The scripture is taken from Isaiah chapter 43 verses 18 to 19.
"Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past.
See, I'm doing a new thing, now it springs up.
Do you not perceive it?
I'm making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." That's the word of the Lord.
Praise be to God.
Thanks, Jade, for reading that.
The scripture is for this morning.
We have a guest speaker this morning.
Her name is Eileen, Pastor Eileen.
She pastors a church in North Vancouver.
Yeah.
So I'll give her a little bit of time to be able to share a little bit about herself this morning, but we would like to pray for her before she gives us the word.
So Eileen, why don't you come up here and we want to pray for you before you give us God's word here this morning.
Let's pray, Church.
Father, we thank you this morning for the opportunity to come into your presence.
We know that we are invited into your courts and help us to come with thanksgiving and praises in our hearts.
This morning we want to lift up Pastor Eileen to you.
We thank you for her ministry.
We thank you for her family and we thank you for all that you've done with her and through her.
And so this morning we asked that you would just anoint her, God.
This morning her heart, her spirit, her speech, her preparation.
As she delivers your word to us, that we, the body, might be attentive to your spoken word this morning.
Help us to receive with open hearts, humble hearts, to hear what you have to share with us and speak to us here this morning.
So to your glory we pray.
We ask all these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thank you.
Can you just come up?
This is the recording.
Gotcha.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you Pastor Sam for inviting me.
So I bring greetings from, okay guys, I think my church beats for the longest name, okay?
That's why he can't probably remember it all.
It's North Shore Pacific Grace Mennonite Brethren Church.
Yeah.
NSPG, NBC.
Or North Shore PG.
So we're on the other side of the continent, so we bring you peace, okay?
And I'm just so grateful to be able to worship with you guys here today.
I've actually known Ruby and Sam for a very, very long time.
In fact Ruby, since we were probably young teenagers, and then Sam, long, long time, since we, before we became pastors.
And honestly, I'm just so blessed that you guys have, I mean you guys should be blessed to have him because over the years of knowing him, he's such a faithful, a caring person.
And I know he's helped me through a lot of my challenges and ups and downs.
And yeah, you guys really have a really good pastor.
And so today, let's refresh our soul with God's word.
And so we're going to turn to the passage again.
It's very short, but I want us to be able to just quiet our hearts and prepare our heart for what he is about to tell us today.
So why don't we just pray again and just ask God to come and speak to us.
Father God, thank you for being such a caring and loving God.
We ask that you will speak to us in such a way that we can't ignore you and you will transform us one way or the other.
And we pray all this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Yeah, so our passage again, let's read it out together.
It says, "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.
Remember I am, or behold, I am doing a new thing.
Now it springs forth.
Do you not perceive it?
I will make a way into wilderness and rivers in the desert." Wow, what a beautiful and encouraging passage for us.
Now when we just read this verse, we would naturally think that it's about like forgetting our past.
You know, your past is in the past and God has forgiven you.
But we're going to look at this in the context to see the beauty and power of this passage.
Now at this time of the passage, the Israelites were actually in captivity in Babylon.
So try to imagine that you were there back in that time and thinking about what they might be going through or feeling.
Maybe it feels like COVID-19 all over again, where we're stuck in that time.
Oh, by the way, here's a picture beforehand of my family and my...
You know what, I noticed that my son's grade three teacher is here.
Mrs. Tseng.
You've probably known her as Vivian, but yeah.
And then my daughter, youngest one, was born during pandemic.
She's six now and same age as Sam and Ruby's kids.
And yeah, you can tell from the picture, the personality of each of them.
And so yeah, just hear and bring you blessing from them.
Okay, so back to the passage.
Yeah, and just think of like, because COVID, it feels like we were in captivity at that time.
We don't want to think about that anymore, right?
But for the Israelites, they were at such a low point that they constantly needed assurance that things would eventually turn around for them.
So why would God tell his people to remember the former things, nor consider the things of old?
Right?
