A New Thing

I watched this on TV and it was so great that I just had to hold on to a copy! Thankfully they had this posted on the Hour of Power website so I didn't have to type it out :)

Bishop Kenneth Ulmer

Hour of Power

December 25, 2011

One of the most significant disciplines and lessons that a person can learn is the ability to recognize, hear, and respond to the voice of God. It is a truth that should be a part of the very fabric of the life of every believer. To know that God still speaks. The presence of the living God is in this place, even as we speak. And He is yet speaking.

One of the ways that God speaks is through His Word, and He never speaks in contradiction to what He has already spoken. God never says that which contradicts what He has already said. And one of the ways that He speaks is through His Word.

Today, we’re going to study a passage out of the book, the prophecy of Isaiah. You will determine whether it is merely the written Word of God, or whether it is a word from God, for you, based on where you are, based on where you are going. The prophet Isaiah was the one who declared unto us a Child would be born; unto us a Son would be given.

The same Isaiah in the 43rd chapter of his prophecy declares in verse 2, “I will be with you.” I will be with thee. When you read scripture and there’s an interesting shift to first person, the context will reveal that it is God speaking. I declare unto you that God speaks at this very moment and He says to you, “I am with you.”

God brought someone to this place today. You may have just come for the tour. You may have just seen the crowd and casually wandered in. But God brought you to this place today that He might deposit into your spirit the truth that He is with you.

God speaks even today. And through the prophet Isaiah, He says this: “When you pass through the waters,” Isaiah 43, verse 2, “I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle thee.” Through the water, through the river, through the flame, through the fire, God says, “I will be with you.”

I have some bad news today and I have some good news today. The bad news is, if you continue to walk with the Lord, sooner or later you will go through the fire, you will go through the river, and you will go through the water. The good news is, if you continue to walk with the Lord, you will eventually go through the fire, through the river, and through the water.

Every now and then you can toss in an “amen”; just toss one in there if you agree with what I say. Keep your head nodding so I know you’re still awake and just toss in an “amen.” That was a great place for an “amen.”

If you walk with the Lord, I guarantee you sooner or later you’ll go through the water, through the river, through the fire. But if you continue to follow Him, you will go through the water, and through the river, and through the fire.

God brought someone to this place today and your testimony is: I’ve been through it. That’s someone’s testimony today. I have been through it. The operative word is I’ve been through. He did not say you’ll go in it, you’ll go through it. Through it means you came in one side, and if you keep on walking, you will come out on the other side. Sometimes you even have to tell the devil, I’m coming out of this in the name of Jesus. Sometimes you have to declare your own destiny and look the enemy in the face and declare, “I may go through, but I’m coming out.” That’s a good place for an “amen,” right off down through there.

God says, “I will be with you.” In this new season, you will know the unusual presence of God. God says, “I’ll be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. I’ll be with you even when you are going through, I’ll be with you.”

Notice, if you will, He also says in that same chapter - it’s a very, very interesting exhortation that He says in verse 18: “Remember not the former things; neither consider the things of old.” Interesting, God says, He speaks and He says, “Remember not the former things.” Interestingly enough, to remember not is not the same thing as to forget. I’ll say it again. When God says do not remember, remember not, that’s not the same as saying forget. To forget suggests that you erase it from your mind and your awareness.

God says remember not. The word remember means to behold or to place before, or to hold before one’s mind or one’s consciousness. What God says is don’t get stuck on what I’ve already done - the things of old. I brought you through the water, I’ve brought you through the storm, I’ve brought you through the rivers, I’ve brought you through the fire, and yet, it’s not over yet. There is much that I shall continue to do. And God says remember not. In other words, don’t get stuck on what I’ve already done. Even the good things that God has done shall pale in comparison to the better things that God has yet to do. I’ll say it again. Even the good things that God has done, will pale in comparison to the better things that God has yet to do.

For many of you, that might just be the logos. That just might be the written Word of God. But for someone, that is God’s prophetic Word to you; that God is about to do something in your life. In spite of what has already happened, in spite of what God has already done, never spend your today holding on to your yesterday and miss your tomorrow. Let me try this group over here, they didn’t get it over there. Let me go over here. Don’t waste your today, holding onto your yesterday, or you’ll miss your tomorrow. God says don’t get stuck on what I’ve already done.

