Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] My goodness, I was doing a lot of reflecting this last week. I actually had the joy of preaching the opening rally at Christ for the Nations.
[00:00:11] Anybody from CF and I here today? All right.
[00:00:16] And so it was 20 years ago this week that I started as a student there at cfni. Really nice. And we was walking down memory lane. And I'll tell you, wonderful seasons at CF and I. And then we went to Illinois where we pastored our first church.
[00:00:37] We never had Sundays like today.
[00:00:40] I tell you, you spend. I mean, we might as well have been in a third world nation where he didn't have partners in ministry anything. I mean, it was so praise God, he was growing something in us. But it just, it has made me eternally grateful for the way the Lord shows up in our meetings and our times together and his presence. And one of the things I, I love revival. I love going after God. But if you studied church history, what's very interesting is you see all these great revivals that have transpired, and a lot of those revival ministers fall by the wayside in a backsliding, going crazy, whatever it is. But there's a number who remain.
[00:01:26] And the difference is, you know what the difference is?
[00:01:31] The ones who remain, the one who have stayed faithful, were preachers of the word. They were preachers of the word. There's something that happens through the preaching of the word. We can have an experience like we've, we've been in for an hour now, and it's wonderful. But the preaching of God's word is what seals it in our heart. It's what creates a foundation under our feet and it's what will keep us stable because we're going to finish the race. Well, amen. We're not going to start off strong. I had encounters with the Holy Ghost. Fall off the band. No, we're going to finish strong, endure to the end. It's going to be great.
[00:02:07] Now, with that being said, just a couple of things I want you to be mindful of. It is true you did not miss here the announcements. We will have a plunge next week. I know it's 20 degrees outside, but by Saturday it's supposed to be 70. That's Texas weather for you. And so, yeah, we'll have that. It's going to be heated either way, but should be a good, nice weekend Sunday. Sign up for that. You can sign up in the hallway. And tonight I will have our corporate prayer meeting. And I really want to go after miracles tonight.
[00:02:45] One of the things pastor told us, one of his five prayer focuses for this season. And so we're gonna, we're gonna go after Miracles tonight. We're gonna really contend for the supernatural. So I hope you'll join us tonight. Six o'clock. It's gonna be a great time together. Would you stand as we honor the reading of God's word. We'll read our theme verse.
[00:03:03] Romans chapter 15, Romans chapter 15 and verse 13 is there on the screen. And we'll read this together. Do you know it by now? Is it getting in your heart?
[00:03:17] Here we go. Let's read it together. 1, 2, 3, go. Now, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope. By the power of the Holy Spirit, everybody say hope. We're going to abound in hope this year. Amen. Now I want you to turn with me to Ephesians chapter one in verse three. This also will be coming up on the screen. Ephesians chapter one and verse three. I was looking for passages that had both glory and grace. Pastor began to open that last week for us and, and I found it. In Ephesians, Ephesians chapter one and verse three, it says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every blessing, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.
[00:04:42] This, ladies and gentlemen, is God's word and we believe it to be true. You may be seated.
[00:04:52] This last week we received a powerful testimony. As I said, we're really contending in this season for miracles. We want to believe that it is a time of healing for, for our church and for. For our body. And, and last week we received a powerful testimony.
[00:05:10] I was talking with Sterling even between the services. They've got a nine year old daughter named Atlee who from early infancy had heart surgery, so had multiple complications with her heart issues. On and on, goes into the hospital, high anxiety, hates the checkups, bad report after bad report. In fact, in eight years they said they've only received one good report.
