Revelation chapter 21, if you'd turn there with
me. Revelation chapter 21. And I want to read,
I want to just start by reading one verse. Revelation
21. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Verse 5.
Then he who sat on the throne said, behold, I
make all things new. I want to say that again
because it felt so good. Behold, I make all things
new. And he said to me, Right. For these words
are true and faithful. Hallelujah. I feel the
anointing on the Word of God this morning. The
anointing is already on His Word. And we tap
into that. And we say, thank you, Lord, for causing
Your Word to change us. And affect us today.
Praise God. Those of you that have given yourself
to construction. Understand that there are some
things that you can fix up. There are some things
that you can clean it. And you can put a nail
in it. And you can paint it. And it's good to
go. There are some things that are like that.
And then there are other things in construction
that you come across. Maybe you pull a board
away and you realize, oh, that faucet's been
leaking there for a year. And the damage is so
extensive that it cannot be repaired. It has
to be replaced. It cannot just be fixed up. It
cannot just be reformed. It has to be transformed.
You have to remove that which was old. And can
I just say this? Not everything old is damaged
and needs to be removed just because it's old,
right? But there are some things that are old
and damaged. And the damaged needs to be taken
out. The old has to be taken out so that the
new can be put in. And there are some jobs in
your house you're thinking of right now where
you know that that's what has to happen. And
you wish that it would just go away. But for
the new to come, guess what has to happen? The
old has to be done away with. God is not always
trying to reform you. If I can just find a better
version of this right here. There are things
in our lives that God is not trying to reform.
He's trying to transform. He's trying to take
the old out and put something brand new in. That's
what he does. Now this passage in Revelation,
the Lord is speaking about the very end of times.
He's talking about the end of our faith. And
let's just talk about that for a moment. He's
talking about heaven. And the great mystery of
Revelation is this, that the earth will eventually
get tired out. Did you know that? The earth will
eventually get worn out. Now, I am not an advocate
that says, well, then let's just treat it any
old way we want. I believe that we have to take
care of what God's given to us, whether it's
our little corner of the earth or the earth in
general. I believe we've got to take care and
steward that which God has given to us. Amen?
But one day will come that the earth will wear
out. In fact, you read the book of Revelation
and the bowl judgments and the trumpet judgments
and all of those things will be poured out on
the earth. The earth will be filled with plagues
and earthquakes. And guess what's going to happen
through those end times? The earth is going to
get torn apart because of judgment. And that's
what is happening. And right before he says this,
before, behold, I make all things new, he speaks
of a heaven where there are no more tears, where
there is no more sorrow, where there is no more
struggle. Everything becomes brand new. Hallelujah.
The old is gone. The new has come. Around these
verses, in the beginning, you can go back to
chapter 19, but even in the beginning of this
chapter, you can see Jesus talking about his
bride, the church. Jesus is waiting for his wedding
day. And this that you see right now, you look
around and say, this is one tiny expression of
the kingdom of God. This is faith church, one
tiny expression of the kingdom at large, and
yet we are part of the bride of Christ. And there
is a wedding day that is coming. Do you know
why God is very particular about marriage? Because
your marriage is a reflection, or it's supposed
to be, a reflection of the bride of Christ and
Jesus. It's why marriage and everything that
surrounds it, God calls it to be holy. because
it is a reflection of Jesus and his bride. Hallelujah.
That was not in my notes, but I feel the Lord
speaking in that. And part of the newness that
is coming in the end times is that the bride
of Christ will be fully united, not just in part.
You know, in this time period that we live in,
we see in part, 1 Corinthians 13 says, we look
through a glass dimly, and we just can barely
see, but then we shall see face to face, and
we shall know him fully, even as we are fully
known. Are you looking forward to that day? He
breathes on his people, behold, I make all things
new. And I want to encourage you, even as Paul
encouraged the people, the trumpet is going to
sound, Jesus is going to come back, and this
whole thing is going to get wrapped up. Hallelujah.
