1 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:12,760 We welcome you to the VI Zion Sermon Podcast. 2 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:15,640 We are a church based out of Chennai, India. 3 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,520 We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will 4 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,680 be refreshed, revived and energized by what you hear. 5 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:28,000 Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of 6 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:31,640 purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus. 7 00:00:32,119 --> 00:00:37,640 The year 2025 is 1 where we will be positioned by God to possess 8 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,160 our promise. We start a new sermon series 9 00:00:41,160 --> 00:00:45,600 called Rekindled where we look closer at our own lives and ask 10 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:48,720 the Holy Spirit to revive and restore things that have gone 11 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,920 dormant in the dry seasons of our souls. 12 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:56,200 We pray that this series will help you dive deeper into 13 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,880 yourself and see where you need more of God. 14 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:03,880 Hi Church, such a joy and a privilege for me to bring God's 15 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:05,760 Word to you today. For those of you watching and 16 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:08,680 for those of you listening, I pray that even as you hear God's 17 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,880 Word, it'll fall on the good fertile soil of your heart. 18 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,800 Just last week and the week before that, we saw what fertile 19 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:19,640 faith looks like. And last week we saw what 20 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:24,000 fragrant faith looks like. And the week before this, we saw 21 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:29,800 why we need to have faith, such as a fiery faith in US. 22 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:33,760 And the reason why we've entered into this series called 23 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:38,120 Rekindled is because our faith, our hope, and our love have to 24 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,200 be rekindled. It can't be dominant over a 25 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,680 season, over a period of time. We claim that we have faith, 26 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,440 love and hope. But it's in this Rekindling, we 27 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:52,600 realize that there are so many things that we are set in our 28 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:54,280 ways. There are so many things we've 29 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:56,600 convinced ourselves. This is what faith is. 30 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:00,240 This is what love is. This is what hope is, and I want 31 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:04,080 us to come to a place where we will allow the Holy Spirit to 32 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:08,160 rekindle our hearts once again. Our hearts so that we believe 33 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,920 once again, our Spirit man, so we'll be thirsty once again, our 34 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:15,720 physical bodies that will be geared up to do what God's 35 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:19,440 calling us to do. And so even today as we look 36 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:22,200 into the continuation of this, we're going to step into the 37 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,120 topic of hope. And my title today is called 38 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:30,320 honest hope. The rekindling that happens when 39 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,840 we see the Holy Spirit, when we give him access, especially 40 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:37,000 after we've just come through the entire Pentecost series. 41 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:40,440 We see that when he when we allow him into our lives, he 42 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,560 rekindles even our hope. Many a times the hope that we 43 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:47,200 have, many times the hope that we see is so limited. 44 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,840 I don't know about you, but many times when I think about hope, 45 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,440 when I think what I'm hopeful for, a lot of times I'm looking 46 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:59,840 it through my faith lens or it's my faith size hope. 47 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:04,280 But God is telling today. Would you have a God sized hope 48 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:06,480 today? And that has to come to a place 49 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:10,040 of being honest where we say God, I only can hope for so 50 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:12,960 much. But when you are in me, when you 51 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,720 are with me, when you are the future, when you say you are the 52 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:21,360 same yesterday, today and forever, I am willing to trust 53 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:24,600 in a God says hope. And so we the baseline for the 54 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:27,120 entire thing is faith. Because without faith none of 55 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:30,760 this would exist. As we strengthen the faith, as 56 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,720 you go through what fertile soil looks like, as you look through 57 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:38,840 the fragrant in the crushing is when we are becoming a fragrant 58 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:42,440 to everyone who are around in that we start having hope. 59 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,320 So I want to ask us today, what do we consider as hope? 60 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,240 If I have to look into the meaning of hope, it's to want 61 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:51,920 something to happen and you want it to be true. 62 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,760 You have a good reason it might happen or may not happen. 63 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,160 And that's what hope is defined as, as a dictionary. 64 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:01,480 But I want to go back to what the Word of God says, because 65 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:05,600 the Word of God doesn't leave room for doubt. 66 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:08,280 It's certain. And I want us to come to that 67 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:10,200 place. Romans chapter 5 verses 1 to 5 68 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:12,720 is what we have taken as a key passage today, and therefore 69 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:14,960 this and this is what it says in Romans chapter 5. 70 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,200 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have 71 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:21,240 peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we 72 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,600 have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now 73 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,920 stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 74 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:32,480 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings because we 75 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:36,960 know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, 76 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:40,880 character, and character hope. And hope does not put us to 77 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,640 shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts 78 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:48,800 through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 79 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:52,160 Even as I mentioned, the outcome of our faith is hope. 80 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:56,080 Even as we read this, Paul constantly draws our attention 81 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:58,280 to the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. 82 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,520 What is the hope that we have that whatever is happening here 83 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:05,000 on earth, we are assured of eternity with Jesus? 84 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:08,080 And so today, you and I are definitely going through a lot 85 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:09,920 of things. You and I definitely need a lot 86 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:11,760 of hope for the things that we're going through. 87 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:14,440 You know, 10 years back, we probably needed some kind of 88 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:16,680 hope. Today in 2025, we need some kind 89 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:18,160 of hope. We don't know what the future 90 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:22,320 holds, but Jesus is telling us. And Paul is also reminding us 91 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:26,400 through the Romans to keep our eyes fixed on eternity because 92 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:29,760 the problem is when we don't have our eyes fixed on the 93 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:33,640 eternity of hope that is given, that's not changing. 94 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:37,000 Jesus is coming back. The world is going to be judged. 95 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,200 God is going to set apart those who follow him and those who 96 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:42,520 don't follow him. All these are for sure. 97 00:05:42,840 --> 00:05:44,720 That's what our faith is built on. 98 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,120 That's the cornerstone of our faith, that Jesus Christ came to 99 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:50,160 seek and save that which was lost. 100 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:52,200 We who are lost are all now saved. 101 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,920 And so today as we look into this, the word hope in the Greek 102 00:05:55,920 --> 00:06:02,800 means elpis, which is properly expectation of what is sure, 103 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:07,640 expectation of what is sure. It's to anticipate. 104 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:10,560 It's to welcome properly and expectation of what is sure. 105 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:15,320 World explains it as it might happen, or we'll hope for the 106 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:18,080 outcome of this to be good. We hope that they might be doing 107 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:18,800 well. We hope. 108 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:23,440 But the Bible says it's an expectation of what is sure it's 109 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:26,560 going to happen. And so today I want us to go 110 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:30,360 back to what Paul's saying. Our hope is in the glory of God, 111 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:32,880 the resurrected Savior. He's seated on the right hand of 112 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:34,240 the Father. He's coming back. 113 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,080 There's no change in that. And as we read this letter, 114 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:43,160 what's encouraging is the fact that he wants us to realize that 115 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,400 our faith has to be in Jesus. He constantly takes us back to 116 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,960 that because we are living in a world where our faith often 117 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:53,200 times is so fluctuating. If I have to ask you on Monday, 118 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,440 what is your faith in or who is your faith on? 119 00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:59,880 You would soon realize there are so many questions we have for 120 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:01,440 those of us who are going through sickness. 