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TURN
YOUR NEVER INTO GOD’S NEW THING
INTRODUCTION
Text – Acts 10:9-20, Isaiah 43:18-19
Acts 10:9-20
9 On
the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter
went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:
10 And
he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell
into a trance,
11 And
saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending upon him, as it had been a
great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
12 Wherein
were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and
creeping things, and fowls of the air.
13 And
there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
14 But
Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or
unclean.
15 And
the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that
call not thou common.
16 This
was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.
17 Now
while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean,
behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon's
house, and stood before the gate,
18 And
called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there.
19 While
Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek
thee.
20 Arise
therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have
sent them.
Isaiah 43:18-19
18 Remember ye not
the former things, neither consider the
things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth ;
shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Thesis/Goal – We are held captive by this cycle:
God is wanting us to take a step, start something, stretch us – and in our flesh
we make the excuse that ‘we can’t because we’ve never done it before’ – That’s
the whole point – God is trying to get you to turn your never into his next new
thing – now.
-Disclaimer: Reach for the new; but don’t forget
what brought you to the dance.
I – God Is In The Business of Doing
New Things
-“Sing unto the Lord a NEW song…” (some of us have
been singing the same old song and dance for too long, why don’t you change
your tune!?)
-Manna was new
every morning.
-Lamentations 3:22-23 –
22 “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we
are not consumed , because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness”
-God found fault with the OLD covenant, so he
decided to make a NEW one.
Hebrews 8:8-13
8 For finding fault with them, he saith , Behold , the days come , saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9 Not
according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead
them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant,
and I regarded them not , saith
the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their
mind, and write them in
their hearts: and I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to me
a people: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour,
and every man his brother, saying , Know the Lord: for all
shall know me, from the least to the greatest . 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins
and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13
In that he saith , A new covenant, he hath made the first old . Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
-If you want to be a part of the is NEW covenant,
you’ve got to go through a NEW birth. –
-And that NEW birth produces a NEW creature! (Ezekiel 18:31 says we get a new heart and
new spirit)
-Acc to Mark 16:17, when I receive that NEW
spirit, I will speak with NEW tongues.
Romans
6:4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Titus
3:5 – “…according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and
renewing of the Holy Ghost;…”
-And when we get up in the morning Eph 4:24 and
Col. 3:10 admonish us to “put on the new man,” which after God is created in
true righteousness and holiness…
-And when this thing is all said and done, and the
dust settles, God is going to make a NEW heaven and a NEW earth (Rev. 21:1-2)
- 1 And I
saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth
were passed away ; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the
holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of
heaven saying , Behold , the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will
dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be
with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are
passed away . 5 And he that sat upon the throne said , Behold , I
make all things new.
Revelation 2:17
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the
hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
Matt 9 :32-34
-32 As they went out , behold , they brought to him a dumb man
possessed with a devil . 33 And when the
devil was cast out , the dumb spake : and the multitudes marvelled , saying , It was never so seen in Israel. 34 But the Pharisees said , He
casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.
MARK 2:12
12 And immediately he arose , took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch
that they were all amazed , and glorified God, saying , We never saw it on this fashion.
II – Peter and Cornelius – Getting Out
of the Comfort Zone
- A major
obstacle is this: when there is resistance, or maybe even just hesitation to
moving forward, there is the temptation to move backward –
-Sometimes God will not let us move on until we
confront certain things:
-David
had to confront Goliath (40 days)
-Christ
vs satan in the wilderness (40 days) – pre-ministry
-Acts
1:3 – 40 days teaching about the kingdom – we need to confront the issue of the
kingdom – there are too many churches and too many Christians that are just
trying to build a church, when God has designed this thing to be a kingdom!
-Background: Cornelius is a godly man, a gentile,
an Italian.
-He gave to the poor.
