Rise Above

[0:00] Please be seated. And Isaiah 14, we come to the Word of God now. It's the second installment from me this morning.! I know you've been standing a bit, but maybe we could stand one more time.

[0:36] Just stretch our legs one more time. As we read the Word of God, feel free to read with me. Isaiah 14, verse 28. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary.

[0:53] There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.

[1:09] But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.

[1:21] Amen. Let's pray, Lord. Thank you for your Word now. Now, quicken it. Make it alive to our hearts and souls, our spirits, Lord. Quicken it, Lord. Make it alive.

[1:32] Make it live within our shoes, in our walk, in our hearts. Lord, be glorified in your church this morning, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.

[1:43] Please be seated. It's telling us here we can rise above. We can rise above in this life that we live. We can rise above our proneness to weakness and frailty and weariness, and find new strength, new vigor, new purpose.

[2:02] To rise up with wings like eagles. I saw some drone footage of a drone footage of a camera strapped to the back of an eagle's head, flying over the countryside.

[2:16] And what a view. What an experience. Just to get a visual picture of what that looks like. To rise up. To bounce up with wings like eagles. Our Lord does not want us to be weary.

[2:32] It says our Lord does not faint. Our Lord is not weary. And we read here that He, He Himself, is our power source. The source of our supply and strength.

[2:46] The word for you today is weights on the Lord. There's a particular radio program and the preacher says, the word for today, the word for today is weight on the Lord.

[3:02] Amen. Just weight. I know down at the local doctor there's a long waiting time down at the local doctor because people love Him so much.

[3:17] They'll wait for hours. Just weight. Because it's worth the wait. Sometimes we just need to wait, don't we? Wait on the Lord. Lord. Sometimes we want the Lord to hurry up.

[3:32] And give us the answers. Because sometimes we've just got to wait. Wait on Him. Trust in Him. Trust in Him. Let's face it. We live in a world where it's easy to succumb to pressures.

[3:43] And we can also easily get unduly influenced by the world and its ways. We can get dragged down. Down, down, down. Bob down. God wants you to mount up with wings like eagles.

[3:57] Often we can also easily settle for the lowest common denominator. Especially in a work setting, can't we? You know, I work with people who are not saved in my day job.

[4:08] And it rubs off on you sometimes, doesn't it? We can settle for the lowest common denominator. And rather let's mount up with wings like eagles.

[4:20] Let's aspire. Let's be that which others would aspire to be. In other words, don't settle for second rate, second best. This can happen in a group of people in a secular organisation where they settle for second best, don't they?

[4:37] Oh, she'll be right, mate. No worries. It's good enough. Near enough's good enough. That's the kind of motto for some, isn't it? Sadly, it happens in churches too.

[4:48] Oh, it's near enough, right? It's good enough. In other words, we'll trade in what we really want for something that's not a good standard. You know, again, and I don't mean to harp on here, but this is how some churches can end up playing games to please a crowd.

[5:06] Instead of being what the Word says, the pillar and ground of the truth. That's what God's plan for the church is, to be the pillar and ground of the truth.

[5:17] So the pillar, that column, and the ground, the foundation of the truth. And in all of this, the truth gives way to trifling things that have no substance or no foundation.

[5:29] And a weakness prevails. There's this inherent weakness when we're not granted. There's a weakness that prevails. It's like you see it with foundations, don't you?

[5:40] I know Julie and I used to live out at Burton, and they said they had to have extra build-up at Burton. Because of the marshland, as what its original state was.

[5:52] You had to pay extra for the foundation to make it stronger. And if you don't get the foundation right, it's not good, is it?

[6:03] I know, down at Mawson Lakes. We see where the foundations aren't right. There's a bit of cracking here and there. Beautiful houses can just crumble when the foundation's wrong.

[6:17] The foundation must be right. The pillar and ground of the truth. Otherwise, weakness prevails. The setting here is a fainting of weakness, of strength, of mounting up.