Keep your eyes on the prize. Keep your eyes on
heaven. Lift it above all this stuff that's temporary.
And we're looking forward to that day. But I
want to declare some good news to you. That God,
who is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore,
has always and will always be in the business
of making things new. It's what He does. The
earth. Was without form and void and the spirit
of God hovered over the waters. He was then in
the business of making all things new. Can you
even imagine it? When he spoke into nothingness
and he said, let there be light. Before there
was sun, before there was moon. There was light.
God saw that it was good and there was evening
and morning the first day. And he began to speak
and creation burst forth in wonder and majesty.
And that which was chaotic and without form took
form. Why? Because God makes all things. I preached
last week about the heavens opening up from Genesis
7, and I believe that this is going to be a year
where the heavens open up. Hallelujah. But what
happened in Genesis 7, verse 11, when the heavens
opened up and rain flooded the earth, even the
tops of the tallest mountains were covered with
water? What was happening to the earth? The earth
had become corrupt, and the Bible says that man,
every inclination of his heart was evil all the
time, except in one family, and that family was
Noah. And what was God doing when he flooded
the earth? He was removing that which was old
and bringing in that which is new. and bringing
the earth into a place of newness of life. The
old was washed away, and the new came. Because
for the new to come, the old has to be done away
with. It was not just an Egyptian army. When
Moses had led the Israelites across the Red Sea
and then the Egyptians followed and the waters
went in over the Egyptian army. It was not just
the Egyptian army that God was cleansing. God
was washing away the old life of the Israelites.
It was that army that was the administers. of
the slavery of the Israelites. And that baptism
in water got rid of all their slavery as they
came into the land of freedom. The washing of
something new. And you that have been baptized
into Christ, you have... gone through the waters
of baptism, you have entered in to the newness
of God. In Romans chapter 6, it says this concerning
baptism. Therefore, we were buried with Christ
through baptism into death, that just as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we should walk in newness of
life. Hallelujah. What is happening in your life?
Is God just coming along and just making your
life a little better? No. No. He's washing away
the old and putting something brand new in your
life. Hallelujah. That's good news. That's good
news. Somebody ought to get happy about that.
You've been baptized into Christ. You've been
baptized into newness of life. It's no wonder
that the process of repentance requires cleansing.
The process of repentance involves the character
of God That breathes newness into people. You
remember David and his great sin. His great falling
away. Having Uriah killed. Having taken Uriah's
wife. And after nine months of hardness of heart.
And backsliding. And turning away from God, the
prophet Nathan came and confronted him with his
sin. Not knowing if he would be killed too like
Uriah, but David softened his heart. And he wrote
Psalm 51. And he said this in verse 7. Purge
me. With hyssop. And I shall be clean. Wash me.
And I shall be whiter than snow. David had lost
his joy. He had lost his way. He had lost his
sense of righteousness. He was not hearing from
God. He had done that which is evil before the
Lord. He needed to be cleansed. He needed the
old to be washed away. And he needed the new
to come. And he prayed this beautiful prayer.
Wash me. And I will be whiter than snow. Cleanse
me with hyssop. You know what hyssop is? Hyssop
is the plant that the priests dipped into the
blood and sprinkled on the ones that offered
the sacrifice. Hyssop was the plant when the
Israelites were in Egypt before they left and
God had instructed them to put blood on the doorposts
of their houses so that the death angel would
see the blood and pass over them. It was the
hyssop plant that they used when they dipped
it in the blood of that lamb and painted it on
the doorposts of their homes. And David says,
wash me with hyssop. And what he's saying is,
if you will cleanse me in the blood of the sacrifice,
I'll be clean. I'll be transformed. I'll experience
the newness of God in my life. David didn't know
it, but he was prophetically looking ahead to
the cross when Jesus would shed his blood on
Calvary. And that you and I, God doesn't use
a hyssop plant in the physical. But when you
come to the cross, do you know what the Father
does? When you come to the cross with all of
your junk, with all of your sin, with all of
your failure, with all of your garbage, He applies
the blood of the cross to your heart. And 1 John
1 .9 says, as we confess our sins, He's faithful
and just to cleanse us from our sin and to get
all unrighteousness out of our lives. That's
the newness of God. Praise the Lord. When a leper
was cleansed, you can read about it in Leviticus
14, they would dip the blood in the hyssop plant,
and over that leper they would sprinkle the blood.
