Be Alert & Be Present | A New Year Sermon from Isaiah 43:19 Christian Sermon | John Giftah
Tonight's Episode
As a new year begins, many people step into it on autopilot — repeating old patterns, routines, and reactions. But in Isaiah 43:19, GOD says, “See, I am doing a new thing… do you not perceive it?” In this New Year sermon, John Giftah challenges listeners to be alert and be present — not rushed, not distracted, and not spiritually numb. GOD may already be speaking, guiding, nudging, and giving fresh ideas, but we can miss it if we’re operating on default mode. This message encourages you to:- Stay spiritually sensitive in the new year
- Recognize GOD’s new direction instead of clinging to old patterns
- Be present enough to hear and respond to GOD’s voice
- Make intentional decisions instead of reactive ones
GOD is doing something new, and it requires a heart that is awake, present, and responsive. 🎧 Start the year anchored, alert, and aligned with GOD’s voice on Fuel for the Soul with John Giftah.
You can buy my new bestselling book, UNVEIL YOUR PURPOSE (a #1 Newly Released Bestseller on Amazon) here: India: https://www.amazon.in/UNVEIL-YOUR-PURPOSE-John-Giftah/dp/B08K2CJKP2/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=john+giftah&qid=1611990618&sr=8-1 Global Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Unveil-Your-Purpose-Complete-Created-ebook/dp/B08L7XX9PJ/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=john+giftah%27&qid=1611990705&sr=8-2 You can stay in touch with me through these platforms: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/johngiftah Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johngiftah Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sjohngiftah/ Website: https://www.johngiftah.com/ If you're blessed by this sermon, don't forget to share it with someone, and please do rate/ review the podcast so that it will help us reach more people with the message of hope. For supporting the ministry financially: PayPal: paypal.me/johngiftah Link to The Inspiration Hub Podcast: Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/the-inspiration-hub/id1596599540 Link to Weekly Tamil Christian Messages Podcast (John Giftah) : Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/tamil-christian-messages-john-giftah/id1596445581 Check out the "Fuel for the Soul with John Giftah" podcast (Among the Top Christian Podcasts in India Ranking #1 / #2 on multiple podcast platforms and among the Top Podcasts in the world (2021)) : Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fuel-for-the-soul-with-john-giftah-inspirational/id1588234296
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Speaker 1: Do you ever look around and think, Wow, the world
Speaker 1: is a crazy place and it just seems to get
Speaker 1: crazier and crazier. Ease your mind and take a break.
Speaker 1: This is Fuel for the Soul with John GIFTA. We're
Speaker 1: a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living,
Speaker 1: and Christian discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live
Speaker 1: the life that you were created for. Your host is
Speaker 1: a top ranking podcaster, best selling author, world record holder,
Speaker 1: aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist, and founder of John GIFTA International.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John GIFTA.
Speaker 2: Hey, God, Visual, it's such a joy for me to
Speaker 2: wish you and your family are very blessed and meaningful
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six as well. You know, even as we
Speaker 2: step into the new year, you may to come into
Speaker 2: the year maybe you had a greade twenty twenty five
Speaker 2: and you're grateful and the Lord showed up in some
Speaker 2: area of your life and you're eternally grateful, or you're
Speaker 2: you're in a place where you're rejoicing and you're glad,
Speaker 2: and I'm so grateful to God for your life or
Speaker 2: maybe your life wasn't that great in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Maybe you had some setbacks, maybe under solved issues. Maybe
Speaker 2: there are areas you're still waiting on the Lord. You
Speaker 2: thought God would show up in twenty five, but he
Speaker 2: did not. But I want you to understand that you
Speaker 2: know this, This is a word that I want to
Speaker 2: really challenge you even as you step into the new year,
Speaker 2: because I believe that this You might have heard this
Speaker 2: verse a million times, but this one aspect that I
Speaker 2: really want us to slow down and really take into
Speaker 2: our heart this year because I've been very intentional about
Speaker 2: this practicing and asking the Lord to help me through,
Speaker 2: and I'm telling you this has actually helped me a
Speaker 2: lot the in just the past couple of days. And
Speaker 2: I believe that this is a key that the Lord
Speaker 2: is just placing in my heart for all of us
Speaker 2: to unlock into this new year as well. So I'm
Speaker 2: going to quickly share a very familiar verse with you,
Speaker 2: and I want to hit a very important point that
Speaker 2: I would like for us to take away this year
Speaker 2: as well. So it's hoouted Isaiah forty three. I'm sure
Speaker 2: you may know where I'm going. Eighteen Ver was nine
Speaker 2: eighteen and nineteen. This is this familiar passage that you
Speaker 2: might hear very frequently, especially around new beginnings, new Year
Speaker 2: and all of that. But there's something I want to
Speaker 2: focus on, and I'm reading to you from the message version.
