ADVENT | Hope - Pastor Chris Mitchell

We open Advent by reframing December as the start of the Christian year and the arrival of hope, tracing prophecy to fulfillment and promise to power. We call our church to wait well by working, watching, and worshiping as we anticipate Christ’s return.

• Tradition as handrails that steady us
• Advent as arrival past, present, future
• Isaiah 9 and 53 on the Messiah’s character and mission
• Matthew 1 and Luke 2 on Emmanuel and joyful announcement
• Acts 1 promise of power and certain return
• Hope as confident expectation, not wishful thinking
• Waiting that renews strength through Scripture and prayer
• Practices for waiting well: work, watch, worship
• Testimonies of healing, freedom, and restored dignity
• Communion as renewal of covenant and hope

Chapters

• 0:04 Welcome And Advent Framing
• 0:49 Why Tradition Matters
• 3:35 Advent: Past, Present, Future Arrival
• 5:18 Lighting Hope And Message Hand-off
• 6:47 The Arrival Of Hope Announced
• 12:20 Humor And Christmas Songs Rant
• 15:27 Childlike Wonder And Anticipation
• 17:27 Isaiah 9: Names Of The Messiah
• 21:50 Isaiah 53 And The Suffering Servant
• 24:35 Matthew 1 And Luke 2: God With Us
• 28:07 Acts 1: Promise, Power, And Return
• 34:55 Hymn: O Come O Come Emmanuel
• 37:35 Christ In You, The Hope Of Glory
• 41:47 Living Hope Versus Wishful Thinking
• 45:11 Waiting Well: Strength And Courage
• 49:20 Work, Watch, Worship While We Wait
• 53:31 Romans 15: Hope For Jew And Gentile
• 56:12 Communion And Restored Hope
• 1:03:02 Prayer, Testimonies, And Benediction

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:04

Welcome to the Bach Family. For more information about our church, please visit the BockFamily. Now join us for a message from Pastor Chris Mitchell.

SPEAKER_02: 0:20

Well, listen, we're stepping into something super exciting. Uh December is just what, a day away? Is it 30 or 31 days in November? I can never remember. It's tomorrow, right? Tomorrow. December is here, and of course, that means that Christmas is just around the corner. And so for us as a church, that means that we're stepping into something really special. Not just the celebration of Christmas, but the anticipation that leads up to Christmas and the coming of Jesus. And that season for us is Advent. So we're excited today to start our Advent series. And I don't know, maybe if you're new to the church, you're new to our church, if you come from a different tradition, we just wanted to take a second just to let you know what this season is about for us, what the next several weeks uh are about and what they look like. Maybe you came from a church where there was a lot of sort of liturgy and a lot of tradition. You came here and you thought, wait, are are we that are we that church? Are we not? It's like, mm, depends on the day. Depends on the day. And I say that kind of tongue in cheek. But for those of you who come in and you say, you know, Advent, this is something that's foreign to me or it's it's unfamiliar. Advent is super special. It's something that Christians have been celebrating um since about the fourth century for a long time. It's a celebration that emerged really early in Christianity and in the Christian church. Legend has it uh that even as early as the 300s there were some Christians that were beginning to celebrate what we call Advent. And for some of you who may have sort of an allergy to tradition or something like that, there's a quote that I love so much by a guy named uh Sir William Slim. He's from um I think it's the British uh the British Royal Naval Academy. This was the early uh the early 1900s, and he gives this speech to incoming cadets about tradition. You know, you think young people, young men, which I don't know a young man, you know, myself included at times, who doesn't think of tradition as something kind of stuffy, you know, or it's just old so it's boo, yuck, you know. But he gives this speech about tradition to these incoming cadets, and he says, look, if you think of tradition as never doing something new for the first time, then you'd be wrong. You'd be wrong to think that way about tradition. And if you think of hand if you think of tradition as handcuffs to bind you, then you will never actually get what you're meant to get out of tradition. But if you think instead of tradition as being handcuffs to limit you or to bind you, you think of them as handrails to steady you on rocky footing. And as tradition as a level of conduct uh below which you shall never fall, not above which you shall never pass, then that's when you get the most out of tradition. And I love that in thinking about what we get to do as a church, especially when it comes to celebrating something like Advent as a tradition. You know, for us we think about Christmas, and Christmas is like it's the end of the year for us, right? It's like, oh thank goodness I get a long vacation before I make a bunch of promises in January that I'm never gonna actually follow through on, you know. But for the Christian church, actually in in our history for the last, you know, you could say 1500 years or so, Advent actually begins the church calendar. It's how we begin like the Christian year. And I love that because Advent is all about the word Advent means arrival. And so it's all about the arrival of Jesus on the scene. Jesus coming, God coming in the flesh as a human in our place. And obviously, Easter is celebrating the death, burial, resurrection, but Christmas is that celebration of the arrival of Him, of Him coming. And so these weeks leading up to Christmas is sort of about contouring and directing our expectation and our anticipation of the coming of Jesus. It's not just a um uh it's like a rehearsal because Jesus has come and he's coming again. And yet in between, he's constantly arriving in our lives every day. So it's a rehearsal of his past arrival, the present reality that that means for us, that's almost sort of like a down payment, like how the New Testament talks about the Holy Spirit being a down payment of what we will fully receive. It's similar to that. It's like we have this reality of Jesus being uh with us and what he does in our lives, but it's sort of like a down payment for what we will ultimately experience when he comes back. And we will experience the fullness of hope, of joy, of peace, and love. So that's what the Advent season is about. And today, we're going to begin with hope. That's always nervous right there. You never know if that bad boy's gonna light. But we're good. We made it out. The kids have sung, the candle is lit, so let's get into it. Can you guys please welcome for me today, Pastor Chris Mitchell, as he comes to bring us the word?

