 Good evening here at Nairobi Central SBA Church. And we are happy to welcome everybody to this midweek prayer session. Before we start, I would like us to pray. My name is Damaris Ndeera. And I want to welcome all the online congregants as well as those who are within the sanctuary. So wherever you are, may we humble ourselves and for those who are in the sanctuary, please rise so that we can have a word of prayer. Lord, we come to you with lots of thanksgiving in our hearts, Father. Father, we thank you for your masses and your forever. We thank you for your love. We thank you for your protection. We thank you for your greatness in our lives. And we thank you because you are our father and friend. Lord, we thank you because you've allowed us to come into your presence just the way we are, even though we are not worthy to stand before you. On this day, Lord, we have come to commune with you and we ask that your Holy Spirit may come down and dwell with us. We ask that your holy angels may come around here. We want to put everyone into your hands, especially those who are logged into this service, that Father, by the end of it, they may live renewed and refreshed. And Father, even us who have come here to worship you, may this be sweet incense before you. Lord, forgive us our sins that we have committed, knowingly and unknowingly, and make us write, oh Lord, walk with us and talk with us in Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. So we'll start with song number 341 from the SDA Hymno. That is, to God be the glory. If you have it, you can sing along with me. To gong number 330, take my life and let it be. You'll sing together with me. Take my life and... Good evening, online viewers. May I take this opportunity to welcome each one of you to this midweek prayer, which we started last week, and it will continue for the rest of the year, every Wednesday, at 5.30, we'll be coming physically to church, and those who will be watching, it will be at 5.30 p.m. every Wednesday. Thank you very much, and may we now read our scripture. Scripture reading is from the book of Isaiah chapter 43, verse one to three and verse nine to 10. I'll read from the King James Version. But now that says the Lord that created thee, oh Jacob, and he that formed thee, oh Israel. Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. Verse two, when thou passes through the waters, I'll be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, they shall not be burned, neither shall the frame kindle upon thee. Verse three, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel thy Savior. I give Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Sabah for thee. Verse nine, let all the nations be gathered together and let the people be assembled. Who among them can declare this and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified, or let them hear and say it is truth. Verse 10, ye are my witnesses, said the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Be for me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. May the Lord bless his word. Pray the Lord brethren, to you who have come physically to be with us at the sanctuary. May God bless you. And so, I want to invite even you following from your gadgets. It is midweek, less next time, make a point of coming so that we can be blessed together. And so, I thank the Lord who has taken us through the past days of this week. And as we are in the midweek, it has taken his grace for us to be where we are today. We thank the Lord for his masses and goodness. And we pray that those who may be going through various challenges may receive the Lord's masses and gracious intervention. We thank the Lord also that this week has been a special week for us. A special week from Sunday when we received the world leader who has prayed for us and we continue to pray that the Lord may give us the showers from heaven rain that our country may experience some cool climate and that the places where this drought the animals may receive water. Having said that, I invite you that we can pray and proceed with today's message. Heavenly Father, I stand before your children at this moment. Lord, as you have touched and used me before, may you be lifted up, may your name be honoured, may you speak and touch my lips as you did touch the lips of prophet Isaiah and your men servant because your word is living. Oh Lord, may we be revived by this message today. May you remind us to call upon your name every moment and especially as we have opportunity. May we gather so that we can praise your holy word name. Therefore bless us Lord and use me now according to your mighty power and grace in Jesus' name. I pray. Amen. Friends, I undertook to speak on this 43 chapter, 43rd chapter of the prophet Isaiah. In this text, you will realize that Isaiah is speaking a message which he began by talking about the word of God and how it strengthens vis-a-vis that human power which grows weary. And so a dosage for spiritual weariness. A dosage for spiritual weariness. I looked at the definition from Oxford Lannis Dictionary and it defines weariness as the feeling of being very tired or being very tired especially after you have been working hard or doing something for a long, long time. Weariness. The children of Israel have been promised from chapter 40 of Isaiah of the word of God that would strengthen, that would empower them. Verse 6 to 8 speaks about a voice crying in the wilderness, crying to the people reminding