121 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,520 A lot of times our faith is on our doctor, our faith is in the 122 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:07,360 medicine that we take. It's all add-ons. 123 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:11,120 The main faith has to be in Jesus because when we have our 124 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:14,120 faith in Jesus, everything else starts making sense. 125 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:17,480 He then starts when you see here Paul, he talks about having 126 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:20,200 faith in Jesus. He then talks to them about the 127 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:23,320 fave moving towards hope where they are assured of what will 128 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:27,000 happen when we close our eyes. Paul in this discourse always 129 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,360 ends with the hope that we will experience with Jesus face to 130 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:34,600 face. You know, just recently in the 131 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:37,920 place where we stay there was the residents who were all 132 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:42,360 staying had raised a concern and the concern was that the tedious 133 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:44,760 level of the water was getting too much. 134 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:48,160 And then me and Tina as we saw the comments going back and 135 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:50,080 forth in this chats. And for most of you who are 136 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:52,600 probably in all these association chats and when you 137 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:57,080 see things go back and forth to banter, you realize that 138 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:00,400 sometimes what we are fighting for is so few time. 139 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:03,760 One person argued that everything is getting spoiled 140 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:06,360 because of the hard water. One person argued that the 141 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:08,720 resale value of the flat is begin coming down. 142 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:13,400 But I just realized as this was happening, God, my hope is not 143 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,880 on it. I want to allow my hope to be 144 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:19,880 dictated by things that can take me off track. 145 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,800 Because these are small things, but we can make it big things. 146 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:25,760 And so today I want you to realize, what are we making? 147 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:28,000 What are the small things that we are taking? 148 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,440 And we are making it big. Because when we realize what 149 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:35,520 God's calling us to have hope, we will realize that it's far 150 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:37,159 bigger than what we've ever thought of. 151 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:40,880 You know, growing up I've been to a lot of I used to play the 152 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:43,240 keyboard music for a lot of these meetings which are 153 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:45,960 happening in prime between. And one of the words that I keep 154 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:49,440 hearing is of CT stud. And it says here only one life 155 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:54,600 will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will 156 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:56,520 last. And so even today, as we've 157 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:00,080 titled it as honest hope, it's for us to come to a place to 158 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:04,040 realize is my hope free of deceit? 159 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:08,560 Is my hope truthful? Is my hope sincere? 160 00:09:08,560 --> 00:09:12,440 Because that's where we will see the migration between our faith 161 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,160 to hope happen. So as we look into the 162 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:19,040 Scriptures, I want us to be, I want us to be aware and allow 163 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:23,120 the Holy Spirit to say, God, if my hope is not honest, I'll come 164 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:25,120 back to you, Lord, I'll come back to you. 165 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:27,800 I want to read a verse from Proverbs, chapter 13, verse 12. 166 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:29,560 I'm reading for the passion. And this is what it says. 167 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:33,360 When hope's dream seems to drag on and on, the delay can be 168 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:35,920 depressing. But when at last your dream 169 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,840 comes true, life sweetness will satisfy your soul. 170 00:09:40,560 --> 00:09:42,880 A lot of us probably know the worst in NIV, and I want to read 171 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:45,160 that too. Hope deferred makes the heart 172 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:49,800 sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. 173 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:54,560 And I pray that as we wait, because one of the key 174 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:57,920 ingredients of having hope is waiting, one of the key 175 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:03,560 ingredients of having hope is to realize that this the journey is 176 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:05,640 long. One of the key ingredients of 177 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:09,400 realizing of hope is to realize that one day God will make it 178 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:12,240 come to pass. So what I'm saying is that OK, 179 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:16,240 you might be like eternity is set, yes, but what about my hope 180 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:18,600 here on earth? God answers, God sees, God 181 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,200 provides, God will come through. But will you be honest? 182 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:25,600 Would you be sincere with the hope that you have? 183 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:30,000 Because often times we have added too many layers to it. 184 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:34,960 That's it's dependent on our parents is dependent on our 185 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:37,080 children is dependent on our circumstances. 186 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:40,400 It's dependent on our job. God saying, can I bring you to a 187 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:42,520 place where you'll have honest hope? 188 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:45,200 You know, I was as I was meditating, I was reminded of 189 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:48,920 this passage in Genesis chapter 28 was 16 to 22, which I want to 190 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:50,080 read. It's the story of Jacob. 191 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,840 He had cheated his brother. He saw of his birthright he had 192 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:59,000 stole, in fact he and his mother had conceived and had taken the 193 00:10:59,560 --> 00:11:03,280 birthright blessing from his father and he's on the run. 194 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:06,640 He's going to his uncle's house and in that he comes to a place 195 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:08,720 and he puts his head to rest. And this is what happens in 196 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,920 Genesis 28 or 16 or 22 when Jacob awoke from his sleep, he 197 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:17,280 thought surely the Lord is with is in this place and I was not 198 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:19,840 aware of it. He was afraid and said, how 199 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:23,360 awesome is this place? This is none other than the 200 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:26,360 House of God. This is the gate of heaven. 201 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:30,120 Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone he had placed 202 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:33,120 under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top 203 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:35,200 of it. Then he called the place Bethel, 204 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:37,360 though the city used to be called Lust. 205 00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:41,760 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, If God will be with me and will 206 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:45,360 watch over me on this journey I am taking, and will give me food 207 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:49,080 to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my 208 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:52,520 father's household, then the Lord will be my God. 209 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:56,560 And this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's 210 00:11:56,560 --> 00:12:00,560 house. And of all that you give, I will 211 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:07,440 give you a tenth. Jacob's earthly hope was fused 212 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:10,560 when he, when he had this dream of, you know, a stairway with, 213 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:13,560 with angels going up to heaven and on earth. 214 00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:16,080 When he woke up with that, he knew God was presented. 215 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:21,360 As he made this vow to God, he realizes that if you look into 216 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:26,200 his life, everything that he says is all around himself. 217 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:29,080 The hope is around himself. And I want us to come to a 218 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:31,480 place. This is a good place to start 219 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:35,920 where you say God, This is where I am at Lord, and then you allow 220 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:39,800 faith to really step up. When faith steps up, hope 221 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:42,120 automatically steps up. And this is what we see. 222 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:45,440 What happens here is we see Jacob needed a few things from 223 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:48,120 God, but God's plans were different. 224 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:50,960 They had to be unfolded. He had to go through this 225 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:54,160 journey. His ask of God was to watch him 226 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:56,800 over his journey, return safely to his Father's household. 227 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:00,240 And in the end, when we look, we'll see that God did far 228 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:02,200 beyond than what he could have imagined. 229 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:05,840 And so today as we start meditating on this, there are 230 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:08,160 three things that I want to highlight as we look into this. 231 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:11,840 The first thing is our honest hope is birthed out of our 232 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:15,640 personal salvation. Our honest hope is birthed out 233 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,600 of our personal salvation. You know, when we go back to the 234 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:22,640 time when we were saved, we were aware of our sinful nature. 235 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:27,000 And because of receiving Christ and his forgiveness and his 236 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,680 grace over our lives, we suddenly are not operating out 237 00:13:30,680 --> 00:13:33,640 of the yoke of sin, rather out of the freedom that comes from 238 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,240 Christ. And suddenly hope changes. 