[00:05:37] Until last week they received the second of two good reports in eight years of treatments for nine year old Atlee. They said atlee woke up and wanted to know, did somebody touch me last night? Somebody came into the room. They, they touched my shoulder and all of my anxiety, all of my fear left. Now, as the parents began to kind of interview and hear this, they've come to the conclusion, and I would tend to agree. I believe Atlee had an angelic encounter that night. And what was amazing is she goes into the hospital the next day. And normally where she would have been fearful, she would have been anxious. Instead, she was full of joy and she was excited and she was, you know, and God just began to do a wonderful work as this anxiety had been lifted off of her. They got a wonderful, wonderful report from the doctor. And the testimony card says, you know, we've got a good report. Everything is moving the right direction. We're believing that this is the first of many good reports as Atlee is completely healed. Amen.
[00:06:47] Now, all of a sudden what I'm doing is I'm hearing this testimony and out of Romans, our, Our theme verse for the year, I. I'm hearing, you know, what I believe has now overwhelmed and overshadowed. This was anxiety.
[00:07:04] Now there's hope where there was anxiety. Anxiety, by the way, is the fearful expectation that something bad is about to happen. It's an epidemic in our day and age. Anxiety. I don't know if I can pass this test. I don't know if my marriage can stand. I don't know if I'll be healed. I don't know if my finances are going to work out. We all think, feel and have had moments of anxiety. The fearful expectation something bad's about to happen.
[00:07:34] But what we're contending for is the God of hope who gives us abundant hope or abounding hope. Hope is the joyful expectation that good things are coming. It's the joyful expectation that blessings are on the way. That man, that report was just the first of many good reports that are coming my way. That come on, that, that financial breakthrough, that little bit that is the first of many that are coming my way. This great day that I had with my wife is the first of many good days that I'm going to have with my wife. I've got the joyful expectation. I know people are, like, anxious, what's going to happen with our nation? Are we going to die? Are we going to suffer? Listen, I'm just telling you, as long as the Church of Jesus Christ is here, we have hope. As long as I'm. I'll say this man, and you can think this is arrogance, but I'm just telling you I have been called as a preacher of good news and God has not called me to be a false prophet to prophesy, hey, there's good things coming our way. If he was intending to have our nation free fall into hell. As long as I'm here, as long as you're here, as long as the church is here, I have hope. I have a joyful expectation that good things are coming our way. That come on, the greatest revival is ahead of us. It's not behind us. That the greatest days for our nation are ahead of us. They're not behind us. The greatest day for the church ahead of us, it's not behind us. Everybody say hope.
[00:09:08] That's what we're contending for.
[00:09:10] And out of this Ephesians text, I want to give some focus to our hope.
[00:09:19] What should you be excited for?
[00:09:22] What are the good things that are coming your way? Seeing as this is a year 2025 of grace, grace, I felt that it was good to dive deeper into this. We've, we've talked a lot about glory and, and we've, we've spent seasons in this church talking about glory. Glory defined are the attributes of God demonstrated.
[00:09:47] Glory is the attributes of God being demonstrated. So you know what we were experiencing a moment ago when, when we felt the presence of God begin to visit us and, and the Lord began to touch us. He be bodies and people are experiencing breakthrough and their emotions are being. What is that as glory? That's the manifest presence of God visiting us here on the earth. That which is existent in the kingdom, existent in heaven, existent in the Spirit is now being made a manifest here on the earth. That's glory. It's not just, you know, I grew up here in a. I just think about this guy that I grew up with in church and every time the pastor would get to preach and he glory.
[00:10:33] And so I just thought like glory was a substitute for amen or something. No, Glory is the manifest presence of God Almighty. So when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, John 1:14 says, we beheld the glory of God in the man Jesus Christ. He who is eternally existent in the spirit with God from creation took on flesh dwelt among us. The Bible calls that glory.
[00:11:04] The Bible says that when heaven's provision was made manifest, you read the first miracle water into wine, it was provision. It was a miracle. And the Bible says in John 2:11 that it was the beginning of glory. Everybody say glory.
[00:11:22] I love glory. When Jesus raises the dead, resurrection power. That was available in heaven was made manifest in the man Lazarus. And The Bible, John 11:40 called that glory. You will see the glory of God.
