Fierce Church Sermons
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Fierce Church Sermons
Repeat the Sounding Joy | Prepare the Way
Do you ever find yourself caught in a spiral of worry, struggling to trust God in the midst of life's uncertainties? In this powerful Christmas sermon, Mackenzie Carter unpacks how to "think, pray, and say" the Word of God so you can break free from anxious thoughts and anchor your heart in God's promises.
✨ What you'll discover in this message:
Think: How to align your thoughts with God's truth and silence the lies of worry.
Pray: The transformative power of praying Scripture to invite peace into your heart.
Say: Why speaking God's Word aloud can strengthen your faith and shift your focus.
Through a heartfelt message rooted in Scripture, you'll learn practical steps to combat fear and trust God fully—even when the future feels unclear. You'll also hear inspiring stories of how others have found joy and strength by leaning on God's promises during challenging times.
Hey, what up. It's Mark Carter. I'm the pastor of Fierce Church. Welcome to our podcast. I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today. I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2:Y'all, I just need to lie down. I need to lie down. That has been a phrase that has been going on in my coming out of my mouth for the past several months. I'll be walking around my neighborhood with Mark, I'll be in the kitchen, I'll be in the grocery store, just about anywhere I am. I'll be talking about maybe something I'm anxious about, something I'm worried about, and out of my mouth, because of the heaviness, the burden, whatever I'm feeling just feels just so heavy that I just start saying I just need to lie down. I literally feel like it. I don't know what I think that's going to do. What is that going to do Me lying down on the floor Like I don't know? There's no power with me lying down on the floor, right? No, that's not what a fighter position is. Fighter position is standing up. Fighter position is ready to go right. There's no fight on the ground.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, so I want to talk to you today about how we can use our mouth this Christmas, our voice this Christmas. All right, we say what we say out of our mouths has power. There is a life that can come out of our mouth or death. We can encourage with our voice or we can discourage Y'all. What we say out of our mouths can change our perspective, just like that sermon today. Because don't you feel like everything in our life is going super speed, right, and we are just going through our life and we don't take the time to stop and really appreciate the things around us?
Speaker 2:Some of us have a really hard time being in the moment. Do you have a hard time being in the moment? Yeah, I do too. And but we don't stop to be grateful and really look around and see all the things that God has given us around us, right, and so we fall into ungratefulness, and that ungratefulness leads to less joy and our mind starts getting hijacked with all these worries and anxieties that lead us down this road that we don't want to go, leading us to want to lie down right. And also there is this leading towards like materialism in this season, which makes us really unable to appreciate what God has done for us right in front of us. We have the propensity, over time, to treat the holy as ordinary, like we have the opportunity every single moment of every single day to come before the Lord, to be with Jesus right, to know him, to be around the things of God, to be around the people of God, to have consistent access to the word of God. It is all within our grasp, but when we are going so fast we don't appreciate it and we don't love it and walk in it.
Speaker 2:So today we're going to be talking about Mary in Luke 1. I love Mary and we're going to be talking about a song that she sings, called the Magnificent, and I just I love it so much. And just to give you a little bit of background, so the angel Gabriel just told Mary that she was going to have the son of God. Right, she was going to give birth, have the son of God, right, she was going to give birth to the son of God. And she was like, okay, I don't, I don't understand fully, but may it be done to me as you have said. And then he goes on to tell her that her cousin, elizabeth, who is far past the age of bearing children, is pregnant with a baby and that she is going to have a baby. Why? Because nothing is impossible with God. And so she it says that she rises with haste and she goes to see Elizabeth and when she walks to the door, her greeting to Elizabeth makes the baby John the Baptist within Elizabeth's womb leap with joy and she responds by singing this song of praise and gratefulness to the Lord.
Speaker 2:What I think is interesting is this song that Mary sings to Jesus is very much like an Old Testament character in 1st Samuel named Hannah. Do you remember Hannah? She was, she couldn't have any children, but she was sad and she was full of anguish and she also went before the Lord. She was ridiculed by people around her but she knew she could just go before the Lord and pray. God, I pray fervently that you would give me a child. And the Lord did give her a child, because there is nothing impossible with the Lord, amen. And so she sings this song, and Mary would have known that song because she read the Old Testament and so she mirrored this song that she sang. Hannah rose and took action to pray and she led intentionally to believe the Lord. And Mary mirrors that prayer as she rises with haste to see Elizabeth. Mary which is it's important to know here she doesn't know how Joseph is going to respond to this baby. She doesn't know how her family is going to respond. She doesn't know what this is going to do to her reputation. She has no idea. But she doesn't lie down. She rises to respond to the Lord. And that is what we need to do too. We need to rise to respond to the Lord. So let's read what she sings In Luke 1, 46 through 55, she says and Mary said my soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
Speaker 2:From now on, all generations will call me blessed, for the mighty one has done great things for me. Holy is his name. God has been good to Mary. Amen. His mercy extends to those who fear him. From generation to generation, he has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts, and he has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty. God is so good, right. He has helped his servant, israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised to our ancestors. God is good.