SPEAKER_00: 5:43

Thank you, Pastor Reese, for setting this up this morning, for getting us started. We are excited to talk today about the arrival of hope. The arrival of hope. I just want to say it again. I want to remind you that Christ came. Y'all agree with that? How many in the room believe that Jesus came? At our campuses, do you believe that Jesus came? We're gonna prove that with scripture here in just a moment. Matter of fact, I've got enough scripture that should hold you into the new year. There's gonna be enough today. It'll feel like I've eaten turkey all over again, minus the tryptophan. It's gonna be amazing. No one's gonna leave here saying, Man, I wish he would have just shared one more scripture. I think I've uh I'm gonna unload the 18-wheeler here uh in just a moment. But not only did Christ come, friends, but but he is coming. He is coming. And we celebrate, as Reese said, we celebrate that he came, but we also are living in a place of hope that he is coming. And what the early church fathers did is that they they saw an opportunity for us to remember and celebrate and declare that Jesus has come. Yes, he has come. But at the same time, it was an opportunity to take these weeks that we're about to enter into, starting with today, so that we could begin to stir up and continue to live in a place of expectancy and anticipation and to be in a place of soberly waiting for the bridegroom to come. Can I get an amen? So I want to pray over us today at all the campuses. Father, in Jesus' name, would you anoint your servant, your vessel today? Lord, I yield and submit and surrender to you. Lord, your word is already anointed. I pray it finds good soil. I pray it takes root. I pray that it bears fruit, God, that will remain and that brings you glory and that shows our abiding relationship in you. Holy Spirit, would you come into every room on each of our campuses today? And would you manifest yourself and make yourself known in so many wonderful ways in the name of Jesus? Everyone said, Amen and amen. You know, before I get into this, I wanted to I want to talk about Christmas songs for just a moment. Um of them just need to not be sung anymore. Do y'all agree with that? I I think about all of those in our congregations that are of Italian descent. And this Dominic, the donkey, this this precious donkey that delivers gifts with Santa. I think it's time for him to go. Anyway. Um, what about baby? It's cold outside. This is a terrible song. This this lady keeps saying no. Come on. No means no. Right? Come on, ladies. No means no. And this guy just keeps offering her booze and cigarettes. She's saying, What am I gonna tell my brother? What am I gonna tell my mother? This is this song needs, this thing needs to go. And right with it, we need to go ahead and kick Santa Baby to the curve. This is a ridiculous song. Obviously written for billionaires, right? What's going on here? Give me a Rolex and a D and a yacht and all, you know, all of these things, a platinum, a deed to a platinum mine, mind you, right? Santa baby needs to go. I don't know about this, but I'm on the fence on hard candy Christmas. Did you hear that? It was like, anybody gasp over it, Madison, over hard candy Christmas? I I don't, I know it. I mean, I like it, it just mmm. This was way too close to home, but what about Christmas and Dixie? Look, folks are upset about this. This is awesome. Christmas and Dixie. Yeah, all right. From Port Fort Pene, Alabama. Merry Christmas to you, and then last but not least, and I've got to go easy on this because I found out that my granddaughter is singing this in the in the Christmas production in a couple of weeks. But this whole wanting a hippopotamus for Christmas. How did how did these animals get into this thing? But yet, there's a there's a couple of lines in that ridiculous song that actually kind of speak to what we're saying today. I can see you know, I can see me now on Christmas morning creeping down the stairs. Oh, what joy and what surprise when I open up my eyes and see a hippo hero standing there. How many stop? How many wow, if that gets you going, this is gonna be good. What was it? Don't want no rhinocerosis, don't want no doll, don't want no no tinker toy. These are actually things that I got when I was a kid. Tinker toys, not dolls. We didn't we didn't do the doll thing. Praise the Lamb. Um But the joy and the surprise of a child getting what they want for Christmas. Do y'all remember that? Do you remember what that felt like? Do you remember as a child receiving that? Or do you it what joy it brings you to be able to provide for your children, your grandchildren uh during this season to see their eyes light up, to know that you took the time and that you cared to do that for them. I want you to go to Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6 and 7. All these scriptures are gonna come up on the screen for us. And I've got a lot of scriptures today, and and I don't have a whole lot of commentary, all right? I want to I want the word to do what only the word can do. So we're gonna pause a little bit as we read these scriptures, and we're gonna let them sink into our hearts because it's proving to us, friends, that he came, and it's gonna prove to us that he is coming. For anyone in the room or our campuses this morning that might be struggling with believing that he came or believing that he's who he says he is, or that he can do what he says he can do, or believing that he's even gonna come again because it's been a while since he left, right? We're gonna talk about that. But I believe the Holy Spirit is here to renew our hope. I believe the Holy Spirit is here to do great work in us, to bring us to a place, can I say it, of childlike, childlike wonder