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Hello, this is Jensen Franklin, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast. Our goal is to provide you with biblically based teachings that will challenge, inspire, and equip you to live for Jesus. If you haven't already, I'd love for you to go ahead and subscribe today to this podcast so you can get the latest updates from us and you don't ever have to miss a new message. Let's go right into the service. Record it at Free Chapel. I believe it's going to bless you today.
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Do you have your Bibles? All right, let's turn in Isaiah 43 to verse 18. It's a quick verse of scripture that I believe most of you probably know. It's a well known verse, but I want to jump there because I believe God has given me a word for you today. So Isaiah 43, verse 18 and 19, the ESV version. The Bible says, remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? The new living translation says, for I'm about to do something new. See, it has already begun. Do you not see it? I have horrible vision. Anybody in here? I don't know how. I'm half blind. And a couple of years ago, I. I contracted an infection in my left eye. And on a Friday morning I woke up. Don't worry, I'm not going to show pictures. But I woke up and my eye was irritated and swollen. And in a matter of 48 hours, it went from oh, this is annoying, to I would rather birth a child than endure this kind of pain. My entire face was swollen and I couldn't see out of my eye anymore. So I like any Good mom, after 48 hours of waiting and excruciating pain, I chose to go to the er. And when I got to the er, some panic ensued and they began to do CT scans and they began to start pumping me full of medication because I had contracted some kind of infection in my eye and very quickly it had turned into something called orbital cellulitis. That means it goes into your brain very quickly. And so I'm having CT scans and I actually had to spend. Was admitted into the hospital, had to spend two days in the hospital. And I had a bad reaction to a medication. I busted every blood vessel in my left eye again. Don't worry, I'm not gonna show photos. I had a black eye, my whole face was swollen, and I was in the hospital for two days and. And I learned something through that experience that your eyes and your brain are incredibly connected. For months after that, my vision in my left eye, it was blurred. I couldn't see out of my left eye. Almost lost. I could have lost vision out of my left eye. My depth perception was off. I would kind of run into things because I couldn't see well. Everything was milky and unclear. Your eyes gather information. Your brain interprets the information. Your understanding of what you're seeing, your ability to navigate what's in front of you. And it's all connected. And if something affects your vision, it eventually affects how you interpret everything else. I think that's the issue with a lot of us spiritually. We, you know, read scriptures like Isaiah 43, and we should think, okay, yes, God, what are you doing? What's the new thing that you have for me? What is the new thing that it's happening right now, that you're a God who makes and you're doing a new thing. But maybe some of you just heard me read that and you thought, well, she is not talking to me. Cause I don't have one good and one new and one relevant and one happy thing. And this guy sitting beside me, he sure is not new. He's real old. And so God's not doing anything new in my life, lady. And so you're not talking to me. I don't see it. And spiritually, what gets into your sight affects how we think, how we perceive how. Because isn't that what happens to us in life? Disappointment gets in our eyes, grief gets in our eyes, delay gets in our eyes, social media gets in our eyes, and it begins to manipulate how we think and what we see and what we perceive. And suddenly you're looking out at your life differently, not because God changed, but because your vision changed. We believe the narrative of what we see from our earthly vision based on our present circumstances. But we have a God who says, behold, I am doing a new thing. Can you see it? I love Jesus, talked about In Matthew, chapter 6, in verse 22 and 23, the eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body is full of light. If your eyes are unhealthy, your whole. Your whole body is full of darkness. Jesus understood something. What has your attention eventually shapes your perspective. What am I focused on? What am I looking at every day? What am I allowing to shape my perspective? What gets in your eyes affects Your marriage. What gets in your eyes affects your parenting. What gets in your eyes affects your hope. It affects your faith. It affects your ability to recognize what God is doing. And I find it so interesting that God would ask a question like this after a verse and a promise like this. Because if God is asking, do you see it? That would imply that we could be standing right in the middle of the new thing that he is doing and miss it. Not because he stopped working, not because he stopped being faithful, but because disappointment, pain, delay, sometimes can distort our vision. The phrase I have already begun means heaven is already moving on your behalf before you even see or recognize it. Yet I have already begun means something is happening in a spiritual realm that we can't quite see with our physical eyes yet. But he says, I have begun a new thing. It's already sprung forth. Can you see it? Can you see it? Some of you aren't seeing clearly because grief has tinted your vision. Some of you aren't seeing clearly because betrayal has trained your eyes to expect pain. Some of you aren't seeing clearly because you've been in survival mode for so long that