In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the concept of daily renewal and transformation. He refers to Genesis 1, where God progressively improved the earth each day, as a metaphor for the renovation of our lives. The speaker encourages listeners to not lose heart, even as our outward selves may decay, because our inner selves are being renewed day by day. He emphasizes that this process of renewal will ultimately lead to us becoming like Jesus Christ. The speaker also highlights the goodness of God's word and how it is meant to bring about positive change in our lives.

I want to read a verse in the book of Deuteronomy. In chapter 11, the children of Israel were at the borders of the promised land. They had traveled for 40 years and were weary. They had hoped to enter Canaan many years earlier, but they hadn't got there. And finally, after 40 years, now they were on the borders of the promised land. And Moses tells them in verse Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 10, the land into which you're entering to possess it is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden. See, we can look at this verse and apply it to the year that lies ahead. Think of Egypt and the wilderness as the years that had gone by. And now we look forward to another year. It's like the Israelites look forward to entering the promised land. And the Lord says, if you can take it, if you can have faith for it. Verse 10, the year that you're entering is not going to be like the years gone by, where you struggled and struggled and tried to produce fruit and it didn't go too well. But verse 11, but the year into which you are going to enter now, is one that where you're going to drink water from the rain of heaven. It's not going to be by your effort. It's going to be by the Holy Spirit poured out upon you. A year in which the Lord your God will care for you. And the eyes of the Lord your God will be upon you from the beginning of the year, even to the end of the year. That's a wonderful thing. That is the Word of God. And like every other word, if we have faith for it, we receive it and it produces a result in our life. Many of us, as we look back over our past life and years, there are a lot of things that we are ashamed of. And the wonderful thing is, God gives us the opportunity now to make a new beginning. Isn't it wonderful that way back thousands of years ago, when God made the sun and made the earth. He planned that the earth should rotate around it in 365 and a quarter days. Then you come back to the same place. And we see that that's what's happened now. That's why once a year it's good for us to think about God's faithfulness and to put the past behind us. The reason why we have failed and done things that we were ashamed of in the past, is because, like it says here in Egypt, we struggle to make it on our own. What we need to do this year is drink more of water from the rain of heaven, to be more open to the Holy Spirit. I want you to pray that this coming year, you will understand the new covenant that Jesus shed his blood to establish more than you ever understood it before. It will make a tremendous difference in your life. Because the new covenant is all about the Holy Spirit's ministry, which people in the old covenant didn't have. They failed so miserably in the old covenant, because they didn't have the Holy Spirit. They didn't respond to the Holy Spirit. We can say that all that time, they came out of Egypt, that was in the world. It's a very beautiful picture in the Old Testament. They were in the world. Pharaoh was a picture of Satan. God brought them out of the mighty hand and defeated Satan, destroyed his power. But, they came under the old covenant. They wandered and wandered and wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, dry, when God didn't want them to be there. Many, many of us, I believe, are still wandering in the wilderness under the old covenant. And the proof of that is, our lives are dry. Joy has withered up. There's no victory. There's no peace. I want to say to you, it need not be like that in this coming year. It can be different, if you will trust God and respond to his word, and be open to drink from the water of the rain of heaven. And isn't it a wonderful promise here, that the Lord your God will care for you in this land right through. You know, we live in a time of tremendous insecurity. And I remember the days when I was a little boy and I was in Delhi. The Prime Minister of those days was Jawaharlal Nehru and we'd go to the Republic Day Parade and he'd walk just right in front of us. He didn't have any security guards, nobody. He'd just walk past us and we'd be just there. Nobody with him. He'd just walk alone. And that's just 50 years ago. It's in my lifetime. And I've seen a lot of changes in my lifetime. The world has become so insecure. And in such a situation, where bombs are being exploded and we don't know where. You know, a bomb could be exploded anywhere. You could be in a train, you could be in a plane, you could be in a building. And I praise God for a promise like this, which says the Lord your God will care for you from the beginning of the year till the end of the year. We need that care. Trust Him. God's word is given to us to teach us His care for us. I want you to turn to Genesis chapter 1. The two expressions here in Genesis 1, which have spoken to me of late. Two expressions that come frequently in Genesis chapter 1. And you may or may not have noticed it. One is God said and the other is God saw. Almost every day, God said something and then He saw that it was good. Then He said something else and He saw it was good. And then He said something and finally He said