Maybe you've never had leprosy in the physical,
but how many of you would identify with the leprosy
of sin and the leprosy of the heart? Our God
specializes in making everything new. Praise
God. That's why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5
.17, He who is in Christ Jesus is a new creation.
The old has gone and the new has come. Because
our God specializes in making all things. Did
you know that God does things new on a daily
basis? Do you know He makes things new on a daily
basis? Lamentations chapter 3. Now, Jeremiah
was called the weeping prophet. Because God kept
speaking to him, and he kept relaying the message,
but nobody ever listened to him. And great sorrow
filled his heart, and he would weep and weep
and weep over his nation. Because he had such
a burden for them to walk in right relationship
with God. But they would never listen. Until
generations later listened to him, but his generation
did not. But he wrote this in Lamentations chapter
3. He said in verse 21, this I recall to my mind,
therefore I have hope. Through the Lord's mercies,
we are not consumed. Because his compassions
fail not. They are new every morning. Great is
your faithfulness. Hallelujah. Now, as I consider
the earth and what we know about the earth that
maybe they didn't know back then, is that it
is always morning somewhere, isn't it? The sun
is always rising somewhere on our planet, and
it is always setting somewhere on our planet.
But wherever the sun is rising on our planet,
the mercies of the Lord and His compassions are
renewed. Hallelujah. It means this, that there
is always more. Look at the person next to you
and say, there is mercy for you. Hallelujah.
There is mercy for you. Because the mercy and
the compassion of God rises with the Son. And
so the earth is constantly being renewed in the
mercy and the compassion of God. It is never
ending. It is never failing. It's why every single
day you can get up and say, God, I thank you
for your mercy in my life, that it's brand new
this morning, that you don't tire of me. Hallelujah.
One of the greatest things about... being married
to my wife for 32 years, is that she has not
gotten tired of me. Maybe you should ask her
about that. See if she groans. God is not tired
of you. There is mercy for you. Because God makes
all things new. Paul said it like this. We do
not lose heart. Our outward man is perishing.
How many of you like getting older? Anybody like
it? I get calls every day from AARP. I'm 52.
Our outward man is perishing. Yet the inward
man is being renewed day by day. your inward
man, your spirit man, is not getting older, friends.
It is being renewed as if it were brand new every
single day. Hallelujah. It is being renewed day
by day. Do you think God does new things? He
absolutely does new things. He is preserving
you. He is keeping you. He is doing new things
in your heart and in your life. Now you need
to cooperate with it, friends. You need to cooperate
with the new things that God is doing. And Colossians
3 verse 10, it says this, we have to put on the
new man. We have to step in to the new things
that God is doing in our life. And we have to,
in Colossians 3 .10, it says the new man is being
renewed in knowledge according to the image of
Christ. And so if we're going to put, in fact,
the verse before in verse 9, it says, put off
the old man. Put off the old man, Colossians
3 .9. Put off the old man. All the old junk,
all the old way of living, put it off and put
on and step in to what God is doing now. Hallelujah.
Glory to God. Because he makes all things new.
He speaks that over your life. He makes all things
new. But you've got to cooperate with it. And
that means the stuff that you've... Giving yourself
to that you know you can't give yourself to anymore.
You've got to crucify that thing. You've got
to put it off in Jesus' name. And you've got
to step into the lifestyle, the newness that
God has for you. Hallelujah. Isaiah 40, 31. They
that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
Praise God. And so God does new things every
single day. God has new things in seasons. Seasons
bring forth that which is new. How many of you
are already ready for spring to come? All your
hands are up. I know it's 50 degrees this week,
but that's just teasing us. You know that, right?