and anticipation and expectation. Not for gifts that I'm gonna get under a tree in a few weeks, but that the king of all kings and the lord of all lords would be able to find a place, room in our hearts and in our families, in our nation. Come on, somebody, in our world, right? But evidently it takes people that believe and that hope and that stay in that frame of mind and in that frame of heart. And in this theme of celebrating the arrival of hope, we're really celebrating that God keeps his promises. God keeps his promises, friends, and that's something that you and I can celebrate and we can declare and we can take notice of. And Isaiah, ooh, the prophet Isaiah, in his 66 chapters, gives us some of the most poetic and descriptive prophecies of the coming Messiah. And in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6 and 7, it's on the screen behind me. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. And the church said, Amen. And God bless the reading of his word, amen. It says he will be called a wonderful counselor. So many of us have been to counselors, so many of us are going to counseling. So many of us today actually need, you need in your life some answers, you need some solutions, you need some breakthroughs, and I'm telling you that Jesus is a wonderful counselor. Not that we're waiting on, but that is already here. A wonderful counselor who knows it all. Come on, who's seen it all, who's been through it all, who's experienced it all, and has overcome and has conquered, and he has wisdom that he would love to download into your mind and into your heart and into your situation and circumstances today. Y'all can say amen, wave hankies, run, do it. Hey, start a Jericho march over there at Madison, man. Let's wake, let's, let's, let's, let's turn this thing up a little bit. He's a mighty God, friends. Ever wonderful counselor, mighty God, awesome God, majestic God, a God full of splendor, God of miracles, way, waymaker God. Come to a Red Sea with enemies breathing down your neck, and he'll blow, he'll blow the winds and cause the sea to part and give you clear passage to the other side, kind of God. What are you standing in front of today, friend? What's in front of you that's immovable in your strength and in your power? I'm telling you, a mighty God came and is here to do wonders, to give wisdom. Mighty God, everlasting Father. Oh, is that so appropriate for the day and time that we live in? That our Jesus embodied the heart of the Father. And he delivered that to us in his coming, in his death, in his resurrection, and in his ascension. I want to go ahead and read Isaiah 53, 1 through 5, and I'll come back to this everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, here in just a moment. But on Isaiah 53, 1 through 5, who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he, speaking of Jesus, he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. Jesus had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men. Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely, let's all say it, surely, surely he has borne our griefs, and he has carried our sorrows. We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was bruised or crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. You know what's so powerful about this is that this is being spoken hundreds of years before he ever came to the earth. There was a prophecy, there's multiple prophecies. There's actually hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament that tell of the coming Messiah, of the birth of Jesus, where he's going to be born, that he will. Come again, even after he's been born and goes to the cross, is what this is talking about here in Isaiah 53. Wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity. Chastisement of our peace was upon him. He is an everlasting father who has everlasting arms of love that are stretched out wide for anyone that would come to him, for anyone that would desire him. For anyone that would receive him. Can I tell you one of my greatest hopes today while I'm ministering to you this morning is that there would be a hunger and a thirst and a cry that would come from your heart if you don't know Jesus? That the Holy Spirit is here to draw you at our campuses. The Holy Spirit is there to draw you into a relationship, into an eternity, into a life that is filled with hope and goodness and mercy. And you can say amen at some point. Amen. Back in Isaiah 9, it says that he is the prince of peace. He is the prince of peace. And he's here today. That peace speaker, look at a storm and calm the waters. Look at a parent who is dealing with a demonically affected child. Speak peace over them, deliver their childs. This is Jesus. This is who he is. This is who has come, and this is who is coming. Hallelujah. All right? Let's jump into the New Testament in Matthew chapter 1, verse 21 through 23. And all of this, man, this whole thing in Matthew 1, 2, Luke 1 and 2 specifically, you are seeing a lot of angelic activity. You're seeing a lot of what we would think of as the unseen realm becoming visible in this moment. As angels appear in dreams, appear in angelic form, not a dream, but coming to Mary, right? Gabriel coming to Mary. And then here in Matthew chapter 1, 21 through 23, this is actually an angel in a dream talking to Joseph and encouraging him to stay with Mary because he was planning to not marry her. He was planning to not go through with the ceremony. All right? Because he had found out that she was with child. Mary will bear a son, and you'll call his name Jesus. Man, I wish that had been the way it was with Jamin and Lindsay, our two. I wish the Lord would have told us what to name him. We just kind of dug through the Bible and came up with stuff, right? Our son Jamin and Laura Lynn are on staff here. Jamin is actually been, his name's not Benjamin, but it's Jamin. Just take the bin off. All right. So it just means he's right-handed. It doesn't mean he's son of the right hand. It just means Jamin is right-handed. Which obviously means blessing. It's got a lot of stuff to it. But we put two other names on him, too. We got real Christian on these. Christopher Elijah. Come on, somebody. Jamin Christopher Elijah. So he didn't have a chance. This guy has been in the ministry since he could talk. Hallelujah. All right, she'll bear a son. You'll call his name Jesus. He will save his people from their sins. All of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Where? Where did he speak that? In Isaiah 7, 14. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. Saying these scriptures today that are familiar to all of us, declaring them afresh and anew this morning to us, because we have declared that these four weeks of Advent are going to be a focus upon the arrival of our Savior and of the coming of our King of Kings and Lords of Lords. In Luke chapter 2, verse 10, the angel said to them, This is a group of shepherds now that are out in the field. The angel said to them, Fear not, behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloth and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. So this is actually giving us the account of the arrival, of the virgin birth, of the angelic announcement, of them letting those shepherds. It's just when you start thinking about this, especially in the day and time that we live in, to go to a group of shepherds out in a field and to let them hear and know that they're the first ones that are going to know that Jesus has come, that the Savior has been born, that Emmanuel is now with us. Did you know that there's there's y'all can tap this. This is on your tap. App and tap. That's what we call it around here. You can go to the app and get the notes, or you can tap it on the back of your chair. But there's a couple of things that are going to be that I'm going to share with you that are not on, that are not on the app. Oh, wait, there's more. Alright? I think every preacher worth his salt does this the morning of when you're trying to get it all together and put it together, the Holy Spirit just keeps rolling. He just keeps, he keeps bringing to your mind, bringing to your attention. And so I have notes that look beautiful and are well marked, and then I have chicken scratch notes that I want to share with you. But it's not on your notes, and that's Acts chapter 1. I wish I had time to read the whole chapter. But in Acts chapter 1, it's the encounter with Jesus. Listen, 40 days after he has appeared and been on the earth after he's resurrected. This is powerful. So after his resurrection, he now is going to give what would be his last words to those who have gathered to hear them, which are the apostles. And according to Paul, up to, of course, Paul wasn't there, but he's getting a report years later. But there were up to 500 people that were there that witnessed this. Y'all know these are iconic verses to those of us who believe in the full gospel, who believe that the Spirit of God is still being poured out upon all flesh, who believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still in operation today, right now, in this moment, that the Holy Spirit is here to activate and to be released, and again, to do what only the Holy Spirit can do. Well, we believe that. And I have great hope that he's doing that today. Amen. But Jesus says, Hey, I want you to go and I want you to wait in Jerusalem. Or if I say wait in Jerusalem. I want you to wait in Jerusalem for the promise, for the promise that is to come, that is to be poured out. I've talked about him. I've told you that he's coming, right? It says, I want you to go and I want you to wait there. He says, because he's going to give you power to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Limestone County, Winston County, Fayetteville County, Lincoln County. Come on. Right? Madison County, North Alabama, United States of America, South America, Central America. Come on, all over the world. He's going to give you and I power, dunamis dynamite power, to be witnesses. There's no way that you can say that and go, He claimed to give you power. He wants you to have dynamite in you. No, I'm telling you. He wants to give you power. He came to give you power. So that you could be witnesses. And then right after he said that, go wait. Terry, Holy Spirit's come. He's been promised to you. Right after he says that, the Bible says, you can read it in Acts chapter 9 through 11. It says, He was lifted up. He was lifted up. He's already been raised up. He's been resurrected. He's been walking into rooms. He's been appearing on roadside walks. He's been coming onto the shoreline. Y'all with me this morning? This is a real Jesus. This is a real God. The real God of all gods. That has that has raised himself from the dead. And has and has appeared now for 40 days. And he says, go, hey, you're going to get power. But it's not just for you to feel something. It's not for you to get a goosebumps. It's not for you to say, ooh, I got power. It's not for you to just speak in tongues. It's not for you to just have joy. It's not for you to just have some peace. It's not for you to just go, whoo, man, that's the, oh, I felt something. No, the power is for you to be a witness. The power is for you to tell the story. The power is for you to share that Jesus Christ has come and that he is coming and that he's here right now doing mighty, mighty works. Mighty works. He's lifted up. It says a cloud. Read your Bible. A cloud came and carried him away into heaven.

