The Best Is Yet To Come #bestweekever 41:10 Pastor Ryan Heller

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)

You few people of who are left, do not be afraid even though you are weak as a worm. I myself will help you,” says the Lord. “The one who saves you is the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 41:14 (NCV)

1. SUNDAY–DON’T BE AFRAID

I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4 (NIV)

2. MONDAY–FOR I AM WITH YOU

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)

3. TUESDAY–DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)

4. WEDNESDAY–FOR I AM YOUR GOD

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)

5. THURSDAY–I WILL STRENGTHEN YOU

I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Ephesians 6:10 (NIV)

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Joshua 1:8 (NIV)

6. FRIDAY–I WILL HELP YOU

I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)

“The Lord is my helper: I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” Hebrews 13:6 (NIV)

7. SATURDAY–I WILL UPHOLD YOU

I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)

The Best Is Yet To Come- #bestweekever

Do you remember the best week of your life? Maybe it was the week when you got married and went on a great honeymoon or maybe you saved up your money and you went on a fantastic vacation. Maybe you reached some goal that you had been striving for some time. Do you remember the best week of your life? Well earlier this week I was getting back at the airport and the shuttle was taking me to the off campus parking and it was midnight and I was so tired. I was about to fall asleep on the bus riding back over to the lot. Right before we departed the airport a family of four jumped on and a little 4 year old kid sat right across from me. The second he sat down he started telling me about his best week ever. I mean he did not hesitate.

He said, "I have been at Disney and I saw the fish and I petted the stingrays. I'm chubby," and he stood up and he rubbed his tummy. He said, "I had some Mickey Mouse pizza and I'm chubby." You know a lot of parents when their kids are little like that start talking to strangers they're kind of like, "shh" no not these parents. The mom started interpreting what the 4 year old was saying. I was sitting there for about 15 minutes, this wasn't a conversation this was a listening session. I was doing like this the whole time. The kid was so cute, it was hard to not appreciate what he said. He went through is entire week, at first when he was talking about the fish I thought maybe he'd been to Sea World but then I noticed he had the Mickey ears but he had the Buzz Lightyear version of that and his sister had on her ears.

When I got off the bus that evening I was like, "That kid had the best week of his life at Disney, it's amazing." I believe this, I believe that God wants you to have the greatest week of your life over the next 7 days. You know the greatest week ever is not really going on a vacation, you don't have to go to Disney, you don't have to get a promotion, everything in your life doesn't have to be going perfect. You can have a great week with God regardless of your circumstances. Today I want to share with you from the 41st chapter of the how you can have the best week ever.

I believe that if you'll make it the best week ever, God will do something amazing in your life. The best week ever is the time in our own experience when God does something new, when God does something fresh, when God does something amazing in our lives. All that we have to do is begin to focus on God. Listen, God is the same, God is always there, God is the one who always shows up, but sometimes we're delinquent. What could we do this week to put our affections and our attention and our hope and our focus on the things of God?

If you look at Isaiah 41:10, the scripture tells us seven things today and I've broken these out into a thought for each day. Here's what I want you to do, I feel like a pregnant woman about to give birth up here, I got so much to share with you. It's going to be awesome. I've got 7 sermons I'm going to do in one, okay? This is going to be great. This is a note taking day, okay? You're going to be writing stuff like crazy, normally I preach a little simple sermon but I've got 7 sermons in one. What I want you to do is I want you to take the thought for each day, I want you to write it down and I want you to take a couple of minutes every morning thinking about that verse, that thought and praying and just asking God to speak to you about each of these 7 The Best Is Yet To Come- #bestweekever Page 2 of 10

things. In doing so, we're going to put our attention completely on God this week and we're going to have the best week ever.

Now let's look at Isaiah 41:10, let me read this, the scripture says this, do not fear for I am with you, do not be dismayed for I am your God, I will strengthen you and help you and I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 700 years before the time of Christ, the Isaiah is writing to the Israelite people, they are in captivity in , they have been exiled from the holy land, they're living in a foreign place, they're living in a place that is so far from home, so far from their culture, so far from their faith and they're discouraged. The people are hard hearted. The latter part of the book of Isaiah holds some of the greatest encouragement in all of the . I'm talking about chapters 40 to 66 especially.