-He prayed so much that an angel knocks on his
door one day – Hey man, we’ve got a plaque up in heaven with your name on it –
but its time for you to take the next step –
-Send some guys to Joppa, there’s a dude named
Peter – he will tell you what the next step is
-So Peter’s up on the rooftop praying (if you want
to get to the new thing, that’s a good place to start-he’s hungry, he may be
fasting, he goes into a trance –
-watch this verse:
11 And
saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending upon him, as it had been a
great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
-Heaven-Earth principle – what we need is a vision
FROM HEAVEN – And we need God to bring it down to EARTH – the new thing that
God is getting ready to do is FROM heaven, and He’s wanting to bring it down to
an earthen vessel…
Next verse:
13 And
there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
14 But
Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or
unclean
-Don’t misunderstand the vision and the new thing
God wants to do. This was symbolic.
-“I HAVE NEVER” – its time to turn your never into
the next NEW thing.
-Book of Acts church was all Jewish-
-Time to do a NEW thing and go preach to the
gentiles – GET OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE
-Peter: “I have never eaten anything common or
unclean”
19 While Peter
thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.20 Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.
(AMP: any doubt about its legality, any
discrimination, or any hesitation)
28 And he said to
them, You yourselves are aware how it is not lawful or permissible for a
Jew to keep company with or to visit or [even] to come near or to
speak first to anyone of another nationality, but God has shown and
taught me by words that I should not call any human being common or
unhallowed or [ceremonially] unclean.
29 Therefore when
I was sent for, I came without hesitation or objection or
misgivings. So now I ask for what reason you sent for me.
-This is
how Peter responded to the vision that God sends him, a green light to preach
to the gentiles – This was a NEW step for the church.
-It was two separate visions in two seperated
camps from the same God that brought the two sides together. And obedience to
those visions.
-God: I’m not talking about food Pete, its time
for you to do what you’ve NEVER done. This
-Instead of condemning people that don’t have the
full truth, why don’t we pray that God would give them a vision!
-If YOU haven’t done it – ITS NEW TO YOU –
-Why don’t you give holiness a try? Seperation a
try?
-Prayer? Fasting?
-Witnessing on your job, at your school, to your
family.
-Why don’t you teach a Bible study?!
-Raise The Bar – Stretch- Grow
-Hey preacher, pull something new out of that
storehouse!
III – You’re Never is the Next New
Thing – And Now Is The Time
-Example: Driving a car; you’re not born knowing
how to drive, you gosta learn.
-Its time to LEARN HOW to do stuff you’ve never
done before –
-EXPLAIN-EXAMPLE-EXPERIENCE – this our time to
move in to the experience realm.
-Now is the time to break the cycle: but you’re
not going to break the cycle by doing what you’ve always done; you’ve got to
change it up a little. – If you want to break the cycle, you’ve got to break
the routine.
-Ezekiel 47:12 -
12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that
side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade , neither shall
the fruit thereof be consumed : it shall bring forth new fruit according to his
months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit
thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
II Peter 1:4-9
4 Whereby are
given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust. 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your
faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance;
and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to
godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For
if these things be in you, and abound , they make you that ye shall neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9
But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off , and hath
forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
-JESUS is the CYCLE BREAKER –
Man at the pool: 38 years in the same condition
John 5:5-10
5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. 6 When Jesus
saw him lie , and knew
that he had been now a long time
in that case, he saith unto him,
Wilt thou be made whole? 7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when
the water is troubled , to put me
into the pool: but while I
am coming , another
steppeth down before me. 8 Jesus
saith unto him, Rise , take up thy bed, and walk . 9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed,
and walked : and on the same
day was the sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured ,
It is the sabbath day: it
is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.
Conclusion/Altar Call
Luke 19:29-35
29 And it came
to pass , when he was
come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the
mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, 30 Saying , Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied , whereon yet never man sat : loose him, and bring him hither. 31 And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him. 32 And they that were sent went their way , and found even as he had said unto them. 33 And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why
loose ye the colt? 34 And they said , The Lord hath need of him. 35 And
they brought him to Jesus: and
they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon
.
Or II
Kings 2:19-22
19 And
the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of
this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the
ground barren.
20 And
he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to
him.
21 And
he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and
said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from
thence any more death or barren land.
22 So
the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which
he spake.
