Title: The Year of Step Up (Part Two): Step Up Your Expectation
Scripture: Isaiah 43:18-19, Hebrews 11:1
“The Lord says, “Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do.
It is already happening. Don’t you see it? I will make a road in the desert and rivers in the dry land”.Isaiah 43:18-19
“Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it. 2 Faith is the reason we remember great people who lived in the past”. Hebrews 11:1
Date: 18 January 2025
Introduction: The Danger of the Rearview Mirror
Welcome back, Church. It is good to be in the house of God on this third Sunday of the year.
Last week, we began this series, “The Year of Step Up.” We talked about the necessity of leaving the past where it belongs—in the past. We looked at the first part of Isaiah 43, where God commands His people, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” We established that you cannot walk into a new season if you are still mentally and emotionally shackled to the old one. You cannot climb a mountain while dragging a corpse behind you. We have to cut the cord.
But here is the spiritual reality: Emptying your hands of the past is only half the battle. If you drop the baggage of yesterday but refuse to pick up the promise of tomorrow, you are just standing empty-handed. You are stuck in neutral.
Once we leave the past, we must look at the present. We must look at the second part of that verse in Isaiah. Listen to the urgency in God’s voice in verse 19:
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
Notice the phrasing. He doesn’t say, “I might do a new thing.” He doesn’t say, “I did a new thing back in 1995.” He says, “I am doing a new thing! NOW it springs up.”
But then, immediately after that declaration of power, God asks a haunting question: “Do you not perceive it?”
This implies something frightening. It implies that God can be doing something miraculous, something world-changing, right in front of your face—but if you do not have the right mindset, if you do not have the right spiritual lenses on, you will miss it completely. You can be in the presence of a miracle and stay miserable, simply because you didn’t perceive it.
So, for Part Two of this series, our charge is clear. In 2026, we must not just Step Up our actions; we must Step Up our Expectation.
Part 1: The Thermostat vs. The Thermometer
We live in a world that conditions us to be reactive. We are trained to react to the news, react to social media, react to the traffic, and react to the balance in our checking accounts.
Most people live their spiritual and emotional lives exactly like a thermometer.
Think about what a thermometer does. It is a passive instrument. It has no power of its own. It simply reflects the environment it is placed in.
- If the room is cold, the thermometer goes down.
- If the room is hot, the thermometer goes up.
- If the economy is bad, the thermometer’s mood crashes.
- If people at work are rude, the thermometer gets angry.
A thermometer is a victim of the atmosphere. It has no agency. It surrenders control to whatever is happening externally. How many of us lived 2025 like that? We had a good day only if the world gave us a good day. We had peace only if the kids were quiet. We felt blessed only when the bills were paid.
But as a child of God, you are not called to be a thermometer. You are called to be a thermostat.
They look similar, they both hang on the wall, but they function entirely differently. A thermometer measures the temperature; a thermostat sets the temperature.
When a thermostat steps up, it doesn’t care if the room is freezing. It doesn’t look at the cold and say, “Oh well, I guess I’ll be cold too.” No. The thermostat detects the cold and activates the power to change it. It dictates the atmosphere. When a thermostat steps up, the whole room changes to match it.
In this “Year of Step Up,” I am challenging you to change your identity. In 2026, stop waiting for your circumstances to get better before you get happy. Stop waiting for your bank account to grow before you feel generous. Stop waiting for your spouse to change before you show love.
You need to step up and set the atmosphere.
- Expect Favor.
- Expect open doors.
- Expect that when you walk into a room, the atmosphere shifts because YOU are there.
When you walk into a toxic workplace tomorrow morning, don’t let the toxicity infect you. You set the temperature. You bring the peace. You bring the joy. You bring the excellence. You are the head and not the tail; you are the thermostat, not the thermometer.
Part 2: Faith is the Mechanism of Expectation
Why is this shift so hard? Because we have been taught that “seeing is believing.” The world says, “Show me, and then I’ll believe it.”
But the Kingdom of God operates on the inverse: “Believe it, and then you will see it.”