Encouragement, encouragement, encouragement. Isn't it amazing that people thousands of years ago were still struggling with the same things that we struggle with today? It's all the same stuff. People haven't changed. People in the ancient world got discouraged. People today in the modern world get discouraged and so Isaiah the prophet is trying to encourage the folks. In fact if you look at verse 14, he says this to the same audience, you few people of Israel who are left. In other words, a lot of people didn't make it, but do not be afraid even though you are weak as a worm, I myself will help you says the Lord, the one who saves you is the holy one of Israel.

I don't know if you've ever felt weak as a worm before but the people were discouraged. The prophet says listen you've got to get your mind and your heart back on the things of God. That's why he gives us the 10th verse of Isaiah 41. Here's your thought for , okay, today's Sunday, right? I love to say Sunday fun-day, amen? I hope you're going to get on your social media today, you're going to get on your Facebook page, you're going to get on your Instagram, you're going to like all the stuff the church has posted and I've posted and you're going to put your stuff up there because we're just going to encourage one another in the Lord. If you'll put that hashtag people can look up your stuff and we can just be encouraged and encouraged. Here's the first thought, don't be afraid.

1. SUNDAY–DON’T BE AFRAID

Don't be afraid, don't be fearful, that's Sunday's thought, don't be afraid, 7 times in this section of scripture the prophet says, "Don't be afraid." In fact the number one command in the is don't be afraid. 365 times in the scripture, by the way that's one for every day of the year, 365 times, the bible says don't be afraid. The reason that God has said don't be afraid is because he knows how fearful that we can become. Is’nt that the truth? It is, it is, so here's our thought for today, I'm not going to be afraid, I'm not going to walk in fear anymore. Listen, when you're walking in fear then it corrodes your confidence in God.

You cannot be joyful, when you're dominated by fear you cannot have joy in your life, you cannot do it, it doesn't work. I'm going to choose today to not be afraid. I'm going to put my The Best Is Yet To Come- #bestweekever Page 3 of 10

confidence in God and I'm not going to be afraid. Now there's a lot of weird phobias. In fact psychologists tell us that there's over 2,000 known phobias that have been confirmed. Maybe you struggle with some of these phobias. Let me share this with you, there's nomophobia, you guess what that is? That means when you got no mo phone service, right? This is a legitimate fear, if you've ever been through this before, you've ever lost coverage. Sometimes at my house I have to stand on the couch in the corner of the living room on one leg to get a signal sometimes. Sometimes I struggle with this. We can live in fear, nomophobia, this is legitimate, people have this.

Other people, this is primarily with men, they struggle with chaetophobia which is the fear of going bald. Maybe you're afraid of going all George Costanza, you know what I'm saying, it's all falling out, you got this phobia, things aren't going well for you. I think perhaps the one that most of us today are struggling with is pentheraphobia. Pentheraphobia that is the fear of mother-in-laws. This is actually been confirmed that this is a known fear, okay? Be careful, be careful. I don't know if you have some of these more exotic phobias, some of these more crazy phobias. All of us today struggle with the fear of the future, the fear of change, the fear of uncertainty, the fear of failure, the fear of rejection, the fear of commitment and we have today to choose to put our faith in God and to let our confidence in the Lord carry us through in those moments when we feel so afraid.

I love what the Psalms said in Psalm 34:4, the bible says this, I sought the Lord and he answered me and he delivered me from all my fears. Isn't that great? To be able to say, "Well what do I need to do to not be afraid?" Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord, get on your knees before God, pray, open the word of God, seek the Lord. When you seek the Lord, God will put confidence in your life. You won't walk in fear. Seek the Lord, seek the Lord and you will not be afraid. He delivered me from all my fears. Some of us need to be delivered from our fears. Fear is not of God and it is not from God. That's why Paul said to Timothy in second Timothy 1:7, God is not giving you the spirit of fear but one of power, love and a sound mind. The question is, well what is the spirit of fear?

