WatersEdge Church Messages
At WatersEdge our senior pastor, Eric Livingston, delivers bible-based teaching each week. Services are every Sunday morning at 9:30am, at WatersEdge.
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WatersEdge Church Messages
Bible Recap Week 31
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Join Pastor Julie and Kayla as they tag-team once again, taking a deeper look at the incredible passages we read last week in Isaiah.
It almost felt like Christmas in July as we encountered some of the Bible's most powerful prophecies about the coming Messiah.
Together, we'll celebrate the faithfulness of God woven throughout these incredible chapters.
Whether you've been reading along every day or you're just jumping in, this conversation will encourage you, challenge you, and help you see Scripture with fresh eyes.
Grab your Bible, settle in, and let's recap Isaiah together!
Hey everyone, and welcome to the Waterfit Bible Recap Podcast. This is Pastor Eric, and I'm really glad you're listening. This podcast is one of the tools that we're using this year as we read through the Bible together. It's a chance for us to think about last week's reading. What's standing out to you? What's confusing? What might God be saying to us along the way? One of the things that we are focused on in the reading is what we need to say about God. We call it God. I believe we listen to God. A workout that builds muscle. So you can live like Jesus. Love like Jesus. I I love spending time in the Word with you like this. So let's get started.
SPEAKER_01Hey everyone, welcome back to the Water's Edge Bible Recap Podcast. I'm Julie.
SPEAKER_02And I'm Kayla. Thanks for joining us again as we continue reading through the Bible together.
SPEAKER_01Before we jump in, I have a confession. I got really behind in my reading. And honestly, it's probably not the first time since we've started this journey. And I'd love to tell you that it's going to be the last, but who really knows? I'm the type of person that if I can't finish something perfectly, I have to quit. I want to quit and start completely over from the very beginning.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think a lot of people can relate to that. I know I can. Um, we start the year with all this excitement, and then life happens. Schedules start getting busier, kids have activities, work gets crazy, and before you know it, you're looking at three or four missed days or even weeks, thinking, well, guess I'll start again in January.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And so can I just encourage anyone listening right now? Please don't do that. Do not quit. Jump back in wherever you are. Go back and catch up if you want, or start with today's reading. There really isn't a wrong way to do this. The goal isn't checking off boxes, it's opening God's word. So if you're behind, give yourself grace. God isn't grading your reading plan, He's inviting you into relationship with Him.
SPEAKER_02So I actually loved where we ended our reading this month. It almost felt like we were having Christmas in July.
SPEAKER_01I thought the exact same thing. Isaiah has so many passages that we usually hear around Christmas that I almost wanted to go make some hot chocolate and put up my tree. And I love something that Terry Lee pointed out this week. She mentioned that some form of do not fear appears 366 times throughout scripture. So one for every day of the year, including leap year. How amazing is that? And I just thought that was a very beautiful reminder. So as we were talking about what to focus on this week, I realized that Isaiah keeps answering one question: Who is God? Every chapter seems to reveal another part of his character.
SPEAKER_02I you know what I noticed that too? It's almost like Isaiah kept saying, if you've forgotten who God is, look again. And it hit me in a fresh way after being at motion this past week because I watched thousands of students worship Jesus with everything they had. And we heard stories of students finding freedom and anxiety, shame, addictions, and even suicidal thoughts. It was just such a powerful reminder that the God Isaiah is describing isn't just the God who moved thousands of years ago, he's still revealing himself and changing lives today. Sometimes we just need to look back at scripture so that we can recognize what he's still doing right in front of us. Um, can we check out take a look at Isaiah 40? So, chapter 40 completely drew me in. What stood out to you there in Isaiah 40?
SPEAKER_01Honestly, uh, verse 8. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. Everything around us changes, right? Our culture, our opinions change, our governments definitely change. We even change. But God's word never changes. That gave me so much peace. And then I kept reading. God sits above the circle of the earth, he measures the waters in his hands, he names every star. And I couldn't help but picture looking out of an airplane window. When you're that high up, the cars and everything, right? The buildings they look tiny. Everything that feels and felt huge suddenly seems so small. Isaiah reminds us that God sees everything from a perspective we never could. Nothing is too big for him.
SPEAKER_02Wow, I love that picture. Not because people are smart small to God, um, or our problems are small to God, but it's because our problems are never bigger than he is.
