Be Alert & Be Present | A New Year Sermon from Isaiah 43:19 Christian Sermon | John Giftah

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0:41 Speaker 1: Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John GIFTA.

0:49 Speaker 2: Hey, God, Visual, it's such a joy for me to

0:51 Speaker 2: wish you and your family are very blessed and meaningful

0:54 Speaker 2: twenty twenty six as well. You know, even as we

0:57 Speaker 2: step into the new year, you may to come into

1:00 Speaker 2: the year maybe you had a greade twenty twenty five

1:02 Speaker 2: and you're grateful and the Lord showed up in some

1:05 Speaker 2: area of your life and you're eternally grateful, or you're

1:09 Speaker 2: you're in a place where you're rejoicing and you're glad,

1:11 Speaker 2: and I'm so grateful to God for your life or

1:14 Speaker 2: maybe your life wasn't that great in twenty twenty five.

1:17 Speaker 2: Maybe you had some setbacks, maybe under solved issues. Maybe

1:21 Speaker 2: there are areas you're still waiting on the Lord. You

1:23 Speaker 2: thought God would show up in twenty five, but he

1:26 Speaker 2: did not. But I want you to understand that you

1:29 Speaker 2: know this, This is a word that I want to

1:31 Speaker 2: really challenge you even as you step into the new year,

1:34 Speaker 2: because I believe that this You might have heard this

1:37 Speaker 2: verse a million times, but this one aspect that I

1:39 Speaker 2: really want us to slow down and really take into

1:43 Speaker 2: our heart this year because I've been very intentional about

1:46 Speaker 2: this practicing and asking the Lord to help me through,

1:50 Speaker 2: and I'm telling you this has actually helped me a

1:52 Speaker 2: lot the in just the past couple of days. And

1:56 Speaker 2: I believe that this is a key that the Lord

1:58 Speaker 2: is just placing in my heart for all of us

2:01 Speaker 2: to unlock into this new year as well. So I'm

2:04 Speaker 2: going to quickly share a very familiar verse with you,

2:06 Speaker 2: and I want to hit a very important point that

2:10 Speaker 2: I would like for us to take away this year

2:12 Speaker 2: as well. So it's hoouted Isaiah forty three. I'm sure

2:16 Speaker 2: you may know where I'm going. Eighteen Ver was nine

2:18 Speaker 2: eighteen and nineteen. This is this familiar passage that you

2:22 Speaker 2: might hear very frequently, especially around new beginnings, new Year

2:27 Speaker 2: and all of that. But there's something I want to

2:28 Speaker 2: focus on, and I'm reading to you from the message version.

2:31 Speaker 2: This is what it says. Forget about what's happened. Don't

2:34 Speaker 2: keep going over old history. Right what happened in twenty

2:37 Speaker 2: twenty five happened, you know what did not work out?

2:40 Speaker 2: It did not work out. But the scripture says, forget

2:43 Speaker 2: about it, and don't keep going over old history. Don't

2:46 Speaker 2: keep thinking like, oh my gosh, this should have happened.

2:49 Speaker 2: I wish this hadn't happen. You know, we can keep

2:52 Speaker 2: going into that mode of thinking about it. But anyway,

2:55 Speaker 2: even if you're doing that or not doing that, that's

2:57 Speaker 2: another message altogether. I've preached in depth in the past,

3:00 Speaker 2: and I will focus on it maybe at the right

3:03 Speaker 2: time in the future. But here's the thing I want

3:05 Speaker 2: you to pay attention. In verse nineteen, it says, be alert,

3:10 Speaker 2: be present. I'm about to do something brand new. It's

3:15 Speaker 2: bursting out, don't you see it? There? It is. I'm

3:19 Speaker 2: making a road through the desert rivers in the bad lands.

3:22 Speaker 2: But I want you to focus on this point very

3:25 Speaker 2: very much. Right, be alert, be present, you know, especially

3:32 Speaker 2: in the last couple of days, I've been training myself

3:35 Speaker 2: to do this, Like, I mean, so many times. What

3:38 Speaker 2: happens is we tend to go into this automatic mode

3:41 Speaker 2: like you know, you wake up, or I need to

3:43 Speaker 2: get the shoes of the day done. I need to,

3:47 Speaker 2: you know, get ready for work, I need to get

3:49 Speaker 2: ready for college or school. I need to you know,

3:52 Speaker 2: like take some time out and spend time with a lord.