The spirit of fear is when it captures you. When you're incarcerated by fear. I'm not talking about being a little nervous from time to time, I'm talking you cannot sleep at night, you're nervous all the time, you're worn out, you are constantly afraid. The spirit of fear. The bible says that is not from God and that is not God. God has not given that to you. Let's choose today to not walk in fear. I'm not telling you today you're not going to go through some hard times, in fact this week you may get some bad news. You may be going through some great adversity this week but you know what, you don't have to be afraid. God is with you. I sought the Lord and he delivered me from all of my fears. He delivered me from all my fears. In fact, fear prevents us from loving deeply, it prevents us from giving generously and it prevents us from dreaming wildly.

A lot of people today they cannot even dream, they don't even have a dream for their life because they just live in fear. A lot of people's dream is I just got to make it today, I'm just The Best Is Yet To Come- #bestweekever Page 4 of 10

hanging on. When you begin to walk in the power of God in your life, God will give you a dream, God will give you a dream, he will. Let's not walk in fear, that's today church, that's today. Sunday, fun-day, I will not live in fear. Now why do I not live in fear? God is with me, God is with me. Look at the scripture again, go back to Isaiah 41, so do not fear for I am with you, I am with you. The reason that we're not afraid is because God is with us. If Jesus Chris is the savior of your life, God is with you.

God is on your side. The book of Romans says God is with you. You don't have to be afraid. The reason that we don't walk in fear is not because we just keep telling ourselves the same stuff over and over again it's because God is with us. God is the one giving us confidence. God is the one that is guiding us, God is the one that's directing us. This is Monday's thought, Monday is with me, God is with me.

2. MONDAY–FOR I AM WITH YOU

That's Monday's motivation right there. Monday's motivation, God is with me and no matter what I am never alone. God will never leave you or forsake you the bible says. Family members die, friends break up, people move, friendships end, we feel lonely, but you know what God is always there.

Some of us today are dealing with great loneliness, one of the great epidemics in our culture is loneliness. In fact the New York Times came up with an article this week, it said that suicide rates are at an all-time high over the last 30 years. Why are people taking their life? People are lonely, people are lonely. Hard drug usage is sky-rocketing in the last couple of years, heroin, all these other drugs. Why are people doing this? People are lonely, people are afraid, people are freaking out. We need God, we need God to do something in our life. We've got to look for supernatural answers to physical problems. A lot of people look for physical answers to supernatural problems. We need God, we need God. The Lord is with us, the Lord is with us.

Psychologists tell us that there's no more destructive influence on a person's mental health than isolation, just being alone. Listen, I cannot promise you that people are not going to hurt you or people aren't going to disappoint you but I can promise you this, God will stand by you when nobody else does, when you've got nobody, you've got God. When people reject you, you've got God. That's Monday's motivation for you right there. The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me.

You're not raising those kids by yourself, God is with you. You're not in this thing by yourself, God is with you. You're not facing getting older by yourself, God is with you. You're not starting that new business by yourself, God is with you, God is with you. God is with you. When we feel like nobody understands us, know this, God does, God's with us. We don't have to be afraid, that's Sunday's motivation. Monday's motivation because God is with us and then look at the next stage right here, he says this, "Do not be dismayed for I am your God." The word dismayed is a fancy word for don't be discouraged. The Best Is Yet To Come- #bestweekever Page 5 of 10

See when you know that God is with you then you'll begin to walk in victory over discouragement. Don't be dismayed he says, don't be discouraged.

3. TUESDAY–DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED

That's why you're going to have a transformational Tuesday is because you're not going to walk in discouragement this week. You're not going to be dismayed. Disappointments are unavoidable but discouragement is a choice, you know that? You can choose to be encouraged today. You may be looking around going, "Ryan, but you don't know what's going on in my life." I love first Samuel chapter 30, the scripture describes . David is the leader of his band of people, they're hiding out from Saul, they've been attacked by the Amalekites. The Amalekites have taken all of the wives and the possessions and the family of the warriors.

