The New, Week 1

Dr. Tim Rivers | January 5, 2025

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Well, it feels good in God's house. Did y'all have a good Christmas break? Yes. Did you enjoy yourself? Did you get everything that you asked for? Did you get everything that was on your list? If not, I've got questions, right? God has been so good to us. The Christmas was an absolutely amazing time. Got to take a break, spend it with family, got refreshed, but I am here today to preach. There are times when you teach and you take your time, and then there are times that you preach. Don't get it twisted. I grew up Pentecostal, and for those of you that don't know what that means, buckle up buttercup. Here we go. It's the new year. I feel my energy. I feel the Holy Spirit in here. So if you want to hear a pretty little message, come back next week, but today I'm going to get into Word and somebody say, man, okay, before we get started, before we get started, did anybody recognize something new when you walked into the building?

Doesn't the lobby and the kids area look wonderful and beautiful? We updated several of our common areas in our kids area while you were gone and all thanks to you and your generosity, we were able to update our building, make it look nicer. I always am grieved when you go to a church and it doesn't look like the house of God should look like. The house of God should be beautiful, it should be wonderful, it should be clean, should be taken care of, and because of your generosity, we are able to do it. So give yourselves a big round of applause for that tomorrow. Somebody said, tomorrow is January the sixth, which means that we're kicking off 21 days of prayer and fasting. Come on somebody. Now I know you're probably thinking, why are you making noise and celebrating fasting? It's because we know the power of setting aside the plate, putting away some things that mean something to you and concentrating on the Lord.

And what we're doing differently this year than we have in previous years is we are going to give you a booklet. It's called 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. And in this booklet, every day you'll have a guided prayer. You'll also have a section in here for where you can take notes, where when you're listening to the Holy Spirit, he's speaking to you, write it down. The Bible says that write the vision down and make it plain so that runneth may know. A lot of times when God begins to speak to us, we kind of tuck it away in our memory, but how many know that the older you get, the harder it is to remember, but I think that's also an issue with smaller people, younger people, we'll also forget. So utilize this time, the next 21 days to set aside something that means to you. The biblical version of fasting is some type of food or drink something that denies the flesh and the reason why we fast and pray, we have many examples in the scripture of the greatest example would be Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus was led into the wilderness to fast and to pray for 40 days and 40 nights, but he came out of the wilderness in the power of the Spirit. So he was led into the wilderness to fast and pray, but after he fasted and prayed, he came out in the power.

I believe we are being led into 21 days of prayer and fasting, but we're coming out and the power of the Spirit, and if you believe it, say amen. So pick up your booklet, get ready, we'll start tomorrow. We'll go for 21 days and let's see what God will do and everyone say amen. If you have your Bibles, would you stand to your feet and go with me to Isaiah chapter 53, the book of Isaiah chapter 43, I'm sorry, Isaiah chapter 43, starting at verse number 16. If you have your paper Bible with you, make some noise. How about the electronic Bibles, phones, iPads? How about the screens?

Either way, you're going to get the word of God. Isaiah chapter 43, verse number 16, thus says the Lord who makes a way in the sea a path in the mighty waters who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior, they lay down, they cannot rise. They are extinguished, quenched like a wick. Remember not the former things nor consider the things of old behold. Somebody say, behold, behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness, the rivers in the desert, the wild beast will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I form for myself that they might declare my praise. One more passage of scripture. Go with me to two Corinthians chapter five, verse number 17, two Corinthians chapter five, verse number 17.

This is always amazing to me. Pastor Sarah opened up the service today by reading from two Corinthians chapter five, verse number 17. We did not talk about this. She did not know that this was going to be a verse that I read, and yet that's how the Holy Spirit works. We are a spirit led church, which means that we are submitted to the leading of the spirit. So I think God is trying to say something. Second Corinthians chapter five, verse number 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature or creation. The old has passed away. Behold, somebody say, behold, behold the new has come. Lord, we are so grateful, so thankful that you kept us all through 2024. For some it was a year of success. For some it was a year of valleys, and yet you kept us all the same.