them that they were and they are but dust, that they are like grass that springs up and it can dry and wither any time. But it says those who were in the wilderness any time. But it says those who believe in the word of God just as the word of God is living, the word of God remains forever. This theme of weariness, this theme that brings about a people who have known the acts of worship but somehow although they know the acts of worship from chapter one you realize that in this chapter one Isaiah portrays and calls the people including the princes so that they would turn to God. He reminds them that if they did not turn to God, if they did not turn to God with the whole of their hearts, then even their offerings, even their sacrifices, he is asking who has required these many sacrifices from you. In fact he says your incense is an abomination if you do not have it in your heart that this offering stems from appreciation from a heart connection with God. And so the people who have always thought that they were pleasing God by their sacrifices of animals or services or going to the temple were reminded that God required their heart experience, that God did not require the slaughtering of an innocent animal if that slaughtering does not accompany with the sorrowfulness of what has been done wrong. A realization that God is holy and the only way he would connect us is by realizing that there would be need for a sacrificial lamb of God who would cleanse us from all animals. And so in chapter 43, you realize that already chapter 40 has enumerated and enlisted so much about how human beings may grow weary. He continues to speak in chapter 42 about the servant of the Lord. And then now after speaking about this theme he addresses these people that there is this prediction of what the servant of the Lord will do. And despite the promises, despite the prediction of what the Lord was about to do to the Israelite nation, in fact the Judean nation which had been taken into captivity, the prophet predicts their freedom, their release and God is declaring that he is about to do a new thing. But somehow because of being taken into captivity, somehow because of expecting and yet that expectation turning into disappointment over and over as the prophets predicted some had grown weary, they had grown tired, they were very tired because they had expected for a long time for something to happen. And so this future hope that is being predicted to them was received with a cold weary response. It is in this context of a cold response from this group of people who had been taken into captivity expecting that they would be returned back into their country land that God is sending Isaiah with our message today. A dosage for spiritual weariness. A dosage for spiritual weariness. My friend, in this chapter 43 of Isaiah God tries to encourage a people who knew that there were sons of Abraham, that there were a special people to God that they had been called for God to use them and so they expected preferential treatment from God. But God seems to be reminding them that they needed a better response, that they needed to appreciate what God was promising them despite the situation being what it was. And so God challenges them and says in verse 1, but now Das says the Lord who created you, O Jacob, and who formed you, O Israel? Fear not, for I have called you by your name. You are my Jacob, Israel. I have created you and God says I have formed you. Here it seems it is not only that act of creation during Adam, but God is saying you who are alive at that particular time, you as a nation, I did not only create you because you can imagine that Isaac was born during a double menopause period. It would only take a real creation, a real power to walk upon a grandmother who gave birth to Isaac. It took the power of God. And so God is saying although there is the general creation, but in a special way, Jacob, you Israel, you are a nation whom I especially created and then he says I have formed you. It appears this forming is not only one that is spoken in the book of Genesis, but it appears in our daily experiences, in the circumstances that we go through, these are the instruments God is using to form us. And so God is telling Israel, look, I created you and I am forming you for a special purpose so that despite the situation you go through being what it is, you are going to remain better. You are going to go through these experiences. And so the forming of God, the creation of God, the forming of these circumstances are meant to let us know that whatever experiences we go through, the Lord is forming us so that we can minister even through and after whatever situations we have to go through in life. God is realistic. He is realistic in what he predicts that despite the hardship that we must go through, his purposes, his calling is one that is not. He doesn't use pleasant languages. He lets us know that whatever we go through in life, it does not abandon us. That those experiences are not meant to crush us but they are meant to make us more resilient so that we can bounce back and be a source of encouragement to someone. Friend, it is in this context that God speaks to the nation of Israel that although God was going to take them through different circumstances and situations which would appear as if it is trying, yet God is saying, I created you and I am forming you even through those experiences. But this chapter does not only portray and show what