Learning Hope The Hard Way

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:06.400 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:07.760 And I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.680 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:13.080 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving. 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.560 In your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:18.239 Enjoy the message, and what a privileged to minister of 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:19.400 the Word of God to you today. 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:21.079 I decided just to use one verse. 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.639 It's completely coincidental that this is my eleventh Christmas sermon, 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:27.880 is the pastor of Elevation Church, and my text happens 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:32.400 to be Isaiah eleven. This is the coolest Christmas scripture 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:35.800 that you've never heard. I promise you you've never heard this. 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:39.120 You probably never heard this little verse of scripture. And 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:41.320 I know you've never heard it in a Christmas sermon 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.280 and I had not either, So I decided just to 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:46.879 preach it. And the Lord has really been using it. 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:52.120 And I want to read you this verse. And don't 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:53.640 worry if you don't see what it has to do 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:55.200 with Christmas right when I read it, but you will 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.279 in a minute. A shoot will come up. This is 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:02.200 Isaiah eleven. Verse one shoot will come up from the 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:09.959 stump of Jesse from his roots, a branch will bear fruit. Again, 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:13.559 a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:19.480 from his roots, A branch will bear fruit. 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:22.240 It is a very. 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:27.319 Promising prophecy that Isaiah delivers to a people who have 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:33.080 been cut down and reduced to almost nothing. One of 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:35.520 my favorite country preachers used to have a saying. He 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:39.640 would say, when you're down to nothing, God is up 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:40.200 to something. 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:43.520 Elbow your neighbor real quick, tell him. 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:47.160 God is up to something in your life, even if 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.160 you can't feel it, even if you can't see it, 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.040 even if you can't discern it with your natural senses. 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.360 I want you to know that God is up to something. 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:56.720 In your life. 0:01:56.720 --> 0:01:58.880 If you've had a Banner year or a Baron year, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.880 God is up to something in your life. He was 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:06.040 up to something in the nation of Israel. They had 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:11.040 placed their hope in other gods, and yet the promise 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:15.520 of redemption echoes over seven hundred years before the birth 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:19.680 of Christ through the prophet Isaiah. He says, a shoot 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:24.800 will come up from the stump of Jesse from his roots, 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:26.519 a branch. 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:27.680 Will bear fruit. 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:29.480 Let me back up and read that one more time, 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:32.640 because I think I see Jesus in this text from 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:37.600 his roots, A branch will bear fruit. Could it be 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:41.560 that the branch Isaiah speaks of is the baby that 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.240 was born in the town of Bethlehem. Could it be 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:49.600 that the eagle eyed prophet is seeing through seven centuries 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.720 into our present hope. 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:54.240 Peter calls it a living hope. 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:58.240 The author of Hebrews calls it an anchor for our souls. 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:02.520 We celebrate this season that hope has come. Somebody, shall 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.960 I have a hope? I have a hope. Say it again, 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.880 I have a hope. Let the devil hear you say it, 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:11.360 because he's been messing with you and you've had a 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:14.160 hard year. But let him know that you're still standing 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:15.919 by the grace of God and you. 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:21.480 Have a hope. Somebody, shall I have a hope? And 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:21.960 it's a. 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:26.000 Certain kind of hope. It's not a floating hope. I 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:28.359 saw Holly watch a movie a few years ago. It's 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.160 been quite a few years, and they called the movie 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:31.880 Hope floats. 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:34.880 I didn't watch the movie. Holly had it on. 