[6:36] Churches, Christians, can get bogged down in worldly thinking and affections. They end up idling away their lives, and their Christianity, their faith is weakened. Because they've taken on the lightness and emptiness of the world.

[6:51] You know, I use Facebook. I know someone was sharing with me lately how it can be a tool for ministry. It can be something you can use Facebook to put some scripture texts out there, to put some godly edifying, to put some encouraging Christian testimony, and witness for Christ.

[7:09] For others, it's just a lightness and a fluffiness and an emptiness, and the vanities of the world. People just idle away their time. And it can be a waste.

[7:22] A waste, such a waste. When we take on the lightness and emptiness of the world, and we get overwhelmed such that it becomes a distraction for our true sense of purpose. Our true purpose.

[7:36] And lose that sense of mission that we have. We're here for a mission. Not just the folk on the wall there. The missionaries. We all are missionaries, aren't we?

[7:48] We're meant to be. To bloom where we planted. And we've lost. At times we lose that sense of mission. If indeed we ever had it.

[7:59] Let's get it. Let's get encouraged. Let's seek God. Let's wait on the Lord and find what our mission is. What our ministry is. And I'm talking here about faintness and weakness. It's a real problem.

[8:10] I was always saying here of a people that they've become faint. And they're losing their strength. And it's like me when I go and get an injection.

[8:24] I'm one of those people that just... The colour drains. And I've just... I've got to sit down. Just the thought. Just before they even get the needle out.

[8:35] And then when they... We can get faint, can't we? We can get faint about so many things. Little things. A little needle. Come on. We can get faint.

[8:47] We can lose strength. It's so easy to get weighed down, isn't it? If only we could rise above. If only we could mount up with wings like eagles. God says we can.

[8:59] God says we can. We can rise above these things. Things like carnality. We can rise above it. Like self-interest. Like self-care. Oh, woe is me.

[9:10] I like having these pity parties. And no one else is invited. It's just for me. Woe is me. Me, me, me. I'm having a pity party all on my own.

[9:21] Some people are full of self-care. Aren't they? Or murmuring. Oh, did you hear about so-and-so? They did a lot of that in Moses' day.

[9:32] And God says it was very bad. Don't do it. Evil speaking. You know, there's some folk that have encouraged me.

[9:43] And I see it evident in their lives. They don't engage in evil speaking. They won't bag anyone else. They don't say a bad word about anybody. I like people like that. Sometimes as a pastor, it's lots of people like that.

[9:56] They don't speak evil of me. You know, evil speaking. It's a big problem, isn't it? Don't speak evil. Overcome evil with good. Of course, there's false teachers.

[10:07] We've got to say, actually, that's error. Stinginess. That's another thing that mounts above, isn't it? Some people are stingy. Or fear.

[10:19] They're so afraid of offending anybody, they don't say anything. Better to speak it, isn't it? Be honest. When we get bogged down, dragged down, or will we mount up?

[10:35] Will we push through? We all face many obstacles in life. We can all get overwhelmed. Really, I thought to think of life as like an obstacle course. You know, back in school days, I used to like an obstacle course.

[10:49] What's it called? Cross country. Cross country. And it's just like, it's not just running around a boring racetrack. You've got to go downhill and up dale and around here and climb this and jump over that and through that.

[11:04] Through the mud. Yeah. Swing on that swing and land in the creek, you know. Life is like an obstacle course, isn't it? And you get over one obstruction and then you face the next.

[11:16] It's just one after the next, isn't it? The next, the next, the next. Whether it be challenges of health or obstacles, negativity, all too easily things can slow us down and weary us.

[11:27] We can become perplexed and sometimes overwhelmed. Oh no, not another obstacle. I've just gone through that one. There's another one I've got to jump over there. I've got to clear this other obstacle.

[11:38] I've only just got over the last setback. And Isaiah is saying, verse 30, even the youth shall faint and weary and the young men shall utterly fall. He's saying here, even those who think, these are the most resilient.