Well, we have to look back at some of the verses before that, which is verse 16 and 17.
And it says, okay, this is what the Lord says.
He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick.
Okay, so think of that imagery.
And that was what we read.
Does that bring to mind an event that happened to the Israelites?
I love interaction.
So what do you guys think?
Egypt?
Yeah, what?
Crossing the Red Sea.
Crossing the Red Sea, yes, right?
You know, and so it's about the Exodus event when like God used Moses to, you know, let my people go, right?
He freed the Israelites from Egypt, brought them to the Red Sea, parted the Red Sea.
They walked on dry land and Pharaoh's army, they tried to chase them.
And then what happened was the waters came back over them and drowned them.
Right?
And so we jump to verse 18, and this talks about remember not the former things.
Okay.
And I love how ESV, like this version, translates verse 18.
It says remember not.
Now in the original language in Hebrew, it is "tiskeru." But "tiskeru" means remember, but it also means like to reflect on, to commemorate, to observe.
So essentially what God is telling the people of Israel is basically to stop commemorating.
And "tiskeru" means like stop reflecting on, like stop remembering the former things.
And when we look at this verse in context, we realize that God is actually talking about a very specific event that the Israelites are not to dwell on or to remember.
And he's talking about the Exodus event.
He's telling them, you got to stop reflecting on that event.
Now to the Israelites, like the Exodus event was huge.
Like they just love that story.
They love it because that was their deliverance story.
Anytime that they get to talk about it, they will tell you about it, right?
But why in the world would God tell the Israelites to stop remembering this important event?
Well, if you look at the next verse, verse 19, it says it right there.
It says, "Behold, I am doing a new thing.
Now it springs forth.
Do you not perceive it?" So the reason God is telling the Israelites to stop remembering the Exodus event is because he wants them to behold, right?
Behold means to stop paying attention because I am doing something new.
Do you not see it?
Because well, for them, they were so busy commemorating that Exodus event that they failed to see the new thing that God was doing.
They were so bent on reflecting on the Exodus and what God did for the ancestors in the past that they basically failed to see what God wanted to do something for them in this present moment for them.
Now I think for the Israelites at that time of this prophecy, they were probably saying,"Oh man, that was like the height of God's power when he was able to split the water of the Red Sea and there's no way that he could top that." That is probably as high and as powerful as God can be.
So for them, they commemorated that event to the point that they failed to see what God was trying to tell them.
But God is saying, "Forget that.
I am doing something new.
Something that might even rival and surpass what I did with your ancestors in the past." And for that reason, you need to stop remembering, commemorating, reflecting on that Exodus event so that you can perceive and understand this new thing that I'm doing.
So with that in mind, verse 18 and 19 is not talking about forgetting the bad things in the past or just any general thing that happened before, but it's telling us not to focus that anymore because I'm doing something new.
You know, look, you need to focus on what God wants to do now.
And yes, I recognize that there are some bad things in the past that keep us from moving forward or experiencing new things that God has for you.
But guess what, sometimes we also focus on the good things too that God did in our past, and that also keeps us from moving forward as well.
Because we are saying that, you know, God could never heal me again just like He did back then.
Or, you know, I remember that time when God provided for me, for my family, and I just don't know if He's going to do that again.
You know, that was a one-time thing.
And sometimes, like, we need to remember we can't expect that our past victories to sustain us.
And sometimes we cannot allow our past failures to paralyze us, right?
The past is a great place to learn from, but sometimes it's a terrible place to live in.
Because if we live in the past, we will never embrace the future that God has in store for us.
Now, Isaiah, he reminds us that the people of the great things that God did for the forefathers when He brought them out of Egypt, he's saying He will make His business to do that again for you.
Because He is the Holy One of Israel, and He's able to do that.
Now, although this generation is very different, but the Lord could also make a way in the wilderness, as well as a way through the Red Sea.
And the same power that God can make a way through the sea is the same that He can make a way through the wilderness for us as well.