It's just like a teaser. Seasons bring forth
that which is new. It's why I wouldn't trade
the four seasons. I don't want to live in a place
where there's not four seasons. I love four seasons
because there's change, because there's new things
that come. The passing of the season, one to
another, is refreshing. And there are pros and
cons to all the seasons. But there's something
new that happens in the season. The prophets
of the Old Testament, sometimes they're hard
to read because they're filled with judgment
and destruction. But do you know what judgment
and destruction does? It's trying to get rid
of that which is old. And the prophets, you read
the judgment and destruction, but you've got
to read the silver linings also that are there.
Because the judgment and destruction on all the
ways that people have walked away from God and
done the wrong thing are lined with hope. And
one that I... That I often read in Isaiah 43
at the beginning of the year. And this being
the first Sunday of 2026. Isaiah 43 verse 16
says this. Thus says the Lord who makes a way
in the sea. And a path through the mighty waters.
Who brings forth the chariot and the horse. This
is the enemy of Israel. The army and the power.
They shall lie down together. They shall not
rise. They are extinguished. They are quenched
like a wick. And I believe that 2026 is going
to be a year of battle. It's going to be a year
of war. You're going to feel it in every aspect
of life. You're going to feel it in politics.
You're already feeling it. The election that's
coming this fall is an expression of the spiritual
battle that we are in. We've got to pay attention.
What's happening in the natural. I woke up a
couple days ago. Maduro had gotten arrested by
the United States military. That's a phenomenal
thing that happened. But what is it representative
of? The war that we are in. The war that we are
in. And it is not just so that we can get more
oil in Venezuela. The real battle that we are
in is for the souls of mankind. So that people
will come into the kingdom. Those other things
are outward expressions. We are believing for
many to come to Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. These
are seasons, shifting of seasons where the new
comes. Daniel was, as a young man, deported into
Babylon. And as an old man, now in his 80s, he
read in Jeremiah. He read. That this season of
captivity is only lasting 70 years. Daniel was
one of the people that in the next generation
listened to Jeremiah. And in Daniel chapter 9,
it says this. In the first year of Darius, the
son of Ahasuerus. Let me say that again. In the
first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, the
lineage of the Medes. who is made king of the
realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of
his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books
the number of the years specified by the word
of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that
he would accomplish 70 years in the desolation
of Jerusalem. Daniel had been in Babylon nearly
70 years. And he understood by the prophet that
change was coming. He understood by the prophet
that a new season was about to be birthed into
the lives of the Israeli people. He knew that
That the time prophesied by Jeremiah, in fact,
you can read about it in Jeremiah 25. Jeremiah
said, it will be 70 years. And that's what Daniel
read about. And he knew that the new season was
coming. And so what did he do? In verse 3 it
says this, Then I set my face toward the Lord
God to make request by prayer and supplication
with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. He knew
the new season was coming. And so what did he
do? He positioned himself. For the God that makes
all things new to have his way in the nation
of Israel. Hallelujah. I believe, friends, that
when we know that God is about to do a new thing,
God is about to birth a new thing, God is about
to stir a new thing. Hallelujah. What is our
responsibility? I want to call this house to
be like Daniel. and to be people that prepare
themselves for the new things that God wants
to do. that position themselves for the new things
that God wants to do. So we've called for a fast.
We've called for prayer. We've called to fix
our eyes on heaven, to fix our eyes on Jesus.
We're calling the church to the place of prayer,
to come back to the place of the altar. But why
do we do that? Is it just to do a religious thing?
Well, all the churches are doing it. No. My friend,
it is to position ourselves for what God is about
to do. Behold, I make all things new. I believe
that in 2026, that many of you are going to see
shifting happening in your lives. you've been
waiting for, that you've been believing God for.