239 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:37,760 And So what happens in this moment? 240 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:41,600 Suddenly we who are not aware of the circumstances and the 241 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:44,920 consequences of eternity, suddenly are aware of it. 242 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:49,040 What seemed hopeless, we are hopeful because of Christ Jesus. 243 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:52,440 And so today I want us to go back to the place where we all 244 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:56,480 should have a hope that's been birthed out of our personal 245 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:58,840 salvation. You know, a lot of us have gone 246 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:02,440 through hardships in life. A lot of us are going through, 247 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:05,280 you know, our old man was something different. 248 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:08,240 Had we been in that track, we would have ended up differently. 249 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:12,680 But God, out of his sheer grace and mercy, has shown upon our 250 00:14:12,680 --> 00:14:14,680 life and has redeemed us once and for all. 251 00:14:14,680 --> 00:14:16,320 And today, you and I get to sit here. 252 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:18,720 We get to worship God. We get to give thanks to God. 253 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:21,000 We get to say, God, you be glorified. 254 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:26,080 But in the midst of all of this, can we say, God, I want you also 255 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:29,360 to resurrect my hope out of this personal salvation. 256 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:33,560 I'm not having hope of one that's condemned of sin, but I'm 257 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,200 having hope of one who's been redeemed from sin. 258 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:41,280 I'm not having I'm not having hope from a place of being, you 259 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:45,280 know, broken and desolate, but I'm having hope from a place of 260 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:48,360 being set being worked on by the maker. 261 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:51,720 Let's continue reading from Romans chapter 2, verse 13. 262 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:54,960 It goes on to say, for it is not those who hear the law who are 263 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:57,960 righteous in God's sight, but it's those who obey the law who 264 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:01,120 will be declared righteous. In fact, when you look in Romans 265 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:04,720 chapter 2, he Paul has this argument where he goes on to say 266 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:09,400 he talks about the Jews, where he says you have been so focused 267 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:13,320 on the outwardly, you've made everything out about the 268 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:15,360 outwardly. You've you've given so much 269 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:19,040 importance to that that you forget that those who hear the 270 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:23,360 law insist on those who are Jews who are righteous before God. 271 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:27,520 But anyone who obeys God's word is righteous and that changes 272 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:29,680 everything. And so today in our step one is 273 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:31,920 accepting Jesus Christ as a Lord and personal savior. 274 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:34,680 And most of us have done that. If you've not done that, I would 275 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:36,720 love to journey with you, get in touch with us. 276 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:39,680 We would love to walk with you in that and introduce Jesus 277 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:41,320 Christ as a Lord and personal Savior. 278 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:44,440 Step 2 is what we commit to the waters of baptism. 279 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:46,760 What is the committing of what the waters of baptism say? 280 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,760 Lord, I am no longer out of the world. 281 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,440 I'm yours. I belong to Jesus, the world 282 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:57,720 behind me, the cross before me. I am following Jesus and not the 283 00:15:57,720 --> 00:15:59,280 world. And so today that is Step 2. 284 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:04,880 Step 3 is we continue to grow in reading, in meditating and 285 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,560 living out the gospel. We just don't read. 286 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:11,120 We just don't know the law or we start living it out in this day 287 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:13,760 and age. And so today what happens when 288 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:17,240 we do that, others around will see there's something different 289 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:18,960 about him. There's something that God's, 290 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,280 he's got God in him. He's got joy in him. 291 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:25,320 He's got hope in him. Galatians chapter 2, verses 19 292 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:27,120 to 21. It says for through the law, I 293 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:30,280 died to the law so that I might live for God. 294 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:33,800 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but 295 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:37,600 Christ lives in me the life I now live in the body. 296 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:40,960 I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave me, 297 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,280 gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of 298 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:47,240 God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, 299 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:51,560 Christ died for nothing. Paul says here I died to the 300 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:54,200 law, which means the law is fulfilled and now it's Christ. 301 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:58,040 So now no longer are you called to give sacrifices in different 302 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:00,160 times of the year, you'd rather go to Jesus. 303 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:05,040 You ask for forgiveness, receive the grace that He extends, ask 304 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:08,319 Him for strength to overcome the enemy, because only he can 305 00:17:08,319 --> 00:17:12,400 overcome with his help. We overcome in Christ my living 306 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,079 faith. I am being made righteous in 307 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:18,359 Jesus Christ, died and is risen again, and we get to spend 308 00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:19,560 eternity. That is the hope. 309 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:22,640 But in him, in this world, we have hope that we can bring 310 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:27,960 light everywhere we go. You and I no longer have to go 311 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:32,280 to a designated place. We are not anywhere we go as 312 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:35,400 long as we bear His name. We become His witnesses. 313 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:39,360 And so our personal salvation births hope. 314 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:44,040 So I pray that today as we think about this, we don't, we don't 315 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:46,080 just keep the hope contained to ourselves. 316 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:50,600 Yes, my name is in the book. Yes, I am assured of eternity. 317 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:52,960 But there's more to it. Else you're not reading your 318 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:55,160 Bible. Else you're not growing to be, 319 00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:58,280 you're not growing to become mature believers, Else you're 320 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:01,440 not putting what you're learning from the Word into practice. 321 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:04,880 It has to go beyond that. It we are just not looking for a 322 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:09,320 ticket. We are looking to live out His 323 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,280 glorious life here on earth. Here on earth. 324 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:14,880 Our personal salvation cannot force us to just think of 325 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:18,360 ourselves. Personal salvation assures us of 326 00:18:18,360 --> 00:18:21,400 our personal hope. But the personal hope is to move 327 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:24,240 us from seeing His redemptive work for the world. 328 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:26,120 Because Jesus just didn't come for you. 329 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:29,120 He just didn't come for me. He came for the entirety of 330 00:18:29,120 --> 00:18:32,000 mankind. And so today, what we receive, 331 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:36,400 we also receive His love for the entirety of mankind. 332 00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:39,440 And so I pray that His redemptive work for the world, 333 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:41,640 it was never meant to be personal. 334 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,560 And So what happens of this is we have an overhaul of hope. 335 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:49,360 He reshakes everything. He we suddenly live that God has 336 00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:52,160 blessed us with hope. We get to oversee our hope 337 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,520 because everything that we do, we look at it with hopeful eyes. 338 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:59,760 We also get to have this hope imparted to many others. 339 00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:04,280 I want to go back to a passage in Luke chapter 12, verses 13 to 340 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:06,120 21. And this is where Jesus talks 341 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:11,280 about a rich person who suddenly decides to build storehouses and 342 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,880 he talks and he tells you and I just want to go through that 343 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:17,800 entire verse. It says here in Luke chapter 12 344 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:20,920 verses 13 to 21, someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell 345 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:22,800 my brother to divide the inheritance with me. 346 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:27,400 Jesus replied, man who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between 347 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:29,320 you. Then he said to them, watch out. 348 00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:31,560 Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. 349 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:35,000 Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. 350 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:38,200 And he told them this parable. The ground of a certain rich man 351 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:41,040 yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, what 352 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:42,560 shall I do? I have no place to store my 353 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:44,400 crops. Then he said, this is what I'll 354 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:46,440 do. I will tear down. 355 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:49,680 I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I 356 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:52,920 will store my surplus grains. And I'll say to myself, you have 357 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:55,000 plenty of grain laid up for many years. 