God is doing. The prophet seemed also to want us to look at the response of what God is saying and what is happening with the people. And so I would like us to look at this contrast that we are given. In verse 1, the Lord is saying, I have called you. The Lord is declaring to the nation of Israel that he is the one who called them, have called you. How did I call you? He says, I have called you. Other version says, buy your name. Still that is okay because that means that God who enabled Jacob to become Israel, he changed that name, Jacob, which was a depressing name, which reminded Jacob of what he had done wrong, which resulted to him running away from his brother, from the mother he loved, living behind the family because of chasing this ambition, he became a cheat. His name reminded him of his behavior and until he wrestled with the Lord, until he asked that, Lord, hold that you may bless me, until he said, I will not let you go, until you bless me, his name always remained. At some point he tried to change that name and he said, for me to receive the blessing, let me be called Israel. He tried to wear this skin, but that was not him. And so in this confusion, God tells us he is the only one who can call us by our real name. He is the only one who knows that name which will change our behaviors. And so the Lord has called you. He has called you and in fact, that name that he has given you shall not only be a name that he knows and you know that he has changed you, but it is a name that will be written upon your forehead, a name that will be placed even in your mansion in heaven. The Lord is saying, I have called you and it appears he is saying not only by your name, but it seems to say, I have called you by my name, in my power because the name of the Lord is what he does to save his people. And so it seems to say, by my name which he kept the church and which Christ prayed that I am praying that you may keep them by your name, that name that saves, that name that redeems, that name, the name of the Lord is what the Lord has called you to himself. And therefore he says, because I have called you by my name, I have given you your new name, you are, we belong to the Lord. And this is supposed to encourage the children of Israel. But my friend, this seems not to have encouraged them that much. Why? Because here the Lord is saying, you have not reciprocated by calling me verse 22 of chapter 43. We find a contrast that when God has called us by his name, he has called us in our new name, he is saying we are his, his people are not reciprocating. And so verses 22 tells us this, that, but you have not called upon me or Jacob, and you have been weary of me or Israel, weary. You have not called upon me. You have not responded as you ought to, knowing that I've given you this blessed privilege for you to know that you are mine, that I have saved you calling you by my name, doing all that is within divinity and this power of God to make us listen and hear him calling us and giving us a new name. Changing us and making us realize that this world is not all that is there for us to have. That whatever experiences we go through which we may think it is a loss, it is disappointment, it is painful, that could be the very tool that heaven is using for us to hear. Forming us. The other contrast which we find is the contrast of divine acts compared to that of his people. Notice that God is saying that when he called and when he says you are mine, wherever we go, wherever Israel would go, the Lord would go with him. It says here that when you pass through the waters, referring to coming through the sea, going from Egypt to Cana, when you go through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow the river Jordan. When you walk through the fire, that is the story of Daniel, the story of his three brethren who were cast into the fire yet the fire did not burn them. And so God is saying I did not perform special miracles only when the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt whom I called by my name, I delivered them by my name, by my power. But even now when you shall go through the fire, this is to say the mighty works that God performed before and which he was promising to do in the circumstances that they would go through, whatever nature they were, the Lord is promising to go with his people. Israel seemed not to have taken notice. Why? Is because although God is saying I will be with you, I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Until God says, but you have been weary of me or Israel. Instead of them celebrating, thanking God, rejoicing for who they are, that God is saying you are mine. Their response is a cold. And so the Lord is saying, I have done this, I'm promising to go with you all the way even in dangerous places. I will go. And the Lord went even to the cross for you and me. What is your response? Is it one of joy? Is it one of realizing that something special has happened or is it a weary cold response? The Lord says because of you have made sacrifice. This is the third contrast. And he says, I gave Egypt for your ransom. Ethiopia and Sabah for you. Verse 23, which is also a contrast, he asked, what have you brought me? Did you bring small cattle to sacrifice? How much sacrifice have you made for me? Did you offer burnt offering in recognition of how much God has done for you? He's saying, have you horned me with thy sacrifice? He's asking, or did you buy me a sweet sugar cane for me