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The Bible Breakdown
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The Bible Breakdown
Isaiah 05: Don't Waste Your Potential
Unlock the secrets of Isaiah's profound message to a troubled Judah and learn how not to squander your own potential. What if ignoring divine guidance could lead to the unraveling of society's moral fabric? Join us as we navigate the poetic and apocalyptic imagery of Isaiah, chapter 5, and unravel God's poignant disappointment with a nation that turned away from righteousness. We explore the sobering consequences of such neglect, including societal injustice and pervasive moral decay, while offering a hopeful path forward through alignment with divine justice and righteousness.
Discover how repentance and faith can act as catalysts for unlocking your true potential and positively impacting the world around you. Through the compelling concept of "each one reach one," we emphasize taking personal responsibility for our spiritual alignment with God. We highlight the destructive force of sin and the power of prayer and trust, drawing insights from Isaiah 12 to demonstrate how these spiritual practices can lead to strength and personal victory. Join us in a heartfelt journey of prayer and introspection, inviting God's guidance to ensure your potential is not wasted, but instead, realized fully under His direction.
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The More You Dig. The More You Find.
Hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Isaiah, chapter 5, and today's title is Don't Waste your Potential. Don't waste your potential. We'll get all of that in just a moment. But, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast, make sure you're leaving us a five-star review on the podcast and, as always, make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. Such an amazing team there doing a wonderful job, and the more we dig, the more we find. And I want to say a quick hello to everybody who has been recently subscribing to the podcast and listening. We have more and more people from all over the world who are listening to this podcast, and it is just an honor that we're able to connect literally all over the world around God's Word. We're not connecting on politics, we're not connecting on culture and all that kind of stuff even though we could get into all that and maybe that's a future podcast somewhere else, right, but connecting around the life-changing power of God's Word. Thank you so much for doing that, and it is an honor to read God's Word together. Speaking of that, open up your Bibles with me to Isaiah, chapter 5. The title of this is Don't Waste your Potential. And remember Isaiah is writing this. He's prophesying during a time in the nation of Judah's history where there's political, social, civil unrest, all these things, and God's people are just wandering all over the place. And the overall theme of Isaiah is God is our salvation. He's calling these people back to himself and he's saying all these bad things are coming, but it's not my plan for you. I don't want these things to happen. They'll happen if you turn away from me. But I got a better idea. Don't waste your potential. And so, as we read this together, we're going to hear the Spirit of God maybe talking to some of us today and say I got a better idea for you. Now don't forget this is written in this apocalyptic poetic literature and so it's going to sound a little bit different. But kind of notice in here what Isaiah is writing, as he's inspired of the Holy Spirit and he's trying to encourage God's people to come back to him. You ready?
Speaker 0:Isaiah 5, verse 1, says this Now I will sing, for the one I love, a song about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. He plowed the land, cleared its stones and planted it in the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower. And you judge, between me and my vineyard, what more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes? Now let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will tear down its hedges and let it be destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it. I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briars and thorns. So pause real quick. Of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard the cries of violence. So pause real quick. Notice what he's saying is he's saying that God did all of this investment, did all of this in the nation of Israel and was wanting great things for them, but they wasted the potential and did evil instead. And so you can hear the heartbreak coming from God going. I've got such a better plan for you, don't waste it. All right.
Speaker 0:Verse eight what sorrow for you who buy up house after house and field after hill field until everyone is evicted and you live alone in the land. But I have heard the Lord of heaven's army swear a solemn oath Many houses will stand deserted, even beautiful mansions will be empty. Ten acres of vineyard will not produce six gallons of wine. Ten baskets of seed will yield only one basket of grain. What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk. They furnish wine and lovely music at the grand parties the lyre and harp, the tambourine and flute but they never think about the Lord or notice what he is doing. So my people will go into exile far away, because they do not know me. Those who are great and honored will starve. The common people will die of thirst. The grave is licking its lips in anticipation, opening its mouth wide. The great and the lowly and all the drunken mob will be swallowed up. Humanity will be destroyed and people brought down. Even the arrogant will lower their eyes in humiliation. But the Lord of heaven's armies will be exalted by his justice. The holiness of God will be displayed by his righteousness and in that day lambs will find good pastures and fattened sheep and young goats will feed among the ruins.