3:55 Speaker 2: You know, we go as a routine and there's nothing

3:57 Speaker 2: wrong with routine or discipline in its place is that

4:00 Speaker 2: there's there's a place for all of that. But sometimes

4:04 Speaker 2: we go into this automatic mode where everything becomes just

4:08 Speaker 2: out of a subconscious mind where we are actually not

4:11 Speaker 2: present or we're not alert to hear what the Lord

4:15 Speaker 2: is saying. To actually stop and say, God, is this

4:19 Speaker 2: what you want me to do? Is this something from

4:21 Speaker 2: you or is it something that's me trying to make

4:23 Speaker 2: it happen? Are you getting what I'm saying? I really

4:27 Speaker 2: want you to pause and think before you make any decision,

4:31 Speaker 2: like are you getting into the automode like you know what?

4:34 Speaker 2: For example, in Ministry one, of the mistakes I made

4:37 Speaker 2: last year which I want to correct is sometimes I

4:41 Speaker 2: was so focused on posting, you know, consistently posting every

4:45 Speaker 2: day on the on on YouTube. In the past, I

4:50 Speaker 2: was posting every day on the podcast platform. I was.

4:53 Speaker 2: I was so focused on posting for the day that

4:56 Speaker 2: sometimes I noticed I was on automodi, like, oh, I

4:59 Speaker 2: need to post, so I posted, rather than pausing and

5:03 Speaker 2: seeing what the Lord wanted me to actually post that day,

5:06 Speaker 2: you know what I mean, Like, I'm being honest with you, right,

5:09 Speaker 2: Like we all learned by making mistakes, and I think

5:12 Speaker 2: that's one area I started taking that intentional step to

5:15 Speaker 2: you know what, I don't have to prove to anybody,

5:18 Speaker 2: you know that, oh, you know what, I can post

5:19 Speaker 2: every day, or I can create content every day. I was.

5:22 Speaker 2: I was just checking that I had made over four

5:25 Speaker 2: hundred and fifty videos in the last one year, like

5:28 Speaker 2: you know, for YouTube, you know, like these shots videos,

5:34 Speaker 2: and then for other like I have the other podcast

5:39 Speaker 2: for the motivation, I have the you know television program

5:43 Speaker 2: which is weekly and so so in more than four

5:46 Speaker 2: hundred and fifty videos in the last one year. And

5:49 Speaker 2: I was like, that's great, you know, I got better

5:53 Speaker 2: at doing what I do. I'm grateful to God for

5:55 Speaker 2: all of that. But you know, sometimes we end up

5:58 Speaker 2: being like, Okay, I don't know to prove to anybody.

6:02 Speaker 2: It's not about how much I make. It's about being

6:05 Speaker 2: intentional that everything that I do is in alignment with

6:10 Speaker 2: what God wants to do through me, you know. And

6:14 Speaker 2: I've been very intentional in slowing down at the end

6:17 Speaker 2: of this year and making sure that everything I post,

6:21 Speaker 2: or say, or or or prepare, you know, is not

6:26 Speaker 2: just coming out of like oh I need to post,

6:28 Speaker 2: so I post, but I'm putting the place where I'm

6:31 Speaker 2: alert and I'm present God. Is this something you want

6:34 Speaker 2: me to do? Is this something you want me to

6:36 Speaker 2: focus on? Is this something? And I've been very intentional,

6:40 Speaker 2: and I'm telling you things have been different when I

6:43 Speaker 2: started taking that step. You know, maybe in your life,

6:47 Speaker 2: like for example, if you're in your in your in

6:50 Speaker 2: your work life, you're just like, oh, you know what,

6:52 Speaker 2: I need to do this task, I need to do

6:54 Speaker 2: that task and all of that. But get to that

6:56 Speaker 2: place where you're like, God, what is your priority in this?