We thank you, Lord. We look back and we say, thank you for keeping us, and yet as we get this year started, we're looking forward to what you're getting ready to do. I believe that your people are ready to receive everything that you have for them. And so Lord, help us to have open ears, open hearts, open minds to receive from you. We give you a name, the praise, the glory and the honor because you're worthy of it in Jesus'. Name a man. Look at your neighbor, say neighbor. Neighbor. Something good. Something good is about to happen. Look at your other neighbor. They weren't convinced.

Say neighbor, neighbor, something good is about to happen, happen. And if you believe that, give God praise one more time. Come on, lift up a shout of praise to Jesus and you may be seated. Something good is about to happen. Okay, I'm ready to preach. Today's a special day for me because today begins my third year of lead pastoring. This is my anniversary and I'm grateful. I'm thankful because it just so happened that when I started here at Embassy City as the lead pastor, it was the 1st of January, 2023, and so God is unique in that way in that every beginning Sunday of the year is a year that reminds me that something new is about to happen. And so I'm believing that God is going to do something special this year. I am going to tell you what the Lord I think has dropped in my spirit about what our theme direction is for this year, but I want to give you some context. First, I want to lead us to that point. Does anyone remember back when receiving or getting secondhand things was not cool?

I know that nowadays that thrifting and repurposing is really cool, but do y'all remember the day when thrifting was done out of necessity and not out of hobby? Yes, sir. Did anyone grow up getting secondhand things and being embarrassed? I know there are some of you that were like, I don't care, I just wore whatever. But for me, I was always trying to come up with excuses. How do I tell somebody where I get this without telling them where I got this? If you got something from Goodwill, it's like, and somebody asks you where you got that sweater? It's like, well, I just started quoting scripture, peace on earth and goodwill toward men. You had to be creative about telling people where you got stuff, but it's amazing how many people nowadays brag about the deals that get on secondhand stuff and you can find some good secondhand stuff. Facebook marketplace is a great place to start, right? What about eBay still doing this thing?

I haven't heard about Craigslist in a while. Goodwill thrifting. There are a lot of cool places now that are repurposing stuff, but there was a time when one man's trash was another man's trash. It wasn't treasure, it was just trash. The truth is though, if you have ever taken something used or old and repurposed it or brought it back to life, there is a unique feeling about that. There is something that feels good about taking something that somebody else thought was trash, having new vision for it, putting your touch on it and bringing it back to life and people being impressed by it. If you've ever gone to a classic car show, it's awesome to think about the fact that this car was sitting in somebody's backyard rusting and somebody saw it and saw vision and saw what it could be in spite of what it looked like and decided, I'm going to take this thing.

I'm going to put some time into it. I'm going to paint it, I'm going to sand it. I'm going to put new wheels on and new brakes, maybe a new engine and bring it back to life. There's just something about taking something that someone else thought wouldn't make it and turning it into something that everybody wants. There's just a unique feeling about that. There's something special about taking an old piece of furniture that somebody put out on the curb and going, you know what? That would look good if I sand it and put a new coat of paint on it. And then it's amazing how when you do that and you put it in your house and somebody walks up and goes, where did you get that? And then you go sit down. I found it. And you go into a whole sermonette about how you took an old piece of furniture and turned it into something new.

And here's the thing. As good as you may be at repurposing old clothes and furniture, there is no one who can repurpose things like God as good as you may be at taking an old car and turning it into something nice that everybody want to ride in. There is nothing like the restorative power of God. In fact, there are people in here. You know what it's like to be a result of the restorative power of God? Is there anybody in here that could just testify for about 10 seconds that when everyone saw a loser, God saw a winner? When everyone thought that you wouldn't make it, God saw vision and he let you make it. Can anyone testify to the fact that when everyone saw the tail, God saw a head? When everyone saw a borrow of God, saw a lender, when everyone thought that you weren't going to make it, God saw something.