Speaker 2:I think that if we would just take a moment, if we would just close our eyes and think about all the blessings that surround you this Christmas season? Do you have a home to go home to? Do you have food on your table? Do you have family that surrounds you? Do you have a church that loves you and you walk with? Do you have your health? Do you have a job to go to every day? Do you get to do this? Do you know that the presence of God is with you every single moment of every single day? You never have to do anything alone. If you know that today, god is good, god is good and he deserves our praise, and we would respond as Mary did if we would take the time to appreciate and really ponder what God has done for us. Mary said my soul glorifies the Lord. Glorify is another word for magnify, and we need to glorify or magnify the Lord, and what that means is to proclaim that God is good, that he's great, that he gets credit for every single good thing in my life, that it is a big deal what he's done for me and that he is great for doing so. Mary does that with the song that she sings in Luke, and her song is a model for us of all the things that we should be applauding the Lord for, like wildly applauding the Lord. Okay. So I don't know what you think about her, that's fine, whatever you think, fine, okay.
Speaker 2:So my girls, some of my girls, and I watched the Taylor Swift concert. It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. Okay. So we were watching the Taylor Swift concert. It was, I love it, okay. So this time, when we were watching it, I was watching the audience, okay, and I'm telling you, these girls and guys are crying as they watch her and they're magnifying, they're like adoring her, right. They're like I love you, taylor Swift, that's awesome. And I think why do they do that? Because I remember New Kids on the Block in sixth grade. I was at that concert and guess what I was doing? I love you, right, yeah, yes, that's right, yeah, but I was like but why? Why are they adoring her like this? And it's probably because some song, some lyric, something that she said has touched their hearts, right, something that she did touch them deep inside.
Speaker 2:And then I started to think how much more should we be praising the Lord? Should we be magnifying God? Should we be adoring the Lord? Because he is the creator of all things. He created you, he knit you together in your mother's womb, he created everything that you see around you. He is the beginning and he is the end. He numbers the stars and he calls them each by name. He knows exactly what you need in every single moment in your whole life long, and he is faithful in every single moment of your life. He deserves the glory at all times. We should be crying and praising him unabashedly because he's so good. Amen, all right. So in order to do this, what do we do? We glorify God when we think, pray and say what is great about him. All right, so I have this mantra that kind of started along the same time as I just need to lie down. The mantra is from hold on one second, oh gosh. The mantra is from Joy to the World.
Speaker 2:There's this line in Joy to the World, and I will be walking around my house, kind of like you know how you get in your head and you're kind of thinking about all the things and your face kind of goes downtrodden and you're like I just don't know. And you're like thinking deeply, does anybody else do that besides me? Okay, and Mark will walk past me and say are you repeating the sounding joy? I'm like, no, no, I need to repeat the sounding joy. I love that phrase Repeat the sounding joy. That means over and, over and over again. I am thinking on what God has done for me. I am repeating out loud the sounding joy. That means I'm making noise with my mouth, I'm not just thinking about it, I'm saying it out loud. And that repetition leads to joy.
Speaker 2:Joy in my life. It doesn't matter what my circumstances are in the moment. It is because he is good and as I repeat that sounding joy, I am filled with supernatural joy. It means continually feeding our thoughts and prayer, praise and with words of praise. It means reflecting on true things, beautiful things, good things that God has done in our life. It means that we are intentional about what we think about, intentional about what we say. It is bold, it's not a lie down spirit, it is a get up spirit and it is about saying the truth and we say to the impossible what seems to be impossible oh, no, no, no, no. You must not know my God. This might seem impossible, but you must not know my God, because I am believing this even before I see it come to pass, because I know that, my God, because I am believing this even before I see it come to pass, because I know that my God is faithful. So those situations in your life right now that you're like I don't know how God's going to work it out, god's going to work it out. He's going to do it his way and his time. So we need to be determined to fill our mind with thoughts of awesomeness about who God is and we will rise to respond to the Lord, just like Mary did.