The bible says this, David was a great leader, he might have been the greatest leader in the old testament and his own people wanted to stone him. How's that for discouragement? You know it's bad enough when the other team when the other people hate your guts, but when people who are on your team want to kill you, that's not good. David was discouraged and the scripture tells us in first Samuel 30 that David went and he sought the Lord. God, what do I need to do? That's a great antidote for every problem. Start with this, God, what do I need to say, where do I need to go, what do I need to do?

He went to the prophet and the prophet said, "Go get everything back." David was like, "Okay." The bible says this, David encouraged himself in the Lord. I love that, David encouraged himself in the Lord. See some of us are waiting for other people to encourage us. I wonder if God is waiting for you to encourage yourself. God has given us a great book of promises, God has given us the Holy Spirit, God has given us his truth, God has given us his wisdom, church encourage yourself in the Lord. You cannot count on everybody else to lift you up, not all the time. Sometimes people get married and they're like, "Man I just need my husband or my wife to encourage me." I hope that you do have an encouraging marriage if you're married. Your spouse cannot give you all the encouragement that you need. There's times when you just have to go to God and encourage yourself in the Lord.

There's times that that encouragement has to come from him, it cannot come from anybody else. David began to understand that. We have to make the choice today life is hard, life is difficult but I'm not going to walk in discouragement, I choose today to encourage myself in the Lord. I choose to encourage myself in the Lord. I'll tell you, that's how Gena and I have been in the ministry more than 20 years. We encourage ourselves in the Lord, that's all we have to do. We have a very positive church, but you know sometimes people complain and whine and bicker. They do, I don't like the sermon, I don't like the music, all that kind of stuff. You know what, you've got to encourage yourself in the Lord.

Encourage yourself in the Lord. That's how you're going to stay at what you're doing. Year after The Best Is Yet To Come- #bestweekever Page 6 of 10

year, you're going to be faithful because you're listening to the right people. I wrote this down last night, listen attentively to the voice of God and selectively to the voice of man. When God speaks I'm all ears, when negative people speak I've got selective hearing. Sometimes it's like listening to my kids, I hear part of it. Encourage yourself in the Lord. This is transformation Tuesday, God's going to transform something in our hearts this week, our focus is in him, I'm not going to walk in discouragement anymore. I'm going to keep encouraging myself until I can get out of the pit of discouragement. I'm going to move with the movers.

Back to the scripture again, after that he says, "For I am your God." I want to ask you that, is the Lord your God? Is Jesus Christ the savior of your life? Is the Lord your God? The , they had a problem, they were in Babylon and in Babylon the people worshiped all kinds of deities, crazy, crazy deities. Museums have been filled with all of the icons and emblems of the gods of Babylon. They had a god for everything, they would parade through the streets celebrating their gods. They would have huge museums and temples to their gods. The Israelites were like, "We're from Israel and we have one God first of all and his temple got wrecked over there in and you guys carded us off. We hadn't really heard from our God lately, just not really a whole lot. We've got Isaiah but that's about it." Things aren't looking so good for us. Isaiah reminds them, he says, "You've got to get your focus on the Lord, your God."

The culture says other things about who our God is. Everywhere we turn there are cultural messages about who the Lord is, if the Lord is your God you will be different. You know that? You will be different, you will stand out, you don't live the Christian life by accident, it's by intention. You will raise your family differently, you will have different values, you will have different ideologies, you will have different commitments in your life because the Lord is your God. You don't follow Jesus by accident, you don't stumble into it. It is an intentional thing. Is the Lord your God? You know what our culture says? Our culture says that our God is success, do whatever you got to do to make it to the top. Our culture says our God is our self. Do whatever you want to do and if you want to really be happy in life serve yourself.