And sometimes we are able to believe that, you know, God probably might be able to do some things, but maybe He can't do or won't do other things in our lives.
Maybe if, I don't know for what your background is, maybe if you had a hard upbringing, maybe some people have called you names, or you've been ignored, or maybe you've lost hope, and you don't expect tomorrow will be any better or worse, or any different than today.
And sometimes we expect that, you know, God will help us through maybe today's disappointments, but we still believe, but do we still believe that tomorrow will be better?
You know what?
Let me ask you, what would keep me from perceiving what God is doing?
What is stopping us from believing that?
Maybe it's expecting that it will look like what He's done before.
So here I am, maybe looking for God to part the Red Sea, because that's what He did last time, so maybe He'll do that again in my life.
But sometimes the greatest barrier to what God is doing is what He used to do.
You know, maybe for some of you, when you became a Christian, when you first became a Christian, maybe you opened your Bible and you're like, "Okay, I'm just going to open the Bible anywhere," and God just spoke to me.
And at that time, I believe it was weird because the verse number matched the time that I was reading, and at that moment it was so heavenly.
And now when you open the Bible again, you're thinking, "Okay, I'm just going to flip to it and God, please speak to me again like how you did." And then you flip and you're like, "What is this?
Why is this depressing psalm?
You know, God, speak to me! Speak to me how you used to speak to me!" And God is telling us, "I am speaking to you, but on a different frequency," right?
And He's telling us, "I need you to go deeper and I need you to dig for something new." Right?
Forget not His faithfulness, but forget the form that it came in.
And for the Israelites, they just couldn't get this.
So in Hebrews chapter 6, maybe I don't have it up, but I'm going to read it out.
In verse 1 it says, "Therefore, let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death and of faith in God." And so the writer here, he's saying to keep looking for God, to look like the law, because that's what we're addicted to, right?
And so here's a warning for us.
We can get addicted to one form of deliverance.
And then when grace comes along, we don't even know what to do with it because it's not what God used to do.
So we've got to move on, okay?
Some of you, you might have grown up from religious environment, and for you, God wasn't happy until you were miserable, okay?
Or it didn't count as church unless you had to endure it, right?
You need to move on from that because God is doing a new thing.
You need to open your hands, lift it up to God, and be free in His presence because He's going to do a new thing in your life, right?
Do you not see it?
It will spring forth out of the ground, right?
Do you not perceive it?
You know, what got me is when God did it at the Red Sea, He actually made a way through the waters, okay?
That's what He did, right?
He made a way through the waters.
So picture this, the waters stood up and the water separated them from their freedom, and it stood in a tension like walls on either side until they got through it and then it drowned the Egyptians.
And so for the Israelites, they loved that story because that story reminded them of their deliverance where He made a way through the waters.
And Isaiah says that this time, God is going to make a way, but He's not going to make a way through the waters.
It says He's going to make a way in the wilderness.
It says verse 19, "Behold, I am doing a new thing.
Now it springs forth.
Do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." Okay, question time.
Let me ask you, what did they need in the wilderness?
Even more essential, water, right?
Water.
So what used to be a barrier is about to be a blessing.
Do you see the faithfulness of God?
You see what I'm saying?
What used to be a barrier is now going to become a blessing.
What did threaten to kill you is now what God is bringing forth to bless your life.
And so God says, "I am your creator.
I am your king.
And this is what I do.
I turn barriers into blessings.
I turn water to dry ground into sustenance for your survival.
I turn pain into power.
I turn shame into grace.
I turn mourning into dancing.
And I turn abuse and I make things straight and make a way." And he's saying, "I am a way maker.
I am worthy of worship.
I'm worth the praise.
And I love this.
You're doing a new thing in your life.
Do you not perceive it?
Do you not see it now?" I don't know what you guys gone through, but 10 years of your anniversary that you're celebrating soon, it's a celebration.
It's worth commemorating.
But you know what?
There's so much more that's going to be coming.
And what's next is better.