Speaker 2:Because it's too easy to fall into complacency, isn't it? It's too easy to allow worries and anxieties and even depression and just useless thoughts to fill our minds. It's easy to do that, right? I mean, there are thoughts like I don't know what's going to happen in this job, I don't know how I'm going to register for this class that happened to me last week I don't know how I'm going to do this or that, and we start to like, break down and we just start to think heavily about those thoughts. But we don't need to do that.
Speaker 2:So I was thinking about does anybody have an inner tube? Oh, good, excellent, thanks. So I was thinking about what it's like to sit with Jesus in the middle of our circumstances, because you know what? We all have problems, right? We all have things that are hard. We all have things that are just really difficult right now. But you know what, with Jesus, y'all, we are just sitting. Think about oh, it's snowy, cold outside, not in my head. It is nice and warm in summer and there's a light breeze, and I'm sitting in a pool and there's palm trees and I'm sitting down, oh boy, in my inner tube, in my pool, and I'm like I see you problems, I see you, but I'm with Jesus and I'm just floating along in my pool. It's just fine, because God's in control. God's got me right here. I'm just going to enjoy this right here. That's not what the enemy does, though, right, the enemy has another plan. All right, so I can stay there in my pool in the summer sun, or what the enemy does.
Speaker 2:Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I will awake with a, and it will be this frantic thought of anxiety, of like I don't know how this is going to happen, and now I have to think about it for the rest of the night and not get any sleep. Does that happen to anybody else? Yeah, or I sleep through the night and then the enemy, the devil, puts a little inner tube right next to my bed so that when I wake up, I can easily fall into his inner tube of worry and anxiety and all the thoughts that he would want me to think. And it just flows down this river not just any river a rapid river and I'm just flowing down it all day long. Standing river, a rapid river and I'm just flowing down it all day long, not thinking about the truth of what God has done.
Speaker 2:And we need to stand and we need to think and we need to say and we need to pray the thoughts that God would have us to do. Because when we think and pray and say, it is like a three-punch combo to the devil's face. And that's what we need to do. We need to think, we need to pray, we need to say, right, what we need to do so that we can punch the devil in the face, because we don't need to ride some river all day. Right, we don't have time for that. You have things to do for the Lord, all right. So we need to be intentional and aggressive with our thoughts. We need to think about the things that God has said, we need to think about what God has done and we need to think believing thoughts. And those believing thoughts are word thoughts. It's what the word says. That's what we think on, that's what we put in our brain.
Speaker 2:This leads to prayer. Y'all, we need to bring Jesus our problems. We all have problems. We all have things that we're dealing with right now. Some are really heavy, some are really heavy and we need to bring them before the Lord. We can't do it on our own, we can't do this by ourselves. We need Jesus and, my friends, jesus is the solution. He knows what to do with your problem. He knows the next step. He knows the next thing that you need to do, and all you need to do is bring it before him and wait on him. He will give you wisdom, he will give you what you need to do.
Speaker 2:And then we need to ask. We need to continue to ask that he moves on our behalf. We need to ask him to remind us of the things that he's done in the past. God, remind me of how good you've been, remind me of how you've been faithful before, so that I can think on those things and pray those things, so that I will believe those things that, just like you came through last time, you're gonna come through this time. I am believing for that we also pray. Lord, fill me with peace that surpasses all understanding while I'm waiting, and help me, in the midst of this onslaught and unknown, to just stand strong in you. He is holding you up right now. He is your strength and he knows the way, and then we give the ultimate punch.
Speaker 2:We speak the word of God out of our mouths Okay, we agree with what has already been said and we say it boldly out of our mouths. This allows it. When we speak the word out of our mouths, we hear it, and it becomes part of us, and it becomes part of who we are, and it becomes our fighting mechanism that we can punch out the devil and punch out those useless thoughts and know what is the unbelieving thoughts that are coming, and we can get rid of them more easily. So Mary spoke the Bible out, and we need to speak the Bible out. When we do that, we will start recognizing those thoughts of unbelief and those useless thoughts so much faster, because they won't align with the word they will not and we'll be able to recognize them and toss them out. So we want to repeat the sounding joy, and Mary is such a great example of this.