You know the bible says to lose your life the world says try to gain your life by doing your own thing. The bible says the opposite of that. Is the Lord your God? You've got to put God at the apex at the forefront, at the center of your life. Let's make the Lord our God, let's put him there, that's where he deserves, that's the place where he should be in our life. It's not just our self, it's not just our success, it's not just whatever everybody else says. In fact if the Lord is your God you will be different. People in your neighborhood will be like, "Man those guys over there they're a little different from anybody else." That's good, we should be, we should be. Is the Lord your God? Is the Lord your God? That's Wednesday's wisdom right there, is the Lord your God?

4. WEDNESDAY–FOR I AM YOUR GOD

That's why I love to get together with the people of God and worship every Sunday morning here at Edge Church because everybody here is excited about the Lord. We come in, we sing The Best Is Yet To Come- #bestweekever Page 7 of 10

praises to God and we study God’s word, we encourage one another, we get in the wisdom of God. It just begins to motivate us, it reminds us that God is the center of our lives and all that we do. Wednesday's wisdom, the Lord is our God. Is the Lord your God? Is the Lord your God? When the Lord is your God he will strengthen you, he will strengthen you.

Thursday, here's your thought, I will strengthen you, God will strengthen my life.

5. THURSDAY–I WILL STRENGTHEN YOU

God will strengthen me, that's terrific Thursday. Strength comes from God. We need to have a higher view of God and a lower view of our self most of the time. If we get this out of balance, you know what happens? If we see what only we can do, we either become inferior or frightful. When God is the center of your life you have a God-fidence, God-fidence is confidence in God and that's not an inferiority complex and it's not pride it's something totally different.

You got a little swagger in your step, right? You've got some confidence but your confidence is not in yourself, it's in him. We should be people of great confidence because we serve a great God. Terrific Thursday, is the Lord your God? He says, "I will strengthen you," strength comes from God. Ephesians 6:10 says finally be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. We see failure, God sees future success. We see opposition, God sees opportunity. We see problems, God sees possibilities, the Lord is your strength. See the reason that you're going to get through what you're going through today is because the Lord is your strength. You have a divine power source, you're not like everybody else. You have power from almighty God. He's given it to you, he's giving you strength. You didn't feel like you could run anymore.

You know back to David in first Samuel chapter 30, when David began to pursue all of his possessions and the family that had been stolen by the Amalekites, it says this, half of David's army was worn out and they quit but the other half went and conquered the enemy. When God is your strength you will be able to do things that other people cannot. The Lord is your strength, the Lord is your strength. Are you relying on him? Are you relying on him to give you the strength that you need to get through what you're going through?

In the book of Joshua, the scripture gave some great insight to us, this is God and Joshua going at it in chapter one, this is the Lord said this to him as he's about to conquer the land of promise, there's a bunch of battles that are going on. When you've got a battle, you've got to be focused. This is what God says, "Keep the book of the law," which is the scripture, "Always on your lips, meditate on it day and night so that you can be careful to do everything written in it and then you will be prosperous and successful." In other words you'll be strengthened. He says 3 things there, he says, "Speak the word first of all, don't let the book of the law depart from your mouth." We need to be speaking the word of God, we need to be saying the word of God.

When I say the word of God I hear the word of God. When I say the word of God it reminds me The Best Is Yet To Come- #bestweekever Page 8 of 10

and others what God's word says. I need to speak the word of God, I need to think the word. He says, "Meditate on it day and night." We need to take the thoughts of God and we need to continue to just roll those around our head, not I'm going to fail, not I'm miserable and nobody understands me and I stink and I've screwed up. No, no, no, no, we need the word of God in our mind, meditate on it day and night, in other words all the time. All day long we need to be thinking about the thoughts of God. He says, "Then do the word. Be careful to do everything written in it." Are we doing the word of God. When we do the word, when we think the word, when we speak the word then God strengthens us, that's the way it works.