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:43.240 And I don't know anything about the movie, but I 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:45.840 know that the title is inaccurate, because. 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:49.000 Real hope is like an anchor. 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:54.880 It doesn't float on the surface of your situation, but 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.360 it gets down to the bottom and holds on tight 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:01.840 while you're going through hell. Can I preach a little 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:09.040 bit on Christmas Eve? Just a little bit? And so 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:11.960 when you get Paul involved. Paul is the New Testament 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:15.280 apostle who took the Gospel to the Gentiles, and he 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:19.279 says something instructive in Romans chapter eight. He wants to 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:22.320 talk about the nature of hope, and when he goes 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:27.640 to talk about it, he says that in this hope, 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.680 this is Romans eight twenty four, we were saved, But 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.120 hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:37.560 hopes for what they already have. But if we hope 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:41.080 for what we do not have, if we can. 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:44.720 Hold on and hold out and hope for what we 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:46.480 do not yet have, we wait for. 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:52.440 It patiently, and patience is the proof of hope. My 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:57.960 subject for this Christmas is learning hope the hard way. 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:01.400 Learning hope the hard way. 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.560 Because what Isaiah's stump that has been cut down in 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:09.440 Paul's theology, christology and numatology of the Spirit of God 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:11.279 that lives on the inside of you all have in 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:16.359 common is that they describe a certain kind of hope, 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.400 not the kind of hope that you might have as 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:26.280 a Panther's fan. Listen, I hope that the Clemson Tigers 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.560 beat the Ohio State Buckeyes. 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:31.880 As do all Christians. 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:38.880 Now tossed around like that, the word hope means very little, 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:40.560 because the fact of the matter is it. 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:41.960 Won't bother me much if they don't. 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:45.680 A bunch of boys and some spandex aren't going to 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:48.320 keep me up at night. I am not so worried 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:51.279 as to really say I hope. All I really mean 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:54.080 is it would be nice. It'd be nice my mom 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:55.800 went to Clemson. It would be nice if they got 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:57.800 to win. I don't care. I don't really hope for that. 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.839 I didn't come to talk to you on Christmas Eve 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:03.600 when you could be doing a lot of other things 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:08.680 about that kind of hope. Today, I'm talking about a 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.880 certain kind of hope, a hope that has to be 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:13.719 learned the hard way. How many have ever had to 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.360 learn something the hard way? If your husband isn't raising 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:18.320 his hand, maybe you could raise it for him if 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:22.080 he don't want to be honest, some things you have 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.440 to learn the hard way. Some things can only be 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:30.040 developed the hard way. I was talking to a campus pastor. 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:32.240 It might have been you, Jonathan, I don't remember, and 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:34.760 they asked me about my preparation, and I told him 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:37.400 a story. I said, I prepare a lot before I preach, 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:40.960 and I overprepare. The reason I overprepare is because one time, 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:44.039 thirteen years ago, I went to speak at an event. 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:46.560 I got lost on the way, so I started getting angry, 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:49.440 and I was a little flustered. 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:49.719 When I got there. 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:51.440 And I got up in front of the event and 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:56.560 it was a mother daughter banquet, and I've never been 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:59.680 more unprepared for anything in my life. I didn't know 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.360 it was other daughter banquet. I had prepared for something different. 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.520 I thought it was a youth service, and I didn't 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:07.360 have anything to say to the mothers and daughters. 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.600 But I learned the hard way that day. 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:12.040 I hated how that felt so much, being up in 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:13.920 front of people with a microphone and a Bible. 