Speaker 2: This is what it says. Forget about what's happened. Don't
Speaker 2: keep going over old history. Right what happened in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five happened, you know what did not work out?
Speaker 2: It did not work out. But the scripture says, forget
Speaker 2: about it, and don't keep going over old history. Don't
Speaker 2: keep thinking like, oh my gosh, this should have happened.
Speaker 2: I wish this hadn't happen. You know, we can keep
Speaker 2: going into that mode of thinking about it. But anyway,
Speaker 2: even if you're doing that or not doing that, that's
Speaker 2: another message altogether. I've preached in depth in the past,
Speaker 2: and I will focus on it maybe at the right
Speaker 2: time in the future. But here's the thing I want
Speaker 2: you to pay attention. In verse nineteen, it says, be alert,
Speaker 2: be present. I'm about to do something brand new. It's
Speaker 2: bursting out, don't you see it? There? It is. I'm
Speaker 2: making a road through the desert rivers in the bad lands.
Speaker 2: But I want you to focus on this point very
Speaker 2: very much. Right, be alert, be present, you know, especially
Speaker 2: in the last couple of days, I've been training myself
Speaker 2: to do this, Like, I mean, so many times. What
Speaker 2: happens is we tend to go into this automatic mode
Speaker 2: like you know, you wake up, or I need to
Speaker 2: get the shoes of the day done. I need to,
Speaker 2: you know, get ready for work, I need to get
Speaker 2: ready for college or school. I need to you know,
Speaker 2: like take some time out and spend time with a lord.
Speaker 2: You know, we go as a routine and there's nothing
Speaker 2: wrong with routine or discipline in its place is that
Speaker 2: there's there's a place for all of that. But sometimes
Speaker 2: we go into this automatic mode where everything becomes just
Speaker 2: out of a subconscious mind where we are actually not
Speaker 2: present or we're not alert to hear what the Lord
Speaker 2: is saying. To actually stop and say, God, is this
Speaker 2: what you want me to do? Is this something from
Speaker 2: you or is it something that's me trying to make
Speaker 2: it happen? Are you getting what I'm saying? I really
Speaker 2: want you to pause and think before you make any decision,
Speaker 2: like are you getting into the automode like you know what?
Speaker 2: For example, in Ministry one, of the mistakes I made
Speaker 2: last year which I want to correct is sometimes I
Speaker 2: was so focused on posting, you know, consistently posting every
Speaker 2: day on the on on YouTube. In the past, I
Speaker 2: was posting every day on the podcast platform. I was.
Speaker 2: I was so focused on posting for the day that
Speaker 2: sometimes I noticed I was on automodi, like, oh, I
Speaker 2: need to post, so I posted, rather than pausing and
Speaker 2: seeing what the Lord wanted me to actually post that day,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, Like, I'm being honest with you, right,
Speaker 2: Like we all learned by making mistakes, and I think
Speaker 2: that's one area I started taking that intentional step to
Speaker 2: you know what, I don't have to prove to anybody,
Speaker 2: you know that, oh, you know what, I can post
Speaker 2: every day, or I can create content every day. I was.
Speaker 2: I was just checking that I had made over four
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty videos in the last one year, like
Speaker 2: you know, for YouTube, you know, like these shots videos,
Speaker 2: and then for other like I have the other podcast
Speaker 2: for the motivation, I have the you know television program
Speaker 2: which is weekly and so so in more than four
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty videos in the last one year. And
Speaker 2: I was like, that's great, you know, I got better
Speaker 2: at doing what I do. I'm grateful to God for
Speaker 2: all of that. But you know, sometimes we end up
Speaker 2: being like, Okay, I don't know to prove to anybody.
