasashana, the new year usually that falls about

488
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.359
September through that period of time. But yet on our

489
00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:26.960
calendar we are on the brink of a new year.

490
00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.519
And it's funny how people when you end one year

491
00:26:30.519 --> 00:26:34.400
and start another. We have our customs here in America.

492
00:26:35.079 --> 00:26:37.400
But I kind of got intrigued a little bit, just

493
00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:41.000
as an intro to you as to what other people do.

494
00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:43.720
For example, I went back in history and read a

495
00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:47.960
little bit about the Romans, the ancient Roman culture. They

496
00:26:48.039 --> 00:26:52.440
celebrated New Year's Day by celebrating at the same time

497
00:26:52.519 --> 00:26:57.440
the birth of Janice. Janus was a god that they

498
00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:00.640
feel was born on New Year's Day.

499
00:27:01.160 --> 00:27:02.559
And many of you have seen.

500
00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:05.599
That god or a picture of that god that they

501
00:27:05.880 --> 00:27:10.440
that they celebrated. Janus had two faces, one looking forward

502
00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:13.519
and one looking back. So the idea is is that

503
00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:16.920
Janus was looking back on the old year and looking

504
00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:19.559
forward to the new year. Do you know the ancient

505
00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:23.640
Roman ancient Romans, of course they didn't celebrate Christmas, but

506
00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:27.960
they exchange gifts on their New Year's Day, but they

507
00:27:27.960 --> 00:27:29.319
didn't exchange gifts.

508
00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:35.440
Like some interesting background that kids screaming in the background,

509
00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:39.480
it's making it difficult to hear this historical background. But okay,

510
00:27:39.559 --> 00:27:42.160
all right, maybe the kid will calm down. Because the

511
00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:43.759
kids not happy obviously are here.

512
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:44.200
We go.

513
00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:46.400
We do.

514
00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:52.279
They exchange gifts with friends for forgiveness, and rather than

515
00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:55.200
say that they had done somebody wrong in the past,

516
00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:59.680
they just brought them a gift and the gift covered

517
00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:06.480
up them saying I'm sorry. You know, gifts don't get

518
00:28:06.599 --> 00:28:09.039
rid of guilt. If you wrong somebody, you gotta make

519
00:28:09.079 --> 00:28:10.599
it right.

520
00:28:10.759 --> 00:28:11.680
Moving right along.

521
00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:16.720
The Chinese New Year they celebrate by putting off fireworks.

522
00:28:17.799 --> 00:28:18.480
They feel that.

523
00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:22.759
The light and the noise drives out evil spirits, so

524
00:28:22.839 --> 00:28:26.000
that's why they have fireworks on their New Year's Day.

525
00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:32.680
In Denmark, they throw plates and dishes against.

526
00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:33.279
Their neighbor's door.

527
00:28:34.279 --> 00:28:37.599
And the idea is is the plate breaks, the dishes break,

528
00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:42.680
the bigger pile of broken glass in front of your door.

529
00:28:43.240 --> 00:28:45.519
Then the more you are loved and the more you

530
00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:51.160
are appreciated. You'd appreciate until you clean the glass. I'm sure.

531
00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:55.519
Also some people there in Denmark at midnight, they stand

532
00:28:55.599 --> 00:28:59.079
on a chair and jump off because it's symbolic that

533
00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:04.240
they're leaping into the New year romania. They put on

534
00:29:04.519 --> 00:29:09.119
furs and masks and they dance in the streets, and

535
00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:13.400
the idea is is if they look ferocious enough, they'll

536
00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:16.799
ward off evil spirits. Isn't it funny how many people

537
00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:19.039
are trying to drive away evil spirits.

538
00:29:19.319 --> 00:29:20.359
At the first of the year.

539
00:29:21.480 --> 00:29:26.839
In Turkey, they sprinkle salt on the doorstep at midnight

540
00:29:27.319 --> 00:29:30.480
of their family and friends, and they believe that that

541
00:29:30.519 --> 00:29:35.279
will bring prosperity and peace to that home. Also others

542
00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:39.440
they open up pomegranates and they think that the pomegranates

543
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:42.839
will attract wealth. So that's why have you ever noticed,

544
00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:46.480
even in our local grocery stores, how they always increase

545
00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:50.799
the amount of pomegranates that's in the store because that's

546
00:29:50.839 --> 00:29:53.799
passed on to even people here in America, they do that.

547
00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:57.440
In the Czech Republic, they determine their future by cutting

548
00:29:57.440 --> 00:29:58.759
apple in half.

549
00:30:00.920 --> 00:30:04.160
Now, please note the text is Isaiah forty three, eighteen

550
00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:10.920
through nineteen, a message to people in Babylonian captivity. Right,

551
00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:14.839
just keep that in mind, all right, because as each

552
00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:19.279
minute passes in this sermon, we are slowly walking further

553
00:30:19.359 --> 00:30:22.720
and further and further away from the original context, in

554
00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:25.960
the original meaning. All right, now, he may circle, I'm

555
00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:29.039
still counting that he will circle back and offer some

556
00:30:29.640 --> 00:30:30.880
historical context.

557
00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:34.160
But then what we'll see. Do we then stay in

558
00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:35.359
that historical context?

559
00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:38.319
Do we try to interpret this within that historical context?

560
00:30:38.519 --> 00:30:41.680
Or are these words just like well, sorry, boom and

561
00:30:41.720 --> 00:30:43.960
just rip them out and say, hey, ladies and gentlemen,

562
00:30:44.680 --> 00:30:47.759
here's the message to us going into New Year's right,

563
00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:48.960
is that what's going to happen?

564
00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:51.039
I don't know. I don't know. We're going to see.

565
00:30:52.920 --> 00:30:55.039
When they cut the apple in half, they look at

566
00:30:55.079 --> 00:30:57.839
the core, and if the core is shaped in the

567
00:30:57.920 --> 00:31:01.519
shape of a cross, then it may somebody there in

568
00:31:01.559 --> 00:31:05.119
that household or in that group will fall ill in

569
00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:08.640
the coming year. If there's a star there, it means

570
00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:12.759
that it'll be health and happiness to that particular home.

571
00:31:13.240 --> 00:31:16.079
There's a lot of different ways of celebrating the new year.

572
00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:18.599
A lot of you will find ways to celebrate the

573
00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:20.880
new year. And I could go through and ask if

574
00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:25.000
you've got individual traditions in your home, and the majority

575
00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:27.599
of you would say yes. We have certain things that

576
00:31:27.640 --> 00:31:30.640
we do as we enter into the new year. One

577
00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:33.119
of the things that we are known for in this

578
00:31:33.240 --> 00:31:38.480
country is that we set resolutions. And I'm here to

579
00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:45.839
tell you don't make resolutions. We don't need resolutions. We

580
00:31:45.880 --> 00:31:50.880
need a revolution. Now, by revolution, I'm not talking about

581
00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:55.720
a rebellion. I'm talking about a drastic change, because we

582
00:31:55.799 --> 00:31:58.720
do need a change, and in this country, I think

583
00:31:58.759 --> 00:32:03.720
you'll agree, we desperately need a change. So just making

584
00:32:03.720 --> 00:32:06.599
a resolution, it's something that will bring guilt to you

585
00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:10.000
in the path in the future, because you'll think, oh,

586
00:32:10.039 --> 00:32:12.119
I said it, and I didn't know what some of

587
00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:12.680
you are like.

588
00:32:14.680 --> 00:32:17.119
All right, so let me get this right. So we're

589
00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:19.480
in Isaiah forty three, eighteen nineteen. All right, all right,

590
00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:21.519
so we got all these different ways people celebrate the

591
00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:24.799
New years. Now what we need to don't make a resolution.

592
00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:28.880
We need a revolution. So don't make a resolution because

593
00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:30.559
you're just going to break it. But we need a revolution.

594
00:32:31.119 --> 00:32:33.920
And he describes a revolution as a change. Well, when

595
00:32:33.960 --> 00:32:36.359
you make a resolution, are you making a resolution? If

596
00:32:36.400 --> 00:32:38.759
you make a if you say we need a revolution,

597
00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:41.680
are you saying you're committed to a revolution, meaning you

598
00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:44.680
need we're committed to a change. Isn't that a resolution?

599
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:48.079
If you're saying I'm committed to a revolution, aren't you

600
00:32:48.160 --> 00:32:53.720
then resolving to I don't get that, Hey, resolution, bad

601
00:32:54.039 --> 00:32:56.640
commit to a revolution because we need a change. Are

602
00:32:56.720 --> 00:33:00.519
you saying I'm then resolving to make a Am I

603
00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:01.599
the one making the Okay?

604
00:33:01.640 --> 00:33:02.480
I'm so confused?

605
00:33:02.559 --> 00:33:07.440
So resolution bad? Revolution good? Everyone everyone in the congregation loved.

606
00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:10.200
Everybody was like, man, yeah, but I don't I don't

607
00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:14.640
like if I commit to a revolution? Am I not

608
00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:18.279
resolving to do something? Because he says it's about changing?

609
00:33:18.599 --> 00:33:21.319
So do I just say, I'm not gonna make a resolution,

610
00:33:21.480 --> 00:33:23.359
but we need a revolution and that's it. And I

611
00:33:23.720 --> 00:33:26.279
don't commit to anything. I'm not going to plan anything.

612
00:33:26.440 --> 00:33:28.839
I'm not gonna do anything. I'm just gonna say we

613
00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:30.880
need a revolution. But if you say you need a

614
00:33:30.920 --> 00:33:33.559
revolution and that's changed, are you then not going to

615
00:33:33.640 --> 00:33:35.599
commit to doing the things in order to produce and

616
00:33:35.640 --> 00:33:36.680
bring about said change?

617
00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:38.119
Is it that not a resolution?