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.320 I resolved in my heart I will never stand. 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:20.560 In front of people behind a pulpit unprepared again. But 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:23.720 it took the experience of embarrassment. You know, my mouth 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:27.320 is going dry, and my face is turning red, and 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:31.040 I stood there and I resolved. I promised myself, I 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:32.320 will never. 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:33.480 Be in that situation again. 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:36.240 And it doesn't mean that all my sermons are going 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:38.720 to be great, and it doesn't mean that all of 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.160 my sermons are going to be funny or equally inspiring, 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:44.280 but they will always be my best. I decided that day, 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.200 but I had to learn it the hard way. Those 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:48.800 of you who come to the church know we have 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.000 three kids. The only reason I keep them around this 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:56.040 for sermon material. And oldest one's eleven. His name's Elijah, 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:58.080 and he gave me a good line the other day 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.000 we were writing. I was taking him to school, and 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:04.000 I said, who is your favorite teacher that you've ever had? 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:04.960 He's in sixth grade. 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:06.720 Now that's not a prairie quest, but if you want 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.640 to throw us in on your list, that's okay. And 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:13.760 he said, he said, He said, it depends what you 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:18.560 mean by favorite. Do you mean the one that I 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:21.480 had the most fun with or the one that I 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:26.040 learned the most from, Because those answers would be different 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.720 depending on what you mean by favorite. How did he 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:34.520 understand that about school as an eleven year old? And 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.400 we don't get it in our Christian life, in our 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.800 spiritual life. 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:41.719 That the seasons of our life that are the. 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:46.199 Most fun aren't necessarily the most fruitful, And the seasons 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.240 of our life that we get the most out of 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.439 aren't necessarily the ones that we would choose to go through. 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:55.520 There are some seasons of your life that will cut 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:59.160 you down and take off your branches. We call them 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:02.920 pruning season. But even in the pruning is a promise. 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:06.800 Isaiah said, I see a stump cut down to nothing, 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.280 but I see a shoot coming forth from the stump 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:12.439 and got us up to something. 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:13.880 In your life. This Christmas. 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.640 So we celebrate this season that hope has come into 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:22.520 the world, but we've got to remember not only that 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:25.960 it has come or who it came through, but how 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:30.760 it came. I mean, it had to be hard. It 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:34.920 had to be hard. That's kind of left out by 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.160 the time you see our modern interpretation of the Nativity. 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:41.600 It had to be hard for Joseph to really believe 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:47.760 that his wife, who had not had sex with him, 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.160 because they were not husband and wife yet, but they 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.319 were what the Bible calls betrothed, that his wife, being 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:57.600 a virgin, was pregnant. It had to be hard for 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:03.160 him to really take that at God's word. It had 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:04.880 to be hard for Mary to have to look people 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:08.480 in the eye and convince them that. 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:10.280 What she was carrying was from the Holy Spirit. 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:12.120 Forget about even that part, okay, because it had to 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:13.160 be hard for them to believe. 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:15.000 I know that, But just. 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:18.880 Physically, the way God chose to come into the world 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.560 shows us something about the nature of the way he works, 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:24.679 and I think we should look at it, because if 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:29.640 you sanitize the Christmas story, you strip it of its significance. 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:31.920 To miss the. 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:35.480 Struggle of the Christmas story is to miss a window 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:35.920 into the. 