The Bible Breakdown

Isaiah 60: Never Be Ashamed of Whose You Are

• Brandon Cannon • Episode 638

Share episode
Speaker 1:

Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, isaiah, chapter 60, and today's title is Never Be Ashamed of Whose you Are. Never be ashamed of whose you are. You know why? Because God's not ashamed of you. As a matter of fact, he's probably more proud of you than you can imagine. We're getting to all that in just a moment, but if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it really does help and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook, because the more we dig, the more we find, and there's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job on those podcasts every single day. Well, if you have your Bible and want to open up with us to Isaiah, chapter 60 is amazing. We're almost finished with Isaiah. There's 66 chapters and we're almost there.

Speaker 1:

And this chapter today is just a beautiful chapter because, remember, the overall idea of Isaiah is God is our salvation, and in the middle of all of this that's going on during the lifetime of Isaiah, there is all this political, social, religious, just every kind of unrest you can think of. There's just all this going on, with these different kingdoms that are fighting against each other, as well as the Assyrians coming in and the Babylonians coming in, and all this stuff is going on and right in the middle of it, god is saying I need you to turn to me. I got a big idea for you. I want to protect you, I want to honor you, but you got to come back to me. And I love one of some of these chapters, like today, where it's one of the most beautiful ones where he's saying this is my big idea for you. I am not ashamed of you, so don't you ever be ashamed of me. I'm more proud of you than you can imagine. It reminds me of a story where and this is not good on me it's really great about my wife and one of my daughters was we tried them at different sports and they didn't love them that much.

Speaker 1:

They liked some of them, but some of them they didn't. And as a dad and I don't know, maybe some of you moms are like this, but as a dad I was extremely interested in how well they did in sports. I wanted them to score and a lot I wanted to dominate. You know that kind of thing and because of that I put a whole lot of pressure on my girls, and I didn't mean to, but it's just. I would just be like so excited when they would score. And then obviously I just I couldn't fake that I was excited when they'd mess up. You know what I mean? Pray for me, but that's just my thing.

Speaker 1:

On the other hand, my wife was awesome. Now she wanted them to score as well, but she also understood that they needed to be celebrated anyway, right. And so I realized I wasn't always so good at still being happy when they didn't do so well, but my wife was wonderful at it. She would still celebrate them and she'd be like I'm so proud of you and and my girls would come back to us from whatever sport they were doing, and I mean they'd be struggling and they just felt ashamed and she would say just just no, you did so good and I'm so proud and all this kind of stuff, and she encouraged me to do better at it, and I can't tell you how many times that it would really lift their spirits that mom was proud of them Like that. That mom believed in them, you know. And and dad did too. Of course you know, dad, dad believed in them too, but it was like you know, I may not have done well over here, but, man, mom loves me and it's going to be all right. And can I tell you that's the way it is with God, that we should never be ashamed of whose we are, because God likes you, because God loves you and has a plan for your life. And even if you have a bad day, even if things go wrong, never be ashamed of whose you are, because he's not counting your successes, he's counting you as his child. He's not looking to be impressed by you, he's already impressed because you're his baby. Let's read and let's see what God's word has to say to us about God's big idea for the nation of Israel and God's big idea for us. You ready?

Speaker 1:

Isaiah, chapter 60, verse 1, says this Arise, jerusalem, let your light shine for all to see, for the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you. Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth. Verse 1. Is coming home. Your sons are coming from distant lands. Your daughters will be carried home. Your eyes will shine and your hearts will thrill with joy, for merchants from all around the world will come to you. They will bring you the wealth of many lands. Vast caravans of camels will converge on you, the camels of Midian and Ephah. The people of Sheba will bring gold and frankincense and will come worshiping the Lord. The flocks of Kedar will be given to you. The rams of Neboeth will be brought to my altars. I will accept their offerings and I will make my temple glorious. And what do I see? Flying like clouds to Israel, like doves to their nests. They are ships from the east of the earth, from the lands that trust in me. Led by the great ships of Tarshish, they are bringing the people of Israel home from far away.

Speaker 1:

Now, have mercy on you. Through my grace, your gates will stay open day and night to receive the wealth of many lands. The kings of the world will be led as captives and a victory procession for the nations that refuse to serve you will be destroyed. The glory of Lebanon will be yours. The forests of cypress, fir and pine to beautify your sanctuary. My sanctuary, my temple will be glorious. The descendants of your tormentors will come and bow before you. Those who despised you will kiss your feet, oh Lord. They will call you the city of the Lord and Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Though you were once despised and hated, with no one traveling through you, I will make you beautiful forever, a joy to all generations. Powerful kings and mighty nations will satisfy your every need, as though you were a child nursing at the breast of a queen, and you will know that at last, I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel. I will exchange your bronze for gold, your iron for silver, your wood for bronze, your stones for iron. The mighty one of Israel, salvation will surround you like city walls, and praise will be on the lips of all who enter there. No longer will you need the sun to shine by day or the moon to light it by night, for the Lord, your God, will be your everlasting light and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set. Your moon will not go down, for the Lord will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will come to an end. All your people will be righteous and they will possess their land forever, for I will plant them there in my own hands in order to bring myself glory. The smallest family will become a thousand people. The tiniest group will become a mighty nation.

Speaker 1:

As a quick side note, when you look at verse 19, many people think John the Apostle at the end of the book of Revelation was quoting from Isaiah 60 when he was talking about how God himself will be the light. He was referring to a time when all of God's promises will come true. But I love that last verse when he says at the right time, I, the Lord, will make it happen. And I think back to the story I was telling you about.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes, because of how our lives are going, because things don't always work out the way we think and it's not always what we want to do, we think that God up in heaven is keeping score and because he's keeping score, there is this pressure of performing for God, of doing all this and all these kinds of things, and there's a difference between being driven and running ahead with joy. Many times we feel driven, as though something is pushing us because we have to perform for God and so, therefore, when we don't perform for God, we get ashamed of ourselves and we're ashamed and we don't even want to represent God to the world because we feel like that we're not enough and all these different things. But rather, if we could really see who God is and we could see what God thinks about us and whether we win or we lose. At the end of the day, god isn't keeping score. He's proud of us because we're His. Now he wants us to have success, but for some of us we need to reframe what success is.

Speaker 1:

Success is not what we achieve. It's who we become. And if we focus on who we become, worldly success will take care of itself, because God has a certain amount of things he wants us to do, be and accomplish. And so if we become content in who God is, then God will lead us in the path he wants us to go. And so I want to encourage you never be ashamed of whose you are, because God's word says at the right time, I, the Lord, will make all these good things happen. So don't think. God is up in heaven keeping score. He knows right where you are. He's factored in exactly who you are into the plan he has for your life. So he knows and he has a plan for you. And so I want to encourage you never be ashamed of whose you are, never be ashamed of Jesus. God knows you and he's working in your life, and so be very proud that you are his child and that he loves you and he's working all things for his goodness and at the right time, the Lord will do all he's going to do in your life.

Speaker 1:

Let's pray together right now, god. Thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, for what you're doing and for who you are. I pray, god, you will help us to get such a clear vision of you that it will change the way we see ourselves, that we'll see ourselves as children of the King, and so we'll follow you with our heads up, our backs straight, our shoulders back and say I am never gonna be ashamed of whose I am. We celebrate that today In Jesus' name. We pray amen, amen, say it with me. God's word says in Isaiah, chapter 12, verse two God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The Lord, god, is my strength and my song. He has given me victory. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For Isaiah, chapter 61.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Brandon Cannon

Host