What he's going to do is a new thing for your church.
And that's what my faith believe is that sometimes when I find myself in the wilderness, a wilderness is not a situation where you feel like you're about to die.
A wilderness is a situation like these exiles in Babylon.
They're probably wondering, "How long, oh Lord?
How long am I going to feel like I'm in a place emotionally that I don't understand?" It wasn't the physical surrounding of Babylon that made them weep as they sat by the rivers.
It wasn't a lack of prosperity.
It was a lack of purpose.
And they were asking, "How long am I going to wander in this place?" And by this time, I'm not sending Moses to get you out.
This time, I'm going to send the water to where you are.
And I'm going to bless you in that place.
Because God is saying, "I am a way maker.
I believe it and I see you do it again.
But how you do it is up to you." I don't know if this will help, but sometimes when I get in situations and I just don't see a way, I don't know if you're there right now or you're going through that or you just came out of one.
One thing I know is that you will find yourself.
I know it feels terrible because you might feel trapped.
You feel uncertain.
But know this encouragement is that here comes water springing forth from the ground to where you are.
I don't know what that looks like, but when I get into that internal wilderness where sometimes I can't feel God like I used to feel God, it used to be like, "Hallelujah!" But now it's like, "Hallelujah!" When I get into that place, I don't know how, I don't know who and I don't know when, but I realize it's not my job to predict the way that God is going to make.
So I don't have to know how if I know who.
And God is saying, "I am the Alpha and Omega, beginning and the end." And a lot of us, we're probably stuck in beta blessing a lot of times.
Like our phones, we can't receive the upgrade because we're so stuck in the way that God used to move.
It's our phones, right?
We don't receive the system upgrade.
Over time, certain functions won't work.
But God is saying to us now that I am doing a new thing.
I know it doesn't feel like how it used to feel, but God is saying, "I'm still faithful." I know it doesn't look like how it used to look like, but God is saying, "I am still faithful." I know some things have changed in our country or our world, but He's saying, "I'm still faithful because I am the Lord." I was the Lord.
I will be the Lord.
I will make a way.
It's what I do and it's who I am and I am making a way for you now.
Do you not see it?
And let's be honest, sometimes our answer is no, no, I don't really see it.
Because sometimes we might be looking backwards, right?
I find the greatest barriers for people is not looking what's before them, but what's behind them, right?
That God has already dealt with.
So whoever God is sending me to preach today, maybe you're five or you're 65, you know, or maybe you feel like you're older and you feel the best has already been behind me.
I've done all that.
Well, let me tell you, okay?
The devil is a liar, okay?
If he's talking, he's lying because the best is not behind you because God has already been to your future and He's saying, "Hurry up and receive, okay?
I want to bless you with what you have, with the strength you have and you can still minister and still work for God, whatever age you are in, even if you feel like you're older." And He's saying, "I am doing a new thing and I am doing a new thing in your life.
I'm doing a new thing in this church, in this city, in this world.
And you see how I parted the water when you needed to go through it?
Now I'm going to make the water come up from when you need it the most." You know, God always wanted to do something new for His people.
He always wanted to do something new for you today.
And I pray, my prayer is that before you leave this room, that you will be transformed one with the other.
Please, please don't ignore Him.
He's always showing you something and He wants to show something new for you because the best days are yet to come.
And God wants to prepare your church and He will, like He will.
And now let's look at what He will promise us, okay?
We talk about this new thing, okay, I get it, right?
But what does He promise us?
Well, in Scripture it's filled with so much that He wants to share with you.
You know, He promised us a new heart, right?
That's in Ezekiel 36 verse 26.
And what about Jesus?
What does He promise to give us?
Well, He promises us a new life.
John 10, 10, He says, "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." Right?
He also wants to give us a new mind.
He wants to give us a new identity.
In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17, He says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away, behold, the new has come." Right?
So notice all the new things that God wants to give His people.
This is the hope for Christians, right?
Is that when we die, there's also going to be a new heaven and a new earth.