unknown: 31:07

A cloud.

SPEAKER_00: 31:13

Was it a cirrus? I don't know what kind of cloud it was. I'm thinking a big one. I'm thinking a pretty big cloud. Anyway, comes and gets him. And he goes off out of sight. He's going out of sight. So that tells me that heaven must be north. Come on. Right? And hell, south. Look at me. You and I, we want to go north. Amen. Turn to your friend right now. Be serious about it and say, are you heading north? You gonna be going north? Listen, hey, hey, down at Smith Lake. There's only two places. We can't pray you out of a out of a holding tank because you didn't make the right decisions and the right choices. We can't pray you out of that situation and try to get you into heaven. You gotta choose. You gotta choose. While you're breathing. Come on, somebody. While you're breathing, while you're alive. Is this simple enough? I'm like, Lord, let this be simple enough for Jacob Sudaker to understand this morning. Yeah. He was a little guy right over here, just belting out, old Tan and Bob. Woo! It was awesome. Jacob. It was awesome, bud. And for those of you that don't know, you might have missed it. Old Christmas Tree. Old Christmas Tree was the translation of the German that they sang. That was not tongues and an interpretation. Just make it sure for the ones that might be wondering. They got the kids speaking in tongues over there. It was a German song, y'all. German song. Beautifully sang, by the way. Just a little teaser, a little taste of the production Tuesday night at our Kingdom Heights first ever Christmas program. You're more than welcome to come. Starts at 6:30. Costs you nothing. It's going to be great. Alright. Cloud takes him away. I've always said that was he was Jesus really was the first rocketeer. Anyway. We're in the rocket city, it kind of fits. But anyway, listen. So he goes up right there. It says that two white men, two white men, two men, probably Latinos, probably Latinos, two Italian men dressed in white robes. Lord Jesus. Right? Two men. Two beings. Can we say two beings dressed in white robes? This is what they said. Why do you stand here looking up in the sky? This same Jesus. It's not another Jesus. Not some Jesus you make up in your mind. Right? Not some Jesus that you mix up with all different kinds of religions. The this same Jesus. The way he left is the way he's coming back. What do you gotta have? What do we have to have to convince ourselves or to convince others that he's coming back? Your changed life, your transformed heart, your transformed mind, your alignment with his word, you living a holy life, you walking in obedience, you doing the right thing, you being compassionate and spreading his love and spreading his character and his qualities and his nature. That's the testimony. That's the testimony that's going to help folks that we can come in contact with, folks that we sit down and talk to, folks that might be setting by you this morning. Your testimony, your consistent, daily, faithful walk journey with Jesus is what is going to speak to them that Jesus is real and that Jesus is alive. And then we have to say, we got to tell them, and we've got to live like it that He's coming, He's coming back. I meant to do this earlier. Siri sent me a timer for two hours. Okay, alright. All right, just making sure. So back in the uh Help Me Church, I'll find it. See, this is this is modern technology at work right here. Back in the 15th century, there was a song that was written in Latin, but that was translated into English in 1851 by an Anglican priest. His name was John Mason Neal. And it's a song, I don't know why we only sing this song at Christmas. It's not just a Christmas song, it's actually a hymn of the church. And it's on it's on the screen behind me. I want you, this will probably be the most liturgical thing that I do today, Reese. But I want you to help me when it's time to say, rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel. Alright? I'm gonna recite a couple of verses, and then I want you at our campuses, I want us all to say, rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel. The song says, O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. Let me do verse 2. O come, O wisdom from on high, who ordered all things mightily, to us the path of knowledge show and teach us in its ways to go. Everyone together at all of our campuses, you ready? Rejoice. Oh come, O come, great Lord of might, who to your tribes on Sinai's height in ancient times did give the law in cloud and majesty and awe. Oh come, O branch of Jesse's stem, unto your own and rescue them. From depths of hell, your people save and give them victory o'er the grave. Rejoice. Emmanuel shall come to you. Oh come, O key of David, come and open wide our heavenly home. Make safe for us the heavenward road and bar the way to death's abode. Oh come, O bright and morning star, and bring us comfort from afar. Dispel the shadows of the night and turn our darkness into light. Oh come, O King of nations, bind in one the hearts of all mankind. Bid all our sad divisions cease and be yourself our king of peace. Rejoice. Christ is our blessed hope. In Colossians 1 27, Paul is reminding, he's letting the the believers in Colossae know that to that to them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you. Church, let's say it Christ in me. The hope of glory. The hope of glory. Christ, his nature, his spirit, his qualities, his attributes. Christ in you. When you said I surrender, when you said I uh submit, when you said I yield, I yield, I give my life to you, I give my heart to you. When you did that, Christ came in. The Holy Spirit came in. And he is the hope. He is the hope of glory in every single one of our hearts. In 1 Timothy 1:1, it says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by command of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, our hope. He's telling Timothy that. And one of the first things he wants him to know is that Jesus is your hope. Jesus is your hope. 1 Peter 1:3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. A living hope. And the only reason we have it is because he resurrected. How many of you know Jesus is not dead? He's alive. He's alive. He's very much alive. And he is with us. Titus chapter 2, verse, it's really 11 through 14. Your notes or the screen's going to say 12 through 14, but verse 11 says, the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. Look what grace does. Look at this. Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions. And to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. This is what's going on. This is what's happening in mind and your life as believers, as followers of Christ, as disciples of Jesus in this day and in this hour, is that he is purifying for himself a people. He's looking for those that he can set apart and consecrate and that will be meet for the master's use. In other words, that you and I will be vessels of honor that he can fill and that he can flow through. Amen. Another hymn of the church that I want to just quote to us today. And again, we're going to use it as a read and response. But this was written by Edward Mote, who was a Baptist minister somewhere around 1834. I love this. He wanted to write a song on the gracious experience of the Christian. Most of you know this song. I'm going to do the verse again at all the campuses. We'll say on Christ the Solid Rock. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Come on, church. On Christ. All other ground. All other ground. When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. Let me do three. His oath, his covenant, his blood, support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stake. Church on Christ. Woo! All other ground. All other ground. When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. Come on, Madison. On Christ. All other ground, all other ground is sinking sand. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, we know it as the love chapter. In verse 7, and then down in verse 13. Verse 7 says that love bears all things, believes all things. Y'all say this. Hopes all things, endures all things. Verse 13. Now faith, hope, love abide. These three, but the greatest of these is love. Can we see hope today as a connector between our faith and his love? Can we see our confident anticipation and expectancy as a connector between our faith, our trust, and his love? And if you study just the raw meanings of faith and hope, you're going to find out that many times they're interchangeable. You can't separate hope from faith, and you really can't separate faith from hope. Hope is confident, not wishful. Amen. It's a thing of LSU fans, right? Pastor Scott's here of saying, I hope we win a national championship. You know, I know, I know at some point this hope might come to pass, right? But but a lot of times we just say, I, I, I, I hope so. Let's bring it even closer. Maybe you're um, I've even done this with folks to ask them about their salvation. Do you do you know that you're going to heaven? And it's a, well, I hope so. Well, you kind of hope so. And in the hope is doubt. In the hope, there's actually doubt. It's it's like, well, well, I hope so. The hope I'm talking about is this confidence that God is faithful to his word, that he's going to move, and that he's going to bring it to pass. Does that mean that's a that's a big difference between, oh, I hope so, and I have hope. And that I know that Christ lives in me. That his nature and his, hey, you can ask your family. Just ask them if Christ lives in you. Come on down there in the forest, down on the lake, down in Smith Lake. Just ask them. Can you see Christ in me? It should be evident, it should be obvious. You shouldn't have to tell people you're a Christian. Come, amen. A lot of us are telling people that we're Christian, and then we're, you know, we're not acting right when we drive. I don't know how driving got separated from our Christianity. It's so good. It's true. It's very real. It's very true. Come on, amen. Right? And you get out there, especially, woo! Especially over these next few weeks, just stay home. Just order it. It's coming to the door. Jamie and I were talking about this yesterday. Man, when we were younger, we would get up, we'd be at the Black Friday sales. We'd be there at 4 o'clock in the morning. She's gonna get that pair of boots that Belk had on sale. I mean, it was like vultures in there, y'all. Just people, just boots flying everywhere, jerking them out of people's hands. I'm like, this is what I came for. Not just be drinking coffee and stuff. Really, I just went to people watch, man. You get the very best tongue in cheek. You get the very best of people at a Black Friday sale, man. And then folks got shot. People got shot, right? There was people years ago that got shot just trying to get up and go to the Black Friday sale. Boom! You give me that TV right now, right? Okay, you could have just asked for it. But anyway. Hope is is confidence. Hope is anchored in Scripture. Can we say this? Hope is anchored in Scripture, in the trustworthy nature of God. Hope strengthens our endurance. It fuels perseverance even through suffering and delay. Hope in its simplest form is trusting God for what you and I can't see. For what we can't see. Embedded in hope is this idea of waiting. This idea of waiting. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 28 through 31. I'll just give you the gist because I want to get you home today so that you can enjoy those things that you bought yesterday at the Black Friday sale. But anyway. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even youth, even youth shall faint and get weary, and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Raise your hand if you need that today. How about up in Park City if you need that today? If you need that this morning down at Bell Chapel. We live in times. We live in a stress-filled environment, an anxious, an anxiety-filled culture and environment. And we need verses and promises and scripture like this to put into our hearts and into our minds so that we can know that we can wait on the Lord. It's another interchangeable word with hope, is the word wait, hope in the Lord. And you, listen, here's the promise: your strength will be renewed. You will mount up with war eagle wings like eagles. You'll run and not be weary, you'll walk and not faint. Psalm 27, 14, wait for the Lord, be strong, let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. Somebody needs to hear that today. He's got strength for you, he's got courage for you. He's got hope for you today. He wants to stir up, the Holy Spirit is here to stir up our anticipation, our excitement, and our enthusiasm about him being here and about his return. And can I help somebody stop trying to figure out when he's coming? Please. And stop buying and listening to the stuff of the ones that are trying out to figure or that are trying to figure out when he's coming. Can you just hear me today? Nobody has gotten it right. You know why? Because no man knows the day or the hour of his return. And can I tell you what happens to you when you listen to that and when you feed on that, and then you start to believe that? Oh, he's coming in September. He's gonna come by the 18th or the 19th. I mean, you know, it says the day or the hour, so it might not be that day. It could be this day, so we're gonna say both days. Come on. We listen to it like, oh yeah, man, he's gonna he coming. And then he didn't come in 88. Anybody here in 88? 