358 00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:58,480 Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry. 359 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:01,560 But God said to him, you fool this very night your life will 360 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:04,480 be demanded from you. Then you will get what you have 361 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,760 prepared for yourself. This is how it will be with 362 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:09,960 whoever stores up things for themselves. 363 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:13,520 But it is it not rich toward God. 364 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:17,040 As we read this passage, there are two things. 365 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:21,360 One, Jesus is saying there is so much more than possession. 366 00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:23,920 So if you're in a place today where you are. 367 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:28,120 Actually in feud with some of your siblings, with or with 368 00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:31,360 your, with your extended families, Bring God into that 369 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:33,280 mix. Bring God into the mix because 370 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:36,160 it'll show you where your hope is really yet is it on the 371 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:37,840 possession or is it really on God? 372 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:39,800 I pray that this will minister to you. 373 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:42,440 The second thing that we see from this is we have to be very 374 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:46,240 careful because when he had a rich plentiful harvest that is 375 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:48,560 spent already think he just thought of building storehouses 376 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:50,280 and he thought that he can retire. 377 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:55,080 Hope doesn't cause me to retire, but hope causes me to see God in 378 00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:58,000 every season. The point of God's blessing is 379 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:00,800 not for us to build storehouses so that we can retire early and 380 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:04,360 in fact, this is a contradiction to the current culture that is 381 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:06,560 being spoken about. Everyone is talking about you 382 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:07,920 know what I want to retire my 40s. 383 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:10,120 I want to retire my 50s. I want to make sure I have the 384 00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:11,720 Esop's. I want to make sure I have built 385 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:14,080 wealth. I want to make sure I have this 386 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:18,240 all that sounds good but is a hope on that because the world 387 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:21,280 without knowing. We'll move you towards thinking 388 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:24,520 you know what I need to make a good bank balance so that I'll 389 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:27,960 be set. That is not from God, that is 390 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:31,440 from the enemy because he uses money to lure us. 391 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:35,280 What I'm asking us to have is the fact that we be right right 392 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:36,920 with money. We learn how to spend, we learn 393 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:39,720 how to save, we learn how to set up at something for our future. 394 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,120 We learn how to give to God. We learn how to be better 395 00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:46,960 stewards, but the bottom line is where is our hope lying at? 396 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:49,520 Because his hope was on his storehouses. 397 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:51,280 And that's what God said. If I had to take your life 398 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:53,160 today, what happens to everything? 399 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:58,440 And I want to position that to you today is our hope is our 400 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:02,640 guarantees, our future in our storehouses here on earth. 401 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:05,080 What are our storehouses looking like? 402 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:08,360 What are a storehouses looking like? 403 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:10,920 Even as I speak about this, don't think we shouldn't. 404 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:14,720 It says in Proverbs 1322, it says a good person leaves an 405 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:18,120 inheritance for their children's children, but a sinner's wealth 406 00:22:18,120 --> 00:22:21,520 is stored up for the righteous. A good person leaves an 407 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:24,280 inheritance for his children's. So he doesn't even talk about a 408 00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:27,400 godly person, just says a good person, which means a person. 409 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:29,360 A good person is a person who's learnt contentment. 410 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:33,760 A person who's learnt to do good with what they have leaves it 411 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,600 for his children's children. That's two generations down. 412 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:42,360 Just imagine if God is calling you and me into that space, what 413 00:22:42,360 --> 00:22:44,640 is it looking like? And so today I want us to go 414 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:46,520 back to that question I first asked. 415 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:52,200 The first thing in our honest hope is it being birthed out of 416 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:54,440 our personal salvation. Because if our personal 417 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:57,840 salvation is not growing, our hope won't grow. 418 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:01,720 If our personal times with God is not growing, our hope won't 419 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,000 grow. And I pray that we'll move to 420 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,320 that place. I pray especially even as we 421 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:08,960 come to a conclusion of the first thing. 422 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,400 For those of you who have not committed your lives, I would 423 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:15,000 say make prayerfully make that decision to acknowledge that 424 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,400 Jesus is God, Saviour all our lives. 425 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:19,520 For those of you who've been living, can we start being 426 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:21,360 intentional about His instructions? 427 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,800 May we not just become so rigid that we think, you know what, I 428 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:28,280 know God's Word, That's it. Allow God's Word to permeate, 429 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:32,240 allow it to shape you, allow it to make you a vessel so that you 430 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:35,840 can be a blessing in the way God wants you to be. 431 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:39,640 The second thing that we see with regard to honest hope is 432 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,840 honest hope is lived out with perseverance is lived out with 433 00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:47,160 perseverance. Once our hope is refined with 434 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:51,120 our salvation, we see as Christ follows that we have to go 435 00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:55,520 through a journey here on earth and that requires hope. 436 00:23:56,040 --> 00:24:00,640 And many a times we as Christians, we know many who 437 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,240 some of you probably have given up journeying saying, you know, 438 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,040 it's just too hard for me to live this Christian life. 439 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:10,080 And you've probably checked out, some of you probably have gone 440 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:13,160 in 10 years and you're like, God, where is this heading? 441 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:17,720 I don't see anything happening. And for some, probably you've 442 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:19,720 seen it happen in different stages. 443 00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:22,760 But now you're like, God, I'm just so desperate. 444 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:24,560 I'm just so desperate to see something. 445 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:28,360 And so today, even as we read, I just want to encourage you that 446 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:35,280 God wants us to persevere so that we'll see this honest hope 447 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:40,520 come to life. And as I make this point, I'm 448 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:45,120 also mindful that when we have to live out this hope, where our 449 00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:50,760 eyes are locked in matters. Today, when we look into this 450 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:54,480 hope that God's calling us to have and persevere for what our 451 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:57,520 eyes locked onto is locked onto people. 452 00:24:57,880 --> 00:24:59,760 Is it locked onto the things of the world? 453 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:05,880 Is it locked onto situations? Is it locked onto circumstances? 454 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:10,280 Can it be locked onto Jesus? Because when it's locked onto 455 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,400 Jesus, you will see you'll have strength to face another day. 456 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:19,120 You'll have encouragement to persevere every step of the way. 457 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:23,920 Romans chapter 5, verse 3 says not only so, but we also glory 458 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:27,600 in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces 459 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:31,080 perseverance, perseverance, character, and character hope. 460 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:33,720 And there's a progression to this whole thing. 461 00:25:34,120 --> 00:25:36,640 When we say sufferings, there are hardships that will come. 462 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,800 You and I will face hardships. And that's the beauty about 463 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:43,480 following Jesus. When we gather here, when we 464 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:47,120 have so many people who come, everyone is going through 465 00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:50,880 hardship, everyone is going through some kind of suffering 466 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:52,840 or the other. Everyone is going through that. 467 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:54,880 But what do we get when we come together? 468 00:25:55,280 --> 00:26:00,560 We get a sense of renewed purpose, a renewed vigor and 469 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:03,200 strength to say, Lord, I'm ready to face this week ahead. 470 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:05,160 That's why community is important. 471 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:06,880 That's why the Church of God is important. 472 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:08,920 That's why we gather in his name. 473 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:12,400 That's why we break bread and partake of the cup to say God. 474 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:14,240 We want to see see it come through. 