Speaker 0:What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart. They even mock God and say hurry up and do something. Pause. Another Messianic prophecy that when Jesus was on the cross they said well, if you're the king, prove it. We can see that that's what they were saying at this time as well. All right, verse 20.
Speaker 0:What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil. A dark light and light is dark. That bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever. What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold. They take bribes to let the wicked go free and they punish the innocent.
Speaker 0:Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will rot and their flowers wither, for they have rejected the law of the Lord of heaven's armies. They have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. That's why the anger of the Lord burns against his people and why he has raised up his fist to crush them. The mountains tremble and the corpses of his people litter the streets like garbage. But even then, the Lord's anger is not satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike. He will send a signal to distant nations far away and whistle to those at the ends of the earth. They will come racing toward Jerusalem. They will not get tired or stumble, they will not stop or sleep, not a belt will be loose, not a sandal strap broken. Their arrows will be sharp and their Verse 1. Only darkness and distress will be seen. Even the light will be darkened by clouds. Wow, god is telling them. These bad things are coming and I'm not going to stop them. I don't want this to happen, but this is justice. It's almost like the idea of.
Speaker 0:I heard someone one time who they had done something, they had stole something, and after they stole something, they ended up going to church the next weekend, gave their life to Christ, got saved, and they started stole something. And after they stole something, they ended up going to church the next weekend, gave their life to Christ, got saved, and they started feeling convicted about what they had done. And so they went and turned themselves in and they said, hey, I went, I stole this stuff, but I gave my life to Christ. I got saved. I just want to come let y'all know. And they said thank you for letting us know. If you'll come on around here, we're going to take you to jail. And this guy was like, well, wait a minute. I I confess what I did. And they were like, yeah, and we're so thankful you did, but there's also justice to be done here as well, and so justice is has got to be served.
Speaker 0:And what God is saying is I'm telling you not to do these things, cause if you do these things, I still love you, but justice is going to have to be served. I can't let evil go unpunished. I've got to punish evil. So, first of all, stop doing the evil. Secondly, I want to wash all this away. I don't want this to have to happen. You got to turn away from it. Don't waste your potential. I've got such a big idea for you. Away from it. Don't waste your potential. I've got such a big idea for you, but you got to do it my way.
Speaker 0:I wonder if that's God's word for us today. God has given you everything you need to do, everything he's called you to do. Don't waste it. That doesn't mean that God's got a plan for you to reach the world. Probably not. And I don't mean that bad. It's just God doesn't want one person to reach the world. He wants God's church, he wants his church to reach the world. Probably not. And I don't mean that bad. It's just God doesn't want one person to reach the world. He wants God's church, he wants his church to reach the world. So we're not supposed to reach the world, we're supposed to reach out to our world.
Speaker 0:And if I reach out to my world the people around me, you reach out to the people around you and the other person doesn't Each one reach one. That's how we reach the world. And so God's not asking you to reach the world. He's saying what have I put inside of you? How can you use that to make a difference?
Speaker 0:Well, the first thing we do is is we got to repent of our sin, we got to course correct and come back close to him. So the first thing we do is we say God, is there anything in my life that's stopping me from being closer to you? Because I don't want sin to be in my life. God doesn't convict us of sin because he's bored. He convicts us of sin because he sees his destructive power. He sees what it can do to destroy us and he wants to be close to us and he wants us to find freedom.
Speaker 0:And then, once we pray that prayer and we start that process of healing and growth in our life, then we say, okay, god, open my eyes to see the potential around me, open my eyes to see how I can make a difference in the world around me. God's got a big idea for you and that big idea begins with the right relationship with him and then seeing that all around us is the opportunity to make a difference. Don't turn our backs from God. We don't need to turn our backs on him because justice waits if we continue to turn our back on him. But instead God says I got a big idea for you. Don't waste your potential.
Speaker 0:Let's pray, god. Thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you're with us and you're for us. I pray, god you'll help us to not waste our potential, that we'll turn our eyes toward you with everything we have and to let you be the Lord of our lives. In Jesus' name we pray amen, amen. What God's word says in Isaiah, chapter 12, god has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has given me victory. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For Isaiah, chapter 6.