SPEAKER_01Right. Then chapter one reminded me of something I think all of us need to hear. God says, I have chosen you. Not tolerated us, not settled for us, but he chose us. He chose you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that word chosen really stood out to me too. Um, especially because Israel hadn't been faithful. Yet God kept reminding them, I'm still your God. And that just says so much about God's faithfulness. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Um, then chapter 43 just keeps building on that, right? Verse 25 says, I, even I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake. That verse amazed me. God forgives because of his character, not because we've earned it. We talk about that a lot, but sometimes I don't think it really sits in. Like we don't actually understand. And then another phrase that jumped out to me is no one can undo what I have done. How comforting is that when God redeems, he completely redeems.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, can we talk about the idol chapters for a minute?
SPEAKER_01Because I actually laughed as I read through these. Yeah, me too. Especially chapter 47. God basically says, Hey, go ask your astrologers and fortune tellers to save you. It's almost sarcastic.
SPEAKER_02Right, it it really was. Um, but underneath the humor is a serious question. What are we trusting? Maybe we don't carve wooden idols today, but we still build things we depend on more than God, whether it's success, money, relationships, control, our own comfort.
SPEAKER_01Yes, exactly. Idolatry did not disappear, it just changed shape. So, can I ask you something? Out of everything that we read this week, what passage stayed with you the most?
SPEAKER_02I think Isaiah 53. Um, I know we hear it a lot around Christmas and Easter, but slowing down and rereading it this week, I was overwhelmed. Um, Isaiah wrote these words hundreds of years before Jesus was born, yet it's like he's standing at the foot of the cross. He was pierced for our transgressions, he carried our griefs by his wounds. We are healed. And I just kept thinking, how could anyone read this and not immediately think of Jesus?
SPEAKER_01I had the exact same thoughts. I'm so thankful to be on this side of the cross and know Jesus. I can't imagine hearing his words back then and not really understanding who the Messiah was. Did you watch the Bible recap video link that she shared? I loved watching it. It gave so much background to Isaiah 53. Um, if you guys didn't check that out, go back and it's linked. It's all free in the descriptions. But uh, one thing that stood out to me is that Isaiah even tells us Jesus wasn't someone people would have naturally been drawn to because of his appearance. That kind of made me stop because I've never thought about it. So often the movies or the TV shows they give us this image of Jesus, and Isaiah reminds us that his beauty was not an outward type beauty. People were drawn to him because of who he was.
SPEAKER_02Right. One thing that also kept showing up near the end of Isaiah was God's heart, um, especially chapters 57 and 58, um, when they pointed out that he's not interested in an empty religion, he wants transformed hearts.
SPEAKER_01That connected so well with what we talked about previously in Micah. God has never been after religious performance, he's after people who know him, who love him, right? People who reflect his heart to other people.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, can we connect that with 2 Kings 19, verse 14 for a minute? Because I absolutely loved Hezekiah's response to what looked like an impossible situation. Instead of panicking, he literally took the threatening letter into the temple and laid it before the Lord. I love that too.
SPEAKER_01What if we did that more often? Instead of carrying every single burden by ourselves, what if we lay it before God? And then we read Psalm 46 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. That wasn't just poetry, that was reality. Hezekiah experienced it. So if I had to summarize Isaiah in one sentence, I'd say this Isaiah reminded me not just what God has done, but who he is. I guess it'd be more than one sentence because he is faithful, he is powerful, compassionate, he is our redeemer, right? Our shepherd, and he is our savior. And he is still inviting people to come to him today.
SPEAKER_02Right? Maybe that's the question we leave you with this week. When you think about God, what picture do you carry? The one culture's painted or the one scripture reveals? Because Isaiah invites us to know him as he truly is. After watching what God did in the lives of our students at Motion Conference this week, I can honestly say that this message from Isaiah isn't just history. The same God who comforted Israel, forgave sinners, and invited people back to himself is still doing that today. And I'm so thankful that I got to witness it, even with our own students in this congregation.
SPEAKER_01I love that. Thanks again for joining us this week. We hope these conversations encourage you to keep opening your Bible. And if you're behind, do not quit. Pick it back up. God will meet you right where you are.
SPEAKER_02We'll see you next week.
SPEAKER_00Keep reading, keep growing, and keep looking for Jesus on every page.water's edge. And you can listen to our weekly message on any platform under the Water's Edge website or by downloading the Water's Edge app.