something and He did something and then it was very good. So I want to look at that chapter where God did said something every day. And every day this corrupt earth became a little better and a little better and a little better because when it started out it was in a terrible shape. You know this is a picture of a person who has made a mess of his life or her life in the past. Here it is verse 2. Formless, that means the image of God, gone, without shape, empty. You feel like that? Dark, face of God is gone. And God looked at this and He didn't give up hope. I praise God for that. He doesn't give up hope on anyone. You may be empty, you may be dark and you may have completely lost the image of God which He wanted to work in you. And over that shapeless mass called the earth, the Holy Spirit began to move. Right there in the beginning you see the moving of the Holy Spirit, the rain from heaven. That's what the Holy Spirit wants to do in you brother, sister, this coming year. And His purpose, His purpose is good. He wants to bring shape into this formless earth. He wants to make you like Jesus a little more this year. He wants to bring light wherever there's darkness. He wants to bring fullness where you feel empty, freshness where you feel dry. It's the Holy Spirit is the answer. The Holy Spirit is the one who will take you out of the wilderness into the land of Canaan. The Holy Spirit must not be a theory or a doctrine or a theology to you or even just a person. It must be real. The Holy Spirit, the whole answer to your problem is in the Holy Spirit. There are many, many examples of that in the Old Testament. Here was this shapeless earth. What was it that changed it into such a beautiful earth? The Holy Spirit. Here were those disciples scared and locked up in a room afraid to go out. What was it that changed them? The Holy Spirit. And what He did for those people He'll do for you. What He did for that shapeless, empty, dark earth which the devil had ruined and messed up, He'll do for you and me. He cares more for you and me than He did for that earth. The earth was not a son of God. It was just something He created. He cares more for me. It's written there in the first chapter of the Bible to teach us the answer to all your emptiness and all your dryness and all your darkness is in the Holy Spirit. So open your being to Him and say, Lord, so many years like we read there, we struggled to water our gardens like in Egypt it says in Deuteronomy 11. The land, the year you're going into is not like the year you come out of where you spend all your life struggling to water your garden. You see, that's how it was in Egypt. Egypt didn't get much rain. So they had to work hard and pedal and pump up the water from the river Nile and water their fields. It was exhausting. And that's one type of Christian life where you get exhausted and you struggle and struggle and struggle and get some water into your field and then finally you get tired and give up. But he said when you go into Canaan it's not going to be like that. You don't have to pedal anymore. It's going to drink water from the rain of heaven. That's the type of life we need to enter into. Where the sweetness of the Holy Spirit floods our life and makes us sweet saints of God. We won't be perfect but we won't be nasty to people. We'll be gentle and if someone who has not got victory speaks in a rude way to us, we can absorb it. We don't react. We take it and say okay that's alright. Because the Holy Spirit is working in us. And we read here that these two expressions, the Holy Spirit worked and these two expressions you see continuously through that chapter every day. God said and God saw. From that I want you to think of this coming year. This is only one week described here. But every week of this year, every week, all the 52 weeks of 2006 can be like this for you where every day God speaks and says something. Even in the days when you forget to read the Bible, God can speak to you. While you're traveling to work, while you're at work, early morning when you get up from your bed or before you go to bed at night, He can speak to you. You must listen. Will you pray that God will give you this year a listening heart. Seriously, a listening heart to hear what He has to say. Wonderful miracles took place in Genesis 1 when the earth and the heaven just responded. They didn't do anything. God said something. He said Amen. You know it's as it were the earth was saying Amen. Yes Lord. You know when God said verse 11 Let the earth sprout vegetation and let the plants yield and sprout plants yielding seed and let the earth sprout fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind with their seed in them. And the earth said Amen. And the earth brought forth vegetation and plants and trees exactly like God's word said. The earth didn't have to struggle to produce it. It just responded to God's word and said Amen. That's how it is. In the old covenant you get a command and you struggle, struggle, you know like peddling and pumping up the water. We've all tried that and we've failed. It's a very miserable life. And because we have a miserable relationship with God, we are miserable towards other people as well. I've seen that. That the more miserable you are in your personal walk with God, the more miserable you are towards other people. So if you want to be pleasant towards other people this coming year, seek to have a very pleasant relationship with God. I found that the more pleasant my relationship with God is, it's easier for me to absorb the rudeness of people. It's easier for me not to react when people don't behave properly. Because my relationship with God has become more pleasant. So let's pray