When everyone saw brokenness, God saw wholeness. I love the restorative power of God. In fact, I think that even if we look back at 2024, for some of us, the devil tried to break us down in 24, but God restored us back to brand new. That's just the restorative power of God. And I think the reason why many of us resonate with the idea of restoration is because we love a good story of the underdog winning. We love stories and movies like Rocky. We love stories where the underdog, the one that everyone discounted ends up making it. And I think the reason why we love those stories is because for most of us in this place, watch it online or in the overflow, we are that story. We are the representation of how no one thought that we would make it, but we made it anyways.

No one thought that you would get through 24, but you made it. No one thought that you would get the job, but you got it. No one thought you would qualify for the home, but you're in the house. Now, no one thought that you could get the car, but you worked hard and now you drove in it the church. No one thought that you could clean up, but look at you now. I wish somebody would just give God praise for the fact that you made it. That's why songs like when I look back over my life and I think things over, I can truly say that I've been blessed. I've got a testimony. Does anybody have a testimony in here?

The whole idea of restoration actually begins with God. It's in the nature of God to restore things. It's in the nature of who he is to take what is old and make it brand new. It has been the nature of God to take something that someone thinks is a discard and to make it brand new again. He takes broken vessels and makes them new. He takes broken people and makes them new. He takes things that are in the eyes of any normal person, not worth anything, and he will make it worth everything. It's in the nature of God to take things that are dead and bring it back to life. It's in the nature of God to take things that are considered to be restorative and restored back. It's in the nature of God. In fact, the theological term for restoration is the word revival.

And we love the word revival, especially if you grew up Pentecostal or charismatic. We tarried for revival, right? In fact, we'd have certain Sundays that were called revival nights. We would have services that would go on every day of the week called Revival Nights, right? Because there is a sense in which when you read the scripture all throughout the passages of scripture, you will find moments of revival. The word revival literally means to make something alive again. Revival means to take something that was once and to restore it back to its original design. All throughout the scripture, you can find many examples, but I think the greatest example of revival is found in Ezekiel chapter 37. Many of you have heard this story. This is the prophet Ezekiel. The Bible says that God takes Ezekiel and he transports him to a valley, and the valley is full of dry bones and it looks like an impossible situation. It looks like there's just nothingness, right? And God asked Ezekiel the question. He says, Ezekiel, can these bones live now? Ezekiel was smart. He didn't say absolutely God. He said, I dunno, but God.

And God said, that's all I need is somebody to believe that I know what's best. Sometimes we try to figure out if something's going to work out and God's like, I don't need you to try to figure it out. I just need you to believe that I know best. And so the Bible says that Ezekiel, he looks up at God and he says, I don't know but, and so God goes, all right, Ezekiel prophesy to the four winds and say, and what's amazing is Ezekiel, he didn't know when it was going to happen. He didn't know how it was going to happen. He didn't know exactly the timeframe of what it was going to look like, but Ezekiel believed God enough to declare the word of God over something that was dead. And as he prophesied the word prophecy literally means to declare the word of God as he declared the word of God.

He said, behold the wind started to blow from every corner of the earth. The wind started to blow, and as the wind begin to blow, the bones begin to rattle and shake. And the scripture says that as he continued to declare the word of God, as he continued to declare what God was saying, that bone came to, that means a shoulder bone attached himself to a clavicle. That means that a rib bone started to make its way up to the chest plate. That means that the femur popped right into the hip bone. That means that I just ran out of bones.

But that means that as he was declaring the word of God, what was an impossible situation started to come back together. Can I just stop and say it ain't up to you to try to figure out how to put things back together. It's just up to you to declare what God said he was going to do. If God said that he was going to find you a partner, stop going everywhere trying to talk to everybody. Just believe God that he's going to bring the right person at the right time, from the right place with the right credit score, with the right job.

Come on now. So many of us wonder if the thing that we feel like is dead is going to come back to life and we're trying to figure out how to make it work. And yet God says, if you just believe me and declare my word over the situation, I will make it come together in the right time, in the right way. You may be wondering, can my marriage live again? Yes, it can. Can my children come back? Yes they can. Will I get this job? Yes, you will. Will this dead situation come back to life? Yes, it will. All you have to do is declare the word of God, stop decreeing and declaring your own words.