Then He says this: “Behold, I will do a new thing.” I’ll give myself an “amen” on that one. God says behold, He says look, look at it. One version says don’t miss it. God says I will do a new thing - in this house, in your life. Behold, I will do a new thing. I release in this house a prophetic new. God says I will do a new thing.

Now be mindful that there are at least two words for new. There is one word for new that means, listen, new in time. There is another word for new that means new in kind. I’ll say it again. There’s a word for new that means new in time. And another word for new that means new in kind.

Let me see if I can help you. Does anyone own a Ford car? Oh, my brother Downs owns a Ford car. Let’s say, it’s what? A 2004, 5, 6, 10, 8? He has a car, and he comes in and says, “I have a new car,” and all of the saints rejoice and celebrate because this brother has a new car. He shakes the keys and says, “I have a new car.” And you go out to the parking lot and there is a brand spanking new 2012, a brand new Ford. And he says, “I have a new car.”

Now, before this new car, he had an old car. His old car was a Ford. And now he has a brand new Ford, right off the assembly line. It’s a new car, a 2012 brand new car. But it is new in time. The 2012 Ford’s will be an updated model of the previous Fords. It will be revised model. It will be a redesigned model of the same Ford because it will be new in time.

But let’s say the same brother comes in and he waves the keys and we all begin to celebrate because this brother has a brand new car. And we go out to the parking lot and now he has the keys to a brand new Mercedes Benz. Can I say that over here? Is that okay? Is that all right? And he waves the keys, and he says, ‘”I have a brand new car - a 2012.” Now, the other car was a Ford. The new car is a Benz. It’s not just new in time, it’s new in kind because it is nothing like the old car. Not just new in time, but new in kind.

God says, “Behold,” now who is this word for? “I shall do a new thing.” Not new in time, somebody sees it. What I’m about to do is new in kind, which means what I’m about to do in your life, what I’m about to do in this house is nothing like what I’ve already done. What I’ve already done was a good thing but what I’m about to do now is exceeding, abundantly above all that you can ask or think. I’m about to do a new thing, new in kind, brand new.

That’s a great place for a shout and an “amen,” right off down through there. Because God says to someone today, I’m taking you into a new season. I’m going to do something that is new in kind. And if you hold on to what I’ve already done, you’ll miss it. If you hold on to what I did yesterday, as good as it was, you will miss what I’m going to do because what I’m going to do is nothing like what I’ve already done.

Now watch this. When God does a new thing in your life, and He speaks it and declares it, it requires a unique kind of faith because now you need faith with no reference point. In other words, you cannot look back and base your anticipation on what God has already done because He’s already said, “What I’m going to do is brand new,” and so you now need a faith with no reference point. You need a God kind of faith, because what God is going to do, you don’t have enough faith to do it. You need to receive a God kind of faith, and allow God to believe through you what God is going to do in you. I said it too fast; you missed it. You must allow God to release His faith in you to do in you what He’s going to do for you and in your life. Because God says I’m about to do a brand new thing.

That’s God’s word for someone today. In this house, in your life, in your marriage, in your career, in your relationships, in your finances, I’m going to do a new thing.

In the next chapter, He says this: “I’m going to pour water; I’m going to pour rain from heaven.” God says I’m going to make it rain in the desert. I’m going to pour out rain from heaven, to water the dry places. Now, if you’ve never had any dry places, this verse is not for you. If you’ve never gone through any drought periods and any dry periods, if you’ve never gone through a season where you wonder where the crops and where the harvest was, you cannot relate to this verse. But if you know what it’s like to go through the water and through the fire and through the winds and the rains and the storms, while watching the enemy on the sideline trying to count you out and say you’d never make it, and yet you’ve seen God reach into the mess and bless you in spite of it, and bring you through. God says I’m about to do a new thing and pour out rain in dry places.