that God will give us a listening year. Because if you can hear God speak this year, every day, something will happen. That's what you see here. Every day something happened. What happened? Exactly like God said. Think of wonderful promises. If God can say to you one day, sin shall not rule over you. Lord, Amen. Jesus will save you from your sin. Amen. No trial will overtake you. This year, it's too much for you to bear. Amen. You just go through words like that and God speaks to you. One of the things that excites me about Abraham is, you know, whenever God said to him, I think of one example. I don't have time to show you all of them. But this thing of God speaking. Not only in Genesis you read how he spoke to the earth, but later on you see how he spoke to human beings. See Genesis chapter 22. Now we know that this is in the middle of the night. Because we read that God, Abraham responded to it in verse 3 early in the morning. This is something similar to Genesis 1. In Genesis 1, God said something and the earth said Amen and responded to it. Here God spoke not to the earth but to Abraham and Abraham responded to what God said. And God said, you have responded to my word so exactly. I tell you, Abraham, there's going to be no limit to how much I'm going to bless you. Imagine if God were to say to me, my son, there's going to be no limit to how much I'm going to bless you this year. That'll make my day. That'll make my year. It'll make my life. That's where I want to live. But what I see here, it's happened in the middle of the night. In the middle of the night, when Abraham was sleeping, God said, Abraham, verse 1. And he jumped up and said, here I am. See, that's what I like about this man. God said, Abraham. He put everything aside and said, yes, Lord. And God gave him a word which he responded to and he became one of the most blessed people among all human beings. So when God speaks to you and says something to you, maybe in this meeting, or maybe when you read the word or sometime this year, let your response be, here I am, Lord. What do you want me to do? And in the past, you may have thought, well, doing God's commandments is such a heavy, burdensome thing. Well, the earth didn't think so. The earth didn't think that responding to God's word is a burdensome thing. The earth responded and see the result. Fantastic. Think of the areas where you did not respond to God's word and see the result. A mess. Can you think of sins that you committed in the past, where you heard a voice in your conscience saying, don't do that. God was faithful to speak to you. But you didn't respond to that voice of conscience. You said, shut up. What should God do to a man who tells him, shut up. What would your boss do to you in your office, if he told you to do something, even once, and you said, shut up. What do you think would happen? You don't have any doubt. I think all bosses would do the same thing. You'd be coming here and asking prayer for a new job. And what if you said to him, shut up, more than once, if he was a merciful boss. You know, when you disobey God, he tells you something. You say, shut up. And another time, isn't it wonderful that God still comes after you, that he hasn't given up on you. I want to tell you the fact that you are here this evening is proof that God has not given up on you. He hasn't, even though you've told him to shut up a number of times. I want to ask you, my brother, sister, let it be different in this coming year. Respond to that word and say, Amen. And let the memory of the number of times you've told him to shut up in the past, bring such sorrow in your heart that you say, Lord, I never want to use that word again. It's always going to be Amen. It shall be so. It shall be so. It's something good that God wants to give you. That's what we read in chapter 1. Imagine when God Almighty says something is good. That's better than our saying. You know, when we say something is good, it's just so relative. But when God says it's good, it's absolutely fantastic. It means it's perfect. That's how it is in Genesis chapter 1, where every day God said, it was good, it was good, it was good. So, the purpose of God giving us his word is to do something good for us. Like we sing in that song, something good is going to happen. Something good is in store. Can you believe that for the coming year? That something good is going to happen? Something good is in store? Okay, a little more tougher question. That something good is in store every day? Yes? Every day of this coming year, something good is in store for you? Why? Because you're such a good fellow? Because God is a good God. He's a loving father. A merciful, compassionate father. And because of that, we have hope that I'm not going to be the same at the end of the next year. The earth wasn't the same at the end of one week. Imagine where we'll be after 52 weeks. I want to believe that. Because I'm going to open myself to the operation of the Holy Spirit, the reign of heaven. I'm going to finish with this peddling and pumping water. I'm trying to water my field. All my effort. I'm just going to open myself to the Holy Spirit and say, Lord, write your law upon my heart. I tried to do it and I failed. Now, Lord, write your law upon my heart like you promised in the new covenant. Write your law upon my mind and work in me like it says in Philippians 2, 12 and 13 to choose your will and to do your will. Work in me to choose your will and to do your will every day. Open your being to the Holy Spirit. He will do it. Exactly like he did here. And every day it got a little better and a little better and a little better. It started with light. The first day God spoke light and there was light. And you know in the New Testament, that's applied, if you turn to 2 Corinthians 4, we read that that's exactly applying to our salvation. Because it says here in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 6, for God who said light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So that verse assures us that what our interpretation of Genesis chapter 1 is correct. This is not some fanciful thing that I thought up. The Holy Spirit is giving us a commentary in 2 Corinthians 4 of what happened in Genesis 1. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul writes, he says, you remember what happened in Genesis 1? God said, let there be light. Well, you know what that's a picture of, he says here? It's a picture of God's light coming into your heart and you're seeing the light, the real light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. One day, that light shone and drove the darkness away. Christ came into your life. And that's just day 1. That's day 1. And what happened on day 6 in Genesis 1? God made man in his image and according to his likeness. And that was the last day. And you know what's going to happen on the last day? He's going to remake me completely in his image and according to his likeness. That's day 6. It's going to come. It began with light when I was born again. It's going to end with me becoming exactly like Jesus Christ. You're going to see me one day behave exactly like Jesus Christ. Be a little patient. You'll see me talk like him, smile like him, look like him. Every single thing I do and say will be exactly like Christ. I have faith for that. Do you have faith for it? For yourself? Well, what's going to happen between day 1 and day 6? We've got to progress in that direction. That's a wonderful thing. And it says here in the same 2nd Corinthians 4, it starts off with light. It's a commentary. You know, when you read the New Testament, it's a commentary on the Old Testament. And so he says here in 2nd Corinthians 4, once the light has come in, then something has to happen every day. Didn't something happen every day in Genesis 1? Okay. Here's the commentary. Something has to happen every day. In verse 16, we don't lose heart because even though our outward man is decaying, the inner man, which is the real person, is being renewed day by day on day 2 and day 3 and day 4 and day 5 until I reach day 6 when I'll be like him. And during this period of renovation, if there's a little inconvenience, we're willing to bear with it. If some of you have had a renovation work done on your own house, you know, maybe you're putting in an extra room or a bathroom or building another floor, what are you doing it for? To make life a little more convenient for you. We've done that sometimes in our house and I tell you, while the process is going on, it's a real mess. There's dust and inconvenience and we can't sleep where we always used to sleep and all types of things, but we're still willing to go through it and spend money for it because we know we'll have more convenience at the end. And so that's what he says. For the time being, verse 17, we have some affliction, but that's only for a short while because finally we're going to have an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. And so we don't look at this temporary time when this renovation is going on, but we look at the future where the work is going to be complete so we don't lose hope. You know, God could have made us like Jesus like that in a moment. As soon as you're converted, okay, you're like Jesus. But he didn't do it like that. He could have renovated the earth also in one moment. Why six days? I think there is a parable way back there in Genesis chapter 1 of how God wants to work in us. Like it says here in verse 16, renewed day by day, exactly like the earth was renewed day by day. And I want to say to you that renewal comes by and God said. And God said. That's how the renewal took place in Genesis 1. And that's why it's so important to listen to God's word every day. Man shall not live by bread alone. You're going to determine in 2006 that food is not going to be the most important thing for you. Amen? Really? But God's word is going to be more important than your food in 2006. Man shall not live by food alone. He didn't say by food. He said by food alone, which means you can eat food, but that's not enough. That's not going to be enough in this coming year. Man shall not live by food alone, but by every word. You got to get every word. Think of the earth missed out on what God said on the third day. Think of the earth missed out on what God said on the fourth day. There wouldn't be any sun, moon and stars. Thank God. Not one day was missed out. Think in Genesis chapter 1, one day was missing. God said something and the earth didn't respond. Something would be missing. There wouldn't be any trees. There wouldn't be any fish. Or there wouldn't be any sun or moon. But we have all these things because every day the earth responded. You miss out on something if you miss one day when you didn't hear God say anything to you. Can you think of what a lot you have missed in the last year and the years gone by? Will you say, Lord, I don't want to miss anything this coming year. Every day I wanted to be said about me and God said to so-and-so. Put your name there. God said to so-and-so and I said Amen. And something happened. And God examined it at the end of the day and said that was good. That's great. Can you imagine if you really take this seriously this year, coming year. Every day you're going to take it seriously. Can you imagine what's going to happen by the end of 365 days? I tell you, your wife will not recognize you. Neither will