Isaiah 43:18,19

God says: Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.  See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. What do you see when you view your life? Do you see possibilities or problems?

God will not begin a new thing in his church until he does away with the old. As Jesus put it, he won’t put new wine into old wineskins.

• The 1st step to embracing the new thing that God wants to do in your life is to change your focus: quit looking behind and start looking ahead.
• Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. If you are continually looking behind you cannot see where you are going.
• Paul shared with us this great secret of success in life and ministry.

Phil 3: 12 – 15

¹² Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, ¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

1. You Cannot Depend Upon Past Victories to Sustain You
   1. The children of Israel had many victories in their past:
      • Leaving Egypt
      • Conquering the Land of Canaan
      • Fighting of prospective conqueror.
      • Survived a split in their country
   2. The question isn’t what has God done –the question must be:  What is God doing in your life right now? Or What is it that you want Him to do in your life right now?

2. You Cannot Allow Your Past Failures to Possess You
   1. The children of Israel had failed God miserably. Every time He blessed them with good things, they returned to Him evil things:
   2. The children of Israel did not deserve to receive anything from God. Yet He still loved them and He earnestly wanted to help them change.
   3. Notice God’s Message: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!
   4. God was not condemning them for their past, they could do nothing to change it. Instead God was holding out the hand of hope. He is in effect saying: Forget about your past — I am giving you an opportunity to start over. Isaiah 55:7

3. You Cannot Live on Yesterday’s Faith
   1. The children of Israel had experienced great spiritual blessings throughout their history. From the first Passover, to the crossing of the Red Sea, to the conquering of the Land of Canaan, to the building of the temple, the children of Israel had seen the hand of God at work in and through their lives.
   2. Yet their faith in what God had done was doing nothing to deliver them from their present situation. Their old faith was not sufficient enough to deliver them from their present problems.
   3. They needed new faith, a new vision for what God could do. They needed a new portion of the faith that had brought to pass all the victories from before.

What is the new thing that God is doing in his church?

“Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them” (Isaiah 42:9).

God is about to do a new thing. And this new work will be so glorious, it’s going to cause his people to praise him like never before: “Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof” (42:10). God is telling us, “Let all my people worldwide sing my praises. Let me hear a new song from the sailors at sea, from people in every nation, from all the lands of the earth.”

You Must See Your Possibilities as God Sees Them: I am making a way in the desert.  God is able to transform the desert areas of your life into fields of blessing and abundance. God can take a dried up useless life and transform it into a life of purpose and grace.

When God says to His Children He will do a new thing, it means you will move to a level of freedom you have never known before.

1. It also means that God is about to surprise your enemies beyond recovery. The Lord is starting a new thing in your life, family, business, and ministry. Are you prepared for it?
2. The Lord has promised to do a new thing. The new thing God is about to do in your life shall not be delayed. He will make rivers in your desert. When a man gets promoted to a new level, everything becomes new.
3. However, a new thing can mean different things to different people. You need to hold unto God’s word and promises for a new thing that you desire in every area of your life.
4. God had already set into motion the events and people who would lead Israel out of captivity and back into the land of blessing. But it was still up to them to decide if they wanted what God was offering.
5. If they refused God’s plan, if they refused to follow where God was leading, then they would be doomed to remain in their captivity.
6. God has already set into motion a new direction and a new purpose for your life: will you follow Him? Psalms 95:7- 8.