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Welcome to ECB's Weekly Sermon Podcast. ECB is an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

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with dozens of nationalities worshipping together. We invite you to connect with us from wherever

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you are through our website, ecb.asia, or our mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

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by this week's sermon. We're going to start a four-week sermon series called Christmas Unwrapped

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today. In the next four Sundays we want to unwrap the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love,

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looking at scripture, looking how Jesus came to fulfill all of these things. Are you ready for

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that? We start today? Because today I want to kick off this series by looking with you, unwrapping

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with you the promise of hope that Jesus has fulfilled. Hope is very important to your life.

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Someone once said that you can live for 40 days without food, four days without water,

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four minutes without oxygen, and only four seconds without hope. I don't think that these numbers

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were taken to be precise or exact. Don't try this at home, especially not the oxygen one, please.

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But the bottom line is this. We can't live without hope. When spouses lose hope, they give up on

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their marriages. When leaders lose hope, they give up on their people. When teenagers lose hope,

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they give up on their studies and sometimes even on their lives. Hope is important to us.

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On a more positive note, Harvard University did some research on human flourishing,

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and they found that people who have hope have better physical and emotional health,

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a better social community, and a longer life. Sounds good, right? Same research done by Harvard

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University shows that having hope leads to fewer chronic health problems, less depression, less

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anxiety, and a lower risk of cancer. If that is what hope gets you, I want more of it. Don't you?

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Hope is important to our lives. The thing is that we need to make sure that we base our hope

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on the right things. Why? Because if we put our hope in things that are not able to carry those

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hopes, you know we will have sad lives, disappointed lives, we will have a lot of frustration

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in our lives because it turns out to be false hope, unreliable hope. The thing is there's a lot of

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promising things in your and my life to put our hope in, right? There's people, there is careers,

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there is lots of stuff that we can put our hope in, but how easy are those promises of hope broken?

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We live in a world of broken promises, and whenever a promise is broken, our hope is shattered.

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A child that promises his mom or her mom to clean up his room, her room, here is room, her room,

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whatever, every week but never does it, let me tell you, it shatters the hope of a mom and her mom,

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it shatters the hope of a mom and dad that they will ever find a tidy room, and I speak from

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experience here. An employee that got promised a promotion by her boss but ends up not getting it

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because the boss had found someone who is more qualified, leaves that employee deeply discouraged.

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That friend that promised you that he would stay by your side no matter what and now ends up betraying

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you, leaves you at a place of disillusionment. If you put your hope on things, in things,

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that come with the risk of promises to be broken, you run the risk of losing hope and actually

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ending up hopeless, you may have discovered that in your life. Actually broken promises and

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hopelessness, it's not a new thing, it's not a new phenomenon. If you look at the story of the Bible,

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you can see that it was actually relying on a false promise that brought hopelessness into the world.

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Right after God was done creating beautiful things, everything that he created, he allowed for the

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first two people, Adam and Eve, to live in an amazing place, it's called the Garden of Eden,

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you name it what you want, it was there at the Garden of Eden, probably not PlayStation 4,

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not yet, whatever you needed for a full and a rich life, it was there and God had said,

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I want you to enjoy it, I want you to have a full and rich life, but it comes with a couple of

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principles to live by and God had said, you can eat from any tree, any plant in the garden,

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but don't eat from this one tree because if you eat from it, you will die. God had good things in

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store for his people, but at a certain point the devil in the form of a snake entered the stage

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and this happened, you won't die, the serpent replied to the woman, God knows that your eyes

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will be opened as soon as you eat from it and you will be like God knowing both good and evil.

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The woman was convinced, it sounded like a good promise, she saw that the tree was beautiful and

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its fruit looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom it would give her, so she took some of

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the fruit and ate it and then she gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it too.

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At that moment their eyes were opened and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness, so they

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sewed thick leaves together to cover themselves. Although God had promised them a rich and generous

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and joyful life, the two first human beings chose to take their fate in their own hands, they chose

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to believe in a false promise by no one less than the devil. They bought the promise, thought there

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was hope in it, but you saw how it ended, the consequences were devastating. Suddenly they

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realized they were naked and they felt ashamed, never had they felt shame before. God didn't create

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us with shame or for the sake of fame, never had they felt it before, so what did they do?