[00:11:42] So this is what we believe, that glory is the attributes of God demonstrated. But we talked last week about grace. Everybody say grace.
[00:11:54] Grace is the attitude of God demonstrated comparable to glory. It's his attributes made manifest. Glory is when his attitude is released. The Bible says that God is patient and he's merciful. He's slow to anger and he's of great kindness and he relents from doing harm. His desire is not to leave a curse, but to leave a blessing. That declaration is actually the most frequently quoted prophetic declaration about God in all of the Bible.
[00:12:28] That's his nature. Those are his attributes. And grace is when God manifests his attributes. So I begin to experience his love. I begin to experience his faithfulness. I experience his kindness or his mercy. Is anybody thankful for the grace of God?
[00:12:48] Now, I don't know about you, but when I heard that our theme or, you know, what we were believing for in this new year was grace, grace, I didn't get super excited about it.
[00:13:02] I have some baggage with grace. I don't know if I'm the only one. I grew up in a church that you would call a greasy grace church. And part of me, I, I just, I truly believe, like I, I grew up with this mindset that I can be a terrible person, but praise God for his grace.
[00:13:21] And growing up with that mentality, a license to sin, I feel like kept me captive in sin for many, many years. So when I began to hear, you know, preaching that would call me out of that and, and, and I began to contend for the Holy Ghost that would empower me to live a holy life. Man, I ra and I have kind of pushed grace by the wayside. Is anybody trekking with me on this? Anybody feel the same way? So, so I, I, I didn't like this. But then I read something in John chapter eight and you can read this story on your own. You probably know the account. There was a woman who was caught in adultery. And the Pharisees, religious leaders drag this woman before Jesus. They, they throw her down and they say, jesus, the law commands that an adulterer is to be stoned. What do you say if you know the story? Jesus kneels down. He begins to write in the dirt. Many scholars believe that he was writing out the sins of the accusers. And the accusers began to leave. One by one, Jesus stands up, he looks at this adulterous woman and he says, Woman, where are your accusers? And she says, they've all left.
[00:14:36] And he says, I don't accuse you either, Grace.
[00:14:42] No accusation. You're forgiven.
[00:14:46] But then Jesus says something radical, and this was the piece that I had been missing in Grace. He says in John 8, in verse 11, now go and sin no more.
[00:15:01] You see, an authentic encounter with grace not only destroyed the power of condemnation, but grace bestowed the power to go and sin no more.
[00:15:14] That's what the Lord did. So grace in technical terms, I. I think you've probably heard this definition, grace defined literally means unmerited or undeserved favor. Everybody say favor. Now, grace. I've heard a lot of bad teaching about grace. License to sin. No, it's the empowerment to walk free from sin. But when I hear about favor, oh, I like favor. I like favor from the very first time. I mean, we declare the favorable year of the Lord. That was Jesus declaration. It's here, it's now. Now is the time to access what I have for you. We declare in songs like the blessing, may his favor be upon you to a thousand generations. And I love it. When I began my journey in Bible school, I would hear people, you know, you'd get a good parking spot, and yes, that's favorite. I'm like, what's favor? I began praying for favor. You know, you'd have, like, people that get to cut at the front of the line. And my kids told me I needed to say this, but this is like, there'd be a fuff of a favor, and they'd be so excited, man, I'm walking in favor. And so I began to pray for everybody. Say F. F, F. Favor.
[00:16:27] That's right. And then there was this quote. Everybody would say, favor ain't fair. Like, I remember going in, like, there was a class that I was supposed to take at cfni. I didn't like the inst. And so I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna go talk to the. To the guidance counselor, whatever, and I'm gonna get my class switched. I want to be in this revival class over here. So I. There were a number of people who went and they tried to get their class switch. Every single one of them got denied. But I'm like, I got favor. So I walk into there and I lay out my case. You know, this is what God's called me to do. I really feel like this class is going to be beneficial for me. And so guess what? I was the only one that they allowed to switch that class. I got off of My track, and I got to take the class that I wanted. Favor. I began to pray for favor. You feel like. Like you begin to walk in favor. You feel like you got a superpower or something. Like, I'm gonna get a promotion before anybody else because I got favor on my life. I'm gonna get the opportunity because I got favor in my life, and I believe this kind of stuff, man. In fact, I'll never forget. I was a student, single. And into the school came this whole group of Hawaiians.