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:37.640 Way God works. When God wanted to. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:40.600 Come into the world, not only did he pick a virgin, 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:44.960 Not only did he pick a womb that would represented 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:49.880 impossibility so that he could bring forth infinite potential. Not 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:53.040 only did he pick the hardest situation to bring forth 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:56.800 this son, but he didn't even make hotel reservations. When 0:10:56.840 --> 0:11:00.079 it came time for them to stay in Bethlehem. They 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:03.040 didn't even have They didn't even have a room at 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:03.520 the Ritz. 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:04.880 When you think if. 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:09.640 God was coming into the world, he would Airbnb or 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.960 something to make sure that this couple had a place 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:15.840 to stay. Talk to me somebody and see. We miss 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:18.600 it because we think that when God says he's gonna 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:21.280 do something in our lives, it's going to be easy. 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:21.840 But it's not. 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:25.199 It has to be hard. 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:29.160 A quick look at the history of the Bible shows 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:33.200 you that God likes to do things the hard way. 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.760 It is his preferred method of carrying out his purpose. 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:41.240 So don't think you're weird if your life has been hard, 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:46.600 and don't assume that you're doing something wrong, because God 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.040 will often allow life to cut you down to the stock. 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:51.760 Oh yeah, he did it to Moses. 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.800 Moses was called to lead the children of Israel out 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:56.600 of Egypt. I'm gonna take you through the whole Bible, 0:11:57.559 --> 0:11:59.400 but I do want to go to Exodus because there's 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.480 this interesting Prisms verse that says, out of Egypt, I've 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:03.600 called my son because Jesus had to go with his 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:05.520 parents to Egypt when he was very little, because Herod 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:07.319 wanted to kill him. Because God doesn't birth his son 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:10.080 into the world into ideal circumstances, but into a very 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:12.680 chaotic environment where Roman oppression was so common to the 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:14.560 people that they feared for their very life under the 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:17.640 madman named Herod. We think we have bad presidential candidates. 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:19.920 I mean, this guy was killing babies in Bethlehem when 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:22.440 he heard Jesus was born because it represented a threat 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:24.840 to the throne. And so Isaiah's prophesying to a people 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:27.360 who are under a Syrian oppression, and Jesus comes into 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:31.160 the world under Roman oppression. Because God likes to come 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:35.880 into hard situations, He's not scared of that. And so 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:37.800 when he picks Moses, he says, go to Pharaoh, the 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:39.400 most powerful man in the world. 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:40.560 And tell him to let my people go. 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:42.360 And when you tell him to let my people go, 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:46.680 he's going to say no. Now, why would God tell 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.840 me to do something, And in the next breath inform 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:51.559 me that it won't work. 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:58.840 Because it had to be hard. 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.360 If it was easy for Moses, if he just walked 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.680 up into Pharaoh's court and said let my people go 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.320 and Pharaoh said all right, Moses would dab on Pharaoh 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:14.000 walk out and think he was convincing. But Pharaoh had 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:16.640 to say no so that God could And this is 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:17.520 God's own wording. 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:18.360 I didn't make this up. 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:23.120 He said, I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that I 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:26.920 can gain glory. In other words, if it wasn't hard, 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.520 you would think it was you. If it wasn't hard, 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.240 you would trust in yourself, and yourself is not an 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:38.280 adequate support system for the glory of God. So I've 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:42.760 got to allow some things into your life that are impossible. 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:45.280 For you so that you can know what Mary knew. 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.360 That nothing shall be impossible with God. 