Isaiah 43:18 - I do new things

Isaiah 43, verse 18. “You do not remember the past things nor do you remember the old things. Behold, I do new things, soon it will come to light, you will not know it. Once again I will open the way in the desert and rivers in the solitude”.

I want to ask you the question. Have you gone through some deserts in the year 2005? Maybe moments of drought, moments of sadness maybe, of loss. We serve a God who has the power to make all things new. To make springs of water sprout in the desert, new plants, animals, new life where there was death. And that's what I want to talk about today.

The God who makes all things new. We pray. Father, in the name of Jesus we come before you. Father, thank you that you are the God of life and that you can transmit life to us, we receive it from you today. Because You Jesus are the resurrection and the life and in you there is always a new day. We thank you, in the name of Jesus.

Let's go together to Ezekiel Chapter 47. God bless the holy remnant. They are here because they decided they want to seek God first. Give the first fruits of the year to the Lord. Ezekiel 47. The prophet describes a vision he had of a river flowing from the temple of God.

47 beginning in verse 1 and what I'm going to do...... "He brought me back to the entrance of the house and, behold, water came out from under the threshold of the house toward the east because the facade of the house was to the east and the waters descended from below towards the right side of the house, to the south of the altar. He took me out by the way of the north gate and made me go around, by the outer way, out of the gate to the way of the one that faces the east and I saw that the waters came out from the right side and the man came out toward the east carrying a line in his hand and he measured a thousand cubits and led me through the water up to the ankles. He measured another thousand and led me through knee-deep water. Then he measured another thousand and made me go through the water up to my loins (which I imagine is the waist, I don't know). He measured another thousand and it was already a river that I could not cross because the waters had grown in such a way that the river could not be crossed except by swimming. And he said to me: have you seen son of man? Then he took me and made me go back along the river bank and when I came back I saw that on the river bank there were many trees on both sides. He told me: “These waters come out to the eastern region and will descend to the Arabah, and will enter the sea, and when they enter the sea the waters will receive healing. And every living soul that swims wherever these rivers enter will live and there will be many fish because these waters have entered there, and they will receive healing. And everything that enters this river will live and next to it will be the fishermen and from En-gedi to En-eglaim it will be its net-tender and by its species the fish will be as numerous as the fish of the great sea. Its swamps and lagoons will not be cleaned up and will remain for salt flats and next to the river on the banks on either side, all kinds of fruit trees will grow, their leaves will never fall nor will their fruit be lacking. In due time it will mature because its waters come out of the sanctuary and its fruit will be for eating, its leaf for medicine.”

How beautiful this vision! It is from the temple of God and a river flows in that temple and the prophet could see that wherever the river flows, as the song says, there will be life.

God made trees, plants, fish, new life sprout in all the flow of that river and that is a prophecy of what we are living today, we, you and I, are the temple of Holy Spirit. And God wants a spiritual river to flow from here. And let that river flow in every street, in every store, in every corner, in every apartment, in every school, in every hospital, and where this river flows there will be new life. Because the river flows from us and with us and we have to flow with that river and swim in that river, and we go where there is darkness so that there is light and life there.

You know that I learned to ski a little bit this summer and I learned to like being in the waves there and almost spinning around in the water, right? God wants us to play in these waters. God wants us to have a good time this year, with a flow because power does not come from us, it comes from God. In some of the countries where we have come, there are beautiful beaches, there are beautiful rivers. Visualize these rivers because what is going to flow here in this city is much better and we are part of that.

God makes all things new. But there is a question. There was not everything that came to have life, the river could not flow everywhere because there were also stagnant places. How many of us know stagnant places like swamps?

God has a question for us this first day of the year 2006: Do you want to be a spring or a swamp, a lagoon? you know what? If we're being honest, we all have stuck places in our lives. If we are honest, we all have places in our life that are not flowing, that are not growing, and there is death and ugly things that stink there. God challenges us today to get into the flowing river, which changes because God makes all things new.

I liked what Gonzalo read today. God's mercy is new every day. you know what? I don't know what you had to go through this year, but I know that God's mercy was with you. That mercy is new. This mercy is here for you today in whatever you are living and going through. God says, "I love you and I'm with you and whatever it is, I'm going to be there, you can count on it."

The Israelites lived on the bread from heaven when they wandered in the desert. The people of Israel each morning had to gather new bread and eat new bread. God has new bread for us every day, new love, every day. But it's up to us to receive it, it's up to us to enter into the new things that God has. Our God makes all things new.