[11:52] Here's a young, fit bloke or girl and they've got capacity to, you know, they've got, they're physically fit and healthy and strong. They can push through.

[12:02] But no, even these fall over, he's saying. Isaiah is saying, even the people you think are stronger, the ones who look strong, they may not be as strong as you think. And it could be, you that know your weakness can be strong in Christ.

[12:18] Isn't that right? We need to rise above, to set our affection on things above. We read verse 29, he says, he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might.

[12:31] He increases strength. Where is the source of our power? That is the question. We have to tap into a power that is beyond our own. Beyond our own. You know, as our Lord says to Paul, when you are weak, I will make you strong.

[12:48] I will make you strong. It is our Lord. My strength is made perfect in weakness. So maybe it's a good thing to be weak sometimes. Don't be afraid to be aware of your weakness because then he can make you strong.

[13:05] In your weakness, I'm not quoting it correctly there, but when we are weak, he will give us his strength. Amen. And it's his life-changing power.

[13:17] It's the spirit of God. Isn't it? Now I don't like how some refer to the spirit of God as it when you get the power. It's not it. It's him. It's him.

[13:28] Him. Our Lord. Our God. The spirit of Christ. It's his personal power. Our Lord and saviour in the spirit of God.

[13:40] He is our power. His life-changing power. And the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself. It says in Psalm 4 verse 3. But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself.

[13:52] The Lord will hear when I call unto him. There's a wonderful joy that comes from being set apart unto God. That we're, not that we're holier than thou, you know, looking down our noses at others, but he's taken us from this earthly plane and he's set our feet on the rock, Christ Jesus.

[14:16] He's made us to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We have a vantage point. As we're mounting up with wings like eagles, we can see things differently than the average.

[14:28] the person who does not know him because we've been set apart. In some churches we see a prevailing carelessness and a prayerlessness, a worldliness, a carnality.

[14:43] And really it's an endemic weakness. It's weakness. A shallowness, biblical shallowness. People don't know their Bibles. And ignorance prevails. You know, I exhort you, people of God.

[14:56] I know old-fashioned paper books are kind of becoming rarer, but get yourself a good Bible. Get yourself a Bible concordance. I know sometimes I get people saying to me, Pastor, where is this verse?

[15:10] And they know some of the wording. I'm not having a go at the person. I'm not sure that they're present just now, but they ring the pastor and say, Oh, Pastor, there's a verse that says such and such.

[15:21] Well, get your Bible concordance out. I'm not saying don't run it phone me, but get a Bible concordance. Because then you can look up the word and you can find where the reference is.

[15:34] That's about being a Bible student. It's not just the pastor or whoever preaches who is the one who has got all the knowledge. Certainly not. We can all be Bible students.

[15:47] Buy yourself a Bible concordance. So that you can... Pardon? There's one in the library. There you go. See Sister Shirley.

[15:58] There's a whole library of books back here. And we encourage you to avail yourselves of those. See Shirley. And she can guide you with a bit more information. But then you can look up a Bible word.

[16:08] In fact, there's really good concordances you can get on your phone now when you put in or on your computer. You know, eSword is a good resource to have on your computer. Again, if you've got a computer and you do not have a good Bible software program, we can give you one.

[16:25] We've got it on a CD. My dad, David, has got a CD and you can load it into your computer. It's called eSword. And then you can search words and combinations of words.

[16:37] You can find everything yourself by searching the scriptures on your computer. And again, on mobile apps, you can get various apps with Bible software. Bible students.

[16:50] That's what we should all be. I think Jehovah's Witnesses put us to shame sometimes. They've got Bible training. Well, they have training. They have training.

[17:01] They have watchtower training. But we need to be trained up so we can mount up with wings like eagles. We need training. You know, there's people going witnessing in our church.