your husband. Is this the same person? As Christ through his Holy Spirit works in you and removes all anger from your life. All rude speech. Not mistakes. We will make mistakes till the day Jesus comes. We may slip up till Jesus comes. But there will be such a real transformation that the Holy Spirit is going to work in your life every day. Wonderful. That's what gives us hope as we look into the future that the God who did that for that empty earth is going to do that for people like us who are far more important to him than the earth and all that you read of in Genesis chapter 1. So let's say Lord, I want to be a listener this year. I want to be like Mary who sat at Jesus' feet and listened. I don't want to be so busy working like Martha. Working, working, working, working, working that I have no time to listen. Has it been like that in the past year? I'm not talking about sin. Martha wasn't committing any sin in the kitchen. But we can be so busy working, working, doing all so many things that we have no time to listen to what God is saying. And we think working, working, even working for the Lord. We think that's the most important thing. And when we come before the Lord, he'll say, Martha, Martha, you're worried about so many things. You're trying to work for me. I'm not so interested in that. Look at Mary. She's listening to me and that's more important. The point there is a lot more can be accomplished in your life by listening than by doing. Martha was doing. Mary was listening. The whole world says, you'll accomplish more by doing than by listening. And Jesus says, no, you'll accomplish more by listening than by doing. The earth listened in Genesis 1. And see what happened. So I want to encourage you in this coming year, be a listener. Every day God will say something. And as I said, it may not be through the Bible. Maybe through the Bible. Maybe in a meeting that you attend on that day. It may be while you are working in your place of work that God may speak to you through something that happens. Many, many times God has spoken to me through something that's happened. God's spoken to me through something that went wrong. Different things God can speak to you. He can speak to you through an accident. He can speak to you when you're sick. There's not a single day that God does not want to speak to you. You must believe that. Why do I say that? Because there was not a single day in Genesis 1 when God didn't speak. Every single day. And I want to enter 2006 with the faith that every single day God wants to speak to me. I may not do something for God every single day. Like Martha. I may do something for God some days. But perhaps not every single day. But listening. And God wanting to speak to me. That's every day. And that's what's going to renew me day by day by day by day by day by day. And the earth was not impatient. You know, little by little, the first day there were no trees or nothing. And second day also the earth was flooded with water. And the earth didn't get impatient and say, come on, what's happening? No, it just waited. God has a program. God's got a program for you this coming year. I want to tell you, God's got a program for you this year. Every single day is going to say something. He's going to allow you to face trial. He's going to allow you to face the devil. But His promise is, I will be with you. Is that enough? Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. He's not going to shield us from the devil. He didn't shield his own son from the devil. He's not going to shield us from affliction or trial or opposition. Because it's through those things that we become strong. It's through those things that He's going to accomplish His word in us. You must believe Him. Lord, I believe. Lord, I believe. It's going to be so. Think of some impossible situation. Humanly speaking, impossible situation that you are facing right now. And think of what Jesus said in Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9, this poor father had an impossible situation. He had a child being sick from birth. And he brought the child to Jesus. And he first brought him to the disciples. You read in Mark 9 verse 14 onwards. Verse 17, I brought my son to you. He had brought him first to the disciples. And last part of verse 18, I told your disciples to do something and they couldn't do anything. Sometimes we go to man with our problems and he can't help us. Thank God. Because if a man helped us every time, we would never meet with Jesus. I thank God for situations in my life where no man could help me. And I go to the Lord. And he says here that, Jesus said, O unbelieving generation, verse 19, how long shall I be with you? Bring him to me. And then he says to Jesus, verse 22, if, last part, if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. He didn't have much faith. He's not even sure whether Jesus can do anything because Jesus' disciples couldn't do anything. He says, Lord, if you can do something, please help me. And notice those words, if you can, in verse 22, turning to Jesus and said, if you can. And Jesus turns around to him and says in verse 23, if you can. It's not me. You see how he turned it around? If you can. All things are possible if you can believe. So when you go to the Lord and say, Lord, if you can do something for me. Think of some situation you're facing right now. Maybe in your home, work, somewhere. And you go to God and say, Lord, if you can do something for me here. And the Lord says, if you can believe me this year, trust me that I'll do something for you to solve that problem. Whatever it is. Because there's nothing impossible with God. And here it also says, if you believe, there's nothing impossible for