[00:17:37] Like, wow, I'm watching all these girls come in. They got these flowers behind their ears. They got their grass skirts on. And, no, they didn't really have grass skirts, but, you know. But all these Hawaiians. And I was pretty impressed, man. Like, okay, so I went out as a prophetic act. This is true. I went out as a prophetic act. I bought a hula dancer to put on my dashboard. Lord. And this was my prophetic day. Every time I saw this, I'm gonna have a Hawaiian. So I watch, and I have my eye on Leah, and. And I'd watch guys come up to her. They'd be, you know, like, leah, the Lord told me that you're my wife.
[00:18:15] And Leah, man, I don't know if you guys know my wife, but she's a man. She's a firecracker. She'd be like, well, he didn't tell me that. Buzz off. Like, she would have nothing to do with it. It had. No, no. The Lord didn't speak that to me. In fact, I remember one guy comes up and. And she owed money on her school bill. Here was a deadline coming up, and so this guy comes up to her, and he gives her thousands of dollars to pay what was needed on her school bill.
[00:18:42] And then he says, can I take you to ice cream? And she said, do you see this fist?
[00:18:50] This is true. She would not even do that. So here I come.
[00:18:54] I'm poor. I didn't pay your school bill. I pull up in my 1986 Ford Taurus. I mean, paints, chipping off of this thing. I literally. This is true. I had my bumper held on with duct tape. I didn't know how to dress right. My wife. I mean, still to this day, she dresses me. She's helped me so much in my life.
[00:19:17] And I pull up there, and I know that I don't got much, but I got favor.
[00:19:27] And so I say, listen, you don't have a date to the winter banquet that's coming up. I'm your date. And she said, yes, and it was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. I'm telling you, she only broke up with me once ever. But it's other than that. It's been amazing, you guys. Marital bliss from day one. It's truly been really in God, I walk in favor. And so I began. It's true, man. From the beginning of my walk with God, I began to contend for favor and pray for favor and believe for favor. And I was walking in favor, not really even understanding what favor was.
[00:20:08] But one day I was reading about Mary, it was around Christmas. And in Luke 1:28, the Bible says, rejoice. This is the angel, he says, rejoice, Highly favored one begins to unroll this prophetic word to Mary about how you're gonna, you're gonna carry the son of God, Jesus, and he's gonna save his people from their sins. Wonderful declaration. You are highly favored. Everyone say highly favored.
[00:20:39] But I read the passage in the amplified and it says, rejoice, you who are bestowed with grace.
[00:20:51] I'm like, wait a second, I like favor, but what's this greasy grace stuff now? Maybe you're a lot smarter than I am, but it took me years to realize that grace and favor are the same thing.
[00:21:08] I had no idea. I loved favor and felt like I was walking in it, but I shied away from grace. And then Mary talked me, they're the same thing.
[00:21:18] And so I began to contend over. This is a Greek word, charis, and it means to be acceptable, to have favor, gift, grace, abundant joy, pleasure, worthy, highly accepted, highly favored. So I'm looking at this and I'm like, wow, God, this is, this is what you declared over Mary. And then this goes even deeper. Are you still trekking with me? This is going to help you.
[00:21:48] I was reading in Ephesians chapter one and verse six. We read the passage just a moment ago, but it says, praise to the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the beloved. Now I know that's a lot of big words, but it's saying, praise Jesus, who is favored of God. Grace.