[17:12] You might say, Preacher, I'm just too scared. See, Brother Mick here. Wave your hand, Mick. Mick goes out there with others every weekend. We're going door knocking around these parts and further afield.

[17:28] How do we learn by doing? That's how we learn. You might say, Preacher, I've never knocked on the door. I've never really talked to anybody like that.

[17:41] You can learn. And you might say, I don't know what to do. I'm not experienced. It starts with one learning experience, doesn't it?

[17:55] And then you'll know what to do. You learn by stepping out of your comfort zone and doing it. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

[18:13] They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Here is the answer. If our strength is at a low ebb, if we're feeling like we're a 5 out of 10 on the scale maybe, it's telling us we can renew our strength.

[18:32] We can renew our first love. It's telling us how as well. How is our passion for Christ? Now, maybe we are genuinely feeling like, look, I'm not really in a good place right now.

[18:46] That can be the case. We can, being real here again, there's things going on in my life, your life, you might say, look, I'm feeling like it's hard right now.

[18:58] Paul knew exactly what that felt like. In 2 Timothy 4.16, here he was in jail, locked up in a prison for his faith. In 2 Timothy 4.16, he says, my first answer, no man stood with me.

[19:13] But all men forsook me. He didn't have a mega church. He didn't have crowds and crowds of supporters encouraging him. He says, no man stood with me.

[19:24] But all men forsook me. I pray that God, I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

[19:35] You had forgiveness there. Verse 17, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me. Even so, the Lord stood with me. The Lord stood with me and strengthened me.

[19:46] that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all Gentiles might hear. And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

[19:58] All men forsook me, but the Lord stood with me. The Lord stood with me. Brother, sister, you might feel all alone. You might feel all forsaken. You might feel all on your lonesome as if everyone's forsaken you.

[20:12] The Lord stands with you. Amen? He's never left you and He never will. He's promised. The Lord will strengthen you. He will stand with you and He will strengthen you.

[20:24] He will renew your strength. You can be empowered again. That weakness that you feel, He can replace it with His strength. You can be empowered again. He can revive you again.

[20:35] You can rise above. You can mount up with wings like eagles. You can get your victory back again. He teaches us, He strengthens us, He stands with us. Titus 2, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.

[20:59] Yes, even. In this present world we can live soberly, righteously and godly. You can rise above. God's Word tells us you can.

[21:09] You can know His transforming power. You can know godly Christian character because He'll make it happen. You can be a living sacrifice for the glory of God in this present world.

[21:24] Yes, that's what it says. Even in a world and a church worldwide by and large that seems to have lost its way, largely succumbed to spiritual compromise, we can know and we can know that we know our Lord and Saviour.

[21:40] We can know spiritual revival on the inside, on the inside out. The flame of revival can spark afresh. Look up. Wait upon the Lord.

[21:51] Wait upon the Lord. We can personally know this fervent love for the truth and it will be life changing. We will know and show it and live out our conduct as conduct becoming of an ambassador for Christ.

[22:10] Not just an ambassador. You know, there's some talk about the United States. They haven't had an ambassador to Australia for a long time. They couldn't find someone of a high enough quality. so I'm told.

[22:21] The media was saying and they're struggling to get someone. They wanted to give you a really good ambassador to the United States. But friends, you're an ambassador for something far, far, far, far beyond the United States or any other country, any other nation.

[22:39] You are an ambassador for Christ. So we should have conduct becoming of that. And we can know it by His strength. You might say, I'm too weak. I'm not a very good witness.

[22:50] I'm not a very good testimony. You can be. He will strengthen you in your weakness. Ask this question uppermost in your thinking. What is my mission?

[23:02] What has He given me to do? And do it well. And have a heart to examine yourself too. It tells us in the Word we should judge everything by the Word of God.

[23:14] 1 Corinthians 2.15 it says, He that is spiritual judgeth all things. So, as much as sometimes we don't like to hear feedback that might be a bit negative, a bit confronting, we can learn from one another.