you've stopped wondering and living in expectancy. You can love God deeply and still miss what he's doing. If you're looking through yesterday's lens, it's possible to be faithful and still be stuck. In Isaiah 43, God is speaking to to the Israelites in this verse. And he's not talking to people who don't know pain and disappointment. In fact, in verse 16, he references their greatest miracle and their greatest pain. He's talking about the story of Exodus, when the Israelites were in bondage and in slavery in Egypt. And he brings that up. And then immediately he brings up the greatest story of deliverance in their history as a people. And then he says something interesting. Before God says, I am doing a new thing, he brings up the old thing. Why? Because there are things that can distort our vision. These are things that you keep staring at that prevent us from recognizing what God is doing today. I believe God wants us to stop focusing and remembering two things to heal our vision. Number one, the pain of the past. Because pain has a memory, disappointment has a voice. And if we're not careful yesterday, we'll start narrating disappointment today. God is not asking them to deny what happened. He's telling them not to let what happened define what's possible. He's not minimizing their wounds. He's healing their vision. Because pain has a way of affecting perception. It doesn't just hurt. It trains your eyes. It trains you to assume the worst. It trains you to expect no good thing to come my way. It trains you to interpret today through what happened yesterday. And. And God knows this about his people. So when he says, remember not the former things, he's not telling them to pretend it did not happen. He's telling them to stop staring at it. And so somebody in here today needs to hear that. I'm not saying the bad thing didn't happen. I'm not saying it didn't break your heart. I'm not saying that it didn't hurt. But I'm telling you God is doing a new thing because that is his promise from His Word. And, and every word that comes out of this book cannot return void. And so therefore it is a promise to you. And you need to open your eyes and begin to see it. Take your eyes off the pain and fix your eyes on the new thing that God is doing. Don't let former pain determine future expectation. The second thing that I believe God is asking us to forget is, is the power of the former days. The splitting of the Red Sea is what he references in verse 16 and 17. And God says, forget it. The greatest miracle in the history. He was reminding them of his faithfulness. But if we're not careful, we'll become so focused on the split sea behind us, we miss the new mountain he's moving in front of us. The important thing to remember here is it's not just pain that can distort your vision. Something success can too. Former miracles can too. Former victories can too. Yesterday's miracle can accidentally become today's limitation. Because once built. Once what? Once built, your faith can quietly become the box that you put God in. And before long, we stop looking for God and we start looking for a method. We start looking him to do it the exact same way that he did it before. We start expecting him to repeat a process instead of revealing Himself in a new way. But he's not a God who doesn't create and do new things. Different methods, same Savior. Remember, not the former things. Not because they weren't miracles, not because they weren't important, but because if he kept staring at how God moved yesterday, they might miss how he was moving today. I love that every time Jesus healed a blind person in the Bible, he did it differently. Almost one man, he was born blind. The Bible says that Jesus spit in the mud and he put it on his eyes and he healed his eyes. Another man, blind. Bartimaeus. The Bible Says with one word, Jesus spoke and he brought his sight back to him. The Bible says that one man got a touch from God and his eyes still weren't quite there. He said, what do you see? He said, I see men that look like trees. And Jesus said, let me touch you one more time. And then his eyes came back. We start expecting him to do things as a method. But God is so faithful. But he is rarely, rarely predictable. We start expecting him to repeat a method instead of trusting him to reveal himself in a new way. Because methods are comfortable. But revelation requires trust. The method lets you predict God, but revelation requires you follow him. Maybe before he opens that door. Maybe before he opened that door immediately. But today he's teaching you patience while you wait. Different methods, same Savior. Maybe before he changed the circumstance. Today he's changing you. Different methods, same Savior. Maybe before he healed you instantly, but today he's giving you peace to continue to walk into treatments. Different methods, same Savior. Savior, we keep God is saying, don't get stuck at staring at the split sea behind you. I didn't just split seas back then. I'm the God who makes the way now. Today, a new thing is what he is doing. And if you keep looking back, you're gonna miss the mountain moving in front of you. You might miss the door opening in front of you. You might miss the new thing happening in front of you right now. He was trying. He to was trying. He was never trying to show them, oh, look at how cool I am. He was trying to reveal himself. God is not interested in impressing you. He is interested in revealing Himself to you. In every single way that he performs a miracle and shows himself in a different season, he shows a different facet of who he is. He can show himself as provider. He can show himself as healer. He can show himself as well able. He. He can show himself as the breaker of chains, of addiction. He can show himself any way and however he wants. Stop putting God in a box. Maybe the issue isn't that we're looking for the wrong thing. You're looking for the same thing. And without realizing it. We're not asking God to move. We're asking him to make us comfortable again. But God is faithful in every season. And he is allowed to do a new thing and in a new way. What gets in your sight eventually affects your perspective. That's what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 7:3:5. Matthew 7:3:5 says this, and why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye but not consider the Plank in your own eye. Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck from your eye and look and look. A plank is in your own eye. Hypocrite. We love this verse, right? We like to throw this one around. First remove the plank in your own eye. Then you will see clearly. To remove the speck in your brother's eye. Most people read that passage as a teaching on judgment, but Jesus is teaching on vision. First remove the plank in your own eye. Why? So you can see clearly. Then you'll be right. Not then you'll win the argument then. No, no, no. So you will see clearly. I don't like this one. Do y'? All? Because if something's in your eye, everything becomes distorted. The greatest threat to spiritual vision isn't blindness, it's distortion. Because distortion, distorted vision convinces you that you're seeing correctly when you aren't. That's what happens when you stop seeing your spouse clearly. That's what happens when you stop seeing your children clearly. That's what happens when you stop seeing that opportunity of that business that you beg God for clearly. Because now it doesn't feel too great. And now I'm not enjoying it as much. And people stop seeing other people clearly and opportunities and dreams. And that log becomes really difficult for us to look around in order to get that space speck out of our husband's eyes sometimes. And I don't enjoy that. I guess I'm the only one. Okay, I love you. My husband's down there. I had to pull a log out of mine a couple days ago to remove a speck out of his. It was crazy mid argument. I realize, okay, I might be wrong. He's starting to make some valid points and I probably need to own this. So I need to decide do I wanna buckle down or do I wanna be like Jesus? And I was like Jesus until he started going, uh huh. Yep. And I said, this is why the Lord doesn't let you become right a lot. I just want you to know you have a haughty spirit. And so that wasn't in my notes. But sometimes you gotta take specs and logs and anything and everything out of our eyes so that you can see what God is doing in this new season of life. Sometimes the problem isn't what's in front of me, it's what's in me. We become experts of picking out what's wrong with everybody else and everything. But God wants to clear some specs out of our eyes today. He wants to take some things out of your eye that's been distorting your vision in your marriage with that child, with that coworker, with that family member. Can you recognize it? When we hear now it springs forth? A lot of times we think that means immediate end results. We think that means a magic trick, right? That Jesus comes out like the fairy godmother and he says, okay, and now it springs forth, and we just see this flower come up out of the roots, and then it grows and it turns into a pumpkin, and then it turns into a carriage. That's not who God is. Instead, we want for everything to be fixed overnight, instantly, in a moment. But instead, what we see here would suddenly, now it springs forth. It's a beautiful image of the silent but certain gradual growth that comes when God is doing a new thing. Now it springs forth, silent, but certain gradual growth. Immediate growth does not look like immediate change. And the new thing might not start loud. It might start small. It might start hidden. And my question to you today is, can you see the new thing that God is doing when it's buried in the ground, when it's a seed, when nobody else can see it, when it's a dream that God has given you? Can you see it? Can you see it then? Not when it's a mighty oak. Everyone can see it when it's blossoming and it's blooming and it's standing tall. But can you see it when it's just a sprout? And nobody ever really takes any notice to that small thing that God is doing. But that's my new thing right there. And I'm gonna protect it. And don't trample over here, because this is my new thing that God is doing. Maybe that new thing in your life is five days of sobriety. When you're in addiction, that's a new thing that God is doing. And maybe right now you walked in here and you thought, listen, I made it six days. I'm not gonna make it anymore. But I can't do it. It's too far. But God told me to tell you, protect the new thing that he is doing. Continue to go to made for more meetings. Continue to have accountability in your life. Because before you know it, if you continue to protect that new thing, it becomes frustrating freedom that you never even dreamed of. It becomes an addiction that is completely broken by the blood of Jesus Christ off of your life. Do you believe that he is a God who can do a new thing in you today? I know that you do keep going to the meetings, keep protecting it. You Hear somebody else who says, well, they're six months down the road. That's impossible. No, it's not. Nothing is impossible. Not through Christ Jesus, not for you. As long as he lives inside of you, he's not done with you yet. Don't quit, keep going. Also not in the notes. So I don't know who that was for. We're looking for the finished product, but God is showing us a new beginning. We're looking for a miracle. Fully grown. But God is showing us the first signs of life. I think one of the greatest challenges in the church right now is we've become experts at seeing everything that is