WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.419 Faith is more than a feeling or a theory. It's 00:00:03.419 --> 00:00:06.059 a decision that moves your feet, opens your hands, 00:00:06.219 --> 00:00:09.019 and activates God's promises. In our brand new 00:00:09.019 --> 00:00:11.820 book, Faith Act, Jeffrey and I take you on a 00:00:11.820 --> 00:00:13.839 powerful journey through some of Scripture's 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:16.800 most transforming moments, where ordinary people 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.699 dared to obey and saw heaven move on their behalf. 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:24.140 Order your copy of Faith Act today on Amazon. 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:28.260 We're continuing in our series that we've entitled 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:31.839 Not Mine But God's, but we are changing gears. 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:34.280 I don't know if you notice a difference in the 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:36.079 background or not. I don't know if you look that 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:40.460 close or not. But it was multicolored shipping 00:00:40.460 --> 00:00:45.439 containers all stacked up. And this is Christmas 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:48.679 lights, right? So we've talked about, I hope 00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:50.619 I can remember all four of them. We talked about 00:00:50.619 --> 00:00:54.859 not my ability but God's. We've talked about 00:00:54.859 --> 00:00:59.179 not my mind, but God's. We've talked about not 00:00:59.179 --> 00:01:03.880 my will, but God's. And we've talked about not 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:08.640 my victory, but God's. Now, we are changing gears. 00:01:09.420 --> 00:01:13.219 And it's very uncommon for us to sing Christmas 00:01:13.219 --> 00:01:17.939 songs all four weeks, but we're going to. And 00:01:17.939 --> 00:01:19.819 we're going to talk about the incarnation. Everybody 00:01:19.819 --> 00:01:23.730 say incarnation. See, long before Gabriel, the 00:01:23.730 --> 00:01:29.290 angel Gabriel, ever spoke to Mary, angels visited 00:01:29.290 --> 00:01:34.290 the shepherds. Our wise men saw that newly formed 00:01:34.290 --> 00:01:38.469 star. Long before all that happened, God planted 00:01:38.469 --> 00:01:43.750 a promise in the hearts of his people. Everybody 00:01:43.750 --> 00:01:48.469 say, planted a promise. Has God ever planted 00:01:48.469 --> 00:01:53.349 a promise in your heart? through his word. I'm 00:01:53.349 --> 00:01:56.370 glad three of you, God has planted a promise 00:01:56.370 --> 00:01:58.870 in your heart. But God planted a promise in the 00:01:58.870 --> 00:02:02.069 hearts of his people that the Messiah is coming. 00:02:03.250 --> 00:02:05.510 For hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, even 00:02:05.510 --> 00:02:09.710 thousands of years, if you look at the scripture, 00:02:09.830 --> 00:02:13.189 you see that there was a Messiah coming in the 00:02:13.189 --> 00:02:16.610 Old Testament. And it pointed to a deliverer, 00:02:16.610 --> 00:02:21.819 a savior coming. And that happened long before 00:02:21.819 --> 00:02:24.659 the Christmas story as we know it took place. 00:02:26.379 --> 00:02:33.099 And according to Dean, the two most important 00:02:33.099 --> 00:02:37.000 events in all the history of the world, according 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:42.020 to Dean, you may disagree. It's okay to be wrong. 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:49.849 Two most important events. Or the incarnation, 00:02:50.150 --> 00:02:53.629 everybody say incarnation. And the resurrection. 00:02:55.750 --> 00:02:59.289 Incarnation and the resurrection. Those two events, 00:02:59.629 --> 00:03:05.069 those make the difference in our life today. 00:03:05.870 --> 00:03:12.090 Right? Because without the incarnation, we would 00:03:12.090 --> 00:03:14.590 be just as hopeless as without a resurrection. 00:03:15.590 --> 00:03:19.000 Because without the incarnation, Jesus would 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:24.419 just be a man. With the incarnation, he's God 00:03:24.419 --> 00:03:28.439 and he's man. And he wasn't born in sin like 00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:32.120 we are, right? That's how important the incarnation 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:37.419 is. Now, I don't know how many years it's been, 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:43.800 but I didn't grow up having Advent services in 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:46.120 the church that I grew up in. Anybody grow up 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:49.909 with Advent services? where you had a little 00:03:49.909 --> 00:03:52.330 wreath and had some candles and you light a candle 00:03:52.330 --> 00:03:54.590 and read some verses every week? Only two of 00:03:54.590 --> 00:03:57.710 us or more than that? All right. But I learned 00:03:57.710 --> 00:04:00.310 about that when I was chaplain in Myrtle Beach. 00:04:00.370 --> 00:04:04.990 People said, okay. So I had to do some studying 00:04:04.990 --> 00:04:07.770 up, right? Because I'd never done that before, 00:04:07.870 --> 00:04:11.830 growing up as a preacher's kid even. And I just 00:04:11.830 --> 00:04:15.520 want to let you know that the word Advent This 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:17.980 is just a Webster's definition of the word Advent. 00:04:19.060 --> 00:04:25.000 Here's what it is. Advent is the arrival of a 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:35.040 notable person or a thing. The arrival of a notable 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:41.139 person or a thing. I mean, we may have used the 00:04:41.139 --> 00:04:44.939 word Advent outside of talking about... the incarnation 00:04:44.939 --> 00:04:48.079 or even the second coming, we might have used 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:50.360 the word advent to say like, how many of you 00:04:50.360 --> 00:04:54.879 remember the advent of television? I had a little 00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:57.839 black and white TV in my house. I was the remote 00:04:57.839 --> 00:04:59.939 control. The advent of the remote control was 00:04:59.939 --> 00:05:03.980 a nice thing because I was the youngest, so I 00:05:03.980 --> 00:05:08.139 was the remote control growing up. The advent 00:05:08.139 --> 00:05:13.870 of cell phones. I mean, I remember it's like 00:05:13.870 --> 00:05:17.990 science fiction that one day you might be able 