618
00:33:40.200 --> 00:33:43.160
I know it preaches good, we don't need a resolution,

619
00:33:43.480 --> 00:33:46.880
we need a revolution. And everybody's like, a man, look,

620
00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:51.519
what are you committed to the revolution? Are you going

621
00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:53.440
to resolve to do these things?

622
00:33:53.559 --> 00:33:57.680
Wait? That's a resolution? But I gotta look this up.

623
00:33:57.759 --> 00:34:02.559
I gotta look this up because now I'm kind of

624
00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:03.599
laughing at this.

625
00:34:03.599 --> 00:34:05.880
This is someone making me laugh. Here, Hang on, I

626
00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:07.359
gotta look here. Oh wait, I don't want to go

627
00:34:07.400 --> 00:34:08.440
to that. I want to go here.

628
00:34:09.239 --> 00:34:16.239
All right, resolution, it's a firm decision to do or

629
00:34:16.280 --> 00:34:17.360
not do something.

630
00:34:19.639 --> 00:34:23.199
Don't make a hey, don't make a firm decision to

631
00:34:23.280 --> 00:34:23.840
do something.

632
00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:27.880
Don't do that, don't make a don't have a firm

633
00:34:30.039 --> 00:34:32.280
don't make a firm decision to do anything. But we

634
00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:33.280
need a revolution?

635
00:34:33.639 --> 00:34:35.280
Well are we gonna be Are we gonna make a

636
00:34:35.320 --> 00:34:37.440
firm decision that we need a revolution?

637
00:34:37.960 --> 00:34:39.239
Is that not a resolution?

638
00:34:39.800 --> 00:34:41.079
I don't understand.

639
00:34:41.880 --> 00:34:44.199
Sometimes in sermons we look and I know, look, I've

640
00:34:44.239 --> 00:34:45.480
done the same thing as preachers.

641
00:34:45.480 --> 00:34:46.920
We come up with this cool little.

642
00:34:46.679 --> 00:34:48.920
Phrase and we're like, oh, this is really good, this

643
00:34:49.000 --> 00:34:51.719
is really good. This is gonna get the amens. But

644
00:34:51.960 --> 00:34:55.360
I mean, anyone logically going, so, are we making a

645
00:34:55.400 --> 00:34:56.960
decision that we need a revolution?

646
00:34:57.400 --> 00:34:59.280
Yes? Well that's a resolution?

647
00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:04.760
Okay, all right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm just that's so,

648
00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:07.599
that's so ridiculous, all.

649
00:35:07.599 --> 00:35:12.239
Right, like myself, you meant well, but you've gained and

650
00:35:12.280 --> 00:35:15.039
lost one thousand pounds and you're right back to where

651
00:35:15.079 --> 00:35:15.360
you are.

652
00:35:15.679 --> 00:35:17.360
So the resolution doesn't do it.

653
00:35:17.800 --> 00:35:20.800
And you can buy all of the programs you want,

654
00:35:21.159 --> 00:35:23.840
you can go out and spend twelve hundred dollars for

655
00:35:23.880 --> 00:35:27.000
a piece of equipment, and the only thing you're going

656
00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:28.559
to lose is twelve hundred dollars.

657
00:35:30.760 --> 00:35:31.480
I am preaching.

658
00:35:32.599 --> 00:35:36.360
What's ironic about this? Now we know this text, we've

659
00:35:36.360 --> 00:35:40.079
read it. Well, what really struck me is it's quite

660
00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:43.920
evident that he's saying, as you're stepping into something new here,

661
00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:47.159
even though he's writing to the children of Israel. Verse eighteen,

662
00:35:47.440 --> 00:35:51.079
he said, remember not the former things, and he said,

663
00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:52.840
neither consider the things of old.

664
00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:55.000
So he's telling them to forget.

665
00:35:55.880 --> 00:35:59.360
But if you read the two verses before that, he's

666
00:35:59.440 --> 00:36:01.199
remembering the things that God.

667
00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:03.480
Has done when he brought them out of Egypt.

668
00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:08.199
So in the verses before this, he's telling them about

669
00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:10.960
things that they need to remember. Then he tells them,

670
00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:12.480
whatever you do forget.

671
00:36:13.400 --> 00:36:16.280
Don't remember it. You need to remember, and you don't

672
00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:17.079
need to remember.

673
00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:21.679
Well, now that seems at first like it's totally opposite

674
00:36:21.719 --> 00:36:24.280
of one another, until you stop to think about what

675
00:36:24.360 --> 00:36:27.840
he's really saying. He's saying that there are things in

676
00:36:27.880 --> 00:36:30.760
a new year that you need to remember, but definitely

677
00:36:30.840 --> 00:36:34.000
there's things you need to forget. You need to remember

678
00:36:34.119 --> 00:36:35.519
what God has done for.

679
00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:38.840
You in the past. But also once.

680
00:36:38.599 --> 00:36:42.000
That you confess your sins to the Lord, and once

681
00:36:42.039 --> 00:36:45.159
you ask the Lord for forgiveness, and once you ask

682
00:36:45.239 --> 00:36:48.880
the Lord to overcome the mistakes that you've made, you

683
00:36:49.079 --> 00:36:51.719
need to put that in the rear view mirror, and

684
00:36:51.760 --> 00:36:52.920
you need to move forward.

685
00:36:53.400 --> 00:36:54.320
Remember the Lord.

686
00:36:54.599 --> 00:36:58.400
When someone comes and apologizes, you need to remember that

687
00:36:58.440 --> 00:37:02.039
they apologize and accept them and forgive them.

688
00:37:02.280 --> 00:37:04.440
And you need to more. He said, forget it, move on.

689
00:37:04.719 --> 00:37:07.840
I know it's impossible for our mind to forget, and

690
00:37:07.960 --> 00:37:10.440
it's something we can't remember what we want to remember,

691
00:37:10.679 --> 00:37:12.679
and we can't forget what we want to forget.

692
00:37:13.760 --> 00:37:14.960
But that's the way that we are.

693
00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:17.960
But he makes it very plain that there is a

694
00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:21.320
pattern here of the things that we need to forget.

695
00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:24.360
And he's saying, as we stand on the brink of

696
00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:27.719
something new, it reminds us of three things in these

697
00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:33.119
two verses. Number one, it reminds us of the past.

698
00:37:33.559 --> 00:37:34.480
That's what he says.

699
00:37:34.760 --> 00:37:39.480
He's please know, he is throwing in a you know, Israel.

700
00:37:40.079 --> 00:37:44.440
He's mentioning them briefly, but immediately he turning these principles into.

701
00:37:44.239 --> 00:37:48.880
Well us us US, US, us. This is all becoming

702
00:37:48.920 --> 00:37:54.360
about us. Oh, this is so okay.

703
00:37:54.639 --> 00:37:56.800
Let's just see where this goes. Let's get the basic principles.

704
00:37:56.840 --> 00:37:58.440
We may not even have to review much of this

705
00:37:58.440 --> 00:38:00.840
because you're gonna get the basic idea. He's just gonna

706
00:38:00.840 --> 00:38:03.440
go to Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen, rip out

707
00:38:03.480 --> 00:38:07.000
some principles, kind of mention the immediate context, and then

708
00:38:07.039 --> 00:38:09.039
just tell this is what you're supposed to do. He's

709
00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:12.480
going to take a dec a passage that's really descrept

710
00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:17.000
well really, it's a passage that's really prescribing what those

711
00:38:17.079 --> 00:38:20.159
people should do and making it prescriptive for us. And

712
00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:22.559
we could get into a whole hermonutical discussion here, but

713
00:38:22.639 --> 00:38:24.360
let's just go through these concepts. Here.

714
00:38:25.840 --> 00:38:29.400
He says in Isaiah forty three eighteen, remember you not

715
00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:34.519
the former things, neither consider the things of all. So

716
00:38:34.599 --> 00:38:38.119
he's talking about the past, and he starts off the

717
00:38:38.119 --> 00:38:40.840
first half of that by saying, remember you not the

718
00:38:40.880 --> 00:38:45.360
former things. There's some things we just need to forget

719
00:38:45.400 --> 00:38:47.599
that has happened in the past. You just need to

720
00:38:47.639 --> 00:38:50.480
forget it because if you don't forget.

721
00:38:50.159 --> 00:38:52.599
It, it will.

722
00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:55.800
Bind you instead of you getting it behind you and

723
00:38:55.840 --> 00:38:58.159
you need to put it behind you instead of letting

724
00:38:58.199 --> 00:38:59.119
it bind.

725
00:38:58.840 --> 00:39:00.639
You as you go into new year.

726
00:39:01.159 --> 00:39:03.239
And if you don't get rid of it, this is

727
00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:06.840
what will happen. You'll get misery. There'll be a misery

728
00:39:06.920 --> 00:39:09.559
from the past. As you go over those things in

729
00:39:09.639 --> 00:39:12.440
your mind time and time again. All it will do

730
00:39:12.960 --> 00:39:15.639
is they'll just make it. It'll just make it bigger, it'll

731
00:39:15.639 --> 00:39:17.599
make it heavier, and it'll lay on.

732
00:39:17.599 --> 00:39:18.440
You even more.

733
00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:21.480
So there's some things you just need, and I mean,

734
00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:25.280
enough is enough. It's been over for thirty or forty

735
00:39:25.320 --> 00:39:28.199
and there's people here today that right now they've got

736
00:39:28.320 --> 00:39:32.360
grudges that they've held for forty and fifty years.

737
00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:33.199
Get over it.

738
00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:40.079
I know a preacher friend down in the mountains of

739
00:39:40.159 --> 00:39:44.039
North Carolina, and he gives a little little stration. I've

740
00:39:44.039 --> 00:39:46.920
heard him give it when he preach. Preaches. He talks

741
00:39:46.960 --> 00:39:49.280
about when he was a boy, him and the boys

742
00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:51.400
that he grew up with, they were out in the country.

743
00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:52.599
There wasn't a lot to do.