wrong. We see what is broken, we see what isn't working. We see the bad report, we see the headlines, we see the denial. But can we still see what God is doing? Can we still see possibility? Can we still see breakthrough? Can we still see freedom? Can we still see hope? What have you looked at? And limited, because we do not serve a God who is limited by anything. We serve a God who is limitless. And he is doing a new thing now it springs forth. What situation have you decided could never change? We serve a God who makes a way. We serve a God who works in the impossible. He makes a way when there is no way. Do you believe that this morning? Can you see it? Is something in you beginning to feel? Hey, yeah. My eyes haven't been on the right things. But something in what she's saying today is stop stirring something in me. I can believe again. I can dream again. What have you stopped believing for? God is not done with you yet. He's not finished. It's not over. He is a God who continually makes things new and he's doing a new thing today. Everyone say, lord, open my eyes if you can begin to see what God sees. Everything changes. Everything changes. We see this in the story of Elisha in Second Kings. I'm going to paraphrase the story, but an evil king, Aram, was at war with Israel. And every time he would plan a battle, the battle would get shut down by the Israelites because God was telling the enemy his battle plans, which is a whole sermon in itself. I'm sure my dad's preached one on it. You can look it up later. And over and over again. Israel avoided the traps because God was revealing the enemy's plan to Elisha. But eventually that king said, somebody go kidnap Elisha. And he sent chariots and horses and an entire army to completely surround the city that Elisha was in. And the Bible says that Elisha's servant woke up the next morning. He walks outside. He sees an entire army, chariots, horses, all these men surrounding the entire city. And he is completely shocked and surrendered. He's terrified. He runs back to Elisha and he cries out and he says, what do we do? From the servant's perspective, it was over. They were trapped, outnumbered, defeated. But Elisha wasn't afraid. He looked at the exact same situation and said, do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. If you are struggling to today with an addiction, those who are with us are more than those who are with them. If you're looking at a cancer diagnosis, at an any kind of heart disease or thing that you're battling, those that are with us are more than those who are with them. The servant could only see the army. Elisha could see something greater. And Elisha prayed one of the most powerful prayers in all of scripture. Elisha prayed, lord, open his eyes that he may see. That is my prayer for every single one of you this morning. Lord, open their eyes that they may see. I love that prayer. Because Elisha didn't pray, lord, remove the army, Lord, remove the circumstances, Lord, make the problem disappear. No. He just said, no, open my eyes so that I can see who is for me, not against. And in that moment, suddenly the servant's eyes were opened and he saw the mountains full of horses and chariots of fire and an angel army that surrounded them. And more were with them than were against. God's provision had been there the entire time. The servant just couldn't see it. The situation hadn't changed. The army was still there. The enemy was still there. The circumstances were still there. What changed was this was his sight. There are more with us than against. Fix your eyes on Jesus. I think that's why the writer of Hebrews In Hebrews chapter 12 tells us, he says, look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Other translations say, fixing your eyes on Jesus. I love that. Because after everything we've talked about today, the answer is not look harder. The answer is, look at him. That got me excited. I told you, I woke up with joy, sweating up here and everything. Are you happy about that? Today we have a savior who carried a cross for the joy that was set before him. He endured the cross. Therefore, he saw past his present circumstance and he moved past that for the joy that was you and I, so that you and I could set our sight on him and able to endure and walk through every single day here on this Earth. That's the kind of savior that we have. Fix your eyes on Jesus. That's the whole point of this message. Talking about vision, what distorts it, what affects it, what shapes it. And now Hebrews gives us the answer, Fix your eyes on Jesus. Then it says this. Consider him. Think about him. Look at him, remember him. If you're wondering how to do that, get in this book. Why I love this at the end of this scripture, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart. Maybe that's where some of you are today. Not angry, not bitter, not discouraged. You're just beginning to lose heart. You're beginning to lose heart in your marriage. You're beginning to lose heart with that child who's away. You're beginning to lose heart with going in day after day into those doctor's appointments, getting bad news after bad news. You're beginning to lose heart with this economy. You're beginning to lose heart in that situation. But fix your eyes upon Jesus. I begin to see things differently. I begin to hope differently. I begin to believe differently and dream again differently. Because the answer isn't, look harder. The answer is look at him. It's time for some of you to start seeing again. And not in heaven. That's why David says Psalm 27. I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see. I would see the goodness of God. Where? In heaven one day when I'm gone? Nope. In the land of the living. If you're unaware of where you are today, you are in the land of the living. And his promise to