00:05:17.990 --> 00:05:21.569 to talk on the phone with somebody while you 00:05:21.569 --> 00:05:23.910 look at them. How many of you remember that? 00:05:24.129 --> 00:05:27.250 Thinking that, wow, that would just be incredibly 00:05:27.250 --> 00:05:31.709 amazing. So we've got the advent of the internet, 00:05:31.949 --> 00:05:37.689 good or bad, or both, right? Advent of the smartphone, 00:05:38.029 --> 00:05:43.550 all those things. That's the arrival of something 00:05:43.550 --> 00:05:49.430 notable in society, I would say. But when we 00:05:49.430 --> 00:05:52.110 think about Jesus and when we think about him 00:05:52.110 --> 00:05:57.029 stepping down out of the throne room of eternity 00:05:57.029 --> 00:06:01.829 and adding humanity to his deity, when he showed 00:06:01.829 --> 00:06:08.129 up, it was a big deal. Look at the person beside 00:06:08.129 --> 00:06:10.639 you and say it was a big deal. Over the next 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:14.500 four weeks, we're going to be looking at the 00:06:14.500 --> 00:06:18.000 story in Scripture. And while we look at the 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:20.019 story, we're going to be preparing our hearts 00:06:20.019 --> 00:06:22.779 to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Because it's 00:06:22.779 --> 00:06:27.540 so easy in our world today to celebrate Christmas 00:06:27.540 --> 00:06:31.959 and not really celebrate Jesus. Does anybody 00:06:31.959 --> 00:06:35.120 know what I'm talking about? So we're going to 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:37.500 prepare our hearts to celebrate the birth of 00:06:37.500 --> 00:06:43.199 Jesus. And that's not the only thing notable 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.860 that happened. Because when Jesus came, a notable 00:06:46.860 --> 00:06:50.800 person came. There's also some other notable 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:57.439 things that came. Came with him coming. So we're 00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:01.120 going to prepare to receive his hope. Everybody 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:03.959 say hope. We're going to prepare to receive his 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:06.329 peace. Everybody say peace. We're going to prepare 00:07:06.329 --> 00:07:10.050 to receive His joy. Everybody say joy. We're 00:07:10.050 --> 00:07:11.730 going to prepare to receive His love. Everybody 00:07:11.730 --> 00:07:16.769 say love. Because all those things became available 00:07:16.769 --> 00:07:23.930 to us in a greater measure when Jesus came. Somebody 00:07:23.930 --> 00:07:27.509 smile. Somebody say thank you. Not to me, but 00:07:27.509 --> 00:07:31.170 to Jesus. All right? So that's what we're going 00:07:31.170 --> 00:07:33.129 to be focusing on. And I believe if we listen 00:07:33.129 --> 00:07:36.740 with expectation, Now there's multiple kinds 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:42.220 of listening. Right? Hello? Come on. We talk 00:07:42.220 --> 00:07:44.980 to each other here. There's multiple kinds of 00:07:44.980 --> 00:07:49.959 listening. Us guys know more about selective 00:07:49.959 --> 00:07:52.980 hearing than anybody. But there's multiple kinds 00:07:52.980 --> 00:07:57.060 of listening. I want us to listen with expectation. 00:07:59.339 --> 00:08:02.120 We're not just going through a religious service. 00:08:02.910 --> 00:08:06.350 We need to listen with expectation. And if we 00:08:06.350 --> 00:08:08.449 listen with expectation, we might just hear the 00:08:08.449 --> 00:08:14.829 voice of God calling us out of the noise. You 00:08:14.829 --> 00:08:16.629 know what I'm talking about? Him calling us out 00:08:16.629 --> 00:08:22.430 of the noise. All the distractions. All the things 00:08:22.430 --> 00:08:30.009 that replace what He has for us. I believe we 00:08:30.009 --> 00:08:32.350 just might hear the voice of God calling us out 00:08:32.350 --> 00:08:39.350 of the noise and calling us into his life, into 00:08:39.350 --> 00:08:43.850 the things that are available because of the 00:08:43.850 --> 00:08:50.309 incarnation. Luke 1, verses 26 through 38. In 00:08:50.309 --> 00:08:53.690 the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God 00:08:53.690 --> 00:08:58.820 sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth. a village 00:08:58.820 --> 00:09:04.940 in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged 00:09:04.940 --> 00:09:08.879 to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:13.659 of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, 00:09:13.899 --> 00:09:20.539 Greetings, favored woman. The Lord is with you. 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:24.279 I want you to think about this. This is just 00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:26.980 a teenage girl. She's at the house probably. 00:09:27.100 --> 00:09:33.860 She's in her room. And all of a sudden, the messenger, 00:09:34.139 --> 00:09:38.879 the main messenger angel of God appears where 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:45.379 she can see it. And he has a message. Everybody 00:09:45.379 --> 00:09:49.179 say message. He has a word. Everybody say word. 00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:53.679 And it begins with greetings, favored woman. 00:09:55.659 --> 00:10:01.159 The Lord is with you. Now, her response is most 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:03.740 likely like yours or mine. If we were just in 00:10:03.740 --> 00:10:05.919 our house, in a room by herself, all of a sudden 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:09.460 an angel shows up, starts talking to us, right? 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:15.700 She was confused. She was a little disturbed. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:17.720 How many of you would be confused and a little 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:20.129 disturbed if an angel showed up? Started talking 00:10:20.129 --> 00:10:22.490 to you. You could see him, hear him. I mean, 00:10:22.490 --> 00:10:25.549 you know, this isn't just some dream that she 00:10:25.549 --> 00:10:27.669 had. She didn't take a nap and dream this. This 00:10:27.669 --> 00:10:33.230 is real. So she's confused. She's a little disturbed. 00:10:34.389 --> 00:10:37.370 And she's trying to think what this angel could 00:10:37.370 --> 00:10:47.340 mean. I'm favored. God is with me. Look at the 00:10:47.340 --> 00:10:48.980 person beside you and tell them, I'm favored 00:10:48.980 --> 00:10:54.039 too. Say, God is with me. God is with me, right? 