475 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:17,960 When we do that very act, we are acknowledging, saying we're 476 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:21,040 going ahead with and saying Lord, you committed to your 477 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:24,600 entire journey fully. He didn't give up on Gethsemane 478 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:28,080 and Gethsemane, Jesus looked up to God and said, God, let it be 479 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:31,440 your will, not my will. And so today when we partake of 480 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:33,960 the bread week on week and when we partake of the cup, you're 481 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:37,560 saying, God, I'm in this now. I don't want to give up, Lord. 482 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:41,280 Yeah, my faith is shaky, but I still want to perceive here. 483 00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:43,920 I still want to perceive here. I still want to perceive because 484 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:49,200 that builds character and character in turn gives us hope, 485 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:53,520 gives us hope. James One verse 12 says blessed 486 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,480 is the one who persevere under the trial because having stood 487 00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:00,120 the test, that person will receive the crown of life that 488 00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:02,280 the Lord has promised to those who love him. 489 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:05,800 I want to ask you today for those of you especially who are 490 00:27:06,120 --> 00:27:11,840 persevering through just being a solo person who has come to know 491 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,920 Jesus, it's it's a hard journey. Don't give up. 492 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:18,760 Jesus is there, he's watching For those of you who are 493 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:22,680 probably living out the consequences of your sin, have 494 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:24,600 hope. He can turn things around. 495 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:28,120 He can turn things around. God can, God will. 496 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,920 You know, many a times we think, yes, God, eternity is said. 497 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:34,400 So our prayers are likely. Good Lord, if I can close my 498 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,560 eyes, I can spend eternity with you where there won't be pain, 499 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:40,400 there won't be sorrow. Yes, but God saying son and 500 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,280 daughter, I want to see you become mature believers. 501 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,080 I want to see you become a seasoned Christian wherein 502 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:49,840 you've just produced through your procedures, you've produced 503 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:51,760 character, your characters become better. 504 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:56,800 And God wants us to become more refined so that we will be His 505 00:27:57,320 --> 00:27:59,600 into that original design He has created. 506 00:28:01,360 --> 00:28:04,320 As I'm speaking this, I'm also speaking it over my soul, my 507 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:07,360 personality. I'm speaking it over my own 508 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:10,200 spirit. Because many a times my body 509 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:13,040 tends to give up my spirit. Man tends to give up. 510 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:17,200 My soul is downcast. And today, can we persevere 511 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,240 today in the midst of difficulty, in the midst of 512 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:23,440 hardship, in the midst of not being understood, in the midst 513 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:28,080 of being challenged, in the midst of finding confusion, Can 514 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:33,280 we say, God, I will trust you no matter what till I see my 515 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:37,920 breakthrough? Hope is seen when hopelessness 516 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:41,720 is at its maximum. But what is our response going 517 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,160 to be today? Because that's very important. 518 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:48,400 Two Corinthians chapter 12 verses 1710 says this where Paul 519 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,840 tells the Corinthian church. The extraordinary level of 520 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:56,200 revelations I've received is no reason for anyone to exalt me. 521 00:28:56,600 --> 00:29:00,000 For This is why a thorn in my flesh was given to me. 522 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:03,080 That was these messengers sent to harass me, keeping me from 523 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:06,720 becoming arrogant. 3 times I pleaded with the law to relieve 524 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:11,160 me of this, but he answered, My grace is always more than enough 525 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:15,200 for you, and my power finds it's full expression through your 526 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,720 weakness. So I will celebrate my weakness. 527 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:21,200 For when I'm weak I sense more deeply the mighty power of 528 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:24,400 Christ living in me, so I'm not defeated by my weakness, but 529 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:27,080 delighted. For when I feel my weakness and 530 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:31,480 endure mistreatment, when I'm surrounded with troubles on 531 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:36,320 every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ, I 532 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:40,680 am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal 533 00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:44,400 for God's power. The reason why I'm reading this 534 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:47,560 is cause many a times we look at the very struggles that we're 535 00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:51,600 going for lot of us it's our it's our physical limitations. 536 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:53,840 It's probably a skin disease that we have. 537 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:58,520 It's probably our bone arthritic pain, or it's probably some of 538 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:02,960 the limitations that our body has in terms of digestion, in 539 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:04,600 terms of whatever we're going through. 540 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:09,680 But Paul is reminding us here that shouldn't be the cause that 541 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:12,360 pulls us back. The attack of the enemy is real. 542 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:17,200 He will use all that you're going through to pull us down, 543 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,960 to harass us. But God's grace is manifested in 544 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:24,240 our weakness. That is an evidence of God being 545 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,560 mixed into the door of our lives. 546 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:32,360 When you're sick, His strength comes in and helps us to see it 547 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,240 in a light, new light. Some of us are probably having, 548 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:39,560 you know, hereditary ailments that have been passed on, or 549 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:43,120 probably some of us are having things in the midst of that. 550 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,120 Would you not give that the final say? 551 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:49,560 But would you give God the final say to say, God, what is it that 552 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:51,880 I need to tap into you so that I can overcome this? 553 00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:56,960 It says here that it's a portal that I can see God's power 554 00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:58,360 through. So are you able to see God's 555 00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:00,080 power through some of your weaknesses? 556 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,840 I'm not talking about the weaknesses of sin that we need 557 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:07,400 to overcome, but the limitations that some of us have with regard 558 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:08,960 to whatever we are going through. 559 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:12,160 In fact, some theologians I disagree with the fact that it 560 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,760 wasn't a sickness. It was probably the persecution 561 00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:19,040 and the turmoil that he was going through because of being a 562 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:22,200 lover of Jesus. Paul celebrates the weakness 563 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,560 because in celebrating, he's testifying about God's hand over 564 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:29,680 his life. And I pray So today when someone 565 00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:33,760 comes in front and says, I had a hard week, but yet God came 566 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:37,320 through, we need to give a clap and say thank you, God, thank 567 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:40,280 you that you persevered today. If you've shown up here, if 568 00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:43,480 you're listening to this in the midst of a dark cloud 569 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,040 surrounding your head, in the midst where you didn't feel like 570 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:49,440 waking up out of your bed saying God is asking you, would you 571 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:51,680 persevered through this? Would you push through this? 572 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:56,400 Because when we persevere, we give access to God's portal. 573 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,840 What's God's portal, Lord? It was not my strength, but you 574 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,920 gave me strength, Lord, and my weakness, Lord, I didn't feel 575 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:06,120 like doing this, but you gave me the strength. 576 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:08,480 I didn't have insight to this, but you gave me strength. 577 00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:11,640 I didn't have power, but you gave me strength, Lord. 578 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:14,960 And when you look into Paul's life, you know, when you read in 579 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:18,480 Two Corinthians Chapter 11, verses 23 to 29, you see that 580 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:23,520 he's been he's been flogged many times. 581 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:26,280 He's been exposed to death time and again. 582 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:30,880 He's received 40 lashes 3 times. He's been beaten with rods once 583 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:32,880 he's been pelted with stones. Three times he's been 584 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:35,680 shipwrecked. And night and day he was in open 585 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:37,160 sea. He was constantly on the move. 586 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:39,760 He was in danger from rivers, from bandits. 587 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:43,040 He was in danger from fellow Jews, danger from Gentiles, 588 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:46,680 danger the city, danger the country, danger at sea, danger 589 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:52,720 from false believers. He's gone without food, without 590 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:58,720 sleep. Everything that he faced, he 591 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,840 says at the end of it in Two Corinthians Chapter 11, verse 592 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:04,720 13. I must boast, I will boast of 593 00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,680 the things that show my weakness. 