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They covered themselves with the leaves they could find and a couple of verses later we we read that

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they actually hid, they were hiding from God. Because of believing a false promise, sin entered

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the world and ever since that moment people are blinded for the purposes of God, trying to figure

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out life on their own terms and let me tell you that doesn't work out well, does it? It's a sobering

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picture, it's a sobering story, it may be a story that you recognize your own story in, I don't know

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all of your stories, but you may have placed your hope in a promise. You thought that validation,

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you thought that power, you thought that career, you thought that that one relationship would bring

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you fulfillment for your life, but hey people have let you down. Circumstances in your life have made

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your life very inconvenient and that ideology, that religion that you put your faith and your all in

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turns out to be a very shaky foundation and instead of finding hope fulfilled you find

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yourself disillusioned, discouraged and you may even wonder is real hope even a thing?

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Well God had some very hopeful things to say to the people of Israel and to us. Right after the fall

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God began to make his own series of promises, promises of hope, promises that were anticipating

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a solution that he himself would put in place for intimacy between him and us to be restored

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and for us to live a life of fullness again. Promises that all pointed to Jesus as the hope

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for our redemption. In the Old Testament, that's the first part of the Bible if you don't know it,

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more than 500 times did the Old Testament speak about promises about Jesus exactly describing

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where he would be born, the kind of life that he would live, the fact that he would die for us and

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would be tortured for us and even the purpose for why he came. What was that purpose? To save us,

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to save you and me from our state of hopelessness and today we will be looking at one of those

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promises that we read in Isaiah chapter 9 but before doing that, before reading those words of

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Isaiah we need a little bit of context to understand these words, the depth and the

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seriousness of these words. Isaiah had a tough crowd to preach to, let me tell you that. I believe

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it's easier to be a pastor at ECB than to be a prophet in the days of Isaiah. He lived in

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Jerusalem about 700 years before Jesus came and he had to preach to the people of Israel, Israel

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and Judah. You want to know what that crowd was like that he was preaching to? No? Or yes?

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The answer is yes, yes. This was his crowd. Oh what a sinful nation they are, loaded down with a

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burden of guilt. They are evil people, corrupt children who have rejected the Lord. They have

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despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. That's the crowd that God had for

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Isaiah. Thank you very much God. You're welcome Isaiah. The people of Israel were morally

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and spiritually bankrupt. Although God had over and over revealed and showered his love on them

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and over and over committed to them, promising them a life of blessing, a life of protection,

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a life of peace, a life of provision. Despite all of that the people of Israel had turned their backs

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on him. And later we read in the book of Isaiah that he describes it as the people were walking

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in darkness. They decided they could do without God and figure out how to do life on their own.

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Let me tell you that did not go well. There was social injustice everywhere, political unrest,

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people were walking in fear, there was oppression. And what didn't help is that those people,

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they kept looking for solutions in the wrong places. It was so obvious right to turn back

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to God but they kept looking for solutions that they want to figure out themselves.

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This is what they did. Let's ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead.

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With their whisperings and mutterings they will tell us what to do. Really? So you have God Almighty

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who is your God and he likes you to be his people and you're going to consult the spirits of dead

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people to tell you what to do? Really? Well that's the question that Isaiah has as well.

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Shouldn't people ask God for guidance? Should the living see guidance from the dead?

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Look to God's instructions and teachings. People who contradict his word are completely in the dark.

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They will go from one place to another weary and hungry and because they're hungry they will

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rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to the heaven, they will look down at the

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earth but wherever they look there will be what? Trouble, anguish and dark despair. It's not that

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the people of Israel weren't desperate okay. They were desperate about their darkness and they were

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desperately looking for a way out but instead of looking for the obvious solution turning back to

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God they kept ignoring that and all they found was trouble, anguish and dark despair. Well

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God had some very hopeful things, very hopeful things for the people of Israel back then

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as well as for you and for me today. What we will hear the prophet Isaiah speak in a couple of

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moments is as valid and true for them as it is for you and for me today. So would you open your ears

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especially would you open your heart for what God will be speaking through the prophet Isaiah

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chapter 9 verses 1 through 7. Nevertheless that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever.