The very phrase “pour out” speaks of what God did at Pentecost when He poured out His Spirit. God says I’m going to pour out of my Spirit; I’m going to pour out rain in dry places. And so I have the weather report. It’s going to rain. I declare it in Jesus’ name. It’s going to rain. An outpouring, a fresh outpouring of the presence and power of God in your life, and in this house. It’s going to rain.

I lived in a place called East St. Louis, back in the Midwest. And my dad would often stand on the back porch of my house and look up and the sky was totally blue. And my dad would say, “Son, it’s going to rain.”

I’d say, “Daddy, the weatherman says it’s going to be sunshine for the next three days.’”

My daddy said, “Son, it’s going to rain.”

I said, “Daddy, but the weatherman says there is sunshine for the foreseeable future.

My daddy said, “Son, it’s going to rain. I’m not talking about the weatherman. I’m talking about the man who made the weather and God says it’s going to rain.”

I said, ‘”Daddy, how can you be so sure that it’s going to rain when there’s not a cloud in the sky?”

My daddy said, “Son, I can feel it in my knees.”

“If my (God’s) people who are called by my name will humble themselves,” go down on their knees, call out to the God of heaven, God says I will hear from heaven. Tell your neighbor it’s going to rain. I make the weather forecast in this house; it’s going to rain. The presence of God, the power of God shall be poured out the likes of which you have not seen. It’s going to rain in this house.

There was a woman one day who heard her pastor say on a Sunday, “It’s going to rain.” It had not rained in that part of America for months and months. In fact, there was a drought. And the pastor said, “Tomorrow night, we’re going to come and we’re going to have a prayer meeting. We’re going to pray and ask God for an unusual outpouring. We’re going to ask God for rain.” It had not rained for months and months. Farms were failing and crops were failing because there had been no rain. The old preacher said, “Tomorrow night, we’re going to gather in this place and we’re going to pray for rain.”

Sure enough the next night, the saints of God began to gather in this old country church. They would come out because the preacher said, “We’re going to pray for rain.”

The kids gathered a little early that night, and they began to pray on the porch of this small country church. As they did, they looked down the road, and saw a strange sight. It was one of the older women of the church, old Mother Jones, walking down the dusty road dressed in a strange outfit. With every step she took, Mother Jones kicked up some dust. The children saw Mother Jones, began to laugh at the strange sight, and then ran to the pastor, saying, “Pastor, something’s wrong with Mother Jones. She’s dressed up in a strange outfit. And every step that she takes, she kicks up some dust and some dirt.”

Sure enough, the old pastor came out of the church, looked at her coming up the road dressed up in a strange outfit and said, “Mother Jones, why are you wearing such a strange outfit?”

Mother Jones was dressed in an old yellow rubber coat with an old rubber hat stuck to one side of her head and big, floppy galoshes on her feet. You all don’t know about galoshes out here - they’re big rubber boots. She was carrying an old umbrella, a parasol in her hand. And the preacher said, “Mother Jones, why are you wearing such a strange outfit? You’ve got on an old raincoat, you’ve got on a rain hat, you’ve got on rain boots, and you have an umbrella in your hand. Mother Jones, why are you wearing such a strange outfit?”

Mother Jones said, “Pastor, I thought you said we were coming out here to pray for rain and it seems to me, if we’re going to pray for rain, somebody ought to get dressed up and get ready to receive the rain because it’s going to rain, children.”

I came to tell you today, it’s going to rain. Somebody has to learn how to praise God in the rain. Somebody has to learn how to stand up and give God honor in the rain. Somebody has to learn how to dance in the rain; how to celebrate in the rain; how to wave your hands in the rain; how to shout in the rain; how to give God glory in the rain; how to magnify the Lord in the rain. It’s going to rain, children. Somebody praise Him because the rain is on the way!

Pour out Your rain, Lord!

It’s going to rain, children. Somebody give God praise in this house. Oh clap your hands, oh ye people. Shout unto the Lord with the shout of triumph. Somebody bless Him in the rain.

Let Your rain fall, Jesus. Let Your Spirit fall, Jesus. Let Your presence fall, Jesus.

Somebody bless Him in the rain! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! In the rain! Come on and bless Him somebody. Hallelujah!