[00:22:13] Jesus, full of grace, highly favored, has made you accepted in the beloved. He has made you highly favored. And this is what's incredible. When the Bible says that he made you accepted in the beloved, it's the exact same word that the angel spoke over Mary. Highly favored one. The Bible is declaring that because of what Jesus has done for us, the Father's declaration over you and over me is, you are highly favored. You are full of grace, you have been bestowed by God Almighty. There's a bestowal of grace and favor on your life.
[00:23:06] That's a big deal. Do you know that the very same bestowal that Jesus received, he's saying, has been made available to you?
[00:23:16] Have you understood that, my friend? You'd begin to pray different, walk different, live different. I'm trying to give us focus for our hope.
[00:23:25] What am I expecting this year? What am I believing going to happen? I believe that I am highly favored of the Lord. And I believe that you are highly favored of the Lord. Come on, I want you to say it out loud. I am highly favored.
[00:23:43] That's right.
[00:23:45] So Jesus is the perfect picture of what a life of grace looks like. You see it all in this Ephesians text. He was blessed with identity. Beloved of the Father, verse 3, verse 4 said that he was perfect, holy, blameless. It says that he was a chosen child of God in verse five. And when you come into Christ in his life, the Father bestows the very same grace, high favor on you.
[00:24:15] You say, what is bestowal? I like bestowal. Have you ever seen an ordination service?
[00:24:20] We actually were able to host the assembly of God ordination service right here just a number of months ago. And what will happen is you'll have an individual who's a candidate to be ordained as a pastor. And they came up on this stage and they knelt down at an altar that was here.
[00:24:39] And pastors who were already operating in that pastoral office, they'd already been ordained. They come over to these who are about to be bestowed, they lay their hands on them and pray for them. You say, what's that all about? Well, they are believing that the very same grace that God has given them to pastor, to shepherd, to be ordained, they're believing that that same authority, that that same grace, that that same high favor is now being bestowed upon the recipient. Does that make sense? So you'll see this in, in the Book of Numbers, In Numbers, chapter 11, Moses now has already led the children of Israel out of captivity. And he's mediating every single issue that's going on amongst the people. He's literally spending day and night hearing issues big and small, trying to be a voice of wisdom, discernment, justice, all of these things to the children of Israel. Well, he's getting worn out, Jethro. His Father in law comes up to him and says, listen, Moses, if you keep up at this pace, you're going to die.
[00:25:53] So what I recommend you do is dedicate elders. And we're going to bestow upon them eldership and we're going to believe that the very same grace that is upon you will be released over them. And that's exactly what they did. They selected Amongst the tribes 70 different elders. They called for them. Moses himself laid his hands on them and asked the Lord the same grace, the same favor that is upon my life to lead these people. I'm asking that you would multiply that grace and give it to these 70 elders. And he did. God did it. In fact, even in the New Testament, this is what the apostle Paul, he encourages Timothy, I remind you, stir up the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hand. In first Timothy, he talks about how elders gathered around him. They laid hands on him and prayed that God would bestow gifts on the inside of Timothy. And Paul is now reminding him, timothy, stir that thing up. There was something given to you when you were bestowed as a pastor.
[00:27:05] This is why even this last Wednesday, we called for the elders of the church. According to James 5, is there any among you who are sick? Let him call for the elders of the church. Anointing them with oil and the prayer of faith will save or heal the sick. You say, well, why? Why do we do that? I can watch an Internet preacher and I can get healed. That way I can pray for myself. There's a God given order, there's an obedience to scripture. We believe that our elders have been given a special bestowal, that there is an anointing for leadership in a grace that is upon their life that has now been released. And so when the Bible instructs us to come and to lay hands on those who are sick, we believe there's a bestowal, there's a transfer of power that actually happens when we come in agreement with scripture and how God has ordered and orchestrated things. Is this making sense to everybody now? Here's what's amazing.
[00:28:06] If Jesus were here and Jesus said, I'm going to pray for you, or I've got a prophetic word for you, I'm going to lay hands on you for your healing. Nobody in this place most likely would doubt for an instant that Jesus himself had the power, had the authority, had the grace or favor on his life to accomplish what he was declaring.