We have to look at the definition of faith. In Hebrews 11:1, the Bible gives us the constitution of faith:
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Faith is not just a religious word we use on Sundays. It is not just a feeling of goosebumps during worship. Faith is a mechanism of expectation. The key word there is “substance.” Faith is treating the “not yet” as if it is “right now.”
Let me give you an analogy. If you go to a fine dining restaurant this afternoon and you order a steak, what happens next? The waiter takes the order and walks away. You haven’t seen the steak. You haven’t smelled the steak. You haven’t tasted the steak.
But what do you do? You sit at the table. You put a napkin in your lap. You pick up a fork and a knife.
Why are you holding a sharp knife? There is no meat in front of you. To an outsider, you might look foolish holding utensils for a meal that isn’t there. But you are not foolish; you are expectant. You have prepared for the arrival of what you requested. You know the kitchen is working. You know the chef is cooking. You aren’t hoping the steak appears; you are expecting it to the point that you are ready to cut into it the moment it arrives.
Church, too many of us are praying for things we aren’t setting the table for. We are praying for a “Year of Step Up,” but we are still planning for a year of staying the same. We are praying for revival in our families, but we are still speaking words of death over our children. We are praying for rain, but we aren’t carrying an umbrella.
If you pray for rain, and you leave the house without an umbrella, you are not praying in faith; you are just wishing. Wishing is passive. Expectation is active.
To the Church: If you believe God is going to move in your life this year, start setting the table for dinner. If you are believing for a new job, is your resume ready? If you are believing for a healthier body, are there groceries in your fridge that match that belief? Start acting like the answer is on the way. God loves it when His children prepare for His arrival. It shows Him that we trust His character.
Part 3: The Science of Focus (The Reticular Activating System)
Now, I know there are some analytical minds in the room. You might be thinking, “Pastor, this sounds like positive thinking mumbo-jumbo.”
Let me speak to the skeptics and the public for a moment. This isn’t just spiritual law; this is biological law. God designed your brain to function this way.
In psychology, there is a bundle of nerves at our brainstem called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). This system is the gatekeeper of information. Your brain is bombarded with millions of bits of data every second—sights, sounds, smells. If your brain processed all of it, you would go insane. So, the RAS acts as a filter. It only lets in what you focus on.
Have you ever decided to buy a specific car? Let’s say, a red Toyota. You’ve never really noticed them before. But the moment you decide “I want a red Toyota,” suddenly you see them everywhere. You see them on the highway, in the parking lot, in your neighbor’s driveway.
Did the factory suddenly produce a million red Toyotas overnight? No. They were always there. But you didn’t perceive them. You weren’t looking for them, so your brain filtered them out.
Isaiah 43 asks: “Do you not perceive it?”
If your RAS—your focus—is set on negativity, you will find it.
- If you focus on reasons to be offended, you will find plenty of rude people.
- If you focus on how hard the economy is, you will find evidence of poverty.
- If you focus on your sickness, you will find symptoms.
But if you Step Up your focus, you change your reality. If you wake up and tell your Reticular Activating System, “Today, I am looking for the goodness of God,” you will find it. If you focus on opportunity, you will spot open doors that others walk right past. If you focus on gratitude, you will find reasons to smile.
God is saying, “I am doing a new thing.” It’s right here. It’s the red car in traffic. It’s the steak in the kitchen. But if your filter is set to “gloom and doom,” you will miss the blessing.
Step Up your focus! Train your brain to align with your Bible. Train your eyes to scan the horizon for the promise, not the problem.
Part 4: The Challenge to Thrive
So, where do we go from here? We are three weeks into this new year. The “new year smell” is starting to wear off. Real life is settling back in. The bills are coming in from Christmas. The weather is turning.
This is the moment where the rubber meets the road. This is where you decide if this is just another year, or if this is the Year of Step Up.
I challenge you today to change your vocabulary. I challenge you to stop saying, “I hope I survive this year.” I challenge you to stop saying, “I just want to get through this week.”
That is thermometer language. That is victim language.
Start saying, “I expect to thrive this year.” Start saying, “I expect to grow. I expect to meet the right people. I expect to have the wisdom to handle challenges. I expect God to use me.”
When you Step Up your expectation, you give God room to work. You take the limits off. You tell God, “I am ready. My table is set. My umbrella is open. My eyes are looking.”