Speaker 2:In order to do this, though, we need to take a really good look at some of the gifts that God has given us this Christmas Some of the things that are so beautiful so that we can appreciate them for what they are. So sometimes you get a Christmas present, right, and you're like, oh, thank you. You're so excited about the Christmas present and you open it. And I got this Christmas present this year from Erica Atkins, and so I was opening it up and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is such a beautiful towel I love kitchen towels, she knows I love kitchen towels and it has red on it, red lines, that's my favorite color, right. And then I'm like, look, it's an M, that's my first initial. I'm like, oh my gosh, that's so cool, and I could have just said, wow, that's beautiful and put it down. But no, there's more. There's more to appreciate about this if we would take the time to look at it, if we would take the time to understand the time that went into this, the heart that went into this, the love that went into this.
Speaker 2:This is hand embroidered. Erica embroidered this for me. This is not just bells, because I like bells. She knows I love Christmas. I'm like Buddy the Elf in a girl form. I love Christmas, and she embroidered bells on it because she knows that she used red because that's my favorite color. She knows that and I need to appreciate the fact that she knows that. And God knows that about us too. And he has sweet, wonderful gifts for us if we would take the time to appreciate them for what they are.
Speaker 2:So, to repeat the sounding joy, the first thing we need to do this Christmas is we need to know that God has given me far beyond what I deserve, just because he loves me. Jesus has given you far beyond what you deserve just because he loves you. Mary said in verse 47, my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. God is recognized as Savior. Mary recognizes this, and it affirms both his power to deliver her, but also his care for her, his personal care for Mary. He doesn't just do this to show his power, but it also demonstrates how much he loves her completely and unconditionally.
Speaker 2:And this love in our lives is not because of something we've accomplished, it's not because of our looks. It's not because of our likes on social media. It's not because of our so-called status. It's not because of everything we did right today. It's not because of our potential. It's just because Jesus loves you. It's just because Jesus loves you Today. Jesus just loves you. There's no like if, ands or buts. He just loves you. This Christmas, that is a gift you can receive, you can take in. Jesus just loves me. And then she goes on to say for he has been mindful, which means he has looked upon me, he has looked upon the humble state of his servant. From now on, all generations will call me blessed.
Speaker 2:You see, mary is not a big deal in her own eyes. She was like a 14 or 15 year old girl, right, she was betrothed to Joseph, just living in this little town called Nazareth. She was betrothed to Joseph, just living in this little town called Nazareth, chilling. Right, she thought her life was just going to be hidden, normal, like nothing exciting, just normal. And then the Lord had favor on her and chose her. And now she is blessed among women, just because Jesus chose her and chose to have favor on her, and that is beautiful. Because Jesus chose her and chose to have favor on her, and that is beautiful.
Speaker 2:Do we take time to notice when the Lord is just loving us and giving us favor, like those times where maybe you're in the Starbucks line and someone pays for your drink in front of you. That's the favor of the Lord. Or the time where you go in the parking lot and it's packed and then you get a front spot. Parking lot and it's packed, and then you get a front spot. You're like what? That's the favor of the Lord. He's just loving you, right. What? Maybe you just got a promotion at work and you're like I didn't even know I was up for that promotion. That is the favor of the Lord. I pray this Christmas that you see countless ways that the Lord is meeting you and giving you favor and showing you his love and that your eyes are open to it. And it's like little presents everywhere. If we would just slow down to see.
Speaker 2:And then he goes on to say his mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation. That mercy word there is Hebrew for his said love. That's God's covenantal, loyal and steadfast love, unchanging, never wavering. It means that it describes a love that's not based on just emotions but on commitment and mercy and grace, and that it's reflecting God's unwavering kindness and faithfulness towards his people, even when they falter, his love never changes. So some of you know many of you probably don't, I have chickens. They're going to come soon, my chicken oh, look at them, these are my chickens. This is Millie. She's got the height, like the taller comb. She's really developing well. And then we have Susan, my other brown one. And then there's Chungus, and we have Angelina. Angelina is such a sweetheart. Well, I have this covenantal relationship with my husband, right, my marriage is kind of like it mirrors how God loves his people, right, that's how marriage is. And so we have a covenant together, mark and I. Okay, I wanted chickens, mark didn't want chickens. I have chickens. Now Mark has chickens, right, like, that's how that works. We're in a covenant together. He doesn't want chickens, though, but he loves me.