There's going to be a new Jerusalem, new body, thank goodness, and no more pain, right?
No more tears.
And so today, if you feel that God can't change your life or transform you, I want to remind you that God wants to do something new in your life.
If you accept Christ in your life and if you receive the gospel message of Jesus Christ, which is the life and death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, like all these things that we mentioned and much more, like He will give you a new heart, a new life, a new mind, a new spirit.
You can't be a new Christian with an old heart, okay?
If you abandon this sinful life and embrace this new life in Jesus Christ, you can experience the goodness of God in your life.
And so God wants to refresh you.
Right?
We're halfway through the year.
There's still halfway more to go, okay?
And He still wants to do something new.
And so let's anticipate that.
And when we do, He promised to remove these obstacles of coming to you.
Maybe not the way that you perceive it, but in His way and in His time.
So whatever may be holding us back, maybe wrong thinking, past mistakes, failed relationships, remember Christ has died for them, right?
We are no longer under that control.
You know, when I had a leg injury, okay, so let me tell you, okay, this was a couple of years ago, but I was so excited to join PentaSport.
I don't know if you guys have been involved in that.
And so I church, we've been involved in, it's a church league, and like they have sports that you would join, and it's a competition kind of.
And so I waited like nine years to play with my church.
And I was so excited.
I love sports.
I'm a sports girl, except I don't run, okay?
The only time I run is away from my children, run errands, running late, whatever.
But I know I can run to Jesus, okay?
But like right before it started, I injured my leg, and I could not play for most of the season.
And I was so, so disappointed.
And I found this physiotherapist, a really good one who treats legs.
And she told me, she said, "Okay, we need to do some rehab, and I want you to do a quarter turn, okay?" It's very little.
She told me to just jump, and jump a quarter, right?
And I'm like, "Okay, okay, let me do that.
It's not hard." Right?
And so I remember standing there, and then all of a sudden my body froze, and I could not do it.
It's not just my leg injury, but all of a sudden I felt this fear in my body that I couldn't control.
And I, oh mind you, I had three knee surgeries on the same leg from sports.
And so it was just really hard for me to get over that.
And ever since then, it's been healed.
But after having that new injury, I thought that everything was fine.
But she was like, "Okay, try it.
I want you to jump and just move." And I'm thinking, "Why are you telling me to do something when I can't do it?" But I knew I can't give up.
So I went over home that week trying to train myself.
And eventually I was able to do it.
I could do it now.
It's just this, right?
But what I noticed was that sometimes our body holds onto a lot of things that we don't realize and we have to retrain our minds and our body to embrace something new and try something new.
And sometimes it might take several times to be able to do that.
And so I had to be open.
I had to be willing to do it.
Just because of the injury, it shouldn't stop me from being rehabilitated again.
And so my leg is now stronger than ever.
But sometimes I get it.
Sometimes if we're going through something very deep and traumatic, I want to advise you to please seek a professional or doctor or a therapist to help you go through those hard and deep issues and be open to how God is working in your life.
Because He wants to do something new.
He wants you to help embrace this new life in Jesus Christ, however that looks like for you.
And so Jesus is our way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
And He will transform our desert into fields of blessings and our wasteland into gardens of abundance.
Just picture that.
And so let's join in on God's great and new things for the rest of the year and believe that the best is yet to come.
Let's pray.
Father, we want to hone in on that.
Not just our circumstances.
We give that into your hands.
But we want to look to you because you are a way maker.
You delight in us.
You created us.
And you are in the business of restoring us.
And you're not willing to let us go and give up on us.
Thank you for that.
And may all of us here be open to what you will show us.
Maybe there's moments and areas in our lives that may be very, very hard.
But Father, not by our own strength, but through your power, through your Spirit to help us through those things.
And that we as a church community can be able to help each other, walk with each other, knowing that you will guide us.
Thank you God.
And we trust you that you are continuing doing a new thing.
And we pray all this in Jesus' name.
Amen.