[23:35] And I can learn from you, you can learn from me. We can learn from one another. He that is spiritual judges all things. 1 Corinthians 2.15 So, there's a sense here it's saying, actually, we should have our eyes wide open.

[23:48] We should have the antenna going and, oh, let's just make sure we're getting it right here. Because we should judge all things. And the Lord Jesus says, judge righteous judgment. John 7.24.

[23:59] So, there's a place for judgment. We're not talking about a harsh, condemnatory, hypercritical judgment, but a righteous judgment. Let's discern and be that people with spiritual discernment.

[24:17] That's important. Verse 31, our text says, This must be a heart crying.

[24:32] How will I please the Lord in a world where many will dishonor the Lord? A world that cares so little for the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ that that most holy, holiest of names is denigrated and used as a foul, unworthy, curse word.

[24:54] In such a world, in this present world, we can renew our strength. This strength enables us to run and keep on running.

[25:06] When others will falter and fail, we can run and keep on running in this gospel race. This blessed gospel race, the race of life. And this strength empowers us for that running, to do mighty exploits for his sake.

[25:24] This is power to serve. His power is not power so we can have some stories of trips to heaven and of mighty miracles, but it's a power that is manifest to live the life, to be Christ to our nation, a power to serve him, a power to live, to walk right, the power to run.

[25:47] And he gives us strength for a purpose so that he can fulfill his mission in us. In Daniel 11, 32, this is a scripture that really speaks to me, the latter part of Daniel 11, 32, that God talks about people that do know their God.

[26:06] They do know their God, shall be strong, and do exploits. He makes you strong so you can do exploits. We have a work to do, we've got a mission, we've got a calling, the gospel work, we must take up arms.

[26:20] We must take this pure gospel witness to our world. We must wait on the Lord. So let's take advantage of all the opportunities that we have in this world, in this present world.

[26:33] Now, it's good news that I'm told there's inklings that North Korea is opening the gospel. Wow. That is God. Isn't it?

[26:46] There's nations opening up. And yet, if you were to live in such a nation, and you had the opportunity to fellowship, wouldn't you take it?

[27:01] Wouldn't it be precious to take advantage where there's sound biblical teaching, where there's blessed godly fellowship, where you can bring your family, your children to church, every opportunity you can get, that you'll take that opportunity so they too will develop godly habits so they can get positive peer pressure.

[27:25] The truth does not change. It's the same as it always has been. Revival is still possible. The world is changing. We know with all its technologies and mod cons, it's becoming a colder, darker place.

[27:38] for the most part. We're hearing of, you know, obviously in, I don't know, the health settings, there's more and more drug, evidence of drug abuse, and lives broken, lives shattered, abuse, and harm.

[27:56] It's just endemic. people are faint-hearted, people are faint-hearted, and fainting. There's a hopelessness that saps people's strength. Will we make a difference?

[28:08] Can we? We can. God helping us, we can. It's our mission. How is our walk, our walking? How is our running? The race is racing closer still to the finish line.

[28:20] It's not finished yet. You know, I saw a story of a man, what is he, 104 or something, there's some stories, flying off to some nation where he can kill himself legally.

[28:33] I think, oh, that is sad, isn't it? I hope you, I can't, words can't, words fail me to describe that.

[28:50] Run your race with patience. Run, run, and keep on running. While you've got breath to breathe, while you've got blood pumping in your veins, make your life count.

[29:02] Will we finish well? Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12, 1. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

[29:14] They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. What of your race? Your race. Will you keep on running?

[29:27] Who will you impact for Christ? Truly we will be despised. And this obstacle, course, this cross country, this marathon effort, there will be obstacles and trials yet still, and tomorrow there will be more.

[29:42] There will be setbacks, and we will get bogged down here and there. And sometimes we'll be like Billcum's, Bunyan's Pilgrim. He got his feet bogged down in the slow of despair, in the story of Pilgrim, which is an analogy of a man on the walk of his Christian life.