594 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:12,720 Perseverance develops my character, but it causes me to 595 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:15,520 acknowledge the need of a saviour even before that, 596 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:20,520 because when character is being developed, it has to change an 597 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:22,680 aspect of a character that's already existing. 598 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:24,880 And that requires pushing through. 599 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:29,480 That requires pushing through. Today a lot of us will face a 600 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:34,920 lot of hardships in our being honest hope when we ask saying 601 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:38,320 God, I want honest hope in my life, Lord Jesus and it if you 602 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:41,240 have to live out with perseverance, how do we live 603 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:42,760 that out? It takes it. 604 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:44,960 It's lived out with perseverance, which means 605 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:48,680 hardships will come. The journey will have its Rd. 606 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:50,680 bumps. The journey will have things 607 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:52,800 that come up which will make it even more hard. 608 00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:56,480 But would you push through? Because God has not given us a 609 00:33:56,480 --> 00:34:00,040 spirit of fear, but of one which one which is of love and of 610 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:02,320 sound mind. Sound mind to know, Lord, I 611 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:03,760 can't do it, but you can't do it. 612 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:07,520 To go from the God of Lord. This is, it seems like an 613 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:10,800 impossibility to me. But Lord, I'm asking you, the 614 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:15,719 God of impossibilities to come into this, come into this. 615 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:18,719 You know, just a couple of weeks back, I was spending some time 616 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,719 with the pastor. And as I was talking to him, he 617 00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:25,280 was sharing from his life of as he had mentioned, you know, I 618 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:28,719 can't come on Sunday, I'll come only on Sunday evening. 619 00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:31,639 And as I was talking with him, he said, my daughter's 620 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:34,400 graduating and it's a big deal for me. 621 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:36,600 And I asked how did the graduation go? 622 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:41,560 And he said, you know what? It's as a family, it's a really 623 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:44,120 big thing. We never, I thought we would see 624 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:47,440 this day, but it's so nice to see hopes come true. 625 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:50,760 And he was just talking back in 2020 when his daughter had 626 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:54,719 joined into college and when COVID had set in, she had gone 627 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:57,040 through a mental breakdown. And in that mental breakdown 628 00:34:57,040 --> 00:34:59,680 they found out that she was having, she was been diagnosed 629 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:02,240 as a bipolar. And what should have been a 630 00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:05,040 three-year course became A7 year course for her to do. 631 00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:07,640 And the family walked through that. 632 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:12,760 The family walked through that. And in the end, after seven 633 00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:15,040 years when she's graduating, as they were there for the 634 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:21,200 graduation ceremony, he said we were tasting God's fruit of what 635 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:24,640 hoping in God looks like. And one thing you need to be 636 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:29,040 sure, the timeline looks long, but it was just not one person. 637 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:31,600 It was an entire family that persevered through that. 638 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:34,680 And I want to pray today and thank God especially for those 639 00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:39,680 who walked out of those persevering moments with 640 00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:43,880 victory, because you've won. You've trampled over so many 641 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,200 things. You've won over so many things, 642 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:48,040 and God's gracing you for much more. 643 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:51,720 And we rejoice with you. But I want to ask those who are 644 00:35:51,720 --> 00:35:55,320 wanting to give up midway to say, God, would you strengthen 645 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:57,000 your feet? Would you strengthen their 646 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:58,120 hands? Would you strengthen your 647 00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:01,520 spirit? And I would ask today, would you 648 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,280 extend that perceiving hope to others? 649 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:08,200 A lot are hopeless today. Would you stand in the gap for 650 00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:09,400 someone else? Would you allow? 651 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:13,680 Because today, if the church has to be radiant, it will be only 652 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:17,600 when we stand for others. Today when we are standing with 653 00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:20,080 others for their miracle, today when we are standing with for 654 00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:22,600 others for their breakthrough, today when we are standing for 655 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:25,040 others and interceding, today when we are standing for others 656 00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:28,760 and warring and bringing down this powers of darkness is when 657 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:34,400 we'll see God come through. So today as we conclude the 658 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:37,280 second point I want to ask today, are we stuck trying to 659 00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:42,080 hold a pity party for ourselves or are you really persevering? 660 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:45,560 If you do not rise up, no one will rise up for us. 661 00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:48,640 This is a decision you personally have to take. 662 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,080 Jesus has already won the victory. 663 00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:55,000 He has done his job and it's it's our time to do our job 664 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,680 because he's paved the way. He's made a way. 665 00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:01,480 He's saying trust me, involve me in this journey. 666 00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:07,440 Hardships will come, but joy comes in the morning. 667 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:11,240 Amen. The third part is honest. 668 00:37:11,240 --> 00:37:14,440 Hope is shared to draw others to God. 669 00:37:15,720 --> 00:37:20,600 Are we willing to run this race till the end so that we can 670 00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:25,560 share in His glory? Yes, but also are we willing to 671 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:29,800 share what He's given to us till we close our eyes here on this 672 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:31,200 earth? One of the things Paul 673 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:35,480 constantly reminds the church tells the churches we are not 674 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:38,440 done till we close our eyes here on this earth. 675 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:41,840 And you know when as as me and my wife have been journeying 676 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:45,720 with quite a few people, you know, we've been seeing how hard 677 00:37:45,720 --> 00:37:48,280 journey gets. It's one thing to start and be 678 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:51,400 so passionate in your 30s and we don't want you to die down. 679 00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,720 Rather we wanted to exponentially increase. 680 00:37:53,720 --> 00:37:56,680 What does that mean? So that when we go into our 80s, 681 00:37:57,160 --> 00:37:59,240 we are more hopeful than ever before. 682 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:01,520 We are more vibrant than ever before. 683 00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:04,880 We are living out God's life than ever before. 684 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:07,720 You know, one of the biggest challenges that I personally 685 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:13,800 take, you know, is when I see a man who's twice as old to me. 686 00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:17,080 You know, Ken, who's a good friend, he's 85 years old and 687 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:20,800 he's doing God's work still today, even after losing his 688 00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:23,360 wife. He's so passionate and that is a 689 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:27,680 constant reminder of what the whole gospel looks like because 690 00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:31,880 the whole gospel is to trust, knowing that God has blessed 691 00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:33,960 him. He has a family, he has 692 00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:36,040 grandkids. Life is full. 693 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:38,440 He can always go back to it, but he's like God. 694 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:41,520 There's a thirst for many more to receive Jesus. 695 00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:45,760 There's a thirst to see many more come into your Kingdom and 696 00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:50,000 that is where we see the Great Commission being fulfilled 697 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:52,600 today. You and I are wanting to fulfill 698 00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:56,480 the Great Commission today, but hope is what will keep us going. 699 00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:58,280 So what, what, what do I mean by that? 700 00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:00,880 Today? What I do will determine what I 701 00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:03,960 do when I get old. If I'm not doing anything today, 702 00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:06,840 I can be assured when I get old I won't be doing anything today. 703 00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:10,560 And that's why we call everyone to serve God's Kingdom in 704 00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:13,800 whatever capacity you can today. Because if you don't have hope 705 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,520 for today in serving God, you will be assured when you get 706 00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:19,760 older you'll just by be yourself. 707 00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:22,560 Yeah, you know God is good. You'll be content and that's all 708 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:24,640 good. But will it be full? 709 00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:29,080 Would it have built character? Would you have perceived? 710 00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:31,600 Through everything is where the question lies. 711 00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:35,640 Paul clears the air that each of us have to do our part. 712 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:39,360 The hope that our eyes are locked and will make room for 713 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:42,800 others to partake of it. We will soon realize we're just 714 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:46,080 one part of the light attracting them to Jesus. 