Speaker 2:Well, on Friday, it snowed, right, and my chickens have this coop. It's cute. And then there's a run over it that we've MacGyvered several times to keep upright and it keeps them out of the weather, right. Well, it snowed really hard and my coop collapsed, guys, it collapsed, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I need to go save my chickens. And so I put on all my winter gear and I went outside and I started shoveling the snow off of the run, and then Amber sweetly came out with me and we're shoveling all the snow and then we go inside to kind of like my neighbors think we're crazy. We're like this is 6.45 in the morning. I'm like like lifting up this She-Ra here, like lifting up this coop, and then Mark comes out Again.
Speaker 2:He doesn't want the chickens. Okay, it's cold, he doesn't like cold and he didn't sleep the night before. He only got three hours of sleep. But he comes out there and he fixes't sleep. The night before he only got three hours of sleep. But he comes out there and he fixes my run. He puts in these two by fours and he saved the day. Yeah, he's awesome, he's a hero. Look at those chickens loving him.
Speaker 2:But it's because he has a covenant with me and he loves me. And Jesus has a covenant with you and he loves you and no matter what you go through, no matter where you falter, no matter what happens in your life, jesus is going to come through for you and he's going to love you, no matter what happens in your life. We can see this so beautifully in times when Jesus was ministering to people. Do you remember the man with leprosy? Do you remember how he was asking Jesus for healing and he said if you are willing, you can heal me.
Speaker 2:You need to know in that culture that he was completely ostracized from society. He was untouchable. And Jesus, in Mark 1, 41, stretches out his hand and touches him and says to him I am willing, be clean. That is our Jesus Profound act of compassion and love for this man and that is what he does for us. Do you feel dirty today? Do you feel like you are just falling again and again into sin and regret? Jesus meets you today. You are not too far from him. You are not too dirty for him. You are not. You haven't done too much that he wouldn't come get you. He loves you. That's our God.
Speaker 2:I think about the people he spent time with. He spent time with tax collectors and sinners, the people that the Pharisees thought were morally despised like. We could never eat with them. And why are you eating with them? And Jesus responds in Matthew 9, 13, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, that's, you and me. He comes to call us, no matter what we've done. He's coming for us, amen. And then he's on the cross, being crucified, and he prays for the very people who are mocking him and torturing him and killing him, and he says in Luke 23, 34, father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. He forgives his enemies. My friends, there is not a single person on the face of the earth Jesus does not love. He loves everyone. He wants everyone. That is his heart for his people.
Speaker 2:So, in order for us to repeat the sounding joy, not to fall into the inner tube and go down the river of the rapids of anxiety and worry, we need to think, pray and say. We need to think in our minds and pray and say out of our mouths things like God, I don't deserve the fact that you forgive me, but I receive it as love. God, I don't deserve these amazing children that surround me, but, god, they are gifts from you and I receive it as love. God, I don't deserve these amazing children that surround me, but, god, they are gifts from you and I receive it as love. I don't deserve this husband. I don't deserve this wife. I don't deserve this house. I don't deserve this job. You can just name all the things that surround you. I don't deserve any of them, but, god, each and every one of them is because you just love me and you have given it to me. So I want to walk in this day, knowing that I am walking out the love of God, that it is just a gift, all of it is a gift, and that he's going to do it through all your seasons. He's going to love you through every single season, through every single change, through every single struggle. Jesus is going to be faithful to you and we say it and walk it out of our mouth All right. So God has given us far more than we deserve because he loves me.
Speaker 2:The second way we can repeat the sounding joy is that God's power and wisdom are far beyond our grasp. God's power and wisdom are far beyond our grasp. We need to know that God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts and God's ways are higher than our ways. We don't even begin to grasp how big God is and his plans and his sovereignty and how he's completely in control Completely. There is nothing out of his control, no circumstance that you are walking through right now in your life. He doesn't know exactly what he's doing. He is in control of it all. We oftentimes can't figure out what God is doing, but he is doing it all in love.
Speaker 2:Remember what Mary said. She said he has lifted up the humble. He fills the hungry with good things. We need to remember that Jesus cares about everyone, even those people forget, even those that people often say are overlooked. Those are the ones that God sees. You're never overlooked with God. God humbles the proud and he lifts up the humble. He flips human expectations upside down, the ways that we think the world would do it. Like you need to keep working so hard and you do need to work hard, you guys but like working and working and working, and like I need to spend all my hours and I need to do all this and I can't stop. I can't stop, I need to work it to the bone, which I can do. God says no, you don't, you don't, and he'll flip the human expectations and he'll do something that we never expected and it's amazing. So if you are one, that feels forgotten.