744
00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:56.320
Bear this in mind, But one day they're out trying

745
00:39:56.360 --> 00:39:58.639
to find something to do, and they come up on

746
00:39:58.719 --> 00:40:02.639
a dead rooster in the barnyard. So one of them

747
00:40:02.679 --> 00:40:05.800
gets the bright idea. I know what we'll do. We'll

748
00:40:05.800 --> 00:40:09.280
have a funeral for the rooster. So they tapped one

749
00:40:09.320 --> 00:40:10.920
of them to be the preacher and want them to

750
00:40:10.960 --> 00:40:14.519
be the senor, and they taped others to give a

751
00:40:14.599 --> 00:40:17.679
yula gin, and they had a little service for the rooster.

752
00:40:18.159 --> 00:40:20.679
Had the service for the rooster. They preached, they sang,

753
00:40:20.760 --> 00:40:24.119
they shouted, and they buried the rooster. Next day, they

754
00:40:24.119 --> 00:40:26.199
didn't have anything to do, and they said, hey, let's

755
00:40:26.199 --> 00:40:28.519
dig up that rooster and have another service.

756
00:40:29.199 --> 00:40:31.519
And they did so.

757
00:40:31.599 --> 00:40:34.159
Two or three days later, they said, hey, let's dig

758
00:40:34.320 --> 00:40:38.800
up that rooster, and they did. On about the seventh

759
00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:42.239
day when they said, hey, let's dig up that rooster,

760
00:40:42.599 --> 00:40:45.480
one of them spoke up and said, it stinks too much.

761
00:40:45.599 --> 00:40:46.760
Let's just leave it buried.

762
00:40:51.159 --> 00:40:55.039
Some things, it'll only smell worse as you dig it up.

763
00:40:55.559 --> 00:40:57.639
The best thing you can do is bury it and

764
00:40:57.719 --> 00:40:58.559
put it behind you.

765
00:40:58.920 --> 00:41:05.719
Because okay, see now this all right, this is where

766
00:41:05.760 --> 00:41:08.719
I struggle. All Right, these are some great I mean,

767
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:11.239
he's making some in I mean, that's a great illustration.

768
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:12.960
Hey, it stinks.

769
00:41:13.400 --> 00:41:15.679
Some things just need to be buried and not brought

770
00:41:15.719 --> 00:41:18.840
back up and just move on. Okay, there are good

771
00:41:18.960 --> 00:41:24.280
principles here. Some of these is like almost basic psychological points,

772
00:41:24.280 --> 00:41:27.519
some good self help, you know, tips how to go

773
00:41:27.559 --> 00:41:29.400
into a new year. Some things you just need to

774
00:41:29.400 --> 00:41:31.719
forget and move on. You just gotta let it be

775
00:41:31.840 --> 00:41:36.480
and move on. Okay, that's some good advice. The issue

776
00:41:36.559 --> 00:41:39.320
is do we take this from Isaiah forty three eighteen.

777
00:41:39.639 --> 00:41:43.639
Is Isaiah forty three eighteen designed and ridden and given

778
00:41:43.679 --> 00:41:46.920
by inspiration so that we can have some tips and

779
00:41:46.960 --> 00:41:47.360
how to.

780
00:41:47.280 --> 00:41:48.239
Move into the new year.

781
00:41:48.360 --> 00:41:52.360
You could give these basic points about hey, let's we're

782
00:41:52.400 --> 00:41:56.599
going into a new year. Here's some basic principles. But see,

783
00:41:56.639 --> 00:42:00.920
because as a church, we always have to have a scripture,

784
00:42:01.159 --> 00:42:03.280
even if we're utilizing the text of scripture in a

785
00:42:03.320 --> 00:42:05.639
way that has nothing to do with this, Isaiah forty

786
00:42:05.639 --> 00:42:07.559
three is not designed to have anything to do.

787
00:42:07.559 --> 00:42:08.360
With what he's saying.

788
00:42:08.519 --> 00:42:11.559
These points are good. I may go back and write

789
00:42:11.599 --> 00:42:13.800
down some of these points. These are some good points

790
00:42:13.800 --> 00:42:16.480
to remember going into a new year. There are some

791
00:42:16.639 --> 00:42:20.039
things we just need to forget and let them be

792
00:42:20.480 --> 00:42:23.639
and get over it and move on. Sometimes we just

793
00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:27.159
need to move forward because some things just keep holding

794
00:42:27.239 --> 00:42:30.639
us and pulling us back, and you you sometimes just need.

795
00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:35.960
To break free and just move on. I man, I am.

796
00:42:36.119 --> 00:42:38.280
I think that's a great principle.

797
00:42:38.480 --> 00:42:41.239
See what can happen in preaching is we can hear

798
00:42:41.320 --> 00:42:45.519
great points and say it was a great sermon, but

799
00:42:45.599 --> 00:42:48.320
we never think about what just happened to the text of.

800
00:42:48.280 --> 00:42:50.159
Scripture that was utilized.

801
00:42:50.840 --> 00:42:53.119
So let's do a little work here briefly on Isaiah

802
00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:54.960
forty three eighteen through nineteen. I'm going to read it

803
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:57.920
from a different translation. Remember not the former things, nor

804
00:42:57.960 --> 00:43:00.719
consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a

805
00:43:00.760 --> 00:43:03.960
new thing. Now it springs, and now it springs forth.

806
00:43:04.239 --> 00:43:06.559
Do you not perceive it? I will make a way

807
00:43:06.559 --> 00:43:09.559
in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Now here's

808
00:43:09.559 --> 00:43:13.559
the textual context Isaiah forty three. This chapter is addressed

809
00:43:13.599 --> 00:43:14.559
to Israel.

810
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:18.559
In the context of their Babylonian exile.

811
00:43:18.880 --> 00:43:22.760
It focuses on God's redemptive work and his faithfulness to

812
00:43:22.800 --> 00:43:28.800
restore Israel despite their unfaithfulness. A versus leading up to

813
00:43:29.280 --> 00:43:32.519
verses eighteen and nineteen we have Isaiah forty three one

814
00:43:32.559 --> 00:43:35.960
through seven. God reminds Israel of his covenantal love and

815
00:43:36.039 --> 00:43:37.679
promises to redeem them.

816
00:43:37.679 --> 00:43:39.239
If you go back to Isaiah forty three.

817
00:43:39.639 --> 00:43:44.719
But now, thus says the Lord who created you, Oh Jacob,

818
00:43:44.760 --> 00:43:47.000
do you see Isaiah forty three, Verse one, I'm reading

819
00:43:47.000 --> 00:43:47.920
from the new King James.

820
00:43:47.960 --> 00:43:48.199
There.

821
00:43:48.559 --> 00:43:51.480
Look, But now, thus says the Lord who created you,

822
00:43:51.880 --> 00:43:54.559
Oh Jacob. This is not about you. This is not

823
00:43:54.599 --> 00:43:57.000
about you going into a new year. This is about

824
00:43:57.079 --> 00:44:02.000
Jacob and he formed you. Oh, Oh Israel, fear not,

825
00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:05.039
for I have redeemed you. I have called you by

826
00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:08.039
your name, your mind. When you pass through the waters,

827
00:44:08.119 --> 00:44:10.360
I will be with you, and through the rivers they

828
00:44:10.360 --> 00:44:13.519
shall not overflow you. I know. Pilgrim's progress takes this

829
00:44:13.599 --> 00:44:16.920
passage and again once again turns it into some allegory

830
00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:22.039
or metaphor. This is about Israel. Everything here is about

831
00:44:22.119 --> 00:44:27.679
Israel and his covenantal relationship with them. All right, So

832
00:44:27.760 --> 00:44:30.199
Isaiah forty three one through seven, God reminds Israel of

833
00:44:30.239 --> 00:44:34.320
his covenantal love. Isaiah forty three, sixteen through seventeen references

834
00:44:34.360 --> 00:44:37.719
to Exodus, a past example of God's deliverance, parting the

835
00:44:37.760 --> 00:44:42.800
sea and defeating Egypt. Right now, this leads to the basically,

836
00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:44.880
you can see what the verses leading up to it.

837
00:44:44.960 --> 00:44:46.000
Now the flow of thought.

838
00:44:46.320 --> 00:44:49.119
Verse eighteen calls Israel to shift their focus from past

839
00:44:49.280 --> 00:44:52.760
acts of deliverance like the Exodus, to anticipate a new

840
00:44:52.800 --> 00:44:53.679
act of redemption.

841
00:44:54.440 --> 00:44:57.079
Now, what he tried to say is no, no, no, no.

842
00:44:57.199 --> 00:45:00.599
In verse seventeen, when it talks about those past things,

843
00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:03.440
there's some things you should remember and some things you

844
00:45:03.480 --> 00:45:07.760
should forget that according to some Now again we can

845
00:45:07.800 --> 00:45:08.280
get into a.

846
00:45:08.199 --> 00:45:09.480
Whole hermonutical argument.

847
00:45:09.800 --> 00:45:13.239
When he gets into verse eighteen and Isaiah forty three,

848
00:45:13.960 --> 00:45:17.320
he says, do not remember the former things? Is he saying,

849
00:45:18.760 --> 00:45:21.320
how do we understand the difference between seventeen and eighteen?

850
00:45:21.360 --> 00:45:23.119
Because at seventeen he says.

851
00:45:22.920 --> 00:45:25.719
Who brings forth the chariot and Horace, the army and

852
00:45:25.760 --> 00:45:28.639
the power? They shall lie down together. They shall not rise.

853
00:45:28.840 --> 00:45:29.800
They are extinguished.

854
00:45:29.800 --> 00:45:32.360
They are quenched like a wig. Do not remember the

855
00:45:32.400 --> 00:45:33.119
former things?

856
00:45:33.400 --> 00:45:36.079
Oh the way the sermon handled it is, hey don't no,

857
00:45:36.199 --> 00:45:39.159
don't remember bad things, but do remember the good things.