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:49.600 It had to be hard. 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:52.959 By the time the. 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:55.840 Israelites came out of Egypt, they come up to the 0:13:55.880 --> 0:14:00.680 Red Sea and God instead of taking them around the 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:02.920 body of water, WA's what God does? 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:04.720 God is kind of crazy. 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:08.120 God says, I'm not gonna take you around it. That 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.240 would be the normal way, that would be the human way. 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:13.319 Let's do it the hard way. 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:15.360 I'm not gonna take you around it. 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:17.040 I'm gonna take you through it. 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:20.520 Stretch out to your staff, and the waters will part. 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:22.080 And about the time. 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:25.280 You get through, look back over your soular and the 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:27.160 Egyptians that were ruling. 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:30.680 Over you, you will see them no more. I'm about to drown. 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:38.400 What's chasing you down? But I gotta take you the 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:43.760 hard way, the hard way. God likes to do it 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:44.320 the hard way. 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:46.200 I don't have time to tell you about David and 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.600 his slingshot. God could have used the armed soldier to 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.320 kill Goliath, but how would they have known that he 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.080 was the Lord if God didn't do it through something 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:57.040 so silly as one rock. 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.680 God likes to do things the hard way. Get so 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:01.200 if you have. 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:04.160 Thirty two thousand men, he's not gonna let you fight 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:05.680 with thirty two thousand men. 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.040 He's gonna get you down to three hundred. 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:11.000 Maybe that's why you've been cut down to a stump. 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:14.200 Maybe you were relying on the fruit too much. But 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:16.800 this is a season where God wants to prove your 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:29.000 root system and show you real hope, and sometimes you. 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:29.920 You got to learn it the hard way. 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.040 He couldn't come into the world floating on the crowd 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:38.360 cloud looking like some superhero. 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:39.800 He couldn't. 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:42.200 He couldn't have come like that with an s on 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:42.800 his chest. 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:44.080 For savior of the world. 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:48.800 Had to come in weakness, so that you would know 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.320 that in your weakness he is strong. 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:57.640 And I don't know it's because I. 0:15:57.640 --> 0:15:59.800 Spend so much time speaking to young people that I 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:02.240 think in such simplistic terms, or maybe I'm just a 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:02.840 simple man. 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:06.520 But I started thinking about. 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:10.400 And I texted Jess and I said give me a 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:13.680 bouncy ball. I want to use it in the sermon. 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:14.720 I didn't tell her I wanted to use it in 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:16.080 the sermon. I said, give me a bouncy ball. I 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.560 didn't tell her why I wanted it. Maybe she thought 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:20.560 I was losing my mind, or I hadn't bought Christmas 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:21.160 for Holly yet. 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:23.480 That'd be bad, wouldn't it. 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:32.320 But I was thinking that it has the ability to 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.320 bounce back. That's exactly what it was designed to do. 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:40.800 That's exactly what it's meant for. That's why it's called 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:45.080 a bouncy ball. They named it appropriately for the function 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:47.000 that it is intended to serve, for the potential that 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:48.840 it has within its composite structure. 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:53.400 But in order. 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.440 See if I did the same thing, give me a chair, Rick, 0:16:57.480 --> 0:16:58.840 I know he doesn't mind giving me his chair. 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:02.320 Rick could do anything for me when you're recking anything. 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:04.960 Anything to help me preach the gospel, even even your 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:09.960 own seat on Christmas Eve. Now, look, same ball, different surface. 