Speaker 1:If you are one that, often feels overlooked.
Speaker 2:If you are one that isn't getting the accolades all the time, or you feel like you can't keep up, or you feel like you're flailing about through your life, you're in good company. God picks the ones that feel unimportant. God sees and he cares about and takes interest in those everyone else would overlook or under-consider or expect much from. God sees you. God sees you. He tends to sympathize with those who feel overlooked. That's one of the reasons why I'm so excited about the freedom offering Like I will plug it, plug it, plug it. So y'all. It is so good that we get to come alongside organizations that are helping the overlooked, like I get so excited about the fact that we could be instrumental in helping a single mom and their baby, like, get on their feet and have a home to live in. That excites me. It excites me that I get to be part of International Justice Mission and help fight human sex slavery. Isn't that amazing Like I get to be a part of that and that is what we're called to do, and it is such a privilege.
Speaker 2:The second thing we need to know about this is that God has the power to transform our current reality, even in circumstances that seem impossible, he just does. Trusting God's power brings hope in seemingly hopeless situations, reminding us that there is no challenge too great for him. Y'all God might not look like it, but he is setting you up for a blessing. He is setting you up for a blessing so way back when this was like 23, 24 years ago, I was lying in bed in this East Clay house in Decatur, illinois East Clay you wouldn't know it that way, that was a street name of this like this house that was falling apart, and I was lying in bed and my dog, jedi, was guarding me. And you might ask where was Mark? He was at work delivering pizzas, and we were in this incredibly impossible place where we had this dream that we had in our minds, our hearts, but we had no way of getting there. The dream was this. Now, this was the dream, but back then, 23, 24 years ago, there was no way.
Speaker 2:There was no way in our wildest dreams we could figure out in our own minds how to get from there to here. And that night something profound happened and some of you know this story. But there was like a stirring in me in that night and I got up and I went into my kitchen and I turned on Darlene Cech's All Things Are Possible. Do you remember that song? Some of you might know that song and I turned it up way up high and I sang at the top of my lungs in my kitchen. That was falling apart and I just believed. It was like God turned something on in me that there is nothing impossible with God, that I can come like a child before my daddy. I don't know how he's going to do it, I don't know when he's going to do it, but, god, you can take me from here to there. I believe it, lord. And I sang that song like nothing else and something changed in me for real and I started believing by faith. I don't know how, but God's going to make a way. God's going to make a way and he is going to make a way for you. That was 23 years ago.
Speaker 2:God doesn't always move fast, just so you know he sometimes moves slow, but God may not look like it, but he is setting you up for a blessing, right where you are. The purpose of God usually takes longer than we think but it requires more help than we think and we need to know that. But God is going to bring it about in his own way, in his own time, in his own power. He has got it. So we need to start saying we need to stir up our faith again. Maybe that's you right now. You need to stir up your faith again. But God, but God, where is your? But God, is it in you? But God can do this. God will make a way. God sees the mountain. He sees it too, but God's the mountain mover. He can just move that mountain right, he can just calm that sea, he can just make that circumstance change because he is in control. And we need to remember that it's just us and Jesus we need to lay, we need to consistently pray.
Speaker 2:Lord, keep me humble, keep me knowing that it is all. You, 100% you, all the time. Jesus, this is for you alone, this is for your glory, god, it is for an audience of one and I am just praising you right here. Lord, give me strength. You are good no matter what. Lord, keep my heart soft through all of the times, because we need to know too that God can flip the script if we allow pride to come in. He humbles the proud and we don't want to be part of that.
Speaker 2:James 4, 6 says God opposes the proud, but he shows favor to the humble. So we want to keep that disposition with the Lord. God, you have your way when you feel overlooked and forgotten, god sees you, he has plans for you and he will never forget you and he is setting you up for a blessing right now. Amen, all right. So we repeat the sounding joy by knowing that God has given me more than I deserve, just because he loves me. He's got the power and wisdom and they're far beyond my grasp. And number three he takes me the wisest way. God takes me the wisest way. He keeps his promises.