They know that we are going to play a game here that I am going to invite, a little participation. They are going to participate here. I want to ask the question of people in the Bible that God changed their names. A person that God, you know what, is almost a hobby of God, He plays with it, He likes to invent a new name for the person. Examples: Abraham, what was his name and how did it change? Open, and God says “you know what Abraham, even though you're an old man. It doesn't matter that you can't have children, it doesn't matter that you're old, you're going to be the father of nations Abraham, a prophetic name because God saw his future, his possibilities.

Other examples, back there, Saul to Pablo, very good..... Ok. Saul to Paul, what was the thing with Saul, what was he like before? He was a bad man...... he was killing Christians. Look, you ask him, what is your job? He writes: 'well, I kill Christians'. Pharisee, right? and God changed Paul's name. Because He said, Saul is dead, Saul no longer lives, I already have new things for you.

How many of us here were Sauls before knowing Christ? God says 'I change your name. You are Paul now. You are Paul with a call to preach to the nations, new things.

Other examples: someone different who hasn't spoken. Sara, ok what was before? Ok, and the meaning of the names how is it. Who knows the meanings.........I think....Princess,.....God gives you a name. You are not sterile anymore, you are my princess, you are my prince. God changes names.

Other examples: Jacob, back there. Ok... Israel. And what does Israel mean? What does Israel mean? The one who fights with God, because Jacob was shameless. Jacob was a scoundrel, a cheat, who lied, who did things, wicked things and then he had to fight with God and God damaged his hip so that he would limp, and God says 'you are Israel who have fought with God'.

How many of us were here, Jacob? How many of us here are fighting against God? And God says: 'I have new things for you, you are going to be Israel that fights with God and you have won in the world.' Make God use this strong character.

Other examples: Ok, and I want someone else to explain. Pedro, how was the change? Someone new that I haven't heard. They change it from Simon to Peter and what does Peter mean? Stone Rock. And on this rock I will build my church. I am going to make you a great leader. God could see the strength in him. God gives us new names.

What is your name? Do you know that God has another name for you? For each one who believes in Jesus has another name and it is written on a white stone. But each one of us.....that God has written on a white stone and one day when we get to heaven we will know our new name. And one day when we get to heaven we are going to know that new name and it is a name that only the heart of God knows because God is in the business of doing new things in your life. He gives you a new birth too.

The Bible says that if there is anyone who is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away and now all things are made new. We are born again. When we receive Jesus, He gives us a new heart. The Bible says that He removes that heart of stone and puts in a new heart of flesh.

How many of you have been whiny when you meet Christ? Or they have been people who have never cried in their life and know Christ and suddenly start crying, especially those who are so strong. And then the spirit starts to get into that tone and it starts to soften as well and the tears start to flow and all the pain starts to come out like these rivers, because God makes all things new.

The Bible says that He gives us a new wardrobe when we meet Jesus. The prophet Zechariah had a vision of the high priest, dressed in dirty clothes, and Satan was accusing him, saying 'this man is dirty, he is a sinner', and the angel of the Lord said 'the Lord rebuke you, Satan. God who has chosen this man as a stick of fire, God himself rebuke you. Then this angel sent someone to bring a complete new garment for this high priest.

God has a new outfit for you this year. He has a new mantle for you this year. A new spiritual call with which He will cover you, like one of those warriors in the Middle Ages who was given a totally shiny new armor, like the bride of Jesus dressed in her wedding dress to receive Jesus. New dress.

God promises to put a new song in your mouth. The psalmist says 'I waited patiently for the Lord and He came to me and pulled me out of the miry mud, that swamp in which I was stuck and lifted me up, and lifted me up and put my feet on the stone and put a new song in my mouth. , a song of praise for my Lord, and I'm going to sing for Him. He puts on a new song. Sing it this morning, may it flow from your mouth for this year. May God take your hand and get you out of that mire that you're in and put you in a solid place and bring new things from your heart. He gives you a new heart of flesh.

The Bible says that the day will come when God will make a new earth and a new heaven, everything will be new.

We are going to read from Revelation, Chapter 21. It says “I saw a new heaven and a new earth because the first heaven and the first earth passed away and the sea was no more, and I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven from God prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband, and I heard a loud voice from heaven saying 'behold the tabernacle of God with men and He will dwell with them and they will be His people. And God himself will be with them as their God, God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death nor will there be more crying, nor clamor, nor pain because the first things have passed. And He who sits on the throne said 'behold, I make all things new'.