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:57.559 We should be comfortable with that, but that 00:10:57.559 --> 00:11:01.779 wasn't the language before Christ, before the 00:11:01.779 --> 00:11:04.519 incarnation. We should be comfortable with that. 00:11:05.399 --> 00:11:07.320 Then the angel said something. He said, do not 00:11:07.320 --> 00:11:12.440 be afraid. This phrase is all throughout Scripture, 00:11:12.679 --> 00:11:15.600 not just in one place, all throughout Scripture. 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:21.919 Do not be afraid. How many of you would probably 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:25.759 be a little afraid if an angel showed up? Do 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:28.740 not be afraid, Mary, the angel told her. For 00:11:28.740 --> 00:11:34.279 you have found favor with God. You will conceive 00:11:34.279 --> 00:11:39.580 and give birth to a son. And you will name him 00:11:39.580 --> 00:11:44.759 Jesus. Everybody say Jesus. You will name him 00:11:44.759 --> 00:11:48.529 Jesus. You're going to... Get pregnant, you're 00:11:48.529 --> 00:11:50.450 going to be expecting, you're going to have a 00:11:50.450 --> 00:11:55.870 son. You will name him Jesus. He will be very 00:11:55.870 --> 00:12:01.309 great and will be called the Son of the Most 00:12:01.309 --> 00:12:06.409 High. The Lord God will give him the throne of 00:12:06.409 --> 00:12:10.649 his ancestor David. Except his reign is going 00:12:10.649 --> 00:12:12.629 to be different than David's. David's reign was 00:12:12.629 --> 00:12:16.860 temporal, right? And he will reign over Israel 00:12:16.860 --> 00:12:21.980 forever. Everybody say forever. His kingdom will 00:12:21.980 --> 00:12:25.659 never end. Everybody say never end. So he's going 00:12:25.659 --> 00:12:27.899 to reign forever and his kingdom is never going 00:12:27.899 --> 00:12:32.740 to end from the installment through eternity. 00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:39.200 His kingdom will never end. Now Mary has a question. 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:45.179 Which is... Fine, right? It's fine for her to 00:12:45.179 --> 00:12:49.840 have a question with this, wow, my man. Mary 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:51.700 asked the angel, but how can this happen? I'm 00:12:51.700 --> 00:12:55.580 a virgin. Now, she's engaged to be married, but 00:12:55.580 --> 00:13:02.759 how's she going to have a baby? The angel replied, 00:13:04.039 --> 00:13:08.879 the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:13.590 of the Most High will overshadow you. So the 00:13:13.590 --> 00:13:17.450 baby will be born, the baby to be born will be 00:13:17.450 --> 00:13:20.330 holy. Everybody say holy. Everybody say set apart. 00:13:20.870 --> 00:13:25.149 The baby to be born will be holy, and he will 00:13:25.149 --> 00:13:32.929 be called the Son of God. What's more, your relative 00:13:32.929 --> 00:13:37.070 Elizabeth, who had wanted a baby for a long time, 00:13:37.129 --> 00:13:41.490 now she's old, your relative Elizabeth has become 00:13:41.490 --> 00:13:46.539 pregnant. Pregnant in her old age. People used 00:13:46.539 --> 00:13:51.559 to say that she was barren. But she has conceived 00:13:51.559 --> 00:13:55.820 a son and is now in her sixth month. Everybody 00:13:55.820 --> 00:13:59.720 say a message. Everybody say a word. Not only 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:04.879 did it come to Mary, it came to Elizabeth. And 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:09.960 when they received the word from God. They became 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:12.240 pregnant with that word, pregnant with that promise. 00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:14.320 This is important to where we're going, so I'm 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:20.220 just setting you up, all right? People used to 00:14:20.220 --> 00:14:22.860 say she was barren, but she has conceived a son 00:14:22.860 --> 00:14:26.539 and is now in her sixth month. You know why? 00:14:27.820 --> 00:14:33.960 For the word of God will never fail. I think 00:14:33.960 --> 00:14:36.519 we need to say that together. For the word of 00:14:36.519 --> 00:14:43.580 God will never fail. His word, his promise will 00:14:43.580 --> 00:14:49.700 never fail. Mary responded. Mary responded because 00:14:49.700 --> 00:15:00.399 the word always calls for a response. Everybody 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:05.700 say this. The word, the promise always calls 00:15:05.700 --> 00:15:15.620 for a response. Mary responded, I'm the Lord's 00:15:15.620 --> 00:15:21.059 servant. May everything you have said about me 00:15:21.059 --> 00:15:30.960 come true. Her response was agreement. And then 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:35.960 the angel left her. He wouldn't have left without 00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:46.669 a response. He got her response. So, she became 00:15:46.669 --> 00:15:49.769 pregnant. And when you're pregnant, we had a 00:15:49.769 --> 00:15:51.690 baby shower last night. For those of you who 00:15:51.690 --> 00:15:58.710 were there, it was awesome. And I know that baby 00:15:58.710 --> 00:16:00.690 needs to stay in the oven another month, but 00:16:00.690 --> 00:16:03.230 it looks like it's ready to come today or yesterday, 00:16:03.529 --> 00:16:11.450 right? Nihilist expecting. But you know, It all 00:16:11.450 --> 00:16:15.009 starts with a seed. It all starts with a word. 00:16:15.090 --> 00:16:20.690 It all starts with a promise. And then you're 00:16:20.690 --> 00:16:25.210 expecting a baby. So after her response to the 00:16:25.210 --> 00:16:27.990 word and response to the message of the angel, 00:16:28.070 --> 00:16:37.730 she was expecting. Everybody say expecting. Now 00:16:37.730 --> 00:16:41.210 it took a while. Most likely around nine months. 00:16:42.429 --> 00:16:45.129 I don't know how many weeks has that. Is it 36 00:16:45.129 --> 00:16:50.309 or 40 weeks? The ladies know real quick how I 00:16:50.309 --> 00:16:53.169 got a lot of lady responses. 