It ain't going to work. But when you declare the word of God, how many know sometimes when you don't know what to do, just say the word. If you want to see revival and re restoration in your life, stop trying to make it happen just to clear the word of God and watch God do it. Now, all throughout scripture, you're going to find examples of restoration and reviving. Why? Because God is a restorative and a reviving God. That's his nature. God doesn't like dead things. Everything that God created has life in it. Everything that God has created has life in it. God won't even let you die and remain dead even at the end of time. He's bringing you back to life.

If God is a God who loves life, why are you satisfied with dead things in your life? If God won't even let you get to the end of your life and die, but he's going to bring you back, you may get to the end of your life and say, finally, I'm done. Pop. God's going to bring you right back. It's called the second resurrection. Why? Because God is a God who loves life. God is a restorative God. He's a regenerative God. He's a revival God. That's what he does. And God is not just the restorative and revival God. He first is a God of the new. In fact, everything that has ever needed to be revived, restored or repurposed, started out as brand new. Anything that is now old was once new. In fact, our very introduction to God, God is not restoring. He's actually making things brand new.

Think about it. When you read in the very first pages of Genesis, the Bible says that God steps out upon nothing and he begins to create brand new things. He creates a new earth. He creates a brand new world to existed. He creates brand new birds, brand new trees, brand new rivers, brand new livestock, brand new humans. The things lost their place and God restored them. But God's intention is always to create new things first. In fact, the value of dry bones were never meant to be dead. They were meant to always be alive. And yet because they took their life from something other than the life of God, they died. If you want to guarantee to die, if you want a vision to die, if you want to dream to die, start getting you life from something other than God, start trying to get it from the affirmation of people.

Start trying to get it from the affirmation and the confirmation of your friends. Start trying to get your vision from other people and watch how quickly that thing will die. But if you get your life from God, it will always live. The difference between revival and a new thing is that revival or restoration requires something to have once been new and now is old. Revival, as good as it is, is only applied to something that has happened before and is simply re happening. I love revival and it's miraculous. Revival is a process of experiencing something that has already been experienced by someone else previously. I want to experience some of the things that have been experienced previously. I want to experience the Book of Acts revival. I want to experience the Azua revival. I want to experience all of these great awakenings. I want to re-experience those things.

And while revival is miraculous in many ways, it's a replay of something that has already been done and many people will live their lives only praying for revival, only praying for a replay, only praying for repurposing, only believing that what once was in their life would be again, if I could be just as strong as I was in my twenties, if I could get all my hair back, if my back wouldn't hurt, if my back wouldn't hurt now like it didn't back then, if I just had all the things back, and many people will live the rest of their lives wanting to relive things that they lived in the past. There are many people who move forward looking backwards Only if I could. You're not getting today back.

You're not getting tomorrow back. I'm sorry. The hair that you lost is down to sink. It ain't coming back. I'm a living witness your skin. I'm going to leave that alone. But many people will walk into 2025 saying, God, I need a revival of yesteryear. God, if I could love you like I did 10 years ago, God, if I could have a prayer life like I did 15 years ago, God, if you could just restore to me the joy that I once had and what God is wanting you to know I think in 2025, is that God is not just wanting to give you a revival. God wants to give you something brand new because the only thing that is more miraculous than revival is experiencing or seeing something that has never happened before. When there is no frame of reference, when there is no template, when there is no blueprint, when there is no example, when there is nothing to point back at when there is no historical context, when you can't look back 10 years ago and you can't look back 15 years ago.

I love revival, but I want God to do something in 2025 that I have never experienced in my life before. I want to be shocked by what God. I want to wake up and go, God, I never thought that this was possible. It was never in my imagination. I didn't even have a point of reference. I may just be preaching to myself. But imagine what Elijah must have felt like the first time he ever experienced somebody being raised from the dead. Imagine what David must have felt like for the first time in recorded history. A giant fell down by a slingshot. Imagine what it must have felt like for the Hebrew boys for the first time in recorded history to stay alive in the middle of fire. Imagine what Moses must have felt like to have a conversation with a burning bush. It has never happened before.