The world we live in is going to change one day. The trees are going to be a brighter green. I don't know if the animals are going to talk, but who knows? The water is going to be crystal clear like a beach in the Caribbean, but even better, and we are going to have a new body and you are going to shine with the glory of God. And when we see each other up there, let's look at each other, is that you, right? And we are going to see how there is something familiar in the eyes, in the smile of that person. Let's go, maybe to recognize ourselves and tell ourselves, 'I think it's you'. But you are shining with the glory of God. That's what God is going to do for us, a new garment of glory, and God is now in the process of beginning that transition at this very moment.

You know, I love when people come here totally fresh from the streets. He knows that they have even been mistreated in some way there is a heaviness in them, and I quickly think 'I can't wait to see what will happen to these people. Since they arrive and if they sing those songs to God and if they allow the word to enter and mingle with them, if they allow all that pain to come out in tears and accept the Lord, God is going to light a little girl in the midst of them and it's going to start to soften those aspects in them and they're going to start having these smiles that are going to shine on them. Now, it will not be that everything is going to be perfect in your life, but there is a new hope, there is a new power because God makes all things new. He loves it. That's it, that's how God has fun. I can see God dying of laughter, talking to the angels and saying....... I'm going to do it with this person that you can't even imagine. And He has fun with it.

The Bible says that angels desire and long to see these things. The way that God transforms a life is something incredible. It doesn't happen with angels, it happens with human beings. We are part of this and God takes them and says ''look what I did! And this person becomes a symbol of his power and his glory to transform a life. And we become part of that river that is flowing. People say, there is something different about this person. They smell different. They have the fragrance of Christ. There is something strange, there is something of Jesus in them.

That's where we're going. The key question is, are we willing to change with the change that God wants to make in the midst of our lives? God is always changing and moving, but we have to keep pace with Him and allow that change to happen in us. Many of us don't like change, we want things to be the same as before, even if we were miserable, we still want to stay in the same place.

Jesus says that we are like old wineskins. You know at that time they used to use wineskins that were made of leather, not bottles, and a new wineskin has the flexibility and can breathe as well. And it is important because when the wine ferments it tends to expand in the skin. Do you know what happens if you put a wine that is fermenting in a wineskin that doesn't have that flexibility? I learned.

I have a tremendous sister here at church who gave me vegetable carrot juice in a glass bottle and I put it under my desk up there in the office and forgot I had left it over there. Until one day, I opened the door, there was orange color all over my office walls, glass all over the place in my office. There was a juice pump there because it fermented and I learned a chemical experiment there: that glass doesn't breathe and it explodes.

That vegetable juice was like wine. It's going to expand, it's going to try to breathe and we had better breathe too, because otherwise we're going to have carrot juice all over the walls. We need to flow with the changes that God wants to make in our lives. Many times we prefer our misery. We are sad, depressed, miserable, and for some reason we don't want to change. Because at least it's something familiar to us.

As the saying goes, the devil I know is better than the devil I don't know. There is a person and we are going to go to the book of John, Chapter 5, there is a man that I identify with here in this story. I'm going to summarize the first verses: it was a man who couldn't walk and there was some kind of pond, a swimming pool, there was this story where supposedly an angel came and moved the water and the first person who got in was cured of any ailment, but the thing was, you had to get into the water first or you wouldn't get healed. This man had been there for about 38 years in that place, so Jesus approaches him and look at what Jesus asks him, verse 6. “When Jesus saw him lying down and knew that he had been like this for a long time, he said to him, he asked him this question. : do you want to be healthy?, that is, do you really want to change? In other words, you've been here for so long that perhaps you've chosen to stay like this for all this time. And the man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am going, another descends before me. He had excuses: I have no one to help me. I need someone to pick me up and throw me in there in the water. And we are often like that.

God says, I have a different life for you. And we have a million excuses. On my way to the bathroom I passed a friend here on the street, he was behind a post there on the sidewalk doing his own thing. And he said, hey, I'm going to church now, why don't you go with me? And this man, as drunk as he was, begins to tell me, no, I can't, I have something else to do. I dropped him off and gave him a ride back to his house. And I told him, but come, come with me and he says: yes, yes, tomorrow, tomorrow I'll go there. We have excuses.