you if you believe is you will see the goodness of God. I don't care if you're in a prison. If you're in a jail, you will see the goodness of God in the land of the living. The joy of the Lord is our strength. And I feel that joy today. I wonder how many people need to get that reminded of them today. Reminded today that God said, I believe that I would see it. That's faith. Faith isn't always seeing first. Faith is believing first. I would have lost heart. I would have quit. I would have given up. I would have stopped believing unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of God. Maybe that's what God is restoring to you today is the hope of living again. It's time to get up. It is time to live again. It is time to smile again. It is time to have joy again. It's time to dream again. Some of you have been sitting for so long, distorted with the pain of life. That you have missed the new thing that God is ready to do in your life. But he's breaking off those chains today. I believe it in the name of Jesus. Not your circumstance, first your vision, not your situation, first your vision. Because when God changes what we see, everything else begins to change. I love what happened in the story, with the story of Blind Bartimaeus, which is funny that we call him Blind Bartimaeus because he didn't stay blind after he met Jesus. Most people didn't. I always loved that when people say Jesus hung out with sinners. I'm like, mm, mm. Jesus changed sinners. That's what Jesus did. Jesus took the woman at the well. We use that as an excuse to do whatever we want. Jesus hung out with all the Baptists. No, Jesus took a tax collector like Matthew, and he made him a radical. Okay? Jesus took fishermen and he said, come and follow me and be fishers of men. He didn't stay in the situation that he found them in. He said, I'm gonna set you free, and I'm gonna make you a preacher, and I'm gonna make you a fisherman of men. But he didn't hang out with people and them stay the same. So if you're hanging out with a bunch of unbelievers, at some point, something should start changing. The God in you should start affecting everyone and not. You're probably not strong enough to handle it yet. Again, not in the notes. Blind Bartimaeus, that was for somebody special. Blind Bartimaeus. The Bible says that Jesus asked him, I love this. What do you want me to do for you? And Bartimaeus answered, rabbi, I want to see again. He wasn't born blind. I want to see again. And maybe that's the prayer of some people in this room today. Jesus, I want to see again. I want to see your goodness again. I want to see your faithfulness again. I want to see possibility again. I want to see what you're doing. I want to dream again. I want to believe again. I want to be able to recognize the new thing that you're doing in and through my life. Maybe you've lost heart, maybe you've lost hope. But I just. I feel in my spirit this morning, and I have so much joy about it, that he is about to set some captives free, that he is about to make some blind eyes see that. Because when your vision is corrected, you'll begin to see that spouse again. You'll begin to love once more. You'll begin to forgive again. Some of you, the new thing that you prayed for and you asked God for. It's sprouted, but it's going through a pruning phase. It's time to prune some unforgiveness, some bitterness, some anger, some hatred towards your neighbor. God says, no, I've done a new thing. But you, we're going to work on it right here and right here and right here. Why do we prune? In order to give life more and make it blossom more in the end of its life. Maybe you're in this room today and that new thing that you're doing, if you're a plant person. I am not. I kill everything. Maybe that dream, maybe that thing that God has put inside of you, it looks dead. But one thing I learned about plants, because I've killed quite a few, Sometimes they're not dead. They're just dormant. It's a word for somebody. Today, that dream is not dead. It's just dormant. And we serve a God who has resurrection power, that it walks. And when everybody else. Lazarus is dead, he said he's sleeping. When they brought the dead little girl to him, he said, she's just taking a little nap. I'll bring her up. Do we think resurrection is a difficult thing for our God? Not my God. Maybe your God. Not my God. So I want us to believe again today, forgetting the former things, remembering not the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing now. It springs forth. Can you see it? I believe as I'm closing today, that. I don't know, I just think that God's stirring some things in us, that some of you just need to be encouraged today that the good thing that he has begun in you, he is faithful to fulfill it. I don't know what process, step in the process you're in, but he's with you every step of the way. He's not left. He's seen the pain. But what he's saying is it's time to take your eyes off of it because you focused on it for so long, that it's destroying and taking you away from this new thing that I'm doing. I have too much for you to let you stay here.
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I really want to say thank you for joining us this week. If you haven't already, make sure you click on the subscription button and leave us a review. It helps this podcast reach even more people when you comment, when you give us your feedback. For more messages and inspirational materials, download the Jensen Franklin app. Or you can head over to JensenFranklin.org I want to thank all of you who give generously to help us produce weekly content like this to reach the world with the message of Jesus.
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Us.
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God bless you, and we'll see you next time.