40 weeks? Not 30, 00:16:53.210 --> 00:17:02.149 40. It means more to you than it does to us. 00:17:02.190 --> 00:17:09.359 40 weeks? You're expecting. Expecting. Jesus 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:14.640 came down from heaven so God could be with us. 00:17:15.259 --> 00:17:18.880 Now, Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:26.619 upon people for certain offices, right? Is everybody 00:17:26.619 --> 00:17:33.000 with me? But when Jesus came and lived and died 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:36.200 and rose from the grave and at Pentecost, he 00:17:36.200 --> 00:17:41.609 sent the Holy Spirit. For us, it became possible 00:17:41.609 --> 00:17:45.950 for God to be with us, not only with us, but 00:17:45.950 --> 00:17:52.009 in us. That's one of the main reasons that Jesus 00:17:52.009 --> 00:17:55.349 came down. So God could be with us and God could 00:17:55.349 --> 00:17:59.410 be in us so that we could be rescued, so that 00:17:59.410 --> 00:18:04.640 we could experience his salvation. So we could 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:07.319 have the opportunity for something, and that's 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:17.079 the opportunity for us to live in Christ. I didn't 00:18:17.079 --> 00:18:22.359 always know this. That Jesus came so that we 00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:25.680 could have the opportunity to live in Christ. 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:33.900 Everybody say, in Christ. Some of you... I'm 00:18:33.900 --> 00:18:35.799 hoping that you're understanding what I'm talking 00:18:35.799 --> 00:18:39.799 about. By looking at your faces, I'm not so sure. 00:18:41.700 --> 00:18:49.359 He didn't come just to save us. He came to be 00:18:49.359 --> 00:19:01.049 with us. He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. So 00:19:01.049 --> 00:19:03.930 many people just come to the point where, okay, 00:19:03.990 --> 00:19:08.089 I accept Christ. I accept Him as being the Son 00:19:08.089 --> 00:19:12.089 of God. I accept Him as being risen from the 00:19:12.089 --> 00:19:15.589 grave. I accept His forgiveness because He died 00:19:15.589 --> 00:19:18.569 for my sins on the cross. And so many people 00:19:18.569 --> 00:19:23.349 just leave it right there and say, wow, I'm glad 00:19:23.349 --> 00:19:27.789 I'm going to go to heaven one day. But there's 00:19:27.789 --> 00:19:35.329 more available. We have an opportunity to live 00:19:35.329 --> 00:19:40.269 in Christ, to live in Him today, now. It's not 00:19:40.269 --> 00:19:44.990 just for the sweet by and by. It's for the, how 00:19:44.990 --> 00:19:57.549 do they put it, the dirty here and now. So, we 00:19:57.549 --> 00:20:04.210 need to live our lives. expecting his promises 00:20:04.210 --> 00:20:10.829 to be fulfilled in our lives. Every word, every 00:20:10.829 --> 00:20:16.130 message, every promise, we need to live in expectation. 00:20:17.250 --> 00:20:21.849 We need to live expecting. And maybe we can get 00:20:21.849 --> 00:20:24.630 this better when we see that Mary is now expecting 00:20:24.630 --> 00:20:27.900 a baby. She's pregnant and she's expecting. We 00:20:27.900 --> 00:20:29.839 need to be pregnant with the word of God and 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:31.819 the message of God, and we need to be expecting, 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:36.559 even the men, not just the ladies. Last night 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:39.440 at the baby shower, it's like we played a game, 00:20:39.460 --> 00:20:41.480 and it's like you're trying to get the baby out 00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:43.200 of the ice cube, and the winner had to shout 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:50.119 out, my water broke. Tom said even if he got 00:20:50.119 --> 00:20:53.559 his out, there's no way he's going to scream, 00:20:53.839 --> 00:21:00.710 my water broke. I was in agreement with him. 00:21:01.450 --> 00:21:03.750 I didn't even try to get mine out quick because 00:21:03.750 --> 00:21:08.150 I'm not going to scream that. But I want you 00:21:08.150 --> 00:21:11.849 to get this visual when it comes to the word 00:21:11.849 --> 00:21:18.049 or the message of God about us expecting. After 00:21:18.049 --> 00:21:20.509 we receive the word and receive the promise and 00:21:20.509 --> 00:21:23.250 know it and the Holy Spirit causes that truth 00:21:23.250 --> 00:21:25.630 to come alive on the inside of us, we need to 00:21:25.630 --> 00:21:32.150 see ourselves as expecting. expecting a promise. 00:21:33.150 --> 00:21:35.369 Because in every area of life, we should learn 00:21:35.369 --> 00:21:38.109 to rely on God's supply and His ability instead 00:21:38.109 --> 00:21:42.910 of our own. Now we're tying back into the series 00:21:42.910 --> 00:21:47.509 a little bit. And we do this not by working to 00:21:47.509 --> 00:21:53.309 be the best person we can be. And this has been 00:21:53.309 --> 00:21:55.430 our little illustration up here, but this is 00:21:55.430 --> 00:22:00.460 the best we can be. See this rock right here? 00:22:01.480 --> 00:22:06.259 That's the best we can be. And we can sand and 00:22:06.259 --> 00:22:11.839 polish and work on it, you know. I spent so many 00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:14.839 years of my life asking God to polish my rock. 00:22:16.579 --> 00:22:22.240 That was my prayer. But it doesn't work that 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:27.359 way. God doesn't want... Us to be the best us 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:29.900 that we can be. To work to be the best us we 00:22:29.900 --> 00:22:32.960 can be. He wants us to be crucified with Christ. 00:22:33.160 --> 00:22:37.180 And it's not us living anymore. But it's Christ 00:22:37.180 --> 00:22:42.380 living in us. So we exchange. Everybody say exchange. 00:22:43.220 --> 00:22:46.740 We exchange. And while we talked about our mind. 00:22:47.539 --> 00:22:53.640 Our ability. Our victory. Our will. We exchange. 00:22:55.819 --> 00:23:02.460 Mine for His. And that's the way we're going 00:23:02.460 --> 00:23:07.079 to know what it means to live in Christ. Because 00:23:07.079 --> 00:23:09.200 it's not by working to be the best us we can 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:12.160 be, but allowing God's life to flow through us. 00:23:13.380 --> 00:23:16.079 Because we've been crucified with Christ. We 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:18.759 no longer live, but it's Christ in us, the hope 00:23:18.759 --> 00:23:24.900 of glory. God gives us the opportunity to exchange 00:23:24.900 --> 00:23:29.019 our natural for his supernatural, to trade what 00:23:29.019 --> 00:23:36.539 we have for what he has. So today, we're going 00:23:36.539 --> 00:23:39.720 to talk about trading our hope. Everybody say 00:23:39.720 --> 00:23:47.559 hope. Trading our hope for his. Trading our hope 00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:56.190 for his. Everybody say, my hope. My hope, if 00:23:56.190 --> 00:24:01.650 it's natural, if it's what we understand as being 00:24:01.650 --> 00:24:06.109 hope in the world that we live in, our hope is 00:24:06.109 --> 00:24:11.109 limited. Here's the Merriam -Webster definition, 00:24:11.589 --> 00:24:17.569 all right? Hope is to cherish a desire with anticipation. 