715 00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:48,920 One Corinthians chapter 3 verses 5 to 11. 716 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:51,720 And this is a fundamental problem that we have. 717 00:39:51,720 --> 00:39:53,200 We always think others will do it. 718 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:56,120 No, even my part in this is important. 719 00:39:56,600 --> 00:39:59,920 My part in this is important. Here Paul addresses that to the 720 00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:01,920 Corinthians. Judge in one Corinthians 3 was 5 721 00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:04,040 to 11. After all, who is Apollos? 722 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:06,320 Who is Paul? We are only God's servants 723 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:08,200 through whom you believe the good news. 724 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:10,200 Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 725 00:40:10,440 --> 00:40:13,040 I planted the seed into your hearts, and Apollos watered it. 726 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:16,120 But it was God who made it grow. It's not important who does the 727 00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:17,520 planting or who does the watering. 728 00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:21,400 What's important? Is that God makes a seed grow. 729 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:25,520 The one who plants and the one who waters works together with 730 00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:28,760 the same purpose, and both will be rewarded for your own hard 731 00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:30,880 work. For we are both God's workers 732 00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:33,960 and you are God's field. You are God's building. 733 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:38,160 Because of God's grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an 734 00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:40,280 expert builder. Now others are building on it. 735 00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:42,600 But who is building on this foundation must be careful. 736 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:45,560 No one can lay any foundation other than the one we have 737 00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:48,480 already have, that is Jesus Christ. 738 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:53,760 Paul is confident that because of this hope locked in, he's 739 00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:57,040 able to build the foundation God's called him to build, that 740 00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:00,720 is on Jesus Christ. And so today, when you and I are 741 00:41:00,720 --> 00:41:03,480 doing God's work, let comparison go out. 742 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:07,320 Because if we have to be honest about our hope, we need to 743 00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:10,600 realize that God, in this journey that you're calling me, 744 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:11,960 this is what you're calling me to do. 745 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:16,400 There'll be seasons where I'll be doing A, but if I'm not doing 746 00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:19,920 AI won't be able to do B because when I in my doing A and when 747 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:23,920 I'm, when I'm God moves me to B, He allows me to encourage others 748 00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:27,400 to do A when I move to CI, encourage the other few who are 749 00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:30,880 there to do B. Suddenly we realize we are all 750 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,000 working together on God's field. What started as one. 751 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:37,600 Suddenly there are a multitude of people who are willing to 752 00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:41,880 till the soil, to plow the field, to put the seed, to water 753 00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:45,440 the plant, to make sure the fertilizers are put in, to make 754 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:48,640 sure you're there showing up every day in the field to see 755 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:52,560 people being saved and coming into the saving knowledge of 756 00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:57,360 Jesus Christ when I hope is shared to draw others to Jesus. 757 00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:00,200 We need to realize that we play an equation. 758 00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:04,480 We are not the equation. We are part of the equation. 759 00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:08,720 We are not the equation itself. And many a times we think, Oh, 760 00:42:08,720 --> 00:42:12,760 my time is done. No, God always has an unfolding 761 00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:15,640 that happens. And when that unfolding happens 762 00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:18,840 is when He reveals a part of His will for our plan. 763 00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:22,880 And I want to extend that because if we are not aware of 764 00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:26,040 what God's calling us to do today, because if we are not 765 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:30,360 taking that fate step today, hope will fail or cease to exist 766 00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:32,640 today. What is God laying on your 767 00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:34,920 heart? The city needs you. 768 00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:40,480 Our pin codes need you. Everyone of humanity needs an 769 00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:43,520 aspect of us. Would we rise up today? 770 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:47,200 Would we be honest to say God? I won't be content with just my 771 00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:50,360 name being on the book. I make sure I'm able to draw 772 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:52,800 many others so that their names will be filled into it. 773 00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:57,840 Hope, honest hope, which is shared, draws others to God. 774 00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:00,800 And so today I want to encourage you Philippians. 775 00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:04,680 One was 15 to 18. Paul constantly reminds the 776 00:43:04,680 --> 00:43:06,960 church, don't whatever is being preached. 777 00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:10,120 Some, he says here it is true that some preach Christ out of 778 00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:12,440 envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 779 00:43:12,720 --> 00:43:15,600 The latter do sort of love knowing that I'm put here for 780 00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:18,480 the defence of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of 781 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:22,120 selfish ambition, not sincerely supposing that they can stir up 782 00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:24,600 trouble for me while I'm in chains. 783 00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:27,920 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in 784 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:32,400 every way, whether from false motives of true, whether from 785 00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:34,720 false motives or true, Christ is preached. 786 00:43:34,720 --> 00:43:38,120 And because of this, I rejoice. You know, one of the important 787 00:43:38,120 --> 00:43:42,520 things I want to emphasize here is you and I are not called here 788 00:43:42,520 --> 00:43:45,720 to be judged. We aren't here to sit here to 789 00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:47,920 you know how the judges sit during Olympics when they're 790 00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:55,680 doing that insane rhythms and moves on the in front of them. 791 00:43:55,960 --> 00:43:57,800 They just take and they put 10-9. 792 00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:01,160 They're not here to do that. We are here to do everything out 793 00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:05,000 of the love that we have forgot. However it is preached, however 794 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:08,080 it is to if they have to last the test of time, they will 795 00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:12,160 last. If they are drawing people away, 796 00:44:12,240 --> 00:44:15,280 that's on God between God and then let God be the judge. 797 00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:18,760 Maybe always be clear of what God's calling us to do, which 798 00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:22,600 means we have to be in line with God's calling us to do according 799 00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:24,960 to his word. I it comes down to what I 800 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:27,080 explained first. If you're not having a personal 801 00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:30,720 salvation, this hope that God's calling you to step into, this 802 00:44:30,720 --> 00:44:33,320 hope that he's wanting you to perceive you through and build 803 00:44:33,320 --> 00:44:38,680 character and do will struggle. And the bottom line is in this 804 00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:41,200 entire thing with regard to hope, there's always a constant 805 00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:45,400 motion. Hope cannot be seen when you're 806 00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:48,320 stationary. Hope is seen only when you're 807 00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:51,920 out in constant motion. There's a constant motion that 808 00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:54,960 we as Christ followers are called to exhibit. 809 00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:59,480 John Stott says this. His authority on earth allows us 810 00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:03,000 to dare to go to all the nations. 811 00:45:03,200 --> 00:45:07,640 His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success, and 812 00:45:07,640 --> 00:45:11,360 His presence with us leaves us no choice. 813 00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:15,240 God's authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the 814 00:45:15,240 --> 00:45:17,200 nations. Whatever nation God's calling 815 00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:20,960 you to go, whatever St. The problem is, we are not 816 00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:22,960 willing to occupy the street here. 817 00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:25,080 We're wanting to occupy the street in another country. 818 00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:28,200 God won't allow that to happen. That's being rooted out of 819 00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:30,280 selfishness. Do what God's calling you to do 820 00:45:30,280 --> 00:45:32,320 here. Eventually He will take you to 821 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:34,400 the nations. His authority in heavens will 822 00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:38,920 give you the only hope of success, which means He has won 823 00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:41,440 everything. He is the only one who will set 824 00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:46,320 us up to see things happen. His presence with us leaves us 825 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:50,400 no room, no choice but to go. He believes there's no choice 826 00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:53,200 but to go. And so today, church, you and I 827 00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:58,240 have been commissioned with hope to take hope into this hopeless 828 00:45:58,240 --> 00:46:00,800 world. You know, as I started with 829 00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:06,280 Genesis 26 about Jacob lying down there and witnessing, 830 00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:10,480 having a dream, a stairway to heaven, and then anointing that 831 00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:13,280 place and calling it Bethel. He comes back to that place in 832 00:46:13,280 --> 00:46:17,120 Genesis 35, verses 9 to 15 when we read. 833 00:46:17,520 --> 00:46:20,560 And this is what he says. And Jacob returned to Padhan 834 00:46:20,560 --> 00:46:22,760 Aram. God appeared to him again and 835 00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:24,880 blessed him. God said to him, Your name is 836 00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:26,760 Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob. 837 00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:29,760 Your name will be Israel. So he called him Israel. 