you. You know, to say that all things are possible for God, everybody in the world believes that. All things are possible for God. One reason we put up this verse here is, sometimes we've looked at it so often, we forget what it says. It's not only to God. It's this verse here, all things are possible if you can believe. We can say that the earth believed what God said. That's why the fruit came out. The earth believed. God said something. The earth said, yeah, sure, of course you can do it. And immediately there was a result. And then next day, God said something else. The earth said, yeah, sure, of course. There was a result. And that's written in the first chapter of Genesis to teach us that when God says something, the only proper response is to say, Amen, it shall be so. God told Abraham, you're going to be the father of a multitude. Look at the stars. You're going to have children like that. Abraham said, Amen, it'll be so. And he became the father of a multitude. These things are written for our instruction. So as we go into the new year, that's the first thing we need to bear in mind. God said, and we believe and respond to that and allow the Holy Spirit to do that work in us. The other word, phrase that comes frequently in Genesis 1 is God saw. God sees everything. His eyes are moving around, watching everything. The good and the evil. I want to show you this verse in Second Chronicles and Chapter 16, Second Chronicles, Chapter 16 and verse nine speaks about what God sees the eyes of the Lord. Second Chronicles 16, verse nine, it says the eyes of the Lord are seeing things. God saw things in the earth. First day, second day, third day. And today also God is seeing all over the earth, just like in Genesis 1. In Genesis 1, you read that God's eyes looked all over the earth. And here we read in Genesis, Second Chronicles 16, verse nine, that God's eyes are moving across the whole earth. But this time, it's for a different purpose. His eyes are moving across the whole earth to strongly support those who have decided that their hearts are going to be completely His. To show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are, this is the correct translation, whose hearts are completely His. In other words, when God sees somebody, it doesn't matter what your age is. You may be 12 years old sitting here. God's no respecter of age. Doesn't matter what your education is. You may be coming last in your class. It doesn't make a difference to God. Makes a difference to your parents, not to God. It doesn't matter if you're retarded, backward, not intelligent. Makes no difference to God. If your heart, not your mind, your heart is completely His. If you have said to Jesus, Lord, there's no place in my heart for anybody but You. Only You. I had other interests before, but they're all gone now. Lord, I've repented of all that. It's only You now for every day of this year. Then the eyes of the Lord will move throughout the earth to support you. Lord will look all over the earth to say, how can I support this young man, this young girl whose heart is completely mine? How can I support and encourage and help and fulfill my plan for this person's life? My dear brothers and sisters, I have experienced that for more than 45 years. The eyes of the Lord moving, preparing and planning things for me, which I never did anything. He planned and He prepared and brought me into the good of it. His eyes are moving. God saw. He sees. Even today He sees. Like we read in Deuteronomy 11, the eyes of the Lord will be upon you from the beginning of the year till the end of the year. Now claim these promises. Not only God said, but God saw. And you say, Lord, this year I'm not only going to respond to everything you say every day, but I believe that you're going to see me every day. You know, there was a woman in the Old Testament, not a very well-known woman. In Genesis 16, nobody names their daughters after this woman. Have you ever met a sister called Hagar? I haven't. No father names their children Hagar. In Genesis 16, she was Sarah's maidservant and Abraham had a child through her. Sarah got upset when she became pregnant and chased her out of the house. It says in verse 6, last part, Sarah treated her harshly and she fled from her presence. A helpless woman from Egypt, not even in her homeland, far away from her parents. Abraham had brought her as a maidservant to Canaan, knowing nobody, no relatives. Chased out by the only family she knew. Can you imagine a more pathetic condition than that? Think of your condition. Is that more pathetic than that? No father, no mother, no relative. Chased out by the only family she knew. And not even one whom God called. God called Abraham. Okay, he'll take care of him. But what about this Hagar? And God said to her, don't worry, I'm going to multiply your descendants, verse 10. They'll also be too many to count. And you'll bear a son. He'll give his name Ishmael. The Lord has given heed to your affliction. Does the Lord give heed to the affliction of a maidservant who is helpless and in a hopeless condition? He does. And you know what? She gave God a name in verse 13. She called the name of the Lord. You are a God who sees me. Imagine, she gave a title to God which is recorded in the scriptures. You are a God who sees me. You know that Hagar's word blesses me. It'll bless you this year. A prophetic word from Hagar. Do you ever get it? Don't despise these poor helpless maidservants who say something. God may speak through them. God said, you are a God who sees me. I'll tell you how that word from Hagar will comfort you this year. When you're in a tight situation, say what Hagar said. You are a God who sees me. And like Job said