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:16.399 Didn't work, because in order for this to do what 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:21.439 it's meant to do, the surface that it bounces on 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:27.719 has to be She's on it. Some of y'all are 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:33.760 remedial it has to be. It has to be. And 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:39.560 maybe that's why in this season of your life things 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:43.920 have been hard. Maybe God isn't punishing you. Maybe he's 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:49.800 preparing you. Maybe you've been cut down for a comeback. 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:54.240 See as a believer, y'all better help me. Preacher, I'll 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:58.959 have you here until midnight. As a believer in Jesus Christ, 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:05.040 you have the ability within you to bounce back. Maybe 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:09.960 that's why they lay Jesus in a borrowed grave, because 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:12.520 God had to show the world. 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:13.360 That you can put me. 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:16.480 Down in rock bottom, but you can't keep. 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:20.320 Me from bouncing back. Does anybody have a bounce back 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:22.560 in your sphere? At this Christian. 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:28.800 Touch, three people say I can bounce back. I can 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:32.240 bounce back. I have a hope that bounces back. I 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:35.600 can bounce back from rock bottom. As a matter of fact, 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:39.400 the harder the bottom, the higher the bounce. God let 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:41.879 me be cut down for a little while. But I 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:44.000 see a shoe coming from the stock. 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:50.440 It had to be hard. 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:53.720 Mary had to wonder, the Bible says she. 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:55.240 Pondered these things in her heart. 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.040 What was happening inside of her wasn't obvious to the 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:00.800 people around her, because it. 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:06.520 Had to be hard, and it had to be hidden. Hidden. 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:12.960 When God really likes something, he hides it. We get 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:15.920 sent a lot of delicious Christmas treats this time of year. 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:17.680 Praise the Lord. 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:23.480 And when I like it, okay, I put it out 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:23.880 for the. 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:27.440 Kids when I really like it. 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:34.000 I have some places around the house, come on that 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:40.040 I can put stuff where Graham can't find it, where 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:44.160 the devil can't find it. I have some secret compartments 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:45.840 for certain carbohydrates. 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:47.679 Holly doesn't even know that I have. 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:52.359 I'm not stashing anything illegal, baby, but sometimes peanut butter, 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:56.600 some stuff is too good for me to just leave out. 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:01.919 And don't you find it the least been intriguing. I mean, 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:04.880 I just love the Bible. Here's Isaiah seven hundred years 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:06.000 out from the birth of Christ. 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:09.919 Now we have what Isaiah was hoping for. 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:15.080 And I wonder do we take it for granted because 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:18.919 we've got it. Paul said, it's harder to hope the 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:20.960 more you have, because when you have it, you lose 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:23.000 your ability to hope because you start to hope in 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:23.520 what you. 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:27.160 Have and you forget how to hope when you don't 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:27.520 have it. 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:32.560 Hope for reconciliation when it's not going well, Hope for 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:38.919 provision when you're down to nothing. But God is up 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:44.239 to something. And Isaiah said, you can see it in 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:48.960 the roots. But the roots, that's the part of the 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:52.760 tree that you can't see. But that's where the action is. 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:59.360 As long as that tree stays rooted, it has the 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:06.720 promise of new beginnings. So Isaiah I said, God's doing 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:15.719 a hidden work in your life. Sh He's up to something. 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:22.119 Christmas came in a whisper. Jesus spent the first couple 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:27.360 of years of this life hiding from Herod because when 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:31.240 God brings a promise into the earth, that alerts the enemy. 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:36.320 And maybe you've been in a season of hiding. Maybe 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:40.399 God is trying to show you the nature of true hope, 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:44.160 not the kind that floats, but the kind that gets 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:47.680 down deep enough in your heart where people can't get it. 