88 reasons why he was supposed to come in 88? I guess one thing they all kind of tend to agree on is September. They always get to September somehow. You know, it's gonna be it's gonna be in this time frame in September that he's gonna come. I I'm I'm I was like, yeah, I hope, yeah. Come on. September's good. Amen. September would be great. Today would be great. Tomorrow or the next day. Yesterday would have been fine. Amen. My job, your job, our assignment is to wait in hope. Is to wait with joy. Oh, I gotta get to it. I gotta get to it. Psalm 130, verse 5. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, my soul waits. Break that down. My soul, my mind, my will, my emotions. I am submitting in a waiting position to the Lord while I am hopeful of his return. Now, how many of you know we can do that for so long? We gotta be busy. Come on, somebody. What are we doing while we wait? Real quick. Greg, come back to the keyboard if you would. What are we doing while we wait? Y'all, we work. The fields are ripe for harvest, Brother Danny. The fields are ripe for harvest. He told us. He said, Hey, go and make disciples. Baptize them in my name. Teach them everything that I have commanded you. So we get to tell, we get to share, we get to spread, we get to declare, we get to build, as we found out over these last few weeks, that there is a temple that is being built. There is a family, your house temple that is being built, and there is this house, this part of the body of Christ called the Rock Family Worship Center, that the Holy Spirit is working with us and building us and maturing us and unifying us and awakening us and causing us to live in that living hope that that resurrected Jesus has given us. Hallelujah. So we work. And it's not a work of a struggle and a striving. I've always said this, kingdom work, ministry work, when you put your hands and your heart and your time and your talent and your abilities and your endowment, when you put that in into the kingdom and you put it and say, Lord, I want you to use this. Sometimes physically, yeah, you get tired. It can be laborious on that side of it, but it's the very best tired that you'll ever have. Does that make sense? It's the very best tired. I actually believe that you and I can live in a place of overflow. We can live in a place of overflow so that in the doing, in the work, in the sharing, in the giving, in the spreading, in the telling, that there can be so much joy in that, and there can be so much love and peace. How many of you know that if he can find a conduit and find a pipeline to get that through, you're gonna be blessed because it's got to get through you before it's touching somebody else. Amen. So what we work while we're waiting, while we're hoping, we work, and then we watch. Here we go. What is it, Matthew 25, the parable of the virgins? You had the five wise, you had the five, um, you had the five uh foolish. And we know that what made the foolish foolish was that they did not have enough oil. They they weren't prepared for the coming of the bridegroom. It's all about preparation. That whole oil thing that's all about intimacy. That's that's about your fellowship, that's about your closeness, that's about your personal relationship with the Lord. You're not trying to fill somebody else's lamp. Come on, you gotta make sure your lamp is full because you don't know how long it's gonna be. Come on, amen. And it says their wicks were trimmed. Sounds like holy living to me. Sounds like alignment, sounds like keeping yourself in a position of obedience, in a position of following, following the Lord with your heart. So we work, we watch, hey, we worship. We worship. Not just Sundays, not just Wednesdays. Come on, Fayetteville. Not not just on those times when we gather, we set aside that portion of a service to worship corporately, but worship is actually a lifestyle. Worship daily, worship intimately, worship wholeheartedly. I love, I love Psalm 100. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, come into his courts with praise, be thankful unto him and bless his name, for the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, his truth endures to all generations. Psalm 92, it's a good thing to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praise unto his name. Psalm 16, 11, in his presence there's fullness of joy, and at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore. You and I have an opportunity, while we are hope-filled waiting, to live in a place of worship and fellowship and closeness with the Lord. Began with a prophecy out of Isaiah that was fulfilled in Matthew 1 and Luke 2. But this is Paul. Telling the Romans, Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Moses, David. Any of those early on that would fall into that patriarch position or status. So he gave it to them. Christ came for them, for the Jew, but it also says he came for the Gentile, that we might glorify God for his mercy. As it's written, I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing your name. And again it says, Rejoice, O Gentiles, with this people. And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him. Again, Isaiah says, The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles. In him will the Gentiles hope. I want you to stand with me. And campus pastors, I'm going to hand it off to you at this point. Each congregation is going to be receiving communion as we end today. Hopefully, when you came into the building, you received those elements. Here's our hope. As we receive communion here in just a moment, listen. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. So that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. That's our expectation today as we receive his body and as we drink his blood. If you didn't receive the elements, the guys are coming around. You can raise your hand.