Let 2026 be the year where you didn’t just endure your life, but you engaged with it. Let this be the year where you didn’t just reflect the temperature, but you changed it.
See! He is doing a new thing! The question is not “Is God able?” The question is not “Is God willing?” The question is… Do you perceive it?
Step Up your Expectation and watch what God does with your year.
Conclusion
As we close this service, I want you to look at the empty space in front of you one last time. In the natural, it looks like air. It looks like nothing. But I want you to leave this sanctuary understanding that the air around you is pregnant with potential. God has already spoken the word. The “new thing” Isaiah prophesied is already springing up. The only variable left in the equation is you.
We often think that God is waiting on us to be perfect, or that we are waiting on God to be powerful. But usually, God is simply waiting for us to be perceptive. He is waiting for us to stop staring at the closed doors of 2025 so that we can see the open windows of 2026. He is waiting for us to pick up the fork and knife of faith, signaling that we truly trust Him to provide the meal.
This week, you will face a choice every single day. You will face the choice to be a thermometer or a thermostat. When you walk out of these doors, the world will try to lower your temperature. The news will try to freeze your hope. Your bank account might try to cool your generosity. But you possess the Spirit of the Living God. You have the power to override the environment.
Don’t leave your expectation at this altar. Take it with you. Carry it into your home, your workplace, and your relationships. If you want a year of “Step Up,” you must first step up your mind. Expect God to move. Look for His hand. Perceive the new thing. And as you expect it, you will surely see it come to pass.
Reflection of this Week
I want to give you a practical assignment for the next seven days. We talked about the “Reticular Activating System”—that part of your brain that finds exactly what it is looking for. This week, I want you to consciously retrain your focus. We are going to do a “Focus Detox.”
Every morning, before you check your phone, before you check the news, and before you check your emails, I want you to check your expectation. Wake up and literally say out loud: “Today, I expect God’s goodness. I am looking for favor.“Set your internal thermostat to 75 degrees of joy and peace before your feet even hit the floor.
Then, as you go through your day, pay attention to your reactions. When something goes wrong—because life happens—catch yourself. Ask yourself: “Am I acting like a thermometer right now? Am I letting this bad traffic or this rude email drop my temperature?” If the answer is yes, stop. Reset. remind yourself that you are the thermostat. You bring the peace; you don’t chase it.
Finally, at the end of every day this week, write down one “new thing” you perceived. Maybe it was a kind word from a stranger, a small financial blessing, or a moment of clarity in a chaotic meeting. Train your eyes to spot the steak arriving at the table. By the time we meet again next Sunday, you will have seven evidences of God’s faithfulness that you would have otherwise missed. Let’s live this week with eyes wide open.
Altar Call
Before you leave, I need to open this altar for a very specific moment of decision.
First, there may be someone here today who has never set their thermostat to “life.” You have been living in the cold. You’ve been reacting to the pain of this world without a Savior to anchor you. You’ve tried to “step up” on your own strength, and you are exhausted. The ultimate “New Thing” God did was sending Jesus to die for your sins and rise again so you could have new life. If you don’t know Him, if you don’t have that assurance, I want you to step out of your seat right now. Come meet the One who changes the atmosphere of eternity.
Second, I want to call forward the believers who have been living as thermometers. Maybe 2025 broke your expectation. Maybe you prayed, and it didn’t happen how you wanted, so you put down your fork and knife. You stopped expecting. You’ve been coming to church, but your heart has been in survival mode, not thriving mode. You’ve been saying, “I just want to get by.”
If that is you, I want you to come to this altar. We are going to break the spirit of heaviness. We are going to reset your spiritual thermostat today. You are going to leave your disappointment here and pick up a fresh expectation. God wants to revive your hope. He wants you to see the new thing springing up. If you are ready to Step Up your expectation, get out of your seat and meet me here at the front. The table is set. Come and receive.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we repent for living as thermometers. We repent for letting the world dictate our joy. Today, we step up. We set the thermostat to faith. We set the thermostat to hope. We open our eyes to the new thing You are doing. We expect Your goodness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
God bless you abundantly.