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The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled but there will be a time in the future when Galilee

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of the Gentiles which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea will be filled

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with glory. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light for those who live in a land of

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deep darkness a light will shine. You will enlarge the nation of Israel and its people will rejoice

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they will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest and like warriors dividing the

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plunder. For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the burden from their shoulders

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you will break the oppressor's rod just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian

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the boots of the warrior and the uniforms blood stained by war will all be burned they will be

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fueled for the fire. For a child is born to us a son is given to us the government will rest on his

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shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father prince of peace

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his government and its peace will never end he will rule over the world and he will rule over the

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world he will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity

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his government and its peace will never end he will rule with fairness and justice from the throne

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of his ancestor David for all eternity the passionate commitment of the Lord of heaven's

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armies will make this happen. What do you say of this? This is hope and I mean this is the real

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deal kind of hope this is not the wishy washy stuff the real deal you know why? Because whenever God

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says he will do something he will always do it always. Hoping God's promises is never ever wishful

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thinking it's the assurance of things that will happen because he said it will happen and whether

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those promises are still to be fulfilled or have already been fulfilled it's going to happen

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because God has said so. In the words we just read in Isaiah 9 we find four promises of hope if you

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will four things four amazing hopeful things that we find in Jesus and I want to unwrap these four

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things with you before we're going to eat downstairs if you're okay with that. I know I'm in between

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you and lunch that's always a hard place to be but still I'm going to do it so open your ears

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four things four promises of hope here's the first promise that Isaiah shares a new beginning

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against all odds that's what we find in Jesus. You need to know that the area of zebulon and

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neftali that Isaiah speaks of in verse one was an area that was insignificant it had no meaning to

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the nation of Israel there were just a few people and they had no contribution to the success of

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Israel at all insignificant not only that this area zebulon and neftali was an area where enemy

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armies coming from the north would first enter the country on their way to Samaria and Jerusalem

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what would they do they would kill the men they would bring the women and the children with them

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they would burn those villages completely to the ground they would steal everything leaving nothing

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behind insignificant beaten up that's what the region of zebulon and neftali was known for

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no hope why do why are we even alive what are we here for that's what the people must have thought

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all of that changed when Jesus entered the stage do you know where Jesus began his ministry on earth

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guess was the area of zebulon and neftali Matthew four speaks about that not only that Jesus lived

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in the area of zebulon and neftali in the town called netherrath that sounds silly if God wanted

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to do big things why not start in Jerusalem or or Rome for that matter no no no no the area of

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zebulon and neftali people without hope people insignificant and beaten up were the first Jesus

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minister to were the first Jesus gave gave hope to and ever since Jesus has continued to engage with

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people the least likely of the people like you and me for example

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it's possible that some of you here today feel like the people of zebulon and neftali

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insignificant nobody sees you people have rejected you what am i even alive for

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beaten up because life has been hard on you and you find yourself at a place of desperation

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wondering i have no more hope i want to tell you that just like Jesus brought hope and glory

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and brightness and a future and a new beginning to the people of zebulon and neftali he desires

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to make a new beginning for you against all odds but he can he will if you put your hope

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if you put your hope in him second corinthians 5 says this if anyone is in Christ the new creation

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has come the old has gone the new is here i know that for many of you in this room this is the

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testimony of your life amen if you know Jesus you know this is true if you don't know Jesus yet this

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can be true for you the old is gone the new is here put your hope in Jesus here's the second

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promise of hope that Isaiah tells us about Jesus is the light into our darkness the people who walk

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in darkness as verse 2 will see a great light for those who live in a land of deep darkness

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a light will shine what is this darkness that Isaiah is referring to well this this goes back

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to Isaiah 8 it's the spiritual brokenness and the immorality of the people of Israel in those days

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they were bankrupt they had turned their backs on God and therefore their minds and their hearts

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were dark because they were disconnected from God they were dark and as a consequence all of

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their relationships and society was dark as well and that's what it was distress and injustice and

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abuse of power you know always when there is a disconnect vertically between God and people

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inevitably it lead to a disconnect between people horizontally always this is why we live in a world

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that is filled with greed and self-centeredness and abuse and power and all of that stuff it's

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because there is a disconnect vertically between God and people which always transpires horizontally

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if this is the status quo we were like we should be like the people back then filled with despair

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with what was the anguish despair and there was something else darkness or so but with Jesus