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:52.040 Some of you keep giving your hope away easily. You 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:55.560 haven't learned how to hide it. You're not rooted yet, 0:21:56.520 --> 0:21:59.240 and you have hope when good things happen. But how 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:03.280 is your home when God seems silent? How is your 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:05.959 hope when there's no fruit on the tree? How is 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:09.400 your hope. It's in those seasons. Elijah said, it depends, 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:12.840 do you mean the teacher that taught me the most 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:14.919 or the teacher I had the most fun with. Some 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:18.280 of God's greatest work in my life was when I 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:22.640 couldn't feel him. That's where he built my faith. When 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:27.320 I couldn't feel him. He had to hide my faith 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:32.080 beneath my feelings. That's where hope lies. Beneath the surface. 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:35.440 That's where hope lies. When you get a bad report 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:40.960 from the doctor, but somehow, some way, you still have hope. 0:22:41.520 --> 0:22:44.560 Not just hope when you're healthy, not just hope when 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:47.479 it's a clean bill, not just hope when there is 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:50.840 a bonus, hope when you don't know how you're going 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:53.639 to make it through. But my hope doesn't have to 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:54.359 know how. 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:58.920 I know who. I don't know how, but I know who. 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:00.960 I don't know when, but I know who. 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:06.080 I don't even know what, but I know who. 0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:10.919 It and all. 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:18.639 It's an anchor for my soul. It's an anchor. And 0:23:18.680 --> 0:23:22.800 what does an anchor do? Goes all the way down 0:23:24.280 --> 0:23:29.120 to the bottom, and from a stump a shoot. 0:23:28.880 --> 0:23:29.600 Is coming forth. 0:23:31.200 --> 0:23:33.640 Think about it. The stump of. 0:23:33.640 --> 0:23:37.880 Jesse that was David's father that represented the Kingdom of Israel, 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:42.240 and when that kingdom was cut down, God shows Isaiah's 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:43.040 word to say. 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:47.200 There's a stump coming forth from the shoote. 0:23:48.600 --> 0:23:52.000 God said this Christmas, some of you have been going 0:23:52.040 --> 0:23:54.720 through things and you thought God was gone. 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:56.960 He's not gone. 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:02.840 He is preparing you or growth, and He is rooting 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:08.320 your hope in a deeper place. I used to think 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:10.840 that disappointment was the enemy of hope. I don't think 0:24:10.880 --> 0:24:20.240 so anymore. I think disappointment is the doorway to deeper hope. 0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:24.199 See, you have to learn it the hard way. You 0:24:24.240 --> 0:24:25.280 have to put your hope. 0:24:25.040 --> 0:24:27.120 In a person and find out that people can't hold 0:24:27.160 --> 0:24:31.440 your hope. They're not meant to. You have to put 0:24:31.480 --> 0:24:35.760 your hope in your bank ballots to realize that your 0:24:35.800 --> 0:24:36.880 bank account can't. 0:24:36.720 --> 0:24:40.600 Hold your hope. God help you if you're looking to. 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:46.639 A governmental agency to hold your hope right now. And 0:24:46.720 --> 0:24:50.119 maybe God even allows nation sometimes to get down to 0:24:50.200 --> 0:24:55.520 a stump so a shoot can come forth. And the 0:24:55.560 --> 0:24:59.199 Lord said, there would be somebody here today who has 0:24:59.240 --> 0:25:01.520 allowed your hope to be in things and people and 0:25:01.560 --> 0:25:05.359 success and status. And one day when and if I 0:25:05.440 --> 0:25:08.399 ever and he brought you here, and there's a shoot 0:25:08.440 --> 0:25:12.439 coming forth from the stump. This little Christmas message is 0:25:12.640 --> 0:25:13.160 just the thing. 0:25:13.440 --> 0:25:17.520 See, you came just for Grandma, You came just to 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:18.320 check it off. 0:25:18.720 --> 0:25:24.399 But God had something different, something deeper, something lasting in mind. 0:25:25.160 --> 0:25:29.280 God wants to give you hope. But my brother, my sister, 0:25:29.359 --> 0:25:32.520 you've got to take hold of it. Hope is here, 0:25:32.520 --> 0:25:35.000 but it is not yours until you take hold of it. 0:25:36.440 --> 0:25:39.320 Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence 0:25:39.320 --> 0:25:43.440 of things not seen, and from its roots a branch 0:25:43.960 --> 0:25:47.879 will bring forth fruit. You cannot have the fruit of 0:25:47.920 --> 0:25:52.800 fulfillment without the branch of Jesus Christ. That's why he 0:25:52.920 --> 0:25:56.760 was born. He is the branch. And you don't have 0:25:56.800 --> 0:26:00.520 to leave this place disconnected from God. You don't have 0:26:00.600 --> 0:26:03.800 to leave this place disconnected from hope. And you don't 0:26:03.840 --> 0:26:06.880 have to leave this place down to nothing. A shoot 0:26:07.280 --> 0:26:11.240 is coming forth from the stump, and hope is being 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:12.960 born as the word of. 0:26:12.960 --> 0:26:15.800 God goes forth. This is your day. 0:26:16.200 --> 0:26:19.560 Today is born to you in the city of David, 0:26:19.840 --> 0:26:22.280 a savior, which is Christ, the Lord. 0:26:22.680 --> 0:26:26.080 He is the Prince. This is the hope. Now is 0:26:26.160 --> 0:26:28.520 the time, This is the hope. 0:26:28.600 --> 0:26:31.360 He is the Prince, and now is the top. 0:26:34.280 --> 0:26:34.720 This day. 0:26:37.960 --> 0:26:39.320 I want to ask you to stand at all of 0:26:39.320 --> 0:26:42.560 our locations. I'm praying for people right now who need 0:26:42.600 --> 0:26:50.359 to take hold of hope. I had a special sense 0:26:50.359 --> 0:26:52.600 of what God wanted to do in this worship experience. 