858
00:45:39.480 --> 00:45:41.639
Maybe the text what God is saying, hey, no, no, no, no,

859
00:45:41.679 --> 00:45:46.000
forget the past deliverance, forget that, forget the exodus, because

860
00:45:46.079 --> 00:45:48.440
I want you to turn your focus not to going

861
00:45:48.519 --> 00:45:52.079
well in the back in the good old days, God

862
00:45:52.119 --> 00:45:55.679
delivered our forefathers, oh, I remember the stories of how God.

863
00:45:55.960 --> 00:45:57.360
No, no, stop worrying about what.

864
00:45:57.320 --> 00:45:59.880
God did in the past, look now to the future,

865
00:46:00.039 --> 00:46:03.079
because God is going to do something now in the future.

866
00:46:03.159 --> 00:46:05.440
And that new thing that he's about to do.

867
00:46:05.599 --> 00:46:08.760
Is he's going to bring them out of Babylonian captivity,

868
00:46:09.039 --> 00:46:10.800
bring them back into the land. They're going to be

869
00:46:10.840 --> 00:46:13.760
able to rebuild the Temple and rebuild Jerusalem.

870
00:46:13.960 --> 00:46:15.440
That's what it's about.

871
00:46:16.559 --> 00:46:18.920
So even the way he handled that, he just because

872
00:46:18.960 --> 00:46:20.960
see he didn't really dig what He's not dealing with

873
00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:21.519
the text.

874
00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:23.840
He just has these little points.

875
00:46:23.480 --> 00:46:25.800
He wants to make to give you some self help

876
00:46:25.880 --> 00:46:28.119
points and how to handle the new year.

877
00:46:28.239 --> 00:46:29.559
But this is not what it's about.

878
00:46:29.760 --> 00:46:33.320
It's Israel forever forget everything now say wait, wait, we

879
00:46:33.360 --> 00:46:35.800
got to be careful. See that doesn't work because we're

880
00:46:35.840 --> 00:46:37.719
gonna say no, we need to remember the good things

881
00:46:37.800 --> 00:46:39.840
God has done for us. But the text here in

882
00:46:39.880 --> 00:46:43.360
this context is no, no, you even forget that. Stop

883
00:46:43.679 --> 00:46:46.000
looking backwards, look forward.

884
00:46:46.840 --> 00:46:49.719
That's the flow of thought.

885
00:46:50.719 --> 00:46:53.079
God is calling Israel to shift their focus from past

886
00:46:53.119 --> 00:46:56.519
acts of deliverance, even the exodus. Stop looking back at

887
00:46:56.519 --> 00:46:59.920
that to anticipate a new act of Redemption. Verse Night

888
00:47:00.280 --> 00:47:03.320
promises a new kind of deliverance, symbolized by making a

889
00:47:03.360 --> 00:47:05.679
way in the wilderness, and a river in the wilderness,

890
00:47:06.119 --> 00:47:07.320
and a river in the desert.

891
00:47:07.360 --> 00:47:09.440
Now I'm making away in the wilderness.

892
00:47:10.800 --> 00:47:15.440
That goes back to Isaiah chapter forty, which we've been studying,

893
00:47:16.679 --> 00:47:19.719
because in Isaiah chapter forty, the voice of the voice

894
00:47:19.760 --> 00:47:21.840
of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of

895
00:47:21.880 --> 00:47:25.800
the Lord makes straight in the desert, a highway for

896
00:47:25.920 --> 00:47:26.599
our God.

897
00:47:27.679 --> 00:47:28.719
God's going to And.

898
00:47:28.679 --> 00:47:30.440
Then then you go back to then you go to Isaiah

899
00:47:30.480 --> 00:47:34.559
forty three eighteen. Then do not remember the former things, nor.

900
00:47:34.480 --> 00:47:35.079
Consider they all.

901
00:47:35.119 --> 00:47:38.079
Behold, I will do a new thing now that she'll

902
00:47:38.119 --> 00:47:42.280
spring forth. I will even make a road in the wilderness.

903
00:47:42.519 --> 00:47:45.000
So it's the same it's the same thing being talked

904
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:47.639
about in Isaiah forty is in Isaiah forty three, he

905
00:47:47.760 --> 00:47:50.199
is telling them even though you're in the wilderness, and

906
00:47:50.239 --> 00:47:52.519
we talked about we talked about it in our study

907
00:47:52.519 --> 00:47:55.719
of Isaiah forty. Basically, it's very much a wilderness from

908
00:47:55.800 --> 00:47:59.760
Babylon going back to Jerusalem that they would have to

909
00:47:59.800 --> 00:48:02.199
go through the wilderness. God is going to have to,

910
00:48:02.199 --> 00:48:04.719
in a sense make a road to bring them through

911
00:48:04.760 --> 00:48:06.760
that back to Jerusalem.

912
00:48:08.320 --> 00:48:11.159
That's what this text is about, all right.

913
00:48:12.639 --> 00:48:15.280
Weighs it away in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

914
00:48:15.440 --> 00:48:19.280
These are metaphors of God's ability to overcome insurmountable obstacles,

915
00:48:19.639 --> 00:48:23.079
return the return from exile through the wilderness, and provide

916
00:48:23.239 --> 00:48:27.119
for his people. These are all the things that are

917
00:48:27.199 --> 00:48:29.239
happening right here in this text.

918
00:48:29.280 --> 00:48:29.639
All right.

919
00:48:32.719 --> 00:48:35.840
And yeah, I've got notes and notes and notes here.

920
00:48:35.880 --> 00:48:38.760
We can look at now the historical context. I'm skipping

921
00:48:38.880 --> 00:48:42.639
around original audience. We know the original audience. The audience

922
00:48:42.719 --> 00:48:45.199
is Israel and exile living in Babylon and longing for

923
00:48:45.280 --> 00:48:49.559
restoration to their homeland, immediate historical fulfillment. The new thing

924
00:48:49.639 --> 00:48:52.679
refers to the return from Babylon and God's providential care

925
00:48:52.800 --> 00:48:55.480
during the journey, just as he provided for Israel during

926
00:48:55.559 --> 00:48:56.320
the exodus.

927
00:48:56.599 --> 00:48:58.599
It this demonstrates God's sovereignty.

928
00:48:58.719 --> 00:49:04.760
It demonstrates his covenant told faithfulness. That's what that's what

929
00:49:04.800 --> 00:49:09.519
this is about. But but this is turning into hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

930
00:49:09.760 --> 00:49:12.079
you get ready to go into new year. Forget forget

931
00:49:12.119 --> 00:49:15.159
those things this has this has nothing to do with

932
00:49:17.639 --> 00:49:19.360
all right, let's just see what he's going to do here.

933
00:49:19.400 --> 00:49:22.920
Let's see what he's going to do here, because if

934
00:49:22.960 --> 00:49:25.039
you if you make an argument, well at least eighteen

935
00:49:25.079 --> 00:49:27.000
there's a principle that we could we could talk about

936
00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:30.440
how we need to forget some things. Okay, maybe what

937
00:49:30.519 --> 00:49:32.079
is he going to do about behold that will do

938
00:49:32.119 --> 00:49:34.760
a new thing? Because that's where it's going to get

939
00:49:34.800 --> 00:49:37.920
really dangerous if he makes that applicable to us, right,

940
00:49:38.199 --> 00:49:39.360
that could get really dangerous.

941
00:49:39.440 --> 00:49:40.599
Let's see what he's going to do here.

942
00:49:42.239 --> 00:49:46.159
Calls it's just it's just the misery that it calls.

943
00:49:46.320 --> 00:49:50.159
It's not hurting anybody but you. That's all that it's hurting.

944
00:49:50.400 --> 00:49:54.000
It doesn't cure anything, it doesn't fix anything. It doesn't

945
00:49:54.039 --> 00:49:57.119
make anything right that needs to be made right. The

946
00:49:57.199 --> 00:50:00.559
sooner you accepted, they're not going to say I'm sorry.

947
00:50:00.639 --> 00:50:03.719
They will buy you a gift before they say I'm sorry.

948
00:50:03.920 --> 00:50:06.440
They're not going to do it because they're never wrong.

949
00:50:08.960 --> 00:50:11.760
So it binds you to the misery, and it also

950
00:50:11.920 --> 00:50:16.880
binds you to the state of just recapturing that over

951
00:50:16.920 --> 00:50:17.719
and over again.

952
00:50:17.960 --> 00:50:19.679
He starts by the misery.

953
00:50:19.719 --> 00:50:22.360
He said, if you remember the former things, it'll bring

954
00:50:22.400 --> 00:50:25.480
you misery. But he said, neither consider the things of old.

955
00:50:25.679 --> 00:50:28.719
In other words, don't go back and just bring it

956
00:50:28.800 --> 00:50:31.800
back up like a photographic memory of it over and

957
00:50:31.840 --> 00:50:34.360
over again, because that won't take care of it. So

958
00:50:34.440 --> 00:50:37.719
he tells us first about the past, but then he

959
00:50:37.800 --> 00:50:40.519
tells us about the present. In the first half of

960
00:50:40.559 --> 00:50:44.199
the nineteenth verse, he said, behold, I will do a

961
00:50:44.280 --> 00:50:50.719
new thing. What's the next word? Now that's the present.

962
00:50:51.239 --> 00:50:55.159
Now it shall spring forth. You shall not know of it.

963
00:50:56.039 --> 00:50:59.159
So he's saying, I'm going to do something new for

964
00:50:59.280 --> 00:51:02.800
you this year. Would you like God to do something

965
00:51:02.880 --> 00:51:05.159
new for you? Would you like to see a new thing?

966
00:51:05.639 --> 00:51:07.719
And I know we look forward and we say, well,

967
00:51:07.760 --> 00:51:10.159
in this year we can see new things happen.

968
00:51:12.639 --> 00:51:17.119
Okay, now I just get ticked off. That has nothing

969
00:51:17.159 --> 00:51:18.840
to do with God doing a new thing for you.