Speaker 2: It's not about how much I make. It's about being
Speaker 2: intentional that everything that I do is in alignment with
Speaker 2: what God wants to do through me, you know. And
Speaker 2: I've been very intentional in slowing down at the end
Speaker 2: of this year and making sure that everything I post,
Speaker 2: or say, or or or prepare, you know, is not
Speaker 2: just coming out of like oh I need to post,
Speaker 2: so I post, but I'm putting the place where I'm
Speaker 2: alert and I'm present God. Is this something you want
Speaker 2: me to do? Is this something you want me to
Speaker 2: focus on? Is this something? And I've been very intentional,
Speaker 2: and I'm telling you things have been different when I
Speaker 2: started taking that step. You know, maybe in your life,
Speaker 2: like for example, if you're in your in your in
Speaker 2: your work life, you're just like, oh, you know what,
Speaker 2: I need to do this task, I need to do
Speaker 2: that task and all of that. But get to that
Speaker 2: place where you're like, God, what is your priority in this?
Speaker 2: How do you want me to maximize my potential in this?
Speaker 2: How can I bring out a better quality output or
Speaker 2: maybe with better accuracy, better speed, better delivery. How can
Speaker 2: I be a better person in this organization that you
Speaker 2: have placed me in this institution? How can I serve
Speaker 2: my church better? How can I help this ministry better?
Speaker 2: How can I be a better version of myself? Be alert,
Speaker 2: be present. God wants to speak to you. God wants
Speaker 2: to speak to you. See, the way God speaks is
Speaker 2: not through the traditional conventional method alone, Like there are
Speaker 2: times God speaks through those but God can speak through
Speaker 2: anything and everything. You know, yesterday during the Watchnight service,
Speaker 2: I was listening to the sermon and you know, the
Speaker 2: worship and all of that. I mean, I'm not denying
Speaker 2: that sermon wasn't great or anything like that. I'm not
Speaker 2: doing that. But I'm telling you God met me personally.
Speaker 2: Not during those times. There were times when when the
Speaker 2: worship was on, I saw, you know, like two visions.
Speaker 2: During the worship. I was so personal encountered God. I
Speaker 2: was lost in tongues. I was I was in a
Speaker 2: place where I met with God kind of for a
Speaker 2: scenario where I literally encountered the Lord issued me two
Speaker 2: different visions concerning my life. You see, if I was
Speaker 2: not alert and present, I would have missed it if
Speaker 2: I was just focusing more on you know what, Oh,
Speaker 2: everybody's singing the song, let me sing the song. Everybody's
Speaker 2: listening to the sermon. So I mean, I'm not saying
Speaker 2: don't listen to the sermon. I'm not saying don't sing
Speaker 2: the song. But sometimes when you're not able to connect
Speaker 2: with the song, maybe God wants to connect with you
Speaker 2: through something else. While the rest of the people are
Speaker 2: worshiping God, you can be in your own thing her
Speaker 2: whole connection with God at that more point of time.
Speaker 2: I hope you get what I'm saying. My challenge is today,
Speaker 2: I mean, as we step into the new you be
Speaker 2: intentional about being alert and being present. Don't go with
Speaker 2: the you know, subconscious mind of like whatever happens later happened.
Speaker 2: Don't don't go in that sense, but try to go
Speaker 2: from a place of being slowing down and being intentional, Like, God,
Speaker 2: what is it that you are speaking to me? What
Speaker 2: is it that you want to say to me? I'm
Speaker 2: telling you sometimes when we pause and listen, that's when
Speaker 2: we get clarity in our life. We are able to
Speaker 2: see the new thing that God wants to lead us through.
Speaker 2: You know, for example, if I'm driving fast on a
Speaker 2: road right and God wants to say take this left turn,
Speaker 2: maybe the GPS is saying take a left turn. But
Speaker 2: if I'm not slowing down, I'm going to miss that
Speaker 2: left turn. I'm going to keep going fast. Sometimes you
Speaker 2: need to slow down to say hey, did you say
Speaker 2: this left turn? What did you mean the next one?
Speaker 2: Or you know what? Oh I miss this? So my
Speaker 2: childe let's be people in twenty twenty six? What intentional
Speaker 2: about being alert and being present? Amen? God, I want
Speaker 2: to pray a blessing over every single person listening from
Speaker 2: across the globe the day will make an intentional step
Speaker 2: to be alert and be present in Jesus name, God
Speaker 2: bless you.
Speaker 1: You've been listening to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta.
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