0:26:53.480 --> 0:26:56.720 This will be the greatest response of people giving their 0:26:56.720 --> 0:26:59.199 lives to Christ that we will see all Christmas in 0:26:59.240 --> 0:27:02.600 this worship periods right now. There are many of you 0:27:03.600 --> 0:27:07.600 who have never truly placed your hope in Christ. The 0:27:07.720 --> 0:27:11.199 story is familiar to you, but you are not rooted 0:27:11.200 --> 0:27:15.639 in it. And you know, if we were just talking, 0:27:16.720 --> 0:27:18.400 I wish we could just talk. I wish we didn't 0:27:18.440 --> 0:27:20.159 have to be in this crowd like this where you 0:27:20.280 --> 0:27:22.919 want to act like you got your fake fruit on 0:27:22.960 --> 0:27:25.720 your tree and acting like you're But if we could 0:27:25.760 --> 0:27:31.760 just talk, you would say. 0:27:29.160 --> 0:27:30.960 Man, I'm far away from God. 0:27:31.920 --> 0:27:33.560 And you may feel like the shepherds who were the 0:27:33.600 --> 0:27:35.600 last ones who ever thought that God would appear to them, 0:27:35.640 --> 0:27:36.760 but they got the first noel. 0:27:39.000 --> 0:27:43.760 And maybe that's you. Maybe maybe you've become disconnected. 0:27:45.160 --> 0:27:47.440 Maybe you had a connection with God at one point 0:27:47.480 --> 0:27:49.359 in your life, but. 0:27:49.280 --> 0:27:50.720 You've been cut down to a stump. 0:27:50.760 --> 0:27:54.960 The good news is that from that stump, a shoot, 0:27:56.280 --> 0:28:04.040 a small thing that seems so insignificant, so little, that 0:28:04.040 --> 0:28:05.400 you'll miss it if you walk by it. 0:28:05.480 --> 0:28:07.800 I think these are the moments that God speaks to us. 0:28:07.720 --> 0:28:10.600 At and if you're not careful, you'll walk right by 0:28:10.640 --> 0:28:14.119 it and go right back into your next year, disconnected 0:28:14.160 --> 0:28:16.880 from hope, putting your hope in people, putting your hope 0:28:16.920 --> 0:28:17.720 in achievements. 0:28:19.400 --> 0:28:21.280 But in this moment, if you'll reach out to God, 0:28:22.119 --> 0:28:25.840 he has already come near to you. We live on 0:28:25.880 --> 0:28:28.520 this side of hope. Our hope has come. 0:28:29.680 --> 0:28:33.960 And today, if you are far away from God and 0:28:34.040 --> 0:28:36.320 you know it in your heart, I want to pray 0:28:36.359 --> 0:28:38.240 for you. Would you buy your head and close your eyes. 0:28:38.280 --> 0:28:40.040 We do this as a church family, is something that 0:28:40.080 --> 0:28:44.040 we do every time we gather, but this Christmas it 0:28:44.120 --> 0:28:48.680 has special significance. What a perfect time to have your 0:28:48.720 --> 0:28:53.440 slate white clean, your sins washed away, your heart made new, 0:28:54.480 --> 0:28:55.800 and your new life began. 0:28:57.160 --> 0:28:57.760 In this moment. 0:28:57.760 --> 0:29:01.080 If you say that's me, you're preaching to Pastor Stephen, 0:29:01.120 --> 0:29:04.480 And right now I want to pray with you, and 0:29:04.520 --> 0:29:05.920 I want you to pray for me, and I want 0:29:05.960 --> 0:29:07.800 to call on God. The Bible says that if anyone 0:29:07.840 --> 0:29:08.520 calls on the name of. 0:29:08.520 --> 0:29:11.040 The Lord, he will be saved, She will be saved. 0:29:11.800 --> 0:29:12.760 All you have to do is. 0:29:12.800 --> 0:29:15.120 Reach, and a shoot will come forth from the stump 0:29:15.120 --> 0:29:19.960 of Jesse, and from its roots a branch will bear fruit. 0:29:20.880 --> 0:29:25.200 He is the branch. Take hold of him in this moment, 0:29:25.800 --> 0:29:27.480 and I want you to pray out loud with me. 0:29:27.560 --> 0:29:29.600 We'll pray all together now as a church family, for 0:29:29.640 --> 0:29:32.200 the benefit of those who are coming to God or 0:29:32.240 --> 0:29:34.960 back to God. Would you repeat this prayer, the simple 0:29:34.960 --> 0:29:40.800 prayer after me, Heavenly Father. Today is my day of 0:29:40.880 --> 0:29:46.040 new beginnings. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son 0:29:46.080 --> 0:29:49.840 of God and the Savior of the world, and right 0:29:49.880 --> 0:29:53.840 now I give him my life. From this stay forward, 0:29:54.720 --> 0:29:59.080 I will follow you. I receive your love, and this 0:29:59.240 --> 0:30:03.880 is my new beginning. I turn from my sin. I 0:30:04.000 --> 0:30:09.440 trust in you. Make me a new creation. Head still bowed, 0:30:09.440 --> 0:30:11.400 eyes still closed. If you just prayed that on the 0:30:11.440 --> 0:30:13.280 count of three, shoot your hand up in the air 0:30:13.320 --> 0:30:14.160 and make it official. 0:30:14.240 --> 0:30:17.680 One, two, three, This is the day. Now is the time. 0:30:18.320 --> 0:30:21.480 This is the day. Now is the time. This is 0:30:21.520 --> 0:30:23.480 the day. Keep your hand up for a moment. 0:30:23.800 --> 0:30:24.400 We have a gift. 0:30:24.440 --> 0:30:26.400 We want to give you. God, bless you, God, bless you. 0:30:26.960 --> 0:30:30.040 God bless you, God bless you. 0:30:30.080 --> 0:30:32.520 Hands shot up everywhere. I wish you could have seen it. 0:30:33.920 --> 0:30:36.120 I mean, there's a party going on in heaven. I 0:30:36.120 --> 0:30:38.600 think we ought to join in. On the earth. 0:30:39.800 --> 0:30:43.280 People say, and this is the time, this is the time, 0:30:44.240 --> 0:30:45.600 this is the time, and a. 0:30:45.720 --> 0:30:47.560 Shoot, we'll come up from the stuff. 0:30:47.760 --> 0:30:50.560 I've seen you coming up all around you. 0:30:50.600 --> 0:30:51.400 I've seen new. 0:30:51.280 --> 0:30:53.960 Beginnings in your family, in your. 0:30:53.840 --> 0:30:57.800 Heart, in your situation. Come on, let's look our hands 0:30:57.840 --> 0:30:58.520 to heaven. 0:30:58.360 --> 0:30:59.840 Right now, let's join the. 0:31:05.960 --> 0:31:07.040 Thank you for joining us. 0:31:07.400 --> 0:31:09.840 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:31:09.920 --> 0:31:13.400 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:31:13.880 --> 0:31:16.360 You can click the link in the description to give now, 0:31:16.960 --> 0:31:20.800 or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information 0:31:21.360 --> 0:31:24.120 and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:31:24.400 --> 0:31:25.719 You can share it with your friends. 0:31:26.000 --> 0:31:28.280 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:31:28.360 --> 0:31:30.480 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:31:30.480 --> 0:31:31.320 Elevation Church. 0:31:31.400 --> 0:31:38.040 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.