838 00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:32,280 And God said to him, I am God Almighty. 839 00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:34,040 Be fruitful and increase in number. 840 00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:36,840 A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and 841 00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:39,160 the kings will be among your descendants. 842 00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:42,440 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I 843 00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:44,840 will give this land to your descendants after you. 844 00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:48,440 Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with 845 00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:50,920 him. Jacob set up a stone pillar at 846 00:46:50,920 --> 00:46:53,960 the place where God had called, talked with him, and he poured 847 00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:56,960 out a drink offering on it. He also poured out oil on it. 848 00:46:56,960 --> 00:46:59,080 Jacob called the place where God talked with him. 849 00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:05,320 Better. Hope realized in Jacob's life at 850 00:47:05,320 --> 00:47:08,600 that point, in this second time when he visited there. 851 00:47:08,760 --> 00:47:12,960 Hope was realized when God brought Jacob back to Better his 852 00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:15,320 ask was for God to protect him on his journey. 853 00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:19,400 You know to to bring him to bring him back to safety to his 854 00:47:19,400 --> 00:47:22,360 household. But when God talks when you see 855 00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:25,360 verses 11 and 12, he says I am God Almighty be fruitful and 856 00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:28,080 increase in number. A nation and a community of 857 00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:30,960 nations will come from you. Kings will be among your 858 00:47:30,960 --> 00:47:33,160 descendants. The land I give Abraham and 859 00:47:33,160 --> 00:47:35,240 Isaac, I will also give you, I'll give you a land to your 860 00:47:35,240 --> 00:47:39,480 descendants. When hope he goes out with that 861 00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:42,200 one prayer, his personal, he encounters God. 862 00:47:42,200 --> 00:47:44,680 He has hopes in God. If you can bring all this, I 863 00:47:44,680 --> 00:47:47,760 will give a 10th. But when he comes back, God 864 00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:53,000 saying you've come back here, now here, here's bigger promises 865 00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:55,320 for you which lasts beyond generations. 866 00:47:56,800 --> 00:48:01,360 And I want to ask you, are we content with just something we 867 00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:07,080 are coming to our terms with, or are we waiting to see that hope 868 00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:10,680 when it's realized in God's terms, it's far beyond what we 869 00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:13,560 can see. Ephesians 320 is what I can 870 00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:16,680 remember more than we can ask or imagine. 871 00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:21,680 And I believe and pray that a lot of us have to migrate from 872 00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:25,480 just our realization of saying this is the hope that I think I 873 00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:28,560 need to have in Jesus to sing God, what is the hope that I 874 00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:30,480 have? Because I'm going to perceive 875 00:48:30,480 --> 00:48:33,480 you, I'm going to be in motion. I'm going to move, Lord, even 876 00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:35,600 when it seems hard, I'm going to push through. 877 00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:37,880 Even when I don't feel like it, I'm going to show up. 878 00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:42,160 Even when it's going to be hard, I will show up and God saying I 879 00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:48,160 will do it for you. And so today in honest hope will 880 00:48:48,160 --> 00:48:51,000 be, can it be birthed out of a personal salvation? 881 00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:53,720 I know what your personal salvation is looking like. 882 00:48:53,720 --> 00:48:56,200 For those of you who have not invited Jesus in, invite him in. 883 00:48:56,760 --> 00:48:59,360 For those of you who committed to Jesus, we probably obey the 884 00:48:59,360 --> 00:49:01,480 waters of baptism. But you've, you've just been, 885 00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:05,040 you know, chilled out God saying you need to start seeing things 886 00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:07,280 for what it is. Would you allow God's Word to 887 00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:10,240 permeate in you? Would faith start being built 888 00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:12,080 upon you? Because when faith is built, 889 00:49:12,240 --> 00:49:16,560 hope suddenly will take place, will be visible, and that hope 890 00:49:16,560 --> 00:49:20,240 will start creating certain things which will allow you to 891 00:49:20,240 --> 00:49:24,400 pursue God even deeper. For those of you who've given up 892 00:49:24,400 --> 00:49:27,320 midway, I pray and ask, would you live out this hope with 893 00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:30,240 perseverance? If you've stopped because it's 894 00:49:30,240 --> 00:49:33,400 too difficult, I pray you would stand up and say, God, I'm ready 895 00:49:33,400 --> 00:49:35,680 again. If hope is deferred, it's hard, 896 00:49:35,680 --> 00:49:38,240 and you're trying to create your own path, would you say God, no, 897 00:49:38,240 --> 00:49:39,880 I'm sorry, I'm coming back to you. 898 00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:42,240 Give me perseverance or I'll see it to you. 899 00:49:42,240 --> 00:49:46,440 Ordain my steps. Psalms 37 says the steps of a 900 00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:48,720 good and a righteous man are directed and established by the 901 00:49:48,720 --> 00:49:51,560 Lord, and he delights in his way and blesses his part. 902 00:49:51,560 --> 00:49:55,280 I pray that we'll be able to allow God to come through into 903 00:49:55,280 --> 00:49:59,560 that. For those of us who've struggled 904 00:49:59,560 --> 00:50:02,880 with the fact that Lord, we've made our hope all about 905 00:50:02,880 --> 00:50:06,760 ourselves, I pray our honest hope will draw others to God as 906 00:50:06,760 --> 00:50:09,800 much as we are being drawn to what God's calling us to do. 907 00:50:10,680 --> 00:50:14,520 There are people who are who are who are waiting to experience 908 00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:17,280 hope. Because of your hope, are you 909 00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:20,000 willing to share about it? Are you willing to rise up about 910 00:50:20,000 --> 00:50:23,440 the tide and say, God, I'm here? Are you willing to stand up 911 00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:26,320 about your own circumstances and over the pity that you've been 912 00:50:26,320 --> 00:50:28,680 asking to say, God, I'm ready to share. 913 00:50:28,680 --> 00:50:31,160 I'm ready to contend for others. I'm ready to stand in the gap 914 00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:33,040 for others. I'm ready to do what you're 915 00:50:33,040 --> 00:50:36,280 calling me to do. So church, can I pray with you 916 00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:38,320 right now? Loving Heavenly Father, I just 917 00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:42,240 thank you, Lord, for this time. I pray, Lord, that hope, Lord 918 00:50:42,240 --> 00:50:46,280 Jesus, for us, we come, Lord, in all sincerity to you, in all 919 00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:49,720 truthfulness, Lord Jesus, we want to say, Lord, for most of 920 00:50:49,720 --> 00:50:52,880 us we've lived for ourselves, but we come back to say, Lord, 921 00:50:53,160 --> 00:50:57,480 our faith in you causes us to see bigger things, Lord, and I 922 00:50:57,480 --> 00:50:59,600 pray we will see that right now we will stand. 923 00:50:59,760 --> 00:51:02,040 We'll take the stand that you're calling us, Lord Jesus. 924 00:51:02,040 --> 00:51:05,120 We will, Lord, our personal salvation will birth out that 925 00:51:05,120 --> 00:51:07,520 hope, Lord Jesus. Lord, we pray that we will live 926 00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:10,680 out with persevere and say, I pray especially, Lord, for those 927 00:51:10,880 --> 00:51:13,880 who are weary, who are tired, would you refresh them right 928 00:51:13,880 --> 00:51:15,400 now? For those who are in the words 929 00:51:15,400 --> 00:51:18,960 of giving up, would they have a Rhema word from you, Lord Jesus, 930 00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:22,080 to hold on to? Lord Jesus, I pray that we will 931 00:51:22,080 --> 00:51:25,400 live the Zoe life here on earth. Lord Jesus, we thank you. 932 00:51:26,080 --> 00:51:28,920 I pray, Lord, this honest hope will be shared to others. 933 00:51:28,920 --> 00:51:31,080 It'll draw others into your fold. 934 00:51:31,080 --> 00:51:33,960 Lord Jesus, we thank you. Go before us that we'll be in 935 00:51:33,960 --> 00:51:36,400 motion. Lord, we will constantly be in 936 00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:40,400 motion to see what you're unfolding in our life time after 937 00:51:40,400 --> 00:51:43,960 time after time. Thank you Jesus. 938 00:51:44,640 --> 00:51:46,840 I pray especially, Lord, for all those, Lord Jesus, who are in 939 00:51:46,840 --> 00:51:50,120 the season right now where probably that hope that they 940 00:51:50,120 --> 00:51:52,360 were hoping for is crushed. I pray that Lord, they'll go 941 00:51:52,360 --> 00:51:56,880 back and ask you, Lord Jesus. Lord, for those who are waiting, 942 00:51:56,880 --> 00:51:58,440 for those who are waiting for that breakthrough. 943 00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:02,320 Lord, we believe in the power of the supernatural as a church, we 944 00:52:02,320 --> 00:52:03,560 ask that you would come through, Lord. 945 00:52:03,560 --> 00:52:07,040 I pray wombs will be open today. Lord Jesus, I pray that Lord 946 00:52:07,040 --> 00:52:09,920 hearts would be open. Lord Jesus, I pray open doors of 947 00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:12,880 opportunity will be open. Lord Jesus, I pray, Lord, the 948 00:52:12,880 --> 00:52:15,800 clutches of debt will be broken and people will be liberated. 949 00:52:15,800 --> 00:52:18,800 Lord Jesus, right now I pray for those who've been longing for 950 00:52:18,800 --> 00:52:20,600 jobs that those will happen right now. 951 00:52:20,600 --> 00:52:23,840 Lord, I pray a word would go forth, Lord Jesus, as it went 952 00:52:23,840 --> 00:52:26,600 forth when the centurion came, that we would see miracles 953 00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:28,720 happen. Lord, the doors of 954 00:52:28,720 --> 00:52:32,960 impossibilities will start breaking down because the God of 955 00:52:32,960 --> 00:52:35,600 impossibilities has come in and it's starting to break things 956 00:52:35,600 --> 00:52:38,240 down. Go before I start. 957 00:52:38,240 --> 00:52:40,880 Jesus, your blood covering over each and everyone, take charge. 958 00:52:41,120 --> 00:52:43,160 Your most holy name we pray. Amen. 959 00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:47,280 Amen, Church. I pray even as you step out this 960 00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:50,360 week that you will step out with confidence knowing that he is 961 00:52:50,360 --> 00:52:54,240 with you. The faith would mature to come 962 00:52:54,240 --> 00:52:56,960 to a place where you'll be able to have this honest hope to see 963 00:52:56,960 --> 00:52:59,280 God come through, in and through your lives. 964 00:52:59,640 --> 00:53:02,680 I pray God will bless you every step of the way, strengthen you, 965 00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:06,120 keep you, have a blessed week and God bless you. 966 00:53:06,120 --> 00:53:08,640 And remember that whoever finds Jesus finds life. 967 00:53:08,680 --> 00:53:11,280 God bless you all. Thanks for. 968 00:53:11,280 --> 00:53:15,160 Listening to this message, we hope you were blessed to hear 969 00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:18,880 more messages like this. Make sure to subscribe and check 970 00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:21,560 out our podcast channel for past episodes. 971 00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:25,320 If you like what you are hearing, consider rating us, 972 00:53:25,440 --> 00:53:28,440 subscribing and even sharing it with friends. 973 00:53:28,800 --> 00:53:33,160 That would really help us. For more content from Via Zion 974 00:53:33,520 --> 00:53:37,680 and to connect with us, go to viazion.in. 975 00:53:38,240 --> 00:53:41,840 Remember, whoever finds Jesus finds life.