970
00:51:19.079 --> 00:51:21.639
It's not a promise to you. It's not about you.

971
00:51:21.840 --> 00:51:24.960
It's not directed at you. And you telling people about

972
00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:26.920
God doing a new thing for you based off this

973
00:51:27.159 --> 00:51:33.000
verse is absolutely malpractice. It is absolutely ripping the scripture

974
00:51:33.119 --> 00:51:36.079
so far out of context it is not acceptable.

975
00:51:36.320 --> 00:51:37.199
Now I get see.

976
00:51:37.320 --> 00:51:39.159
Before I was like, okay, well, maybe I could try

977
00:51:39.159 --> 00:51:41.000
to find something to do with the way he's handling

978
00:51:41.000 --> 00:51:43.320
the verse eighteen, even though it has nothing to do

979
00:51:43.400 --> 00:51:43.760
with us.

980
00:51:43.880 --> 00:51:45.639
If you want to try to do something.

981
00:51:45.440 --> 00:51:48.360
But man alive, when you get to verse nineteen, he says,

982
00:51:48.440 --> 00:51:50.760
I will do a new thing, a new thing for them.

983
00:51:50.920 --> 00:51:53.679
And the new thing for them was their physical deliverance

984
00:51:53.679 --> 00:51:56.840
from Babylonian captivity. That's not a promise for you, has

985
00:51:57.000 --> 00:51:58.239
nothing to do with you.

986
00:51:57.880 --> 00:52:04.119
You cannot take that and use it. Now.

987
00:52:04.119 --> 00:52:08.199
You give people some hope, some expectation that's not based

988
00:52:08.199 --> 00:52:11.760
off anything other than your mishandling of the Word of God.

989
00:52:12.239 --> 00:52:13.920
And here's what's interesting, I.

990
00:52:13.840 --> 00:52:16.400
Asked, I asked Ai, what are some of the ways

991
00:52:16.480 --> 00:52:19.320
people misuse Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen?

992
00:52:19.360 --> 00:52:20.679
Are you ready? Here we go.

993
00:52:20.800 --> 00:52:24.440
Here's the number one thing pastors do to Isaiah forty

994
00:52:24.480 --> 00:52:29.639
three eighteen through nineteen. According to Ai, they over spiritualize

995
00:52:30.119 --> 00:52:36.039
and individualize the text. They apply a new thing to

996
00:52:36.360 --> 00:52:43.079
personal resolutions, life changes, our general optimism about the future.

997
00:52:43.679 --> 00:52:46.840
The text is about God's redemptive work for Israel, and

998
00:52:46.880 --> 00:52:53.519
as covenental promises, not about individual self improvement or motivation.

999
00:52:54.239 --> 00:52:58.119
Even Ai knows that text is not for us.

1000
00:52:58.400 --> 00:53:01.119
How in the world can AI, I do a better

1001
00:53:01.239 --> 00:53:05.440
job than humans when it comes to the Word of God. Well,

1002
00:53:05.639 --> 00:53:08.199
I think there's a lot of reasons because AI is

1003
00:53:08.239 --> 00:53:11.039
not worried about who it offends, who it ticks off.

1004
00:53:11.199 --> 00:53:13.960
It's not worried about preaching a sermon. It's worried just

1005
00:53:14.000 --> 00:53:16.480
about like, how do we understand the text based off

1006
00:53:16.480 --> 00:53:18.679
the words that are used and based off the historical

1007
00:53:18.719 --> 00:53:25.719
context which is known. This is why I cannot stand sermons.

1008
00:53:27.800 --> 00:53:30.159
On one hand, let me make let me let me clarify.

1009
00:53:30.360 --> 00:53:32.480
On one hand, I love sermons because I like to

1010
00:53:32.519 --> 00:53:34.480
listen to them, so then it gets me into the

1011
00:53:34.519 --> 00:53:36.840
text and I have to take it apart and dissect

1012
00:53:36.840 --> 00:53:37.599
the text.

1013
00:53:37.400 --> 00:53:39.199
And work work work, work, work, work work.

1014
00:53:39.440 --> 00:53:43.000
But I get frustrated that sermons do such a damage

1015
00:53:43.000 --> 00:53:45.559
of keeping people a million miles away from the text.

1016
00:53:45.679 --> 00:53:47.920
These people walked in on New Year's Eve to hear

1017
00:53:47.920 --> 00:53:50.559
a sermon on Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. They're

1018
00:53:50.559 --> 00:53:52.480
gonna leave and guess what, They're not going to know

1019
00:53:52.920 --> 00:53:54.280
nothing about Isaiah.

1020
00:53:54.000 --> 00:53:55.760
Forty three eight through eighteen through nineteen.

1021
00:53:56.000 --> 00:53:58.760
This sermon moved them further and further away from the

1022
00:53:58.840 --> 00:54:02.159
actual text to get give them basically a self help

1023
00:54:02.239 --> 00:54:05.000
program on how to go into a new year using

1024
00:54:05.119 --> 00:54:09.239
some basic pop psychology concepts. And I know the pastors say, no,

1025
00:54:09.280 --> 00:54:11.199
it comes from the word of God. The word of

1026
00:54:11.199 --> 00:54:14.159
God has nothing to do with what you're talking about

1027
00:54:14.280 --> 00:54:17.840
based off the text that you're utilizing. I knew the

1028
00:54:17.920 --> 00:54:20.239
New Thing was where things are gonna I knew this

1029
00:54:20.280 --> 00:54:22.639
is where things were gonna go all wacky.

1030
00:54:23.440 --> 00:54:25.159
Let's hope. He corrects.

1031
00:54:25.400 --> 00:54:28.440
He takes a hard pivot and goes back into a

1032
00:54:28.519 --> 00:54:33.079
more a better concept here, let's see.

1033
00:54:35.159 --> 00:54:37.320
But the truth of the matter is the New Thing

1034
00:54:37.400 --> 00:54:38.719
could happen right now.

1035
00:54:40.920 --> 00:54:42.840
So he's saying, in the present.

1036
00:54:42.920 --> 00:54:46.599
You've got all of these wonderful things that God's wanting

1037
00:54:46.639 --> 00:54:50.000
to do right before you. Now could be the time

1038
00:54:50.280 --> 00:54:53.280
that it springs forth, that Heaven could touch it and

1039
00:54:53.400 --> 00:54:56.960
everything change right now in a moment of time, and

1040
00:54:56.960 --> 00:54:59.800
it could all turn around for God's glory.

1041
00:55:00.079 --> 00:55:04.559
Now he deals with the present.

1042
00:55:06.400 --> 00:55:12.239
What are the people amening for them?

1043
00:55:12.800 --> 00:55:13.239
Now?

1044
00:55:13.400 --> 00:55:16.679
It's a spring fort Isaiah forty through fifty five, the

1045
00:55:16.719 --> 00:55:19.719
Book of Comfort. He's comfort, He's giving comfort to people

1046
00:55:19.760 --> 00:55:22.960
and babyloney captivity, letting them know it has come to

1047
00:55:23.039 --> 00:55:25.480
an end. Your captivity has come to an end, and

1048
00:55:25.519 --> 00:55:28.440
this man by the name of Cyrus is going to

1049
00:55:28.480 --> 00:55:32.119
decree your release, and he's going to release you back.

1050
00:55:33.559 --> 00:55:37.480
We talked about all of this in Isaiah chapter forty.

1051
00:55:37.519 --> 00:55:39.320
This is why we are spending so much time in

1052
00:55:39.400 --> 00:55:42.400
Isaiah forty through fifty five because I do not know

1053
00:55:42.519 --> 00:55:46.320
now I've lost count on the number of sermons that

1054
00:55:47.039 --> 00:55:49.119
I've yet to find a sermon that even tries to

1055
00:55:49.159 --> 00:55:52.960
handle this text in anything close to what it actually

1056
00:55:53.079 --> 00:55:56.280
is about.

1057
00:55:56.639 --> 00:56:01.039
So in your present, you've got to get rid of

1058
00:56:01.079 --> 00:56:03.320
your past to have a present. As all as you say,

1059
00:56:03.559 --> 00:56:05.920
stuck in the past, you can't have a present.

1060
00:56:08.079 --> 00:56:11.960
Okay, these people are going to be released from captivity

1061
00:56:12.239 --> 00:56:15.400
no matter what if they continue to remember what.

1062
00:56:15.480 --> 00:56:15.960
Is he saying?

1063
00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:18.079
You can't have a present if you stuck in the past.

1064
00:56:18.159 --> 00:56:19.840
There's nothing to do with this text.

1065
00:56:20.280 --> 00:56:22.639
This text is like, hey, guys, if you don't forget

1066
00:56:22.639 --> 00:56:25.719
the past, you can't have a present. No, It's like, hey,

1067
00:56:25.880 --> 00:56:28.559
it's time to change your focus because something is going

1068
00:56:28.599 --> 00:56:31.039
to happen. It's going to happen no matter what they do.

1069
00:56:31.239 --> 00:56:34.079
It doesn't matter how they respond to it doesn't matter.

1070
00:56:34.159 --> 00:56:37.119
It's going to happen because God made a promise that

1071
00:56:37.159 --> 00:56:39.440
it was going to happen. It's going to happen not

1072
00:56:39.440 --> 00:56:43.239
because of Israel's faithfulness and faithfulness, but because of God's

1073
00:56:43.239 --> 00:56:44.800
faithfulness to his covenant.

1074
00:56:44.960 --> 00:56:46.119
That's the whole point.

1075
00:56:46.239 --> 00:56:48.679
It's going to happen no matter what they do, no

1076
00:56:48.719 --> 00:56:49.920
matter how they respond.

1077
00:56:50.159 --> 00:56:51.760
This is not like, hey, guys, if.

1078
00:56:51.599 --> 00:56:53.679
You don't do this, you don't get this, how are

1079
00:56:53.679 --> 00:56:55.800
you going to turn it into some like you can't

1080
00:56:55.840 --> 00:56:57.800
have a present unless you forget the past.