unknown: 1:02:08

I'll get that to you.

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:12

There's a scripture in Proverbs, I believe it's verse 13, verse 12. Listen close. It says, hope preferred makes the heart sick. Deferred. Deferred. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. But a desire realized becomes a tree of life. In Psalm 37, 4 it says, Delight yourself in the Lord, and he'll what? He'll give you the desires of your heart. Because I think for anyone who's walked with the Lord for a while, you're probably thinking, are my desires right? Is what I'm desiring what he desires for me? You know how you fix that? By delighting yourself in the Lord. By making yourself pliable and yielded and broken and humble and surrendered to him. I think of those in the room, and I don't know everyone, but I know enough. I think of those who are dealing with chronic pain. Some very close to me that are in this room. I think of those in the room that are dealing with life-controlling addiction. I think of those in the room that can, and you're believing, your hope is that your marriage will make it. God, can you do something? Will my prodigal ever come home? Hope deferred, hope prolonged, hope put off has a tendency to make the heart sick. But a desire, a desire realized or fulfilled becomes a tree of life. I'm gonna say this, Pastor Scott, I don't know if I can prove it by scripture. If it's not right, you can correct it next week. Amen. Listen to this. Hope, our desires, if they're godly, right? If they're his desires, our desires are wrapped in hope. Does that make sense? Our hope is what encases that desire until it comes to pass. Come on, Jesus. For those of you today that might not have the relationship, have the closeness and the intimacy that I've been talking about, it it really begins with a simple cry from your heart. It really begins with a simple, I need you. I give up. Take my life, Lord. I surrender to you. Receive your blood. I receive what you did at the cross. Some of us today, you can go ahead and take the top off because we're gonna we're gonna receive both together at the same time. Some of you today need healing in your body. Matter of fact, that's the prolonged hope that some of you are dealing with. And here's my concern for those of us that get in that position is that we just kind of put it on the shelf. We put hope on the shelf, and then we start trying to do our own thing and figure out a way and our own strength and our own power to take care of the pain. It's real. I think about my own son-in-law. Married to my daughter for 10 years. Horrible addiction for those 10 years. Ends up going to a rehab to dry out while he's there, has an encounter with Jesus. Just 30 days. I know some recovery places are a year, six months, or two years, or ten years, or 50 years. However long it takes, you just get free. Amen. Anyway, he comes out. He's applied these principles, kingdom principles. He's aligned his life. He starts doing these steps. Some of you recognize that terminology. He starts doing these steps. And he literally has become and has transformed into somebody that we don't even know. My daughter told us a few weeks ago, she said, this is not the guy I married. Old things pass away, friend. Behold, all things become new. A little bit more. Well, there's so much to that story that's so good. He came through our freedom weekend last year. Came through our freedom weekend, gets free. We have baptism. I'm in a baptismal right over there, baptizing my son-in-law over the Thanksgiving holiday last year.

unknown: 1:07:44

Come on.

SPEAKER_00: 1:07:49

Your desires are wrapped in hope. They're wrapped in hope. And that hope will hold that desire until it's fulfilled. In Jesus' name. Talked to a fellow last week when we were, church was over. Precious brother in this congregation. I consider him a close friend. He's been on the same job, I think, over 15 years. He's never been paid what he's worth. He's never been recognized for what he does. He's never been valued just by verbiage or by monetary compensation. And he's basically given his life to this company and to make them better and to do what they do. And he told me last week. I don't know why we say this. We always say, you're not going to believe this.

unknown: 1:08:45

No.

SPEAKER_00: 1:08:47

I am. I'm going to believe you. Because that's my God. He said, I got called in, some higher up in the company. Saw what I did, saw how long I'd be here, saw how I've been here, saw how much I was making, and said, We're going to fix that. And they raised him up to the level that he should have been making all of those years. Practical stuff for you. Real spiritual stuff. Prodigals coming home, somebody. Come on. But he'll do that for you on your job too. It's just the God we serve. He's a restorer, he's a reformer, he's a reconciler, he's a redeemer, he's merciful, he's kind, he's a healer, he's a deliverer. Lord, today we stand before you. Humble, humble sons and daughters. So grateful to be heirs and joint heirs, overcomers and more than conquerors. Lord, this little piece of bread we hold today reminds us of the covenant that you made with us. Lord, I pray in some way, Holy Spirit, as we eat this today, to remember, to rejoice, to celebrate, to declare, to position ourselves in a place of surrender. It's also, God, my hope that you will restore hope to anyone in the room that is lacking. In Jesus' name, let's eat together. Thank you, Lord, for the blood. Thank you, Lord, for the cleansing and the washing. Thank you for the redemption. Thank you for the punishment that you took that should have been executed upon me, Lord, upon us. But you took it, God, in our behalf. We are grateful and we are thankful. Right now, before you drink, if you're in the room and you don't know Jesus, this is the perfect time for you to say, Jesus, save me. Jesus, forgive me. Jesus, wash me. Jesus, cleanse me. Jesus, deliver me. Jesus, heal my mind. Talk to him for a moment, friends. Cry out to him for a moment, save me, oh God. Save me from myself. Father, I thank you that the blood is powerful enough to not just cleanse and wash, but to protect and to shield and to guard us and our children, our grandchildren, our family, our friends, Lord. So we take today, God, with appreciation and gratefulness.

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:32

We hope and pray. This message was encouraging and impactful. Join us live on our website or Facebook on Sundays at 9 and 11 a.m. You can stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram at the Rock Family.