Imagine what Ezekiel must have felt like to record the story of bones coming back to life again. Imagine what Peter must have felt like to walk on water for the very first time and recorded history. Imagine what it must have felt like. Do you know the feeling of something happening brand new to you? Do you know the feeling of a new outfit? Do you know the feeling of a new car? The feeling of having a brand new home, the feeling of having brand new friends, the feeling of having a brand new marriage, the feeling of having a brand new child? Imagine the feeling of when God does something new in your life that you've never experienced before. Alright, I'm going to try to behave myself, but I told you I'm here to preach today because it was in June of 2024 last year that I was praying.

I was saying, God, what do you want to do in the life of our church? What kind of revival do you want to send us? What kind of restoration do you want to bring in our midst? And I felt I had a meeting here at the church and right in the middle of the meeting, I heard the Lord speak to me and say, behold, the new has come. And I thought to myself Now, it was so obvious and so loud that I was distracted. I don't even know what the meeting ended up being like. But I left that meeting and I called Janice. I said, Janice, I feel like the Lord spoke to me and said, the new has come. And then I called a couple of other spiritual friends of mine, make sure they're spiritual because there are certified faith thieves that will love to steal your dream and vision.

Don't share it with them. That's a word that's for free. It's not even in the notes. But I called a couple other people. I said, Hey, I feel like the Lord spoke to me very clearly and said, the new has come. And as I began to pray into that, I felt like the Lord said, you know what? In 2025 in the life of Embassy City and its people, the theme and the phrase for you all to attach to is this the new. And as I prayed into it more, I felt like the Lord led me into Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 17, where Paul is writing to a church and he says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold the new has come. The phrase, the theme of our church for 2025 is the new because I believe that God is going to let you experience something in your life that has never been experienced before. I'm not talking about a reprint. I'm not talking about Xerox. I'm not talking about a coffee. I'm not talking about a replica. I'm not talking about a 2.0. I'm talking about something brand expecting new in your life.

If you want God to do something new in your life, would you just give him praise? Sit down. Y'all make me think I'm supposed to quit. I still got time. Here's what new means. The word new and the original means unseen. It means fresh. It means original. It means of a kind not seen before. As I begin to pray about your life and what God wants to do in your life, I don't believe, yes, God is going to restore some things. Yes, God is going to give you revival. Yes, God is going to bring some things back together, but on top of that, what I really feel like God is going ready to do in your life, and I'm just speaking and believing that God is going to do it in your life. I believe that God is going to do something original, something fresh, something unseen, something that is a kind that you have never experienced before.

I know that you're 70 and you think you've seen it all, but no, you've not seen yet what God is getting ready to do in your life. I know that you may be 80 and think that you've seen everything that God has for you, but I'm here to tell you that your latter days shall be greater than your former days. That what God has for you in this next season, you have never seen done in your life before. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. I'm talking about new homes, new jobs, new relationships, new businesses, new hope, new dreams, new vision, new strength, new gifts, new insights, new talents, new opportunities, new marriages, new children.

I feel like Ezekiel, I feel like I'm just prophesying to the atmosphere. I'm going to let God do it. I'm not going to twist nobody's arm. I'm not going to try to make it happen. I'm not going to try to figure out what bone goes with bone. I'm not going to try to figure out where the wind is going to come from. I'm not going to try to figure out how your relationship is going to work. I just believe that as I preach to you that God is unleashing angels in the atmosphere to start working on your behalf. I just wonder, is there anybody that believes that something new is about to take place in your life?

I've been praying for new baptisms, new members, new salvations, new serve team, volunteers, new space. We're running out of space. I believe God for new space for our church, new parking lot, new cars for you. I can can just tell by the look at somebody else. I've heard this before. I've heard this before. That's fine. Just wait around while everybody around you get something new. I love restoring old furniture, but there's nothing like having brand new furniture where you don't have to replace the knobs, where you don't have to worry about the rollers and the will the drawer open or not. I believe that there are moments and times in your life where God wants to do something so new that it shocks you.