7:01 Speaker 2: How do you want me to maximize my potential in this?

7:05 Speaker 2: How can I bring out a better quality output or

7:09 Speaker 2: maybe with better accuracy, better speed, better delivery. How can

7:14 Speaker 2: I be a better person in this organization that you

7:17 Speaker 2: have placed me in this institution? How can I serve

7:19 Speaker 2: my church better? How can I help this ministry better?

7:22 Speaker 2: How can I be a better version of myself? Be alert,

7:27 Speaker 2: be present. God wants to speak to you. God wants

7:31 Speaker 2: to speak to you. See, the way God speaks is

7:34 Speaker 2: not through the traditional conventional method alone, Like there are

7:37 Speaker 2: times God speaks through those but God can speak through

7:41 Speaker 2: anything and everything. You know, yesterday during the Watchnight service,

7:46 Speaker 2: I was listening to the sermon and you know, the

7:50 Speaker 2: worship and all of that. I mean, I'm not denying

7:53 Speaker 2: that sermon wasn't great or anything like that. I'm not

7:55 Speaker 2: doing that. But I'm telling you God met me personally.

8:00 Speaker 2: Not during those times. There were times when when the

8:03 Speaker 2: worship was on, I saw, you know, like two visions.

8:07 Speaker 2: During the worship. I was so personal encountered God. I

8:12 Speaker 2: was lost in tongues. I was I was in a

8:14 Speaker 2: place where I met with God kind of for a

8:17 Speaker 2: scenario where I literally encountered the Lord issued me two

8:21 Speaker 2: different visions concerning my life. You see, if I was

8:27 Speaker 2: not alert and present, I would have missed it if

8:30 Speaker 2: I was just focusing more on you know what, Oh,

8:32 Speaker 2: everybody's singing the song, let me sing the song. Everybody's

8:35 Speaker 2: listening to the sermon. So I mean, I'm not saying

8:38 Speaker 2: don't listen to the sermon. I'm not saying don't sing

8:39 Speaker 2: the song. But sometimes when you're not able to connect

8:42 Speaker 2: with the song, maybe God wants to connect with you

8:45 Speaker 2: through something else. While the rest of the people are

8:47 Speaker 2: worshiping God, you can be in your own thing her

8:52 Speaker 2: whole connection with God at that more point of time.

8:55 Speaker 2: I hope you get what I'm saying. My challenge is today,

8:58 Speaker 2: I mean, as we step into the new you be

9:01 Speaker 2: intentional about being alert and being present. Don't go with

9:05 Speaker 2: the you know, subconscious mind of like whatever happens later happened.

9:08 Speaker 2: Don't don't go in that sense, but try to go

9:12 Speaker 2: from a place of being slowing down and being intentional, Like, God,

9:17 Speaker 2: what is it that you are speaking to me? What

9:20 Speaker 2: is it that you want to say to me? I'm

9:23 Speaker 2: telling you sometimes when we pause and listen, that's when

9:28 Speaker 2: we get clarity in our life. We are able to

9:31 Speaker 2: see the new thing that God wants to lead us through.

9:34 Speaker 2: You know, for example, if I'm driving fast on a

9:38 Speaker 2: road right and God wants to say take this left turn,

9:43 Speaker 2: maybe the GPS is saying take a left turn. But

9:45 Speaker 2: if I'm not slowing down, I'm going to miss that

9:48 Speaker 2: left turn. I'm going to keep going fast. Sometimes you

9:50 Speaker 2: need to slow down to say hey, did you say

9:53 Speaker 2: this left turn? What did you mean the next one?

9:56 Speaker 2: Or you know what? Oh I miss this? So my

9:59 Speaker 2: childe let's be people in twenty twenty six? What intentional

10:04 Speaker 2: about being alert and being present? Amen? God, I want

10:09 Speaker 2: to pray a blessing over every single person listening from

10:13 Speaker 2: across the globe the day will make an intentional step

10:16 Speaker 2: to be alert and be present in Jesus name, God

10:21 Speaker 2: bless you.

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