[29:59] and one time he got bogged down in this quagmire, the slow of despair. You know, the feet got dragged down with the mud, dragging him down, down, down, deeper down.

[30:12] But he was able to rise up. Amen. God delivered him. And you might feel, brother, sister, you might feel, preacher, look, I'm feeling like I'm bogged down. Rise up.

[30:23] Rise up. You too can mount up with wings as eagles. You can know a freshness, a strengthening, a renewal, of your zeal, of joy, of your conviction. What is the key?

[30:34] It starts as you wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. In other words, we rest our trust in him.

[30:46] Wait on the Lord. I'm going to close with just a few references where it says of this waiting. And think maybe the next time you're in the waiting room at the doctor's surgery or at the hospital.

[30:59] You know, you see that waiting, the time of waiting. Wow. You can learn something when you're waiting. And it starts there. As we rest our trust in him, as we start, and this word wait, it's got the sense, and there's apparently various Hebrew words that are translated, but there's various senses to them, but some have got the sense of being still.

[31:21] Wait. Selah. Wait. It's got a sense of trusting. It's also got the sense of a holy expectation.

[31:33] You know, you're waiting in that doctor's surgery, and you know, it's going to be worth the wait. He's going to help me, hopefully. We rely on him, our Lord, and we depend upon his strength.

[31:44] We yield our love to him. We wait on God's timing, too. When you wait on the Lord, it's his time. He'll say, okay, come in.

[31:57] Learn to wait patiently on the Lord. Let me just close quickly now with some various scriptures. Now, these are mostly found in the Psalms. I'm just going to read them. You might want to just silently reflect on them.

[32:09] You might want to close your eyes, even, or just meditate on these words as I read them to you, just to wrap things up just now. These are many scriptures. These are only some. What the psalmist said, what Micah said, Lamentations, Hosea, I wait for the Lord.

[32:27] My soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. Because of his strength will I wait upon thee, for God is my defense.

[32:39] Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait all the day. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on thee.

[32:54] Wait on the Lord, and be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.

[33:06] Fret not thyself, because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. For evildoers shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.

[33:22] Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee. So inherit the land, when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. And now, Lord, what wait I for?

[33:34] My hope is in thee. Therefore, I will look unto the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

[33:51] It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Therefore, turn thou to thy God, keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.

[34:04] Now, you've been doing a lot of waiting for me to finish this sermon, I know, but it's time to wait on the Lord, isn't it? Wait on the Lord. He will answer you. Strive to be like the Lord Jesus.

[34:16] in your weakness he can be strong. Have the mind of Christ be like him. And how can we learn to wait on God? Adjust that focus again.

[34:31] Set your affection. Maybe change the dial a bit, change the focus. Set your affection, not on things on the earth, but on things above. Pray. Fellowship.

[34:43] Study the word. Be a student of the word. You can rise above. Brother, sister, while you're feeling bogged down, you're feeling dragged down, you can rise above.

[34:54] Through this week ahead, you can know God's strengthening power, because he gives power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increases strength. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that your word is a power-packed book, a promise-packed book, and these promises are yea and amen.

[35:14] There's no changing of them. There's just the claiming of them. Lord, we pray, help us to do that this morning. We pray if there's any who have yet to put their hearts' trust in you as Lord and Saviour, they'll see that at the cross, it was there, you paid for man's sin entirely and fully for those that will claim that payment on their part.

[35:36] Lord, we pray each one would know what it is to put their heart's trust squarely in that, that you have saved us by your grace and we claim it by faith.

[35:47] Lord, for every believer, help us, Lord, in this walk, this race, that in times of weariness and fainting, we'll yet know your strength and not our own, but yours.

[35:59] And help us, Lord, to mount up, to rise up, to rise above the circumstances we see. as eagles with wings, Lord, we'll know that great blessing, that you are in charge and we can wait and put our rest, our trust entirely in your keeping, your timing for our lives.

[36:22] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.