[00:28:30] But according to Ephesians chapter one, in verse six, if you are in Christ, the Father himself has bestowed the same high favor upon you that was upon Jesus.
[00:28:48] That's crazy. I mean, if you understood this friend, you'd begin to walk different, you'd pray different. You're like man. If Jesus could Cleanse lepers, so can I. If Jesus didn't lack for anything, neither do I. If Jesus had the ability to gain leaders and make disciples, so do I. If Jesus had authority over demons, over sickness and disease, so do I.
[00:29:17] We're gonna walk. It's the hope of high favor that's upon our lives. And so what is our expectation? I've got three ideas for you. Oh, my goodness. Where did my time go? I got too excited in the introduction. I'll give you this fast.
[00:29:34] Verse 3. Ephesians, chapter 1 says that we have been says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. In Christ, you have the hope. I want you to write this down. All my points are declarations. So you can speak it over yourself, declare it over yourself, pray it over yourself. I have the hope, hope of abundant blessing.
[00:30:02] This is straight Bible. What has been bestowed upon you according to Scripture? What is the grace? What is the favor that has been released over your life according to the Bible? You have the hope of abundant blessing. You say, well, how much blessing?
[00:30:20] Every blessing.
[00:30:23] Every blessing. Now, some critics might say, well, Pastor, it says every spiritual blessing. Can I remind you, everything you see and experience was born out of the Spirit.
[00:30:41] The world was created out of the Spirit. If God gave you a natural blessing, it would actually be a lesser blessing than a spiritual blessing, because a spiritual blessing makes room for glory. Now he's gonna manifest that which he promised you in the earth. This is where we see your kingdom come and your will be done. That's all in the Spirit. But when glory touches it, it's now being released. It's being made manifest in the earth. You see, we walk by faith. Knowing I'm walking in abundant blessing. I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. And by the way, if you want to know, the Bible does also cover natural blessing. Second Peter 1:3 says, his divine power has given us all things that pertain to life. That's natural. And godliness. That's the Spirit. Through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue. Here's another one. Oh, you ought to memorize this verse. Romans 8:16.
[00:31:44] His spirit joins with our Spirit to affirm we are God's children.
[00:31:50] Since we are his children, we are his heirs. What? In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory. If we're to share in his glory, we must also share his suffering. Friend, it's going to be both. There's going to be moments of anguish as you Feel the pain in the heart of God. Face criticism. It's not always easy. But if you'll walk with him, it's glorious. And attached to every bit of your walk is his supernatural provision, his abundant blessing, every blessing in heaven made available to you.
[00:32:35] So in 2020, the Lord spoke to my wife and I to plant a church. Some of you have heard this story, but my wife had a dream that she received. We got a Bible study of like 30 people, okay? And my wife has a dream about a building.
[00:32:53] So we go to Kona. We're driving around and we find the building. She looks at it. Jake, this is the building from my dream.
[00:33:02] So we begin to inquire. We find out that that building costs $6 million. Now, I don't know about you. I don't know if you have $6 million. I definitely don't have $6 million. But I was listening. I was sitting in a service one day, and the Lord spoke to me about that building. He said, I didn't ask you to pay for it. I asked you to believe for it.
[00:33:30] I can do that.
[00:33:32] He has it all. That's his building. It's not my building. It's not their building. Through a series of events, some of you, I. I won't share the whole story for the sake of time, but literally, the Lord gave me a dream. Go to this coffee shop, talk to this person, ask them this question. Next thing you know, I'm staring the owner in the face and I ask him, can I buy your build? I don't have any money. Can I buy your building? Come to find out. The owner of that mall was one of the founding members of Dr. Yonggi Cho's church in South Korea. Largest church on the planet for many, many years. Over a million members. Mind blowing. This is like their second grade Sunday school class. I'm just telling you, it's like, I mean, crazy. You're like, well, what do you want to buy this for? We want to start a church. As soon as he found out that we were going to start a church, he said, I'll sell you this building. And God began to orchestrate. As we began to step out by faith, not a dollar in our pocket, but we began to walk. Knowing God, you have abundance. God, you are the God who supplies all my need. You didn't ask me to pay for it. You just asked me to believe for it. So I'm stepping out by faith, believing that you're going to do it, friend. What you see with your faith, you will see with your eyes.