00:24:18.809 --> 00:24:24.559 Listen, to want something. To happen or to be 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:35.180 true? Can we put this in context? We want something 00:24:35.180 --> 00:24:38.380 to happen. We want something to be true. And 00:24:38.380 --> 00:24:41.140 we desire it. Everybody say desire. Everybody 00:24:41.140 --> 00:24:48.920 say want. And we hope that that happens. Natural 00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:56.660 hope. Human hope is just having an anticipation 00:24:56.660 --> 00:25:00.700 for something to happen that we just desire or 00:25:00.700 --> 00:25:06.059 want to happen. We want it to be true. How many 00:25:06.059 --> 00:25:10.779 of you know that disappointment flows in a regular 00:25:10.779 --> 00:25:17.420 basis? Right? I mean, I wanted the South Carolina 00:25:17.420 --> 00:25:22.140 Gamecocks to have a good team this year. Lori 00:25:22.140 --> 00:25:26.039 wanted LSU to have a great team this year. We're 00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:32.220 not going to talk about it. You know? I really 00:25:32.220 --> 00:25:37.799 wanted this to be the year. I hoped. Everybody 00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:41.019 say hoped. I hoped that this would be the year. 00:25:41.980 --> 00:25:45.039 I talked to one of my friends in Knoxville this 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:48.759 week. And he's like, I really hoped. He didn't 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:51.180 know what I was preaching about. I really hope 00:25:51.180 --> 00:25:53.640 that Tennessee would have a good year this year, 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:56.700 but you know what? I think we're set up for next 00:25:56.700 --> 00:26:00.259 year, so I've got hope that next year is going 00:26:00.259 --> 00:26:10.079 to be a lot better. Next year. See, natural hope 00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:18.359 is undependable. We hope in luck. We hope in 00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:22.839 wishes. We hope in our plans because we've got 00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:24.920 some pretty good plans sometimes and we hope 00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:29.779 that our plans will take us, right? We hope in 00:26:29.779 --> 00:26:32.119 our timing. If the timing is just right, I mean, 00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:33.980 I think this is it. So I'm going to hope in the 00:26:33.980 --> 00:26:38.359 timing. I'm going to hope in people. How many 00:26:38.359 --> 00:26:40.160 of you have put your hope in other people before? 00:26:42.059 --> 00:26:51.369 We hope in ourselves. That's human hope. Biblical 00:26:51.369 --> 00:26:56.069 hope is different. Somebody smile and say, I'm 00:26:56.069 --> 00:27:00.329 glad it's different. Glad it's different. Glad 00:27:00.329 --> 00:27:03.470 it's different. Biblical hope is not just blind 00:27:03.470 --> 00:27:07.470 optimism. It's not hype. It's not looking on 00:27:07.470 --> 00:27:11.509 the bright side. Everybody say it's more than 00:27:11.509 --> 00:27:17.369 that. It's more than that. Here's some word studies 00:27:17.369 --> 00:27:21.569 I did for us. Strong's Concordance. Hope is this. 00:27:21.970 --> 00:27:24.829 Biblical hope is this. Every time you see the 00:27:24.829 --> 00:27:26.869 word hope in the New Testament of your Bible, 00:27:26.970 --> 00:27:30.650 it's not talking about hope, soul hope. It's 00:27:30.650 --> 00:27:35.730 not talking about a wish. Biblical hope is to 00:27:35.730 --> 00:27:41.890 have a confident expectation. And get this, you're 00:27:41.890 --> 00:27:47.890 so confident that you anticipate or expect with 00:27:47.890 --> 00:27:53.759 pleasure. It's a confident expectation that you're 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:58.160 already happy about even before you see it fulfilled. 00:28:01.640 --> 00:28:05.940 Does that sound like a different hope? See, that's 00:28:05.940 --> 00:28:11.740 what God's hope is. The other hope is our hope. 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:17.339 I've got some more. Topical Lexicon puts it this 00:28:17.339 --> 00:28:23.220 way. Hope is not a tentative wish, but a confident, 00:28:23.299 --> 00:28:26.319 forward -looking trust. Everybody say trust. 00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:31.940 Grounded in the character and promises of God. 00:28:34.599 --> 00:28:38.680 Hello? I see some people trying to take pictures, 00:28:38.740 --> 00:28:40.140 so I'm leaving it up here a little bit longer 00:28:40.140 --> 00:28:46.500 than I would. Got it? Still working. Topical 00:28:46.500 --> 00:28:50.240 last comment. Not a tentative wish, but a confident, 00:28:50.279 --> 00:28:53.839 forward -looking trust grounded in the character 00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:58.539 and promises of God. Helps word studies. Hope 00:28:58.539 --> 00:29:04.819 is an expectation of what is sure. What is certain. 00:29:11.380 --> 00:29:15.740 See, God keeps his promises. God keeps his word. 00:29:17.019 --> 00:29:21.900 So we can have an expectation in what is sure 00:29:21.900 --> 00:29:25.480 and what is certain if it's connected to what 00:29:25.480 --> 00:29:30.059 God has said. Biblical hope is confidence in 00:29:30.059 --> 00:29:35.220 God's faithfulness. Can I ask you a question? 00:29:35.380 --> 00:29:38.819 Do you really believe that God is faithful? I 00:29:38.819 --> 00:29:40.880 mean, it's one thing to say that God is faithful 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:46.670 in church. But when you're going through life, 00:29:46.950 --> 00:29:53.210 do you really believe that God is faithful? Do 00:29:53.210 --> 00:29:55.609 you really believe that God will keep his promises? 00:29:56.710 --> 00:29:59.990 Because biblical hope is a confidence in God's 00:29:59.990 --> 00:30:03.009 faithfulness, and it's a confidence that you 00:30:03.009 --> 00:30:06.410 can have before you see it and before it even 00:30:06.410 --> 00:30:12.869 makes sense. Y 'all just thinking real hard today, 00:30:12.990 --> 00:30:17.799 right? Hebrews 11, 1. Now faith is a substance. 