in Job 23 verse 10 in the Living Bible it says, Lord you know every detail of what is happening to me right now. Job 23 10. That's so wonderful to know that. He knows every detail of what's happening to me. He saw. He saw. He sees. He not only speaks, he sees. So in this coming year, we want to know God as a God who speaks and a God who sees. A God who speaks and a God who sees. That's what the two expressions we find in Genesis 1 frequently. God said and God saw. God said and God saw. God said and He saw. We want to see God this year as a God who speaks to us every day and who sees our condition every day. Who examines us every day. Don't be afraid of God's examinations. He's not a harsh examiner. He examines you to get rid of things in your life which are going to destroy you. You know how people go for a medical examination. They pay for it. They pay thousands of rupees nowadays to get a medical examination because they want to be fit. Are you afraid of a medical examination if it's free? And people would be happy to get a free medical examination once a year. Think if somebody, some doctor told you, hey listen, I'll do it for you every day. I'll check your blood pressure every day and let you know. If it ever slightly goes up, I'll let you know immediately so that you don't discover it one month later. Anything slightly going wrong, I'll give you an examination every day. God saw and examined. He cares. He wants to provide. You are a God who sees. And the well was called Bir Lahai Roy. So I'm blessed by the words of a poor maidservant from Egypt. A maidservant whose name nobody gives their daughters from such a woman's words. I've learned through the years not to despise anybody. Says in Job 36.5, God is almighty but he never despises anybody. And the more we become like God, we don't despise people. We believe that God can bless us through anybody's words. God may speak to me directly. I told you he wants to speak every day, but he may not speak to me directly. He may speak to me one day through a younger brother. He may speak to you through your children. He speaks to me through my children. He may speak to you through your children. Be humble enough to listen. If you're humble enough, you'll always hear God's voice. I really believe that every single day. And you'll see that God cares for you. And he works on your behalf in amazing ways. You can say, you're a God who sees me. Turn to Zephaniah in chapter 3. The book of Zephaniah chapter 3 in verse 17. It says here, the Lord your God is in your midst. A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy. And he will be silent in his love. And I understand that the actual Hebrew there means, he will silently plan for you in love. Because he rejoices over you so much, he will silently plan for you in love. That means, he's got a pleasant surprise waiting for you around the corner. But you didn't expect it. Oh, if I were to list the number of pleasant surprises God's given me in the last 45 years, I'd write a book on it. More than one book. The pleasant surprises, which I didn't deserve, which I didn't expect. All of a sudden I turn the corner and say, hey, I didn't know that God's got that for me around the corner. He's silently planning for you in love. You know how sometimes we plan for our loved ones. Something secretly, maybe to celebrate a birthday. Or to get a little gift. Something secretly, silently. Nobody must know about it. That's how God plans for us. I praise God. He's watching. He's seeing. He's searching around the whole world to see how can I bless this one who's given me all his heart. You know, God doesn't have many people like that. There are not many people in the world who have given all their heart to God. I mean, I know there are lots of people who have given a little corner of their heart to God, whose aim in life is something else. But he doesn't have many people who have given all their heart to him. And it doesn't matter who you are, young or old. If you've given all your heart to him, it's true that his eyes go all throughout the earth to show himself strong on your behalf. It's true. His eyes will be upon you from the beginning of the year till the end of the year. He'll see you. He'll provide for you. What did he do for Hagar? Hagar was helpless and God worked for her and took her back and gave her favor in the eyes of Abraham and Sarah once again. The Bible says, when a man's ways please the Lord, Proverbs 16 verse 7, when a man's ways please the Lord, God makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Let's pray for that this year. That our ways will please the Lord and even our enemies will acknowledge that God is with us and seek to be at peace with us. So please remember these two little expressions, God said and God saw. And remember that right through this year, God wants to speak to you and he sees every affliction you're going through. He sees a trial. He sees those impossible situations that you're in and he's got a solution. And when you go to him in prayer and say, Lord, if you can, God turns around and says, if you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. Let's make this coming year a year where we will trust the Lord for some things at least that we have never trusted him thus far for. Some area in our life where we haven't overcome. Lord, I'm going to believe you this year. And before the year is out, at the end of the year, in this area, it's going to be different. Shall we trust the Lord for that and believe that he'll do it? All things are possible. It doesn't matter what it is. Don't go to God and say, if you can. Jesus will say, if you can. And I'll say, yes, Lord, I want to believe you. Let's bow our heads before God.