1081
00:56:57.880 --> 00:56:59.920
Well, you can go to some pop psychology.

1082
00:57:00.119 --> 00:57:02.800
Has nothing to do with Isaiah forty three, eighteenth through nineteen,

1083
00:57:03.159 --> 00:57:04.039
not a thing.

1084
00:57:07.400 --> 00:57:09.639
But if you want a present, you've got to get rid.

1085
00:57:09.559 --> 00:57:11.960
Of the past. But he does more than that.

1086
00:57:12.360 --> 00:57:15.119
Look at the end of that nineteenth verse, he winds

1087
00:57:15.199 --> 00:57:17.639
up by saying, I will even make a way in

1088
00:57:17.719 --> 00:57:20.480
the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

1089
00:57:21.480 --> 00:57:22.920
So he not only tells.

1090
00:57:22.679 --> 00:57:25.480
Us about the past, and he not only tells us

1091
00:57:25.920 --> 00:57:29.679
about the present, but he tells us about the possibilities

1092
00:57:30.400 --> 00:57:33.119
that should bless us. When we think about what is

1093
00:57:33.320 --> 00:57:34.719
possible with God.

1094
00:57:37.320 --> 00:57:40.280
God is not talking about some possibility for you. He's

1095
00:57:40.320 --> 00:57:43.320
not even talking about a possibility for them. He's telling

1096
00:57:43.360 --> 00:57:47.039
them what he is going to do because of his

1097
00:57:47.280 --> 00:57:50.119
sovereignty and because of the covenant he made with Israel.

1098
00:57:50.199 --> 00:57:54.039
This is not about some theoretical possibility. It's about an

1099
00:57:54.199 --> 00:57:56.559
actuality that God is going to bring about.

1100
00:57:56.639 --> 00:58:00.119
And it has not a thing to do with you.

1101
00:58:03.280 --> 00:58:06.400
What possibilities are that He said, one thing is I'll

1102
00:58:06.440 --> 00:58:11.920
make a way God can make away. When you see,

1103
00:58:11.960 --> 00:58:15.800
there is no way God can make away. God has

1104
00:58:15.840 --> 00:58:18.159
a way of opening doors that won't open.

1105
00:58:20.559 --> 00:58:24.519
Oh, in the name of all that is good.

1106
00:58:24.760 --> 00:58:28.199
Okay that now you're telling people, hey, when you go

1107
00:58:28.280 --> 00:58:30.519
into the new year, if you need a way God's

1108
00:58:30.559 --> 00:58:33.039
gonna make away. You're making a promise that God's going

1109
00:58:33.079 --> 00:58:35.199
to make away, and you're making a promise based off

1110
00:58:35.199 --> 00:58:38.079
a text that is not promising those people anything. You're

1111
00:58:38.079 --> 00:58:42.000
providing false promise, false comfort to people, because someone's gonna

1112
00:58:42.000 --> 00:58:43.920
go into the new year and they're gonna find themselves.

1113
00:58:43.960 --> 00:58:46.039
There could be some person sitting there in that building

1114
00:58:46.119 --> 00:58:49.119
right there, good listening, some person who may be listening online,

1115
00:58:49.199 --> 00:58:51.079
who knows what situation they're in. They could be in

1116
00:58:51.079 --> 00:58:53.159
a situation where they're being molested. They could be in

1117
00:58:53.199 --> 00:58:55.000
a situation where they're being beat. They could be in

1118
00:58:55.000 --> 00:58:58.000
a situation whether they're dying of cancer. Oh, God's gonna

1119
00:58:58.000 --> 00:59:00.000
make away. You know what's gonna happen the next year.

1120
00:59:00.480 --> 00:59:02.840
Nothing's gonna get better. It could actually get worse. But

1121
00:59:02.880 --> 00:59:06.159
you're making some promise and giving people some optimism based

1122
00:59:06.159 --> 00:59:08.559
off a text that has nothing to do with anybody

1123
00:59:08.920 --> 00:59:11.880
other than the original recipients. Now, I'm not saying there

1124
00:59:11.920 --> 00:59:14.400
is an application, but you can't go and promise someone

1125
00:59:14.559 --> 00:59:17.079
that God's going to make a way. He's making a

1126
00:59:17.119 --> 00:59:20.519
way for them to come out of Babylonian captivity. How

1127
00:59:20.760 --> 00:59:24.079
dare you take that and then offer that comfort to

1128
00:59:24.199 --> 00:59:28.599
people facing whatever circumstance they're in, unless they're in Babylonian captivity,

1129
00:59:28.800 --> 00:59:31.960
unless they were a part of Judah and Babylonian captivity,

1130
00:59:32.119 --> 00:59:34.320
that promise is not for you.

1131
00:59:37.800 --> 00:59:40.800
He has a way of carving out roads that you

1132
00:59:40.840 --> 00:59:44.519
don't even know exists. He has a way of making

1133
00:59:44.599 --> 00:59:47.920
plans that you don't know it could even happen because

1134
00:59:48.000 --> 00:59:50.719
God can do it. Now, notice when he talks about

1135
00:59:50.760 --> 00:59:54.159
God making a way, he's saying this is a message

1136
00:59:54.199 --> 00:59:56.119
to you that God can.

1137
00:59:55.960 --> 00:59:57.719
Still perform miracles.

1138
01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:02.440
Am I the only one that gets weary of hearing

1139
01:00:02.480 --> 01:00:06.400
people say that God is not the same God today

1140
01:00:06.440 --> 01:00:09.840
that he was when Jesus was on this earth and

1141
01:00:09.920 --> 01:00:13.440
when the disciples and the apostles started the early Church.

1142
01:00:13.639 --> 01:00:14.760
It's not the same God.

1143
01:00:14.880 --> 01:00:15.039
Now.

1144
01:00:15.079 --> 01:00:17.559
All of that's changed. No, I tell you what's changed.

1145
01:00:17.639 --> 01:00:18.719
We have God.

1146
01:00:20.079 --> 01:00:26.840
Nobody says God has changed. Okay, God, oh man, God

1147
01:00:26.920 --> 01:00:31.800
is obvious. God doesn't change. How he may operate the

1148
01:00:32.320 --> 01:00:34.079
way he operates may change.

1149
01:00:34.119 --> 01:00:37.400
That's not a change in God. God is the same

1150
01:00:37.480 --> 01:00:39.480
God yesterday, today and forever.

1151
01:00:39.880 --> 01:00:43.119
But you cannot deny. He's not parting the Red Sea

1152
01:00:43.320 --> 01:00:48.920
and making food fall from heaven. It's a kind of glory.

1153
01:00:49.079 --> 01:00:54.119
Is not dwelling in a temple. We're not doing animal sacrifices.

1154
01:00:54.239 --> 01:00:57.519
There's been countless things that have changed. But God is

1155
01:00:57.559 --> 01:01:01.719
still the same God. Jesus is not walking the earth

1156
01:01:02.920 --> 01:01:04.159
in physical form.

1157
01:01:08.000 --> 01:01:08.760
What is any.

1158
01:01:11.599 --> 01:01:15.639
God hasn't changed. His power hasn't changed. He can do anything,

1159
01:01:15.960 --> 01:01:19.480
and the messages we serving God, that doesn't change.

1160
01:01:19.559 --> 01:01:24.239
He has the same power this morning honey had when

1161
01:01:24.280 --> 01:01:29.639
he created this earth. That's the message.

1162
01:01:30.400 --> 01:01:33.719
It can happen the possibilities that's in front of you

1163
01:01:34.519 --> 01:01:36.000
by being obedient to God.

1164
01:01:36.679 --> 01:01:43.239
Then oh my goodness, Hey, so God, there's possibilities that

1165
01:01:43.280 --> 01:01:46.159
God will do things with you if you are obedient

1166
01:01:46.239 --> 01:01:46.760
to God.

1167
01:01:47.320 --> 01:01:48.119
Well, then guess what.

1168
01:01:48.519 --> 01:01:50.400
Then God's not going to do any of that stuff

1169
01:01:50.440 --> 01:01:53.000
for you because you're never obedient to God. You go, yes,

1170
01:01:53.039 --> 01:01:55.639
I am No, You're in a perpetual state of disobedience.

1171
01:01:55.719 --> 01:01:56.840
Do I need to prove it to you?

1172
01:01:57.280 --> 01:01:57.800
Let me see.

1173
01:01:57.840 --> 01:01:59.920
The Bible says, be holy as He is holy. Wait,

1174
01:02:00.079 --> 01:02:01.960
You're never holy as God is holy. So you're in

1175
01:02:02.000 --> 01:02:05.400
a perpetual state of practical disobedience because you never fulfilled

1176
01:02:05.400 --> 01:02:08.000
that command. And Matthew and the Gospel and the Sermon

1177
01:02:08.039 --> 01:02:10.119
on the Mount and the Gospel of Matthew. Sermon on

1178
01:02:10.159 --> 01:02:12.320
the Mount, Jesus says, be perfect as your heavenly Father

1179
01:02:12.400 --> 01:02:12.800
is perfect.

1180
01:02:12.880 --> 01:02:13.719
You've never done that.

1181
01:02:13.840 --> 01:02:15.599
You never come close to doing that, So you're in

1182
01:02:15.639 --> 01:02:18.000
a perpetual state of disobedience. He says, to love God

1183
01:02:18.000 --> 01:02:19.239
with all your heart, mind, body, and soul.

1184
01:02:19.320 --> 01:02:19.920
You never do that.

1185
01:02:19.960 --> 01:02:22.199
You're in a perpetual state of disobedience. Love your neighbor

1186
01:02:22.199 --> 01:02:23.760
as yourself. You never pulled that off. You're in a

1187
01:02:23.800 --> 01:02:27.039
perpetual state of disobedience. Do all things without complaining and grumbling.

