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

0:01 Speaker 1: Do you ever look around and think, Wow, the world is a crazy place and it just seems to get crazier and crazier. Ease your mind and take a break. This is Fuel for the Soul with John GIFTA. We're a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living, and Christian discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live the life that you were created for. Your host is a top ranking podcaster, best selling author, world record holder, aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist, and founder of John GIFTA International.

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 wish you and your family are very blessed and meaningful twenty twenty six as well. You know, even as we step into the new year, you may to come into the year maybe you had a greade twenty twenty five and you're grateful and the Lord showed up in some area of your life and you're eternally grateful, or you're you're in a place where you're rejoicing and you're glad, and I'm so grateful to God for your life or 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 there are areas you're still waiting on the Lord. You thought God would show up in twenty five, but he did not. But I want you to understand that you know this, This is a word that I want to really challenge you even as you step into the new year, because I believe that this You might have heard this verse a million times, but this one aspect that I really want us to slow down and really take into our heart this year because I've been very intentional about this practicing and asking the Lord to help me through, and I'm telling you this has actually helped me a lot the in just the past couple of days.

1:55 Speaker 2: And I believe that this is a key that the Lord is just placing in my heart for all of us to unlock into this new year as well. So I'm going to quickly share a very familiar verse with you, and I want to hit a very important point that I would like for us to take away this year as well. So it's hoouted Isaiah forty three. I'm sure you may know where I'm going. Eighteen Ver was nine eighteen and nineteen. This is this familiar passage that you might hear very frequently, especially around new beginnings, new Year and all of that.

2:27 Speaker 2: But there's something I want to focus on, and I'm reading to you from the message version. This is what it says. Forget about what's happened. Don't keep going over old history. Right what happened in twenty twenty five happened, you know what did not work out? It did not work out. But the scripture says, forget about it, and don't keep going over old history. Don't keep thinking like, oh my gosh, this should have happened. I wish this hadn't happen. You know, we can keep going into that mode of thinking about it.

2:54 Speaker 2: But anyway, even if you're doing that or not doing that, that's another message altogether. I've preached in depth in the past, and I will focus on it maybe at the right time in the future. But here's the thing I want you to pay attention. In verse nineteen, it says, be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand new. It's bursting out, don't you see it? There? It is. I'm making a road through the desert rivers in the bad lands. But I want you to focus on this point very very much. Right, be alert, be present, you know, especially in the last couple of days, I've been training myself to do this, Like, I mean, so many times.

3:37 Speaker 2: What happens is we tend to go into this automatic mode like you know, you wake up, or I need to get the shoes of the day done. I need to, you know, get ready for work, I need to get ready for college or school. I need to you know, like take some time out and spend time with a lord. You know, we go as a routine and there's nothing wrong with routine or discipline in its place is that there's there's a place for all of that. But sometimes we go into this automatic mode where everything becomes just out of a subconscious mind where we are actually not present or we're not alert to hear what the Lord is saying.

4:15 Speaker 2: To actually stop and say, God, is this what you want me to do? Is this something from you or is it something that's me trying to make it happen? Are you getting what I'm saying? I really want you to pause and think before you make any decision, like are you getting into the automode like you know what? For example, in Ministry one, of the mistakes I made last year which I want to correct is sometimes I was so focused on posting, you know, consistently posting every day on the on on YouTube. In the past, I was posting every day on the podcast platform.

4:53 Speaker 2: I was. I was so focused on posting for the day that sometimes I noticed I was on automodi, like, oh, I need to post, so I posted, rather than pausing and seeing what the Lord wanted me to actually post that day, you know what I mean, Like, I'm being honest with you, right, Like we all learned by making mistakes, and I think that's one area I started taking that intentional step to you know what, I don't have to prove to anybody, you know that, oh, you know what, I can post every day, or I can create content every day.

5:22 Speaker 2: I was. I was just checking that I had made over four hundred and fifty videos in the last one year, like you know, for YouTube, you know, like these shots videos, and then for other like I have the other podcast for the motivation, I have the you know television program which is weekly and so so in more than four hundred and fifty videos in the last one year. And I was like, that's great, you know, I got better at doing what I do. I'm grateful to God for all of that. But you know, sometimes we end up 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 intentional that everything that I do is in alignment with what God wants to do through me, you know. And I've been very intentional in slowing down at the end of this year and making sure that everything I post, or say, or or or prepare, you know, is not just coming out of like oh I need to post, so I post, but I'm putting the place where I'm alert and I'm present God. Is this something you want me to do? Is this something you want me to focus on?

6:36 Speaker 2: Is this something? And I've been very intentional, and I'm telling you things have been different when I started taking that step. You know, maybe in your life, like for example, if you're in your in your in your work life, you're just like, oh, you know what, I need to do this task, I need to do that task and all of that. But get to that place where you're like, God, what is your priority in this? How do you want me to maximize my potential in this? How can I bring out a better quality output or maybe with better accuracy, better speed, better delivery.

7:13 Speaker 2: How can I be a better person in this organization that you have placed me in this institution? How can I serve my church better? How can I help this ministry better? How can I be a better version of myself? Be alert, be present. God wants to speak to you. God wants to speak to you. See, the way God speaks is not through the traditional conventional method alone, Like there are times God speaks through those but God can speak through anything and everything. You know, yesterday during the Watchnight service, I was listening to the sermon and you know, the worship and all of that.

7:51 Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not denying that sermon wasn't great or anything like that. I'm not doing that. But I'm telling you God met me personally. Not during those times. There were times when when the worship was on, I saw, you know, like two visions. During the worship. I was so personal encountered God. I was lost in tongues. I was I was in a place where I met with God kind of for a scenario where I literally encountered the Lord issued me two different visions concerning my life. You see, if I was not alert and present, I would have missed it if I was just focusing more on you know what, Oh, everybody's singing the song, let me sing the song.

8:35 Speaker 2: Everybody's listening to the sermon. So I mean, I'm not saying don't listen to the sermon. I'm not saying don't sing the song. But sometimes when you're not able to connect with the song, maybe God wants to connect with you through something else. While the rest of the people are worshiping God, you can be in your own thing her whole connection with God at that more point of time. I hope you get what I'm saying. My challenge is today, I mean, as we step into the new you be intentional about being alert and being present.

9:04 Speaker 2: Don't go with the you know, subconscious mind of like whatever happens later happened. Don't don't go in that sense, but try to go from a place of being slowing down and being intentional, Like, God, what is it that you are speaking to me? What is it that you want to say to me? I'm telling you sometimes when we pause and listen, that's when we get clarity in our life. We are able to see the new thing that God wants to lead us through. You know, for example, if I'm driving fast on a road right and God wants to say take this left turn, maybe the GPS is saying take a left turn.

9:45 Speaker 2: But if I'm not slowing down, I'm going to miss that left turn. I'm going to keep going fast. Sometimes you need to slow down to say hey, did you say this left turn? What did you mean the next one? Or you know what? Oh I miss this? So my childe let's be people in twenty twenty six? What intentional about being alert and being present? Amen? God, I want to pray a blessing over every single person listening from across the globe the day will make an intentional step to be alert and be present in Jesus name, God bless you.

10:22 Speaker 1: You've been listening to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We hope you were blessed and inspired to live the life that God has for you. Make sure to subscribe to the John gifted YouTube channel for regular uploads of sermons, skits, interviews, and more. Follow John Gifta on Instagram for regular inspirational posts, and don't forget to check out the best selling books written by John Gifta. Who am I which will help you understand your identity, and the latest number one best seller Unveil Your Purpose, helping you discover your purpose and to start walking in it.

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