to chew and enjoy? In other words, God is saying, I have done all that I could. And in fact as it goes down you realize that at that point the Lord is breaking and he's saying, instead you are being weary, but it is actually you in your weariness, in your backsliding in not responding to what I've done for you not appreciating, continuing to complain that you continue to remain a loquam believer. This loquam response that the children of Israel despite the circumstances they went through being what it was God is saying I am taking you through this and I will work with you because I am forming you. I created you and I will work the whole way the whole journey with you. But then there's a loquam response this loquam response this indifference to the great acts of God the Lord is saying because of this behavior because of this response that is not befitting you have in fact wearied me because you are not living up to my name up to my honor God gives great honor to those whom he saves their persons who before their conversions were unclean in their lives men who had been everything that was despicable and women who had lost all honor and when they have been converted they have joined a Christian church and in the society of God's people they have become honorable God is saying I have honored you but have you honored me The final contrast is a challenge for us God is asking how much do we appreciate him the Lord says I went all the way because you are precious in my side because of me you are honorable because of the Lord we are who we are we are where we are today because of God's mercy we have received all this goodness because of his grace are we honoring him enough are we remembering what he is promising to do and so God declares in verse 9 of that chapter as we conclude the Lord is saying don't be weary don't even remember the days when I brought the children of Israel from Egypt because I am doing a new thing and so this promises of the future he is telling them I am doing a new thing what is the new thing he is telling them I am going to make a path through the descent it is not a path that is normal I will make rivers from Babylon to Israel this time the descent shall flourish the descent shall bloom with wonderful fruits and so as we see this it is a promise of a new exodus a promise of what God will do this time through the desert leading his people and as they go back to Jerusalem because they have discovered the honor of the Lord the power of God to save from fiery funerals the Lord who can make the desert bloom they became thankful worshippers of the Lord the Gentiles got to know the true God and they worshipped God and the deserts of the Gentiles bloomed praising and honoring the Lord no wonder as you read down he is saying that even the animals in the desert shall cry and worship the Lord another contrast how are we who have known the Lord for a long time responding to the Lord's good how much time do we allot him how seriously do we take the moment or time alone with the Lord and so this is an indication that God was looking at the children of Israel that even if we are taking them to captivity through people like Paul like Barnabas like Philip so many from the Gentile nation and the church would be planted even in the desert courtesy of those who had resources and had established synagogues in Babylon and in the entire empire they became the very centers where the churches and the gospel was preached the Lord is doing a new thing my friend don't despair of the situation which you have prayed for a long time until you are no longer sure whether they will change the Lord is saying maybe you are looking at the wrong direction maybe you are expecting miracles like it happened to someone else but the Lord is saying I am doing a new thing in your situation I am changing I am going to turn deserts into very fertile, fruitful land because I will make rivers in the desert in Ezekiel 47 I am requesting you to go and read that beautiful text it seems these prophets being contemporaries and reading from one another the Lord was pleased to show a vision a vision of a river that began from the temple and as the water flew and as it went to Kidron it became afloat it reached the knees it came to the west it came to the neck and it covered and it flowed and wherever it flew there were new vegetation every side the fish became plenty and it flew and flowed all the way to the sea and encircled the world friend it is out of this that you realize that God knows our situation and is challenging us that for us to be revived we need to go back to the Word of God because those who believe in the Word of God shall not they shall mount up with wings as eagles because young men may get weary despite them being vigorous having energy they fail to use that time that moment they are quick minds to praise the Lord but it says those who trust in the Lord shall not grow weary they shall not be tired they shall mount up with wings they shall walk and run and not fail those who let us fear the Lord that is a dosage let us read the Word of God which shall not end because it leaves forever so that we can live let's feed on the Word of God chapter 58 there is another group that is complaining and saying we have kept the Sabbath we have kept ourselves from things is it nothing to you Lord are you watching are you taking cognizance of this and they seem to be weary and saying we keep the Sabbath but the Lord is asking how are you keeping the