I want to preach to some old timers. I want to preach to some old gray haired soldiers of the faith that you're wondering what God has for you in this next season. I'm telling you, he has something new for you. Some of us can try to relive and try to, we want old songs. We want old ways of doing things, and the old is great, but old is old. And if you know about God, God will revive some things. God will restore some things, but it has never stopped him from doing new things. You can have revival and new things at the same time. You can have restoration in your life and something new at the same time. You can have an old home and a new outfit. You can have an old car and new tires. There are times where God mixes revival and new things, and I believe that this is the season 2025 where God is going to do something new. Everything am done. That's the end of the sermon. I just wanted to tell you to get ready. Here's the thing about new things with God. The way that God begins to do new things in your life is first of all, he would give you new hope.

You know what hope is? Hope is something that you haven't experienced yet and yet is a promise of something happening in the future, and the way that you accept hope is through faith. Hebrews chapter 11, verse one. Now, faith is the assurance. KJV, the substance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen. God is getting ready to do something new. Yes, he is, and the way that he's going to start doing it is he's going to drop some hope in your life. Now, here's the thing. Not everybody is going to believe that God has something new for them and that's okay.

Goodwill is in business for a reason. There's nothing wrong with it, but God is getting into honor. Luck a brand new doll for somebody if you can just believe that it's for you. Thank you, thank you. Here's what I feel like telling somebody thank you. You've cried about it. You've grieved it. You've mourned it. You've done your work. You got through it. You're getting over it, and now it's time to realize that God has something brand new in store for you. God is simply looking for a few people to believe that he's going to do something new in your life. And if you are that person, would you stand to your feet and give God some praise in this place?

I don't know what it is yet. If I knew what it was, then it wouldn't be brand new. So I'm a planner. I like to have my goals set up. I like to know what's coming around the corner. I like to be informed. And so when God began to speak to me and said, 2025 is a year of the new, I said, cool. God, what's going to be new? That seems like the sensible thing to ask, right? You know what I felt like the Lord said, if I told you it wouldn't be new, and so I'm like this, God, what am I supposed to do? He said, walk by faith and not by sight, because if you walk by sight, you're just motivated to get the thing. If you walk by faith, you're listening to the next turn. Some of you're getting ready to walk into a season of brand new faith so you can see brand new things. You have been walking on your own for far too long trying to relive experiences, and that's great, but God wants you to have a stronger relationship now than you did 50 years ago. God wants to restore prayer life and add to it, add to it, right? God wants you to relive some things, some passions, and enhance it. Come on. Well, if our marriage was just as good as it was 10 years ago, it should be that good and more. Your marriage should be better at 25 than it was at five. Oh.

Now the next few weeks, I'm going to talk about how you get prepared for the new, because here's the thing, you can't just get new things with old ways. You can't expect God to do new things in your life with old patterns and behaviors. There's going to be some things that you got to change in order to get the new, and I'm going to teach you how to do that by the word of God. So don't just come here and say, all right, got my first service out of the way for 2025. I'm good. No, no, no. You got the word. You got the new hope. Now I got to teach you how to live it out so that you can experience the new that God wants to do in your life. Would you close your eyes? Bow heads?

Lord, we stand in your presence, ready to let go of the old and embrace the new. I believe that you have a promise for us as a church and specifically us as individuals of new things. And for many of us, we're anxious to know what those new things is. But I think you're going to teach us in this year to walk by faith and not by sight, and when we do so, we will begin to experience new things. So right now, Lord, I'm praying that new things would happen. New homes, new jobs, new relationships, new businesses, new hopes, new dreams, new vision, new joy, new strength, new gifts, new talents, new opportunities, new marriages, new children, new everything, new God, let this be a year of new things. This is a promise that you're making to us and we receive it from your word.