00:30:17.940 --> 00:30:21.599 Everybody say substance. It's a substance. Faith 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:25.180 is a substance. Because you hear the promise, 00:30:25.259 --> 00:30:30.880 you believe the promise, and then now faith becomes 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:34.900 a substance. A substance that you can't touch 00:30:34.900 --> 00:30:41.559 with your hands. But it's real. Now faith is 00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:44.680 a substance of things hoped for. Everybody say 00:30:44.680 --> 00:30:48.799 hope. Now, confident expectation. Faith is a 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:52.000 substance of what you have a confident expectation 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:55.619 in and you're already happy about because it's 00:30:55.619 --> 00:30:59.759 grounded in the character of God. Are you with 00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:02.779 me? Faith is a substance of things hoped for, 00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:07.700 the evidence of things not seen. See, our hope 00:31:07.700 --> 00:31:10.980 is limited. Everybody say limited. But God's 00:31:10.980 --> 00:31:16.519 hope is limitless. His hope is limitless. Here 00:31:16.519 --> 00:31:19.819 we have Mary. She's a young teenage girl. She's 00:31:19.819 --> 00:31:24.140 receiving an announcement that humanly makes 00:31:24.140 --> 00:31:31.480 no sense. A lot of people are like, this virgin 00:31:31.480 --> 00:31:34.559 birth thing, that's just, there's no way that 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:37.359 that can possibly happen. But with God, all things 00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:42.299 are possible. He keeps his promises. It was a 00:31:42.299 --> 00:31:46.619 must that it had to happen. Right? Because if 00:31:46.619 --> 00:31:51.940 not, Jesus would have been born in sin. So Mary's 00:31:51.940 --> 00:31:53.940 a young teenage girl. She's got this announcement. 00:31:53.940 --> 00:31:59.619 She's like, wow. It's amazing that her response 00:31:59.619 --> 00:32:05.119 was as quick as it was. I mean, think about everything 00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:10.279 she had to deal with. I mean, she's a real person. 00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:17.240 What about her friends? When she starts saying, 00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:19.480 well, you know, I'm expecting, but it's not Joseph's. 00:32:19.500 --> 00:32:24.240 What about her fiancé? I'm expecting, but it's 00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:29.900 not yours. I mean, sometimes we think about this 00:32:29.900 --> 00:32:35.579 and we don't consider the reality of this happening 00:32:35.579 --> 00:32:39.359 in Nazareth, a very small community, not even 00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:43.069 in the thousands. Everybody knows all your business. 00:32:44.509 --> 00:32:50.849 Hello? Is anybody in the room a private person? 00:32:50.930 --> 00:32:52.390 You don't want everybody to know all your business. 00:32:53.750 --> 00:32:56.450 Nobody. Everybody wants everybody to know all 00:32:56.450 --> 00:33:01.069 their business. Some people do because you can 00:33:01.069 --> 00:33:03.230 see all their business on Facebook every week. 00:33:03.630 --> 00:33:12.970 See, I love it. Just think of the things that 00:33:12.970 --> 00:33:15.710 went through her mind. Think about how it doesn't 00:33:15.710 --> 00:33:22.230 really make sense. But her response was, may 00:33:22.230 --> 00:33:30.109 everything you've said about me come true. See, 00:33:30.230 --> 00:33:32.170 it seems impossible. Everybody say impossible. 00:33:35.470 --> 00:33:38.609 But with God, Here's the New King James Version 00:33:38.609 --> 00:33:40.450 of the same verse we just read a minute ago. 00:33:40.769 --> 00:33:48.910 For with God, nothing will be impossible. I want 00:33:48.910 --> 00:33:52.450 you to think about something. I want you to consider 00:33:52.450 --> 00:33:57.250 the next time you face an impossible, what seems 00:33:57.250 --> 00:34:01.910 like an impossible situation. Has anyone faced 00:34:01.910 --> 00:34:03.990 some impossible situations every once in a while? 00:34:04.069 --> 00:34:08.900 It seems impossible. The next time you face something 00:34:08.900 --> 00:34:14.239 that seems impossible, I want you to get a word 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:17.659 from God, and then I want you to laugh at impossibility. 00:34:21.980 --> 00:34:24.119 I mean, the funniest thing you can do is tell 00:34:24.119 --> 00:34:28.179 God that you're in an impossible situation. Because 00:34:28.179 --> 00:34:32.800 nothing's impossible with Him. Right? God, I've 00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:34.980 got this impossible situation. No, wait a minute. 00:34:36.579 --> 00:34:40.440 Nothing's impossible for me. Sometimes we think 00:34:40.440 --> 00:34:43.400 that the situation is so big, it's bigger than 00:34:43.400 --> 00:34:51.480 what God can handle. There's no such thing as 00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:54.780 a situation that we face that God cannot handle. 00:34:58.260 --> 00:35:02.440 Our hope says, I can't see how this will work 00:35:02.440 --> 00:35:05.869 out. Can't see how this will ever work out. It 00:35:05.869 --> 00:35:10.590 seems impossible. But God's hope says, my power 00:35:10.590 --> 00:35:15.989 is not limited by what you can see. Human hope 00:35:15.989 --> 00:35:19.869 depends on some kind of human reasoned out possibility. 00:35:21.730 --> 00:35:25.869 But God's hope depends on his character and who 00:35:25.869 --> 00:35:33.590 he is. Our hope is unstable. But God's hope is 00:35:33.590 --> 00:35:39.460 an anchor. I'll say it again. Our hope, human 00:35:39.460 --> 00:35:45.019 hope, is unstable. But God's hope is an anchor. 00:35:47.139 --> 00:35:50.579 I'll go over this again very quickly. We all 00:35:50.579 --> 00:35:54.960 are spirits. Say, I'm a spirit. We all have a 00:35:54.960 --> 00:35:58.360 soul. Everybody say, I have a soul. And I live 00:35:58.360 --> 00:36:03.440 in a body. So we are spirits. We have souls. 00:36:03.559 --> 00:36:07.050 And we live in a body. Our soul. can be broken 00:36:07.050 --> 00:36:11.469 down into three parts. Our mind or our thoughts, 00:36:11.510 --> 00:36:15.730 everybody say thoughts. Our will or our desires, 00:36:16.010 --> 00:36:20.650 everybody say desires. And our emotions. That's 00:36:20.650 --> 00:36:24.710 our soul. And see, we spend most of our lives 00:36:24.710 --> 00:36:29.949 learning how to live as souls when we're actually 00:36:29.949 --> 00:36:32.190 created in the image of God and we are spirits. 