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that is not the scenario we're looking at you know what happens when Jesus enters the stage

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darkness has to leave always that's the case when lights and darkness meet light always wins think

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with me for a moment you're sitting inside it's 8 p.m. at night so it's dark outside someone knocks

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on your door you open the door question will the darkness from outside make your living room dark

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right away yes or no no what will happen the light from the inside will actually spill over to outside

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and and and light the area in front of your front door that's what happens when light encounters

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darkness darkness is simply the absence of light because whenever light appears darkness is gone

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that's scientific reasoning but it's as much true when Jesus comes into your life darkness has to

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leave John one says it like this in him that is Jesus was life and that life was the light of all

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mankind the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it by the way will never

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overcome it whether your darkness has to do with your sin your shame your anger your bitterness

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your suffering or even with death Jesus has overcome it all light in the darkness he has

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he has overcome hallelujah when you put your trust in him you no longer have to walk in darkness

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because you have the light of life what a hope what a promise fulfilled in Jesus Isaiah continues

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in Jesus we also find abundant joy Israel may have seen seemed irrelevant in those days just a

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small country it was not a big country at all it still is not a big country but although it seemed

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irrelevant God chose the nation of Israel to launch his kingdom here on earth he chose the nation of

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Israel chose to enlarge it so that the message of the kingdom of God would go out and today we have

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clear evidence that God kept his promise how well I think there are Christians now in all countries

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of the world all continents and the latest count is 2.4 billion Christians everywhere in the world

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why God has enlarged the nation look around you today this is a testimony I don't think we have a

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lot of Jews in the room so we are a testimony that God enlarged the nation of Israel and that actually

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the news about the kingdom of God and the invitation to enter came to us Gentiles sorry we're

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Gentiles we're not Jews we're crafted in to the royal olive tree and when Jesus was born in

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Bethlehem when Christmas came all of that was launched incredible joy was the result for the

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people back then the people us and here Isaiah describes what kind of joy this really is it's a

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kind of joy that the people back then felt when they had an abundant harvest hallelujah we can

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eat and drink for one year again because their life depended on it the same kind of joy when God had

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delivered them from one of their enemies thank you God we're alive you have saved us the kind of joy

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that Isaiah speaks about here is is is a deep joy bubbling in your soul because of the abundance

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and the victory that we have in Jesus and and don't misunderstand this kind of joy please

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this is not the kind of joy that comes as a result of the good things that Jesus is giving us like

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oh thank you Lord a day at the pool I love pool I love sunshine I love cocktails I feel joyful wow

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but tomorrow it's gone because we have to go back to work again that's not the joy that Jesus

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speaks about here the joy that Jesus gives no no the joy that Jesus is is not circumstantial

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it doesn't depend on your circumstances it is consistent whether or not you are at the pool

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or whether or not you're going through some really hard times in your life look at what Jesus says

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about this joy in John 15 I have loved you even as the father has loved me remain in my love

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I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy yes your joy will overflow

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abundant joy irrespective of the changing circumstances in your or my life comes from

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being one with Jesus many people who don't know God think that once you become a Christian your

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life is over I mean all those restrictions and rules it's the complete opposite you see what Jesus

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wants to give you he wants you to overflow with joy is that a boring life that's not a boring life

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actually that's an essential for life I speak for all of us when I say that we long for joy yes or

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no probably it's a yes where does it come from a day at the beach um oneness with Jesus oh yeah

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joy will overflow a promise of hope for those who are in Jesus

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lastly one more promise of hope that we find in Isaiah 9 freedom from oppression

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that's what Jesus gives us did you know that God is a fighter did you know that the Bible calls him

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a mighty warrior it's not that God endorses violence or loves war it's just that he is so

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passionate about us about his people that he is willing to pick up a fight whenever that is needed

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the thing with God is whatever battle he picks he always wins even when it seems unlikely that he

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will can I say that again whatever God battle God picks he always wins even when it seems unlikely

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that he will Isaiah speaks more about this he refers to the destruction of the army of Midian

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if you don't know the story we find this in Judges chapter 7 Israel was again at war they were at war

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a lot of times this time it was against the Midianites and there was a point in time where

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God called Gideon you may know him to be the leader of the army that would be fighting against the