1188
01:02:27.119 --> 01:02:28.519
And I can go on and on and on and

1189
01:02:28.559 --> 01:02:30.480
on and on and on. Do not lie, do not deceive,

1190
01:02:30.559 --> 01:02:33.599
do not covid, do not lust, do not have bitterness,

1191
01:02:33.639 --> 01:02:35.840
do not at anger, do on and on and on

1192
01:02:35.880 --> 01:02:37.039
and on and on and on and on.

1193
01:02:37.239 --> 01:02:39.320
You are in a perpetual state of disobedience.

1194
01:02:39.360 --> 01:02:43.239
Because God's law demands perfection internally and externally and thought, word,

1195
01:02:43.280 --> 01:02:45.880
deed desire. You are in a perpetual state of disobedience.

1196
01:02:45.920 --> 01:02:47.440
So therefore, if God's power is not going to do

1197
01:02:47.440 --> 01:02:49.800
anything unless you're obedient, then you're in trouble. But guess

1198
01:02:49.840 --> 01:02:52.199
what God's power showed up for Israel even when they

1199
01:02:52.199 --> 01:02:53.000
were disobedient.

1200
01:02:53.079 --> 01:02:55.480
Because the whole message is God is faithful even when

1201
01:02:55.480 --> 01:03:00.519
his people are unfaithful. Man alife.

1202
01:03:04.719 --> 01:03:07.559
You see why the Isaiah forty through fifty five, I mean,

1203
01:03:07.559 --> 01:03:09.559
what a way to end this is?

1204
01:03:09.719 --> 01:03:15.280
This is so just all right, We'll just go a

1205
01:03:15.280 --> 01:03:16.559
couple of more minutes and we'll end.

1206
01:03:18.159 --> 01:03:21.440
Also, it's not only a matter of the way that

1207
01:03:21.519 --> 01:03:24.840
God can make away, but notice something else he can

1208
01:03:24.880 --> 01:03:28.599
do the miraculous in this sense, the last half of

1209
01:03:28.639 --> 01:03:34.280
that nineteenth verse, he makes away in the wilderness and

1210
01:03:34.400 --> 01:03:38.679
in the desert. It's one thing to make away, But

1211
01:03:38.800 --> 01:03:41.599
to make away in the wilderness, there's no supplies in

1212
01:03:41.639 --> 01:03:47.800
the wilderness. You don't have population. In the wilderness, you

1213
01:03:47.840 --> 01:03:51.000
don't have people, you don't have individuals that you can

1214
01:03:51.079 --> 01:03:54.760
turn to. God's making away at a place that it

1215
01:03:54.880 --> 01:03:58.000
seems like it's impossible for that to happen.

1216
01:03:58.559 --> 01:03:59.480
To have a.

1217
01:04:01.400 --> 01:04:04.119
In the wilderness, and in the desert, to have a river,

1218
01:04:04.599 --> 01:04:11.000
What an amazing God that we save. Anybody can find

1219
01:04:11.800 --> 01:04:15.800
water in the valley of plush lands where it rains frequently,

1220
01:04:17.159 --> 01:04:22.519
But to find a desert with a river running through it.

1221
01:04:23.960 --> 01:04:28.440
By the way, the desert doesn't stay a desert when

1222
01:04:28.480 --> 01:04:29.599
the river runs through it.

1223
01:04:34.119 --> 01:04:34.760
He's a God.

1224
01:04:36.760 --> 01:04:37.000
I mean.

1225
01:04:37.039 --> 01:04:40.199
The people love discerning the people love it. They're not

1226
01:04:40.280 --> 01:04:43.199
learning anything about Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen, not

1227
01:04:43.599 --> 01:04:45.199
one thing.

1228
01:04:45.760 --> 01:04:56.119
About the actual text. So I asked Ai, what are

1229
01:04:56.119 --> 01:04:56.760
some ways?

1230
01:04:56.920 --> 01:05:00.920
What are some ways that people miss use Isaiah forty

1231
01:05:00.960 --> 01:05:03.639
three eighteen through nineteen. The first one was over spiritualizing

1232
01:05:03.639 --> 01:05:07.840
and individualizing the text. You're hearing it a new thing

1233
01:05:08.440 --> 01:05:11.280
they miss They apply a new thing to a personal resolution,

1234
01:05:11.440 --> 01:05:14.559
life changes or general optimism about the future. The text

1235
01:05:14.559 --> 01:05:17.400
is about God's redemptive work for Israel and his covenantal promises,

1236
01:05:17.480 --> 01:05:21.639
not about individual self improvement or motivation. Another thing pastors do,

1237
01:05:21.679 --> 01:05:24.440
according to Ai, is they ignore the historical context.

1238
01:05:24.840 --> 01:05:26.719
They dispatch this passage.

1239
01:05:27.159 --> 01:05:31.079
They detach this passage from its historical setting and apply

1240
01:05:31.159 --> 01:05:34.000
it as a timeless principle about God always doing something new.

1241
01:05:34.159 --> 01:05:35.960
The new thing is specifically.

1242
01:05:35.400 --> 01:05:38.440
About Israel's return from exile and does not promise constant

1243
01:05:38.480 --> 01:05:39.880
novelty or change.

1244
01:05:39.559 --> 01:05:40.559
For believers today.

1245
01:05:41.119 --> 01:05:43.280
A third thing, they use it as a blank check

1246
01:05:43.320 --> 01:05:47.559
for optimism, Ai says, interpreting the text as a general

1247
01:05:47.559 --> 01:05:49.599
promise that God will do new things for everyone in

1248
01:05:49.639 --> 01:05:54.239
every situation. The focus is on God's specific redemptive plan,

1249
01:05:54.760 --> 01:05:57.599
not an assurance of perpetual new beginnings.

1250
01:05:58.159 --> 01:05:59.800
So they so a.

1251
01:06:00.079 --> 01:06:02.159
I goes on to say, here's some of the potential

1252
01:06:02.199 --> 01:06:05.480
pitfalls and a happy New Year's sermon based on Isaiah

1253
01:06:05.480 --> 01:06:08.800
forty three, eighteen through nineteen. If the sermon emphasizes vague

1254
01:06:08.800 --> 01:06:11.679
ideas like new beginnings or fresh starts without addressing the

1255
01:06:11.800 --> 01:06:17.480
historical context, it risks misrepresenting the text. Number two ignores Israel.

1256
01:06:17.599 --> 01:06:20.199
The passage is deeply rooted in God's covenant with Israel.

1257
01:06:20.320 --> 01:06:23.519
Applying it directly to a New Year's message without acknowledging

1258
01:06:23.519 --> 01:06:25.960
this focus erases the original meaning.

1259
01:06:27.320 --> 01:06:29.239
Prosperity or self help focus.

1260
01:06:29.400 --> 01:06:31.519
There's a danger of turning this passage into a feel

1261
01:06:31.559 --> 01:06:36.920
good promise about personal success or achievements, which disminishes its

1262
01:06:36.960 --> 01:06:43.559
pillological depth. AI called it almost like I asked, Ai,

1263
01:06:43.679 --> 01:06:46.440
what's the how do people misuse it? And it laid

1264
01:06:46.519 --> 01:06:49.199
out exactly how pastors misuse the text.

1265
01:06:49.320 --> 01:06:52.400
And this sermon is basically it.

1266
01:06:52.559 --> 01:06:55.199
Just like AI said, this is what pastors do, and

1267
01:06:55.239 --> 01:06:59.960
this sermon it did every single thing AI said pastors do.

1268
01:07:00.599 --> 01:07:08.280
And here's the thing. So, how valuable is church? How

1269
01:07:08.360 --> 01:07:12.440
valuable is church? People got dressed, they drove there, and

1270
01:07:12.480 --> 01:07:14.639
they went there. Now the people of it, the people

1271
01:07:14.679 --> 01:07:17.800
of it, because these are self help principles, these are

1272
01:07:17.840 --> 01:07:20.159
feel good principles. Oh, we're going into a new year.

1273
01:07:20.199 --> 01:07:22.559
God's gonna do a new thing. He can make away

1274
01:07:22.639 --> 01:07:24.880
in the wilderness, he can make a river in the desert.

1275
01:07:24.920 --> 01:07:25.599
He's gonna do.

1276
01:07:25.559 --> 01:07:27.519
This for me, and bid this for me, and all

1277
01:07:27.559 --> 01:07:33.320
these false, fake, fraudulent promises, creating a mirage that they're oh, look,

1278
01:07:33.519 --> 01:07:35.639
I know you're dying of thirst. Look look, look, look,

1279
01:07:35.639 --> 01:07:38.159
look look there's there's there's a there's a you know,

1280
01:07:38.400 --> 01:07:40.840
a stream there, there's water there.

1281
01:07:40.639 --> 01:07:42.440
And you run and you jump and.

1282
01:07:42.360 --> 01:07:45.400
You just find yourself faced in the dirt because it

1283
01:07:45.440 --> 01:07:46.159
was a mirage.

1284
01:07:46.239 --> 01:08:02.039
It was nothing there. It's it's an illusion, unbelievable.

1285
01:08:02.280 --> 01:08:06.599
So well, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. We

1286
01:08:06.880 --> 01:08:11.840
end are sermons two point oh app sermon challenge with

1287
01:08:11.960 --> 01:08:17.720
another example of how sermons in many cases have caused

1288
01:08:17.880 --> 01:08:23.760
more problems and more damage to people understanding the scripture

1289
01:08:24.119 --> 01:08:27.800
than they have done good. And here is my justification

1290
01:08:27.920 --> 01:08:33.840
for this, my entire Christian life. What I have heard

1291
01:08:34.039 --> 01:08:37.239
over and over. I heard it in Bible college, i

1292
01:08:37.279 --> 01:08:40.880
heard it in seminary. I've seen it in research papers,

1293
01:08:41.800 --> 01:08:44.279
doctrinal thesis, you name it. I've seen it over and

1294
01:08:44.319 --> 01:08:46.039
over and over that we have a problem in the

1295
01:08:46.079 --> 01:08:49.880
American Church. People are biblically illiterate. People are theiologically illiterate.