And Jesus asks us, do you really want to be better? Do you really want to change? And what Jesus tells him here in this story is "hey, take your mat, get up and walk." You do this. And he is healed, but then the Pharisees suddenly arrive and since it was the Sabbath, Saturday, they arrive and ask him: hey, what are you doing carrying your mat now? The man didn't even know it was Jesus, and he was trying to look for him and when he finds him, Jesus tells him: 'look, you've been healed so stop sinning before something worse happens to you. You have been healed on the outside, now be healed on the inside. And the man just said yes, and he goes back to the Pharisees and tells them who he was and tries to get him arrested. He made a decision to remain crippled within.

We have to decide; Yes, Jesus, I'm ready for you to change me. I am ready for new things that you have for me. And if we're willing to do that, there's a promise that I want us to read in the Book of John, Chapter 7, John 7:37, it says “….on the last and great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and he raised his voice saying “if anyone is thirsty, come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, from within him will flow rivers of living water." The river will run from our inner life. Those rivers will run from our lives. This is an incredible promise.

The river that comes out of the temple will flow from you, if you truly decide to Jesus and drink from Him. If you do that, wherever you go life will surround you. You will reach dark places and there will be light. You are going to meet hurting people and healing is going to flow from you because the river is not just flowing from anywhere else, it is flowing within you.

You only get in touch with this, where there is death and darkness and you have to see how God is going to bring new life in that place. This is an incredible promise.

And I would like to end with a very personal testimony. My wife's grandfather went to be with the Lord this past week, 98 years old, immigrant from Japan, an amazing man and his name was Furuya, which in Japanese means dry valley. So, one day while he and Kenny were still dating, he was writing the name Kenny and looking for different meanings. I was writing it in Hebrew because I learned Hebrew at school and I was looking at what the Furuya was saying and it occurred to me that this has a meaning in Hebrew. Furu means that it has been made fruitful. It is the same as the name Ephraim. Meche preached about this a few weeks ago. Ephraim means that it is twice as fruitful. So Furu means 'to be fruitful' and 'ya' is a version of God's name Jahue. In other words, in Hebrew this name means 'the Lord makes it fruitful'. Jehovah fertilizes it, it is how he makes it fruitful. God brings him back to a new life with new fruit.

And I also thought about his grandfather's life and all the difficult things he had to go through in his life. And there was a time during World War II when all the Japanese immigrants were put in prisons. You could have been born here but because you were Japanese, you would have been put in jail because the enemy was the Japanese at that time. And this man, his wife and his son, had to go to the fields where these prisons were for several years. It was a very dry valley where they were. But do you know what happened while they were there? They got to know the Lord Jesus in a very personal way and the Lord has made them bear much fruit.

What is your dry valley? What is that part of your life that you can see is dead and you don't think life will come out of it? We serve a God who looks you in the eye and says; my son, my daughter, I make all new things. Let me flow into you and rivers of living water will flow from you. And there is going to be fruit because God makes all things bear fruit.

So we're going to come before the presence of God, we're going to stand up. We need to say yes to the Lord. Yes, God, I want to be better. I want to grow and change. I am willing to be a flexible wineskin so that I can receive your new wine because I know that you are going to spill it this year. We are in a very special time. Get ready for a special visitation from God, but we have to let that spirit flow into us. We have to be willing to change from within. So let's pray.

Father, we come before you today and we thank you that you are the living God. You are the God who makes all things new. Thank you, because you give us a new hope. And we want to say yes to you. I want to invite you if someone wants to say yes to Jesus in a special way, I want to invite you to come and pray. Come if you want to say yes to the Lord in a specific way, come by. There is something you have been living with for many years and you want to let God do the work in you. If you want to receive Jesus, I invite you to come here or if you want to say yes to Him in a specific way in your life, the invitation is here.

Father we say yes. I thank you for your living water. Thank you for the promises you have made, Lord, that you can transform us, that you can put a new song in our life, that sins and problems of years and years do not have to continue. We can change. Things that seemed to be dead can now come to life. Holy Spirit of God we receive you........ and on behalf of the entire León de Judá church that we represent, we say yes, Lord. Pour out your new wine today, new wine. You save the best for last. We want your new wine, Lord. We want that joy that comes from you, that hope that comes from you. We thank you that your door is open to us no matter what happens, no matter what we have done. Your blood cleanses us, cleanses us completely. We thank you, Jesus.

We're going to take some time to pray here at the altar. If you want to get closer there is no rush. We are going to take a time of prayer. Come here, let's sing to the Lord. Go to Spanish version