00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:37.519 So we have to learn to live, even though most 00:36:37.519 --> 00:36:39.860 of our life we've been trying to be the best 00:36:39.860 --> 00:36:42.519 soul we can be in our own thoughts and our desires 00:36:42.519 --> 00:36:44.980 and our emotions. We've got to learn to be spirits 00:36:44.980 --> 00:36:49.800 connected to God. God is a spirit. We have to 00:36:49.800 --> 00:36:52.440 worship him in spirit and in truth if we're ever 00:36:52.440 --> 00:36:55.340 going to worship him. So we've got to learn to 00:36:55.340 --> 00:36:59.559 be spirits. And his Holy Spirit connects with 00:36:59.559 --> 00:37:03.250 our spirit. So that we can experience the life 00:37:03.250 --> 00:37:09.769 of God. Hello? We can't ever experience it in 00:37:09.769 --> 00:37:12.849 our souls. We've got to experience it in our 00:37:12.849 --> 00:37:16.670 spirit first, and then our spirit has to be in 00:37:16.670 --> 00:37:19.210 charge of our souls, has to be the teacher of 00:37:19.210 --> 00:37:26.929 our souls. Nothing shakes your soul like uncertainty 00:37:26.929 --> 00:37:32.780 does. Nothing shakes your thoughts, your desires, 00:37:32.980 --> 00:37:38.179 your emotions like uncertainty. Can anybody say, 00:37:38.300 --> 00:37:43.579 I'm a witness to that. I experienced that. But 00:37:43.579 --> 00:37:50.739 see, as spirits, we are anchored somewhere else. 00:37:51.579 --> 00:37:55.940 Hebrews 6, 19 says this, this hope we have as 00:37:55.940 --> 00:37:59.980 an anchor of the soul. both secure and steadfast, 00:38:00.119 --> 00:38:05.340 so that doesn't sound like it's unstable, right? 00:38:05.519 --> 00:38:09.099 Both secure and steadfast, and which enters the 00:38:09.099 --> 00:38:18.139 presence behind the veil. See, our hope is attached 00:38:18.139 --> 00:38:24.079 to things that are uncertain. But when we exchange 00:38:24.079 --> 00:38:28.059 our hope for God's hope, There's an anchor that 00:38:28.059 --> 00:38:34.159 extends to the real holy of holies, not the one 00:38:34.159 --> 00:38:37.139 in the tent that was just a shadow, but this 00:38:37.139 --> 00:38:40.460 anchor extends into the real holy of holies in 00:38:40.460 --> 00:38:48.559 heaven. Hallelujah. Your hope is only as strong 00:38:48.559 --> 00:38:53.780 as what it's anchored to. If your hope is anchored 00:38:53.780 --> 00:38:55.960 to circumstances, and if your circumstances, 00:38:57.369 --> 00:39:00.110 don't work out the way that you want them to, 00:39:00.230 --> 00:39:06.650 all of a sudden you become hopeless. You're anchored 00:39:06.650 --> 00:39:09.309 to the wrong thing. You can't anchor your hope 00:39:09.309 --> 00:39:13.550 into circumstances. You can't anchor your hope 00:39:13.550 --> 00:39:18.610 into other people. Even the people who love you 00:39:18.610 --> 00:39:22.789 the most can let you down. So if you're anchored 00:39:22.789 --> 00:39:26.550 in people, people will waver. If your hope is 00:39:26.550 --> 00:39:28.929 anchored in your feelings, feelings will waffle, 00:39:29.070 --> 00:39:35.710 shift and move. But if your hope is anchored 00:39:35.710 --> 00:39:38.530 in God, I want to tell you something. He's going 00:39:38.530 --> 00:39:41.170 to hold secure. His promises are going to hold 00:39:41.170 --> 00:39:44.110 secure. His word is going to hold secure every 00:39:44.110 --> 00:39:50.070 time. Got to make sure we're anchored in the 00:39:50.070 --> 00:39:52.309 right place. Our hope should be anchored in the 00:39:52.309 --> 00:39:54.550 promises of God. Everybody say promises of God. 00:39:55.150 --> 00:39:57.889 In the faithfulness of God, everybody say faithfulness. 00:39:58.030 --> 00:40:00.550 In the character of God, everybody say character. 00:40:01.130 --> 00:40:09.269 That's where our hope has to be anchored. Because 00:40:09.269 --> 00:40:12.309 if it's not, you're going to find yourself hopeless 00:40:12.309 --> 00:40:17.030 at times. Our hope looks at what I can do. God's 00:40:17.030 --> 00:40:22.010 hope looks at what he can do. Shouldn't have 00:40:22.010 --> 00:40:28.320 to explain that too much, right? See, Mary didn't 00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:30.300 say, let it be according to my understanding. 00:40:30.539 --> 00:40:32.920 Let it be according to my ability. Let it be 00:40:32.920 --> 00:40:35.579 according to my plan. She didn't say, let it 00:40:35.579 --> 00:40:39.619 be unto me according to my timing. Because this 00:40:39.619 --> 00:40:41.239 just isn't the right time. I need to get married 00:40:41.239 --> 00:40:43.880 first, and then, you know, got to have a husband, 00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:46.639 got to have Joseph, then I can have a baby. I 00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:53.380 mean, that's her plan, right? Come on. Any lady 00:40:53.380 --> 00:40:57.639 getting married, that's their plan. She's already 00:40:57.639 --> 00:41:02.659 engaged. But she didn't say, let it be according 00:41:02.659 --> 00:41:13.139 to my. May everything that I want be mine. No, 00:41:13.199 --> 00:41:18.500 she said, everything that you said, I'm going 00:41:18.500 --> 00:41:27.230 with that. I'm going with that. New King James 00:41:27.230 --> 00:41:29.789 Version again. Let it be to me according to your 00:41:29.789 --> 00:41:36.070 word is what she said. Not according to her plans, 00:41:36.429 --> 00:41:43.190 but according to God's word. See, we don't need 00:41:43.190 --> 00:41:47.949 to have a wishful expectation in ourselves. We 00:41:47.949 --> 00:41:51.269 need to have a confident expectation in God. 00:41:53.329 --> 00:41:59.179 That's his hope. And see, Jesus came. Part of 00:41:59.179 --> 00:42:03.739 the reason he came was to bring us his hope in 00:42:03.739 --> 00:42:09.780 this fallen world. To bring his. So that we could 00:42:09.780 --> 00:42:13.559 take hold of his instead of holding on to ours 00:42:13.559 --> 00:42:18.880 so tightly. Again, God's word is always waiting 00:42:18.880 --> 00:42:25.239 for your response. And according to Mary in her 00:42:25.239 --> 00:42:30.239 response, she's now expecting something. She's 00:42:30.239 --> 00:42:34.219 expecting a baby. And she has a confident expectation. 00:42:36.139 --> 00:42:40.559 And it's even in the confusion of how it's going 00:42:40.559 --> 00:42:42.940 to happen and all that kind of stuff, I believe 00:42:42.940 --> 00:42:54.750 there was a joy in that expectation. So, where 00:42:54.750 --> 00:42:58.650 does this put us today? No matter where you are 00:42:58.650 --> 00:43:03.449 or what you're facing, you know, this time of 00:43:03.449 --> 00:43:11.349 year, people go through so many things, you know. 00:43:13.670 --> 00:43:15.650 But I want you to know, no matter where you are 00:43:15.650 --> 00:43:22.530 today, no matter what you're facing today, There's 00:43:22.530 --> 00:43:27.269 a word from God about it. There's a word from 00:43:27.269 --> 00:43:30.849 God. You may not know it yet, but there's a word 00:43:30.849 --> 00:43:34.250 from God about it. Some of you may need to go 00:43:34.250 --> 00:43:41.389 home today and pray and look in the Word. I'm 00:43:41.389 --> 00:43:42.829 going to even go ahead and tell you this. Google 00:43:42.829 --> 00:43:48.989 what God's Word says about whatever it is that 00:43:48.989 --> 00:43:54.400 you're facing. They didn't have Google 2 ,000 00:43:54.400 --> 00:43:59.280 years ago. Or 40 years ago, I don't think. Never 00:43:59.280 --> 00:44:03.480 heard of Google. Not sure I even had internet. 