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army of Midian so Gideon smart as he was and probably strategic in his thinking he formed an

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army of 32,000 soldiers you may remember that story in that number you know what God did he

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brought that number 32,000 down to 300 can I tell you winning a battle against an army of 135,000

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an army of 135,000 well-trained soldiers of the country of Midian with an army of just 300

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is not so likely okay but whenever God fights a battle he always wins even when it seems unlikely

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that he will so what happened Israel won with 300 people and God set the people of Israel free

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from the oppression of the army of the Midianites this is the exact same promise of hope that we

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find in Jesus freedom from oppression Jesus is a mighty warrior and he has already won the battle

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you're fighting today and the other battle you will be fighting tomorrow he has already won

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in Luke 4 we hear Jesus speak about himself in this way he says the spirit of the Lord is upon me

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for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor he has sent me to proclaim that captives

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will be released that the blind will see that the oppressed will be set free and at the time of the

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Lord's favor has come whatever your oppression looks like Jesus has what it takes to get you free

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if your oppressor is called addiction Jesus can get you free

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if your oppressor is called anger or rage Jesus can get you free when your oppressor is called

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shame or guilt Jesus will get you free when your oppressor is called an unpleasant memory or

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regrets about the past Jesus can set you free from that oppression when your oppressor is called the

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devil himself because he is harassing or oppressing you Jesus will get you free that's who he is

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the promise of hope that Isaiah speaks about that Isaiah 9 has been fulfilled in Jesus you can trust

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him because he always wins so that's what Isaiah wants us to know promises of hope that we find

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fulfilled in Jesus a new beginning against all odds lights in your darkness abundant joy

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freedom from oppression it's available to anyone who puts his or her hope in Jesus

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and as I said before this this is not just the wishy-washy kind of hope

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this is rock-solid kind of hope this is reliable hope because it is grounded in the reality

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of who Jesus is Williams Shakespeare in one of his plays Romeo and Juliet asked the question

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what's in a name do you remember that question have you heard that question what Shakespeare meant

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to say is actually there's not much worth in any name that anyone has I do appreciate Shakespeare

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but I violently agree disagree with him on this matter what's in a name is not worth in any name

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on this matter what's in a name everything is in a name especially when it involves the name of

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Jesus you know who he is what his name is he is the wonderful counselor so he has wisdom that no

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one else had so he is able therefore to guide us and advise us on any matter in life he's the

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wonderful counselor he's also the mighty God who is able to do abundantly more than we can even

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begin to think or imagine all things are possible with Jesus he's also the everlasting father the

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one who will love you and accept you in ways that you will never be able to fully understand

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and so much better than anyone else you will meet in your life will be able to do in your life

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and Jesus is also the prince of peace who is able to give us stability and quietness in a crazy world

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of chaos and restlessness that we do life in what's in a name everything is in the name of Jesus

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of Jesus this is why our hope is so reliable hope in Jesus put your hope in him and God is deeply

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committed God himself is deeply committed to see the hope of Jesus come true in your and in my life

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God is passionately pursuing us because he loves us and he has so clearly expressed this by

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allowing his son the son that Isaiah talked about spoke about his son Jesus to die on the cross you

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know why he did that because he said I want you back I want us to have this intimate friendship

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and relationship again I want you to enjoy the fullness of life again that I had for you from

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the very beginning God has gone all out to do his part passionately pursuing us but but he does need

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a response for us to be placing our hope in Jesus so this is what I'm going to close with

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a question for you what is keeping you from putting your hope in Jesus you've heard me say

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no no you've heard Isaiah say and he got it from God that Jesus has everything that you need to

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find hope hope that will not disappoint he will never fill you he will never leave you he will

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never discourage you what is keeping you from putting your hope in Jesus he's the one who came

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to proclaim the kingdom of God the message of the kingdom of God he is also the one who invites us

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into that kingdom of God so friends put your hope in Jesus friends trust him with your life

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stop your lonely fight and and invite Jesus to become your fighter he has already won the

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battle you're in and also the battle you will be in the rest of your life put your hope in Jesus

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he won't fail he has never has and he never will all the while would you please consider one question

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will I put my hope in Jesus

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Thank you for tuning in to the ECB sermon podcast. Whether near or far, if you are looking for community

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And remember to join us next week. God bless you.