1296
01:08:49.960 --> 01:08:51.960
We've got to fix this problem. We've got to fix

1297
01:08:52.000 --> 01:08:54.720
this problem. And with all the millions of sermons, we

1298
01:08:54.760 --> 01:08:58.760
have not fixed the problem. Because the sermon is the problem.

1299
01:08:58.960 --> 01:09:01.720
The sermon is the thing standing in the way. You

1300
01:09:01.840 --> 01:09:04.840
have the people on one side, you have understanding on

1301
01:09:04.880 --> 01:09:07.760
the other. And in between understanding and the people are

1302
01:09:07.840 --> 01:09:11.760
sermons which completely blind people to understanding because they can

1303
01:09:11.800 --> 01:09:13.479
never actually get to the text.

1304
01:09:13.640 --> 01:09:15.039
Because sermons are there.

1305
01:09:14.840 --> 01:09:19.279
To be well speeches and presentations and performances, and they're

1306
01:09:19.319 --> 01:09:21.760
there to give people feel good messages or whatever the

1307
01:09:21.760 --> 01:09:24.439
case may be, they don't actually get us to the

1308
01:09:24.560 --> 01:09:37.159
actual text. And that's unacceptable. The sermons structure needs to

1309
01:09:37.159 --> 01:09:40.920
be just demolished. It needs to be blown up, and

1310
01:09:40.960 --> 01:09:43.720
we need to put in its place. We come to church,

1311
01:09:43.880 --> 01:09:47.960
we bring Bibles and notebooks, and we dig into the text.

1312
01:09:48.119 --> 01:09:50.920
We don't care. We don't care if it agrees.

1313
01:09:50.600 --> 01:09:53.600
With this system of theology or this system of theology.

1314
01:09:53.680 --> 01:09:55.479
I don't care if it makes the reform people mad

1315
01:09:55.640 --> 01:09:58.199
the non reform. We don't care about teams. We're not

1316
01:09:58.239 --> 01:10:01.760
committed to any team, committed to anything other than the

1317
01:10:01.800 --> 01:10:02.840
text itself.

1318
01:10:03.079 --> 01:10:06.239
What is the text about? What is going on in

1319
01:10:06.319 --> 01:10:09.680
Isaiah forty three. Now I'm not saying there aren't principles

1320
01:10:09.720 --> 01:10:13.600
of application that could be brought to us, but you've

1321
01:10:13.640 --> 01:10:15.880
got to handle them in a very, very very very

1322
01:10:16.000 --> 01:10:17.920
very very careful way. But I'm not going to get

1323
01:10:17.920 --> 01:10:20.600
into the application because what you just heard is someone

1324
01:10:20.680 --> 01:10:24.039
completely misapply the entire text. So instead of focusing on

1325
01:10:24.079 --> 01:10:25.119
how it applies.

1326
01:10:24.760 --> 01:10:26.600
To us, we may need to go back to Isaiah

1327
01:10:26.600 --> 01:10:28.840
forty three and just try to think about the original

1328
01:10:28.840 --> 01:10:32.920
recipients and what it meant to them, because it's not

1329
01:10:33.600 --> 01:10:39.239
about us. The new thing was them being delivered from

1330
01:10:39.279 --> 01:10:42.840
Babylonian captivity. That is not a promise of God doing

1331
01:10:42.880 --> 01:10:46.119
a new thing in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four,

1332
01:10:46.399 --> 01:10:50.159
twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven, nineteen

1333
01:10:50.199 --> 01:10:53.880
eighty seven, nineteen ninety four, whatever year, some pastor misuses

1334
01:10:53.920 --> 01:11:05.720
the text. So, ladies and gentlemen, I hope your notebook

1335
01:11:05.760 --> 01:11:08.479
is full. I hope it's been a good year. I

1336
01:11:08.520 --> 01:11:10.960
hope you've learned a lot about hermeneutics. I hope you've

1337
01:11:11.000 --> 01:11:13.319
learned a lot about how to listen to sermons. I

1338
01:11:13.359 --> 01:11:16.239
hope you've had some great spiritual benefit from it. We

1339
01:11:16.279 --> 01:11:18.640
can have a long talk about how much spiritual benefit

1340
01:11:18.680 --> 01:11:20.680
has to has come from this.

1341
01:11:20.760 --> 01:11:21.800
I know this one thing.

1342
01:11:22.560 --> 01:11:25.239
Reviewing sermons has gotten me more into the text than

1343
01:11:25.279 --> 01:11:30.680
ever before, because well.

1344
01:11:28.560 --> 01:11:30.279
You see what just happened there. We had to go,

1345
01:11:30.439 --> 01:11:33.159
we had to look into the text.

1346
01:11:34.720 --> 01:11:37.439
Now we're going to cover Isaiah forty three, verse by

1347
01:11:37.520 --> 01:11:40.920
verse somewhere in twenty twenty five whenever we finish Isaiah

1348
01:11:41.079 --> 01:11:46.279
forty one and forty two, and trust me, it won't

1349
01:11:46.319 --> 01:11:48.159
sound anything like that.

1350
01:11:48.760 --> 01:11:49.600
Thanks for listening.

1351
01:11:49.880 --> 01:11:53.960
Everyone, have a wonderful new year, and we'll see what.

1352
01:11:54.159 --> 01:11:54.520
I don't know.

1353
01:11:54.840 --> 01:11:56.439
I don't know what we're going to do in twenty

1354
01:11:56.479 --> 01:11:59.119
twenty five. I don't know, but I know this. Have

1355
01:11:59.159 --> 01:12:02.000
the Sermons two point oh app on your.

1356
01:12:01.800 --> 01:12:03.720
Devices and utilize it.

1357
01:12:03.840 --> 01:12:07.079
Because even though that was a frustrating sermon, guess what

1358
01:12:07.399 --> 01:12:10.720
it caused us to do spend seventy two minutes considering

1359
01:12:10.760 --> 01:12:14.960
Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. So see, I may

1360
01:12:15.000 --> 01:12:17.279
get frustrated by it, but I'm grateful that it's there.

1361
01:12:17.760 --> 01:12:19.399
I want that sermon to be there. I want that

1362
01:12:19.439 --> 01:12:20.960
sermon to be there for people. I want everyone to

1363
01:12:20.960 --> 01:12:23.560
go listen to that sermon because it should force you

1364
01:12:23.600 --> 01:12:26.600
to really spend time in Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen.

1365
01:12:26.880 --> 01:12:28.920
If you won't just allow.

1366
01:12:28.680 --> 01:12:30.880
The sermon to keep you from the text, if you'll

1367
01:12:30.880 --> 01:12:33.199
allow the sermon to drive you to the text, then

1368
01:12:33.239 --> 01:12:33.720
it's done it.

1369
01:12:34.239 --> 01:12:37.520
Who cares how it gets you there? So I'm glad

1370
01:12:37.560 --> 01:12:40.439
the sermon is there. I'm glad. I'm glad because it

1371
01:12:40.600 --> 01:12:43.199
just allowed us to do what we've just done. All right,

1372
01:12:43.239 --> 01:12:43.960
Thanks for listening.

1373
01:12:44.279 --> 01:12:47.399
Everyone, Have a great rest of your December, have a

1374
01:12:47.439 --> 01:12:52.039
great New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, spend time with

1375
01:12:52.079 --> 01:12:56.159
your family. If your situation is bad, I am so sorry.

1376
01:12:56.279 --> 01:12:59.079
I apologize. I wish I could give you some promise

1377
01:12:59.079 --> 01:13:01.520
that everything's going to do better, but I cannot give you.

1378
01:13:01.600 --> 01:13:03.239
I can give you the promise that everything will be

1379
01:13:03.239 --> 01:13:06.079
better in eternity. I can't give you any promise things

1380
01:13:06.079 --> 01:13:07.439
are going to be better in the here and now.

1381
01:13:07.479 --> 01:13:10.199
But I can tell you that you can cling to

1382
01:13:10.399 --> 01:13:12.880
and trust in the fact that salvation is found in

1383
01:13:12.960 --> 01:13:14.960
Jesus Christ. Your sins have been removed as far as

1384
01:13:14.960 --> 01:13:17.640
the east is from the west because of his sacrificial death.

1385
01:13:17.840 --> 01:13:20.920
Trust in him, rest in his finished work. That's what

1386
01:13:20.960 --> 01:13:23.239
you can hold on to. I can't promise how life.

1387
01:13:23.239 --> 01:13:24.800
I can't even promise how life is going to go

1388
01:13:24.840 --> 01:13:28.000
from now to the end of before to the beginning

1389
01:13:28.039 --> 01:13:30.279
of twenty twenty five, and we have no idea what

1390
01:13:30.319 --> 01:13:32.359
twenty twenty five is going to hold. It's probably going

1391
01:13:32.399 --> 01:13:35.720
to be filled with pain and difficulty and suffering and

1392
01:13:35.760 --> 01:13:38.800
loneliness and for a lot of people. And that's the

1393
01:13:38.840 --> 01:13:41.199
way life works. And I wish I could give you

1394
01:13:41.239 --> 01:13:43.760
some promise it, oh, it's all going to be wonderful,

1395
01:13:43.760 --> 01:13:46.800
But I can't because we do not have that promise.

1396
01:13:47.119 --> 01:13:48.920
We have the promise that in this life there's going

1397
01:13:48.960 --> 01:13:52.079
to be difficulty, in pain and suffering. That's what we

1398
01:13:52.119 --> 01:13:55.039
can know, so we can prepare ourselves for that instead

1399
01:13:55.039 --> 01:13:59.319
of clinging to fraudulent promises offered by pastors who misuse scripture.

1400
01:13:59.680 --> 01:14:03.000
Thanks listening, God bless