[00:34:51] So we're going to walk like this. We're going to walk with the hope of abundant blessing. Everybody say abundant blessing.
[00:35:01] Now, verse four. It says this, that he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Now, I know that people get weird when they see predestined and one day we'll preach about it. I love. I used to study it and had a lot of fun with it. But in all of my time studying predestination, I would always miss what it's actually talking about.
[00:35:36] We can debate and we can talk about how predestination works and how God sees all of this and how it all plays out and all of that. But do miss the point of the text. What has he predestined us to?
[00:35:50] He chose us in love, predestined us to adoption. I want you to write this down. This is the second declaration that I have for you. Number two. I have the hope of beloved identity.
[00:36:07] I have the hope of beloved identity. That means you were chosen by God.
[00:36:15] I want you to say that I am chosen.
[00:36:19] Oh, I like that. Have you ever been picked last for dodgeball?
[00:36:23] Anybody experience that? We'll pray for inner healing in just a few moments. I understand the scars when you're not chosen or you're the last chosen, but part of the hope that we're stepping into this year.
[00:36:35] You were chosen.
[00:36:37] You were chosen, you were predestined to adoption, and God has a good plan for your life. Ephesians 2, 10, 10 says, we are God's workmanship. That word means. That's. It's the Greek word poem. It means that you are his poem. You are his work of art. You are his tapestry. God was creative when he created you. He said, you are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand. There's predestination again that we should walk in them.
[00:37:10] You know what? He's predestined for you good works, works that look like Him.
[00:37:20] That is God's plan for your life. Never forget, there's a couple in the first church that we pastored named Jill and Sean.
[00:37:30] And they wanted to adopt a child. They had a couple kids already, but they wanted to adopt. And so they found this child in Russia. Mom was pregnant, wanted to keep the baby, but knew that she wouldn't be able to care for the child. So she was going to give it up. For adoption. So this couple that we were close to, they found out about this adoption. And I remember times in the altars praying with them. You know, we're believing this, and if it's a girl, we're going to name her Aaron. And they just had all these dreams and they had all these desires for this, for this precious girl. And so they go, they fly to Russia right as the mom's about to give birth. And they're there and they get Aaron. And I mean, there's a whole story, testimony of even how they came back and some of the hurdles they had to face and he had to stay longer. And I mean, it was just amazing. But God worked it out. They end up getting back and they adopted Aaron and they've raised her as their own daughter.
[00:38:34] I remember praying with them in the altars and hearing them make declarations, Aaron's gonna be this, and Aaron's gonna be this, and Aaron's gonna be this.
[00:38:46] And as I read this text, you know what's mind blowing to me? From the foundation of the earth, he chose you.
[00:38:58] I'm not just going to receive you like, you know, you can hang out, but you're, you know, you don't really belong. No, he chose you and adopted you.
[00:39:11] And he's writing a script, a beautiful tapestry of your life.
[00:39:18] God has dreams over you.
[00:39:22] God says, I imagine. You realize when we talk about, can you imagine it's not just our imagination.
[00:39:30] God, what do you imagine? What did you dream about when you saw me, before I was ever born, before I was on anybody's radar? What was the dream that you had in your heart over my life?
[00:39:44] That's beloved identity. When you begin to lean in and say, lord, what is your desire for my life? Life.
[00:39:53] Been watching this goofy competition show. What's the name of that military thing, Special Forces. All these celebrities and all these athletes go on there. And I was watching this and it's a cool show. You ought to check it out. And these guys are all on there. And something just broke my heart. I've heard from at least three individuals on there. They were famous child actor, or they were a breakout athlete, super bowl winner, but they're all saying the same thing.