And what ought we to do? We ought to position
ourselves before the Lord. That's what these
four or five days are for, to position ourselves.
Cammie asked me, do you want to have a theme?
for each prayer meeting, for each night. I remember
last year when we did our week of prayer and
fasting, and we had a different theme each night,
and we prayed for that different theme, and that's
fine. But I felt in my heart, no, we're not going
to have a specific theme this year for each night.
Do you know what we're going to do? We're going
to come before the Lord, and we're going to position
ourselves, and we're going to pray. And we're
going to seek his face. And we're going to say,
God, here we are. We humble ourselves before
you because you are the God that makes all things
new. It's what he does. It's what he does. We
fast and we pray to position ourselves. For that
which what God wants to bring in our lives. When
you receive a word from the Lord, which if you
read your scriptures, you are receiving word
from the Lord. Did you know that? God will apply
it to your lives. That's why... The beginning
of the year is a great time to renew your commitment
to the Word of God. And you're reading it, you're
reading it, you're reading it. And, you know,
for a lot of passages, you're just reading it
and it's good and you're just trying to understand
it and you're just trying to take it in. And
then you come across a passage one day that you're
reading and it just goes... And it's God speaking
his word directly to your life. But friend, if
you're not in the word of God, you're going to
miss it. Or somebody has prayed over you and
released by the gift of the Spirit a prophetic
word over your life. And that word... comes into
you, and you have a sense that you know that
this is God for your life. Well, what is your
responsibility? You have a responsibility to
the fulfillment of that Word. Well, I can't make
it come about. No, only God can make it come
about. It's the Word of the Lord. Amen? Only
He can come about, make it come about. But what
can you do? You can position yourself. for the
word to come about in your life. You can fast
and pray. You can stand in the place of God,
believing before, you can stand before the Lord,
believing for that word to come to pass in the
name of Jesus. God, I'm not just going to let
that word fall to the ground. I'm going to steward
the word that has been given to me so that I
can see that word come to pass in my life. Behold,
I make all things new. God, I position myself
before you because you're the God that makes
all things new. We want God to do it all. And
we sang about his faithfulness. And he is faithful.
He is faithful. He is faithful. And I have the
worship team come and do one of the songs that
you did earlier about the faithfulness of God.
And I want us to have a moment here of consecration.
Because you have God -given dreams for 2026.
Anybody have a God -given dream for 2026? Anybody?
Come on, lift up your hand if you have something
you're believing God for in 2026. We need to
believe God. These are things we're laying before
the Lord. We're believing God. Hallelujah. There's
a father in the room who has a deep desire to
become the man of God that he created you to
be. But you know in your heart you're far from
it. And you wonder, can I ever get there? And
the Lord would speak to you this morning and
say that He sees that desire that's tucked into
your heart to become what God created you to
be. And it is true that right now you're not
a spiritual leader. But God in 2026, step by
step, one step at a time, is going to shape you.
And he is going to take you from one place to
another, here a little, there a little. And he's
calling you to position yourself. Keep positioning
yourself before the Lord. God sees that desire.
Lord, you see a couple right now that they want
to honor you in their relationship. And you're
helping that couple to make things right. And
they're going to take steps this year that will
position themselves under the blessing of God.
Lord, we have dreams and visions that we present
before you right now in Jesus' name. Dreams and
visions. Promises. The promises of God. We are
not alone. And you've called us as a people like
Daniel. to position ourselves before you. The
70 years is coming to an end. The slavery is
over. There's a washing and a cleansing. God
makes all things new. Perhaps you're here and
you've never trusted Christ as your Savior. Trusting
Him as your Savior is as simple as a prayer.
It's as simple as turning away from the old and
turning to the new. And saying, Jesus, here I
am. I want to be a follower. This morning, this
morning, God, we consecrate our hearts to you.
Grandmothers and grandfathers perhaps have known
the Lord for a long time but are coming before
you this morning saying, God, I'm ready for you
to breathe a new season. Into my life. Hallelujah.