Sabbath is it when you appear to be mournful sorrowful covering yourself with ashes and walking so so pitifully that you think you are making a fast for me it says no if you want to be a blessing if you want to be a river in the desert that is making the desert to flourish to become fruitful to bloom with great harvest take care of the fatherless treat well those who are under your care love and be concerned with those of your own blood take care of them then your light shall shine and your joy shall be complete and I will give you the secret blessings that I gave Jacob it is with this my friend that when we join Isaiah 61 that we realize that the spirit of the Lord Jesus is saying the spirit of the Lord is upon me this spirit of the Lord that was upon the Sabbath and of the Lord Isaiah is the spirit that is for preaching the gospel and he is saying it is to make those whose ears are deaf to hear to let those who are blind to see and so God has called us by his name and is the one who can heal our weariness and our backwardness by reminding us to read trust in him and be filled with the Holy Spirit so that when we are full of the Holy Spirit we can reach out to all and become new rivers reaching out and preaching the gospel to others who with me today would like to say Lord I believe in your word I know you have called me in your name you have given me a new name called me to know to worship you and so that the entire world may know that there is a loving, caring, saviour who says I plot out your seal I have forgiven you and you will praise me instead of wearing me this Lord is saying I am making rivers in the desert I am filling you with do you want to receive such power in the midst of the circumstances that you are going through and to know that be it it is waters or rivers it will not flood and take you or even fire it will not ban you because you know the secret of servitude and the joy of praising the Lord for the joy of the Lord is our strength may we rise in the joy of the Lord knowing that he has done it and let us believe and walk as his children his sons and daughters shall we see as we stand to acknowledge what God has done in our life to continually praise him the Lord has been our shepherd throughout the week and I want to invite us to sing song number 546 the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want so just sing along with me the Lord is my shepherd this event that indeed has given us a new name we are yours that even when we come and return to you Lord it is not because we are coming to you to be received as if pleading to be received but it is because you are the one who is calling us you are the one who is wooing and moving us to yourself by your grace that although we may have such a lukewarm cold response to how wonderful things you have promised and done yet your spirit shall always speak to open the eyes of those who seem to be to be blind and the ears of those who seem to be deaf who may not feel anything of the experiences that you take us through thank you Lord because your spirit is upon your ministers to move us to preach the gospel so the Lord we can look at your goodness you are beautiful Lord when we know this when we believe in your word when we know you have called us then even if we go through flat rivers that overflow and even fire it shall not consume us or overtake us because you are with us thank you Lord because in the desert you are creating rivers even in our souls that seems like deserts that are dry and thirsty Lord we pray that you may let the showers and the blessings of heaven fall upon us anew that you may revive us and feel us with thy spirit oh Lord so that we can go out and make many rejoice like the earth that has received fresh rains from above that has formed the dews and that waters the roots by the rivers that flow in the desert make us rivers of life thank you for your grace thank you for your mercy thank you for your goodness and this privilege even in the middle of the week to come and listen to your word Lord always bring us to your courts and speak to us to cheer us up so that we respond accordingly and so let us honor you and sacrifice for you just as you sacrifice for us giving you of the best of our resources and our time waking up early and taking time to be alone with you hearing your voice as you speak reminding us that we are yours and so bless us Lord bless my few bless those who are in the sanctuary bless this church and let every time that we have fellowship may many come and sit to hear thank you for this day and for this message and for all your promises and your wonderful promises to do a new thing in our situation do it Lord and bless us with your joy and peace intervening in our situation in Jesus name we pray amen hey God bless you thank you so much Pastor the title had something that we were not understanding now we know the spiritual awareness hey the Lord grant us revival grant us the power of the Holy Spirit that we may experience revival spiritual revival so that we are no longer weary thank you for all online viewers and those of us who are in church may God bless us all and remember next week same time 5.30 to 7 please join us thank you so much we thank you we thank you one song one more song and then we close like a shepherd lead us 5.45 let's all stand up as we sing Savior like a shepherd lead us we need thy tenderness care the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now thank you and may you be blessed