[00:40:27] Trying to find my purpose, trying to find what I'm here for.
[00:40:33] Some of them even acknowledging, like, I just want God to show me what, what's next for me, friend. That's God's desire for every one of you. He chose you and he adopted you. And he's already written out the story of your life. Our Great joy is to lean in and say, lord, what is it? You've got bigger dreams for me than I could ever dream for myself. You've got an imagination over my life, and I don't. I don't even know what that begins to look like. But, Lord, would you show me?
[00:41:02] This is beloved identity. And the same thing that the Father spoke over Jesus at his baptism.
[00:41:11] This is my son, whom I love.
[00:41:15] I'm so pleased with him. He hadn't preached a message, worked a miracle, done anything worthy of note, and yet he said, this is my son. He belongs to me.
[00:41:26] I love him and I'm proud of him. I'm so pleased.
[00:41:34] Ephesians 1:6 says that the same thing that the Father bestowed on Jesus, he's bestowed on you.
[00:41:42] That means the Father's declaration over your life is, you're my son and I love you and I am pleased with you. You're my daughter and I love you and I am pleased with you.
[00:42:03] Thank you, Jesus.
[00:42:05] Here's the last thing, third declaration, and I end with this.
[00:42:11] I have the hope of holy.
[00:42:16] I have the hope of holy. Everybody say holy. I know this is another word that may carry some history, some baggage with you.
[00:42:26] The Bible says that he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. I thank God. 2nd Corinthians 5. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, according to John 16. I carry the glory of God. The Bible says that I carry His Holy Spirit. The Bible says I am blameless before him in love.
[00:42:58] That's good news. Because, friend, without the work of Jesus, without the shedding of his blood, his work over your life, we're all in big trouble.
[00:43:07] We're all in trouble. We've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The Bible says in First Corinthians 6, 9. Do you not know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
[00:43:19] Uh oh.
[00:43:21] Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters or adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. That's a scary list.
[00:43:37] And I don't know about you, but I'm on that list.
[00:43:44] Verse 11.
[00:43:46] And such were some of you. That's not who you are anymore. If you have given your life to Jesus, such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified. That means he's making you holy, you were justified. That means you are declared right before God. Innocent, clean before his eyes. In the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
[00:44:18] Have you been washed? Have you been sanctified? Is he working in your life first? Thessalonians 5, 23 says, May the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless until the Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
[00:44:41] Our God is holy.
[00:44:44] He is holy. And just so you know, you can use a word like grace in favor interchangeably. Same word. Charis means the same thing.
[00:44:56] But I've heard people talk about holy and they use it interchangeably with a word like purity.
[00:45:04] They attach it to works and it's not right. Purity is a part of holiness. Don't get me wrong. But to be holy, holy means you are completely other.
[00:45:17] You're unlike anything that I've ever seen or experienced. You're beyond.
[00:45:24] You're unimaginable. This is why the angels, they're around the throne of God Almighty and you realize there's a guy up there in heaven called seraphim. Literally means burning one. An angel of fire from his head to his toes. And yet he's looking at God and saying, you are an all consuming fire. You I'm fire. But you're more fire than fire is. He's looking, man. You can experience love and power in heaven, but all of these around the throne are saying, man, I have power. But you have power. More power than power. You're more love than love. You're more grace than grace. That's holy.
[00:46:10] That's holy.
[00:46:13] Oh, my heart's burning on the inside of me because the Father has bestowed holy.
[00:46:26] Have you ever had somebody pray for you?
[00:46:30] That was more than an encouraging word. That was like God spoke to my heart.
[00:46:37] You ever felt power when somebody ministered over you?
[00:46:43] That's beyond your hand.
[00:46:47] That's holy.
[00:46:51] He's going to make us holy.