00:44:04.039 --> 00:44:10.000 If I did, it was, you know, dial up. Most of 00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:17.079 you have never heard that sound before. Listen. 00:44:21.480 --> 00:44:27.179 God has a word for you. God has a word for you. 00:44:28.599 --> 00:44:33.159 If you are thinking that you're hopeless, if 00:44:33.159 --> 00:44:36.599 you're thinking that you're facing something 00:44:36.599 --> 00:44:40.139 impossible, I'm here today to tell you God's 00:44:40.139 --> 00:44:44.099 got a word for you. God's made a promise that 00:44:44.099 --> 00:44:47.699 will cover everything you face. You know, you 00:44:47.699 --> 00:44:50.000 might need help sorting it out, but ultimately, 00:44:50.840 --> 00:44:54.079 works down to a root of something that God has 00:44:54.079 --> 00:44:57.460 given you a promise about. And as you look into 00:44:57.460 --> 00:45:01.159 his word, and as you talk to him and ask him 00:45:01.159 --> 00:45:03.099 to cause his word to come alive in you, that 00:45:03.099 --> 00:45:08.300 promise will move from a written word or a, it 00:45:08.300 --> 00:45:10.800 can move to revelation. Everybody say revelation. 00:45:11.960 --> 00:45:16.139 Where it goes from, okay, I googled this promise, 00:45:16.199 --> 00:45:19.139 but now I've spent some time with God. And the 00:45:19.139 --> 00:45:21.440 Holy Spirit has caused this promise to come alive 00:45:21.440 --> 00:45:26.019 on the inside of me, and now it's mine. So it 00:45:26.019 --> 00:45:35.739 moves from an idea into a seed that's planted 00:45:35.739 --> 00:45:41.380 into your heart. And listen, sometimes we give 00:45:41.380 --> 00:45:46.349 up if it doesn't happen immediately. But it takes 00:45:46.349 --> 00:45:52.050 40 weeks for a seed planted in a woman. Are you 00:45:52.050 --> 00:45:58.590 with me? Expecting. Not losing that expectation. 00:46:00.349 --> 00:46:06.550 Right? I mean, Nyla didn't wake up this morning 00:46:06.550 --> 00:46:08.190 and say, well, I don't think I'm pregnant anymore. 00:46:10.690 --> 00:46:13.679 Hadn't had a baby yet. It's been... How many 00:46:13.679 --> 00:46:15.940 weeks is she? 35 weeks or something like that? 00:46:17.679 --> 00:46:20.659 36 yesterday? I thought we were going to January. 00:46:23.340 --> 00:46:30.079 34 yesterday? 33? I'm going to get her 32, 32, 00:46:30.099 --> 00:46:34.780 30. All right. But she's not waking up today 00:46:34.780 --> 00:46:37.659 saying, well, you know, maybe I just swallowed 00:46:37.659 --> 00:46:42.929 a watermelon seed. Come on, somebody, laugh. 00:46:47.030 --> 00:46:48.849 Back in the summer, I'd swallowed one of them 00:46:48.849 --> 00:46:53.050 watermelon seeds and I shouldn't have. Yeah, 00:46:53.130 --> 00:46:55.369 I did. I think I did. I'm expecting something. 00:46:58.809 --> 00:47:04.389 Listen, God has made you a promise. God has made 00:47:04.389 --> 00:47:08.210 you a promise. God has a word about what you're 00:47:08.210 --> 00:47:16.480 facing. And my prayer for you is that that word 00:47:16.480 --> 00:47:20.820 becomes a seed that's planted in your spirit 00:47:20.820 --> 00:47:26.380 that begins to overwhelm your soul and in some 00:47:26.380 --> 00:47:30.480 senses overwhelms your flesh because now you're 00:47:30.480 --> 00:47:33.380 living by, because you're a spirit and you're 00:47:33.380 --> 00:47:37.119 living as a spirit and you're receiving this 00:47:37.119 --> 00:47:41.699 word and it's, and it's, you become impregnated 00:47:41.699 --> 00:47:48.780 with it with the rest of you. To see his promise 00:47:48.780 --> 00:47:54.659 fulfilled. But in the process, everybody say 00:47:54.659 --> 00:48:03.280 in the process. Because it's a process. You got 00:48:03.280 --> 00:48:08.079 to hold on to hope that's anchored behind the 00:48:08.079 --> 00:48:17.969 veil. In heaven. You got to hold on. I know you 00:48:17.969 --> 00:48:20.130 might feel like giving up. Everybody in this 00:48:20.130 --> 00:48:27.170 room has felt like giving up. But hold on. Hold 00:48:27.170 --> 00:48:31.630 on to the hope. The confident expectation that 00:48:31.630 --> 00:48:37.010 God is faithful. His promises are true. God is 00:48:37.010 --> 00:48:44.050 faithful. And I'm going to stand in that. And 00:48:44.050 --> 00:48:46.250 I'm going to be happy about it. I'm going to 00:48:46.250 --> 00:48:50.710 have joy over it. Because I know God is faithful. 00:48:52.050 --> 00:48:54.150 Even though I can't see it with my eyes yet, 00:48:54.269 --> 00:48:58.869 it don't matter. Because I'm expecting something. 00:49:00.789 --> 00:49:07.800 I have a confident expectation. Hope wasn't born 00:49:07.800 --> 00:49:14.280 in a palace. It was born in a stable. It was 00:49:14.280 --> 00:49:16.719 born in a stable so every single one of us could 00:49:16.719 --> 00:49:18.500 reach it. Because if it was born in a palace, 00:49:18.679 --> 00:49:25.960 hey, we might not be able to reach it. Hope was 00:49:25.960 --> 00:49:30.039 born in a stable so we could reach it. Not our 00:49:30.039 --> 00:49:34.099 hope, but God's hope. God's hope is anchored. 00:49:34.280 --> 00:49:40.010 It's steady. And it's unshakable. Look to somebody 00:49:40.010 --> 00:49:43.909 beside you and tell them, I'm expecting. I'm 00:49:43.909 --> 00:49:49.349 expecting. I'm expecting. Go ahead and say, I'm 00:49:49.349 --> 00:49:53.269 looking for Tom to say, I'm expecting. Since 00:49:53.269 --> 00:49:55.309 he won't say my water broke, maybe he'll say, 00:49:55.349 --> 00:49:58.929 I'm expecting. I'm expecting. I'm expecting. 00:50:02.909 --> 00:50:05.659 Let's pray together. God, thank you. for your 00:50:05.659 --> 00:50:10.380 word. Thank you for your promises. Thank you 00:50:10.380 --> 00:50:17.460 for this example you've given us of a young girl 00:50:17.460 --> 00:50:21.760 having faith and putting her hope in you. Even 00:50:21.760 --> 00:50:24.260 when it seemed impossible what was being said, 00:50:24.320 --> 00:50:27.300 the word that she received, it was seemingly 00:50:27.300 --> 00:50:32.440 impossible, but she decided to have faith and 00:50:32.440 --> 00:50:38.760 confidence in you. God, help us to learn this 00:50:38.760 --> 00:50:46.199 lesson. God, thank you for offering us your hope. 00:50:49.039 --> 00:50:52.239 Not like the world's hope, but different than 00:50:52.239 --> 00:50:59.619 the world's hope. Your hope. Being confident 00:50:59.619 --> 00:51:04.739 in your faithfulness. In Jesus' name I pray. 00:51:05.119 --> 00:51:09.389 Amen. This online worship experience was brought 00:51:09.389 --> 00:51:11.909 to you by the friends and partners of Eulation 00:51:11.909 --> 00:51:12.230 Church.