We read the story of Joshua, Joshua had fantastic success in the land of promise but he began to come back to Joshua 1:8 time and time again, he began to mediate on the things of God, he began to say it, he began think it, he began to do it, he began to practice it. God gave him strength. Is the Lord your strength? You are not who you are but who God says you can become, that's who you are. God says, I see a mighty warrior, I see a mighty warrior. Read the book of Judges, Gideon is threshing wheat in a wine crest. The word of the Lord says, "Hey mighty warrior." He's looking around going, "I'm not a mighty warrior, I'm hiding out for my life over here, I'm so afraid."

God sees potential, God sees some things in you today church that you don't see in yourself, he does. God will strengthen you. Here's Friday's thought, TGIF, thank goodness it's Friday.

6. FRIDAY–I WILL HELP YOU

He says, I will help you, I will help you, I will strengthen you and I will help you, verse 10 says. I'm going to strengthen you and I'm going to help you. God gives me strength when I'm weary and wisdom when I'm confused. That's why Hebrews 13 says this, the Lord is my helper I will not be afraid, what can mere mortals do to me? If we would think as much about God as we think about what other people think, it'd begin to change our life.

We worry so much about what do they say or what do they think or what does she mean. We need to be reminded that God, God is the one who's with us. I will not be afraid of what mere mortals can do, the Lord is my helper. God is going to help you get through the things you're going through. You know that? God is your helper, God is your helper. Friday I want you thinking about this, God is my helper, God is my helper. I will help you, I will help you. We believe that God helps other people, sometimes we don't believe God can help us. We look at our own lives and we're like, "I'm the exception clause God."

Do you believe God can help you? I believe that he can. I believe that he will. Turn to him today, turn to him today, ask him today. God, help me. God, help me. God, help me. God, help me when my family was falling apart, God help me. God help me when my spouse left. God help me when I was sick. God help me when I was confused. God help me when I was isolated. God help me when I didn't know what to do. God help me. The Lord is our helper, he's our helper, the Lord is our helper. The Best Is Yet To Come- #bestweekever Page 9 of 10

Then finally we wan to wrap the week up on Saturday, we're reminding ourselves about the righteous right hand of God.

7. SATURDAY–I WILL UPHOLD YOU

He says, "I will uphold you." God says, "I will uphold you." I'm the one that's holding you up. When the bible references the right hand of God, there's actually two meanings of that in the old testament. One is the strength and the power of God, the second is the blessing of God. Go with me here for a minute, the strength of God, in the ancient world everybody was right handed, everybody operated with the right hand. Even in our modern world most people are right handed. I had a left handed friend of mine tell me one time, he says, "We live in a right handed man's world." I was like, "Yeah I think you're right, you do."

When my mom was in school, that was a few years ago but the teacher would take the pen out of her left hand and put it into her right hand and make her write with her right hand because it was weird to be left handed. That's not that way as much today. The right hand references power and strength. When the bible refers to the righteous right hand of God, God says, "I am holding you up, I am your strength, I am your might, I am your capability." He also means the second thing and that is the hand of blessing. The hand of strength holding you up, the hand of blessing. If you read Genesis chapter 48, is about to die and in the custom of the Hebrew people he takes his grandchildren and he blesses them. He blesses them with the right hand. You never bless your children with a left hand, you bless them with a right hand, that's what they did.

The Jewish tradition was before a father would die, he would get his children, he would bless his sons and daughters and he would bless his grandchildren and he would bless them with the right hand. When the bible talks about the right hand of God, it's talking about the blessing of God and it's talking about the strength of God. He says, "I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." God's going to uphold you, God's going to uphold you. Listen, if God could hold the entire universe together, he can hold your life together. If God could speak the universe into existence your problems are not too great for God. Today church, let's turn to him, let's believe that God is going to do the greatest work in our lives this week as we put our attention each day on him. Sunday, don't be afraid, Monday, Monday motivation, right here for I am with you, for I am with you. Transformational Tuesday, don't be discouraged. Wednesday's wisdom, I am your God. Terrific Thursday, I will strengthen you. TGIF Friday, I will help you. Super Saturday I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

The Best Is Yet To Come- #bestweekever Page 10 of 10