Speaker 2:It says in 54,. It says he has helped his servant, israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors, just as he promised A couple of weeks ago. Mark talked about Abraham I don't know if you were here or not, but he was preaching about Abraham and Jesus's arrival fulfills God's promises to Israel. God's covenantal faithfulness to Abraham connects Jesus to Israel's broader redemptive story. You and I, if we trust Jesus, are the stars in the sky that God showed Abraham. We are those promises. Like when he looked up at the sky, you and I were there. We were like, oh, we're part of that promise that God had said. And Mary sees that God is being gracious to her. It's God being faithful in his long-term plan.
Speaker 2:God is faithful In Genesis 12, 3,. It says I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. God has more wisdom and can see further than I could possibly ever understand. He sees further. All right, y'all. God is going to take you down a path that we don't always understand.
Speaker 2:So if you would have asked me five years ago what do you think you'll be doing in five years, I don't think I would have said I'm about to finish nursing school. I would never have said that. Honestly. I didn't even know this was going to happen five years ago. I didn't even know this was part of God's plan. I don't even. I didn't even when God started to open doors for this and lead me towards this. I didn't even know why at the time. I didn't even understand why would you want me to do that? I thought I was doing other things.
Speaker 2:But God has the wisest way and he changed the plan, and that's good. And was it hard? Yes? Yes, it's been really hard, it's been really challenging and it hasn't been what I expected. But God is good and he has taken me the wisest way possible and I'm starting to see now, like huh, I can see glimpses of what you're going to do with this and I can see glimpses of how this is going to help our family and help our church and help, like. I can start to see it now. But it's all God, it's not my choice. I still don't even understand, but God is taking me the wisest way and sometimes we just need to surrender, we just need to lay it down before him and say, yes, lord, I don't get it, but I trust you. That's where I am. That's where I'm at right now. I don't know God, but I trust you. That's where I am. That's where I'm at right now. I don't know God, but I trust you. You lead me the wisest way.
Speaker 2:And so we think and we pray and we say so that we continually repeat the sounding joy. We reflect on God's past faithfulness God, you've been so faithful to me and we trust him with our future, because God is there too. He's never going to leave you or forsake you, and he's going to leave you and parents. This is an amazing opportunity for you to teach your children. Remind your children of what he's done. Tell them the stories. Tell them the stories of God's faithfulness, how he came through again and again and again. Remind them that if you just walk with the Lord, god will be faithful to you. He will never leave you or forsake you. He will walk you right to heaven. He will be with you.
Speaker 2:This is seen in Jesus so beautifully in John 14, 2 and 3. It says my father's house has many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go there and prepare a place for you, I will come back and I will take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. God is coming back. Jesus is coming back. He. We know the end of the story. So, no matter what you're walking through right now, no matter how hard it is, no matter what the circumstances are. You know the end of the story and the end of the story equals victory. The end of the story equals joy. The end of the story is fulfilled already and he is coming back and we can dwell on that and live in that.
Speaker 2:This Christmas, in this Advent season as Christmas is just about here we can be thinking on Jesus is coming back, what Jesus has done for us, and we can live in the reality that he loves us and that he is leading us. He is committed to fulfill his promise and eternal life and fellowship with him in heaven. So this Christmas, let's declare his greatness in what you think, in what you pray and in what you say. Let's trust his promises when the way seems unclear and never forget that he sees you and that he loves you and that he is working everything together for His glory and your good. So let this Christmas be a moment of surrender, my friends, and trust and praise for the God who has given everything to you and for you, just because he loves you.
Speaker 2:Let's pray, just because he loves you. Let's pray, Jesus. I thank you, god. Oh, you're so faithful God. There are many circumstances in the room that, god, people need you to move, that they are waiting on you. Jesus and God, we just bring those all to you right now, god. I pray, jesus, that you would give us a voice, that you would help us to repeat the sounding joy throughout the season. God, every day, god to stop, ponder and think on how good you are. And God, we praise you in advance for what you're going to do.
Speaker 1:We love you and we thank you for coming and we thank you that you're coming again. In Jesus' name, amen, We'd love for you to join us, either digitally or in person. Also, if you're looking for leadership development-related content, don't forget to check out the Fierce Leadership Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts from. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to support this ministry. It's because of you that this is possible. You can click on the link in the description to give now or visit fiercechurch for more information. If you enjoyed this podcast, why not subscribe? Share it with your friends, click on the share button, take a screenshot and share it on social media or wherever you would share such things. Whatever challenges you're facing, I know you can make it. Don't give up. Hang on to Jesus. He won't let go of you. Jesus loves you so much and we love you. I hope someday we get to meet in person. Thanks again for listening.