Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Hallelujah.
[00:00:05] Our text for today. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice. Though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[00:01:03] Lord, I ask for your anointing over this word.
[00:01:06] Pray as we open the scripture that today you administer to us.
[00:01:11] Lord, we need you. You are our living hope.
[00:01:16] Lord, some are facing battles, challenges. We're in those hard fought moments.
[00:01:22] But I believe, Lord, as we walk with you, we'll also have tremendous testimony. We'll have the hallelujah moment as well.
[00:01:30] So we just welcome you, Holy Spirit. Have your way. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, worship team. Wasn't that amazing?
[00:01:47] You do not want to miss the next couple weeks.
[00:01:51] We're going to, we're going to continue to build on this trilogy and every week is going to be, I think, better than the last. But I'm glad you're here today.
[00:02:00] I want to share about the reward of living hope. If you're taking notes, the title the reward of living Hope. Everybody say hope.
[00:02:13] Now, hope is not a new word for us. We've been talking out of the book of Romans. We've shared in previous weeks about how hope is the joyful expectation that good things are coming my way, the joyful expectation that blessings are on the way, that if you're in a trial, God's about to turn it for good. That breakthrough is here, that God's favor is upon me, that the kingdom of God is at hand. It's near, it's accessible. The opposite of hope is anxiety. It's the fearful expectation that something bad is about to happen. And I think we all have experienced this. At times it's like, you know, I, I feel good today, but I know that I'm about to get sick. My, my marriage is good today, but oh man, there's about to be a fight. I just know it. Oh, I just got financially blessed. But something terrible is about to happen. There's always an unex expense. This is hope and anxiety. And I don't know about you, but my desire is that we would walk with an awareness of the living hope that we would walk with an awareness that, God, I may go through trials, I may be in some hard fought moments, but you've got some good things that are coming my way. This is only a season. This is only a moment. This trial will end and I will see breakthrough.
[00:03:40] Now, just a little over a week ago, I can't believe that I'm even saying this, but we celebrated my daughter's 17th birthday.
[00:03:49] She's sitting on the front row here. Ronnie Mack has volunteered to be a shotgun grandfather because she is just so stinking beautiful. And no, you're not allowed to date her.
[00:04:02] I told her she can date when she gets married and my wife and I are going to arrange that for her. So.
[00:04:10] But all that being said, my wife and I, as we were, you know, just reflecting on Mariah and her birthday and we were looking through pictures and a lot of newborn pictures and we started telling the stories with one another about how scary it was to bring home a new baby. Anybody know what I'm talking about? You've experienced this. I mean, it was, it was a challenge even to get my wife to go to the hospital. We, I mean, she's pregnant, she's now having contractions. And I still remember the green couch that she sat on that I could not get her to leave. And so, I mean, it's like the, the contractions are now coming closer together and the pain is increasing. And I, I say, leah, we, we better, we better get to the hospital. We were about 40 minutes away and so I bribed her with coffee. If you want to know what the Barrientos love language is, it's coffee. And so I told Leah, listen, we won't go to the hospital. How about we go to Starbucks? And she's also okay, that's fine. So we do, we get in the car, we go down the road. We, we, we get there and we get our coffee. And then I decide we're not going to drink our coffee in the, in the Starbucks parking lot. We're just, we're going to go to another parking lot over here. So we go, we pull up to the hospital right outside the door and that's where we enjoy our co. Now, I couldn't even get her to come inside. Now her contractions are coming more intensely, more quickly. And it's a, it's an intense moment. But finally we get into the Hospital. And any man just. I just gotta say props to all the mamas in the house. God bless you. You are incredible. And props to all the husbands who stayed beside your wife through that whole labor process. Because it's confusing.
[00:06:02] I'm just telling you, it is confusing. She's. Be with me. Okay, I'm here. I'm here, Leah. Hold me. And so I grabbed. Don't touch me. Okay, I'm here. Pray for me. Be quiet. It's just, you know, all these things come and go. I'm trying to rest. No count for me. And it's a confusing moment. But as this pain is increasing in her body, you notice that there's a moment where the baby comes forth. And I'll never forget when I first laid eyes on Moriah. Had the same experience seeing Gabriel. But all of a sudden, you take that child and you lay it on the breast of mom. And she takes and she holds that child. And all the pain, all the fear that had led up to that moment is now forgotten as you hold this new life in your arms.
[00:06:54] And Jesus actually described this himself in John 16:21. He said, it's like a woman who is suffering the pains of labor, but when her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought forth a new baby into the world.
[00:07:18] Why would a woman ever want to endure the suffering of labor for the joy of new life?
[00:07:31] And it begs the question, why would Jesus be willing to endure crucifixion, abuse? Why would he be willing to endure death on the cross?
[00:07:43] For the joy. Hebrews 12:2 says new life. He was receiving a child into the world. He was receiving many children into the world. In fact, that's you and that's me. The Bible says, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. You know what that joy was? It was you and it was me. It was the joy of a child that has been brought through tribulation.
[00:08:13] My hope today is that you leave with hope that there's an expectation that there's good things that are on the other side of my suffering.
[00:08:25] Speaking of hard fought, hallelujah. If you quit in the middle of your fight, you're never going to have your hallelujah moments.
[00:08:35] Stay in the fight.
[00:08:37] Many know about Peter. He's the writer of first and Second Peter, the writer of the text that was quoted earlier in that drama piece.
[00:08:47] And he said this. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his mercy he has begotten us again to a living hope. He has Begotten us again. That's the same phrase it's used to be born again. Everybody say born again.
[00:09:06] He says, you are born again to a living hope.
[00:09:12] Let me just tell you, I don't know where everybody is in their faith. Walk with Jesus. But the two most important questions that you will ever answer in life.
[00:09:22] Number one, this is the most important question.
[00:09:26] Who is God?
[00:09:30] I'm telling you, on this one question hangs all of eternity. Are you going to spend eternity in his presence, or are you going to spend eternity separated from Him? If you get this answer wrong, friend, I'm telling you, eternity is in the balance. Who is God? It's the most important question that we could ever answer. And I say on the authority of Scripture, I say on the authority of my own change and transform life. I say on the authority of many other testimonies in this room, I believe that God is the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he's living, he's active. We are the only religion on the face of the earth that doesn't gather around tombs and tombstones to remember a savior who died. We go to empty tombs. We walk around. Maybe it was here, maybe it was there. And the reason is, is because he's not there anymore. Friend. Our king died, yes, but he rose again. He shed his blood for you and for me to receive sons and daughters unto him.
[00:10:41] That's our God. That's our king.
[00:10:45] The second most important question that you will ever answer in life in light of who God is, who am I?
[00:10:54] Who am I? In light of this revelation that I have now received, who am I in light of God? When you find out who God is, He receives you, the Bible says, not as a slave, but as his own. John 10:3 says that Jesus is a good shepherd and he knows his sheep by name. So when he calls you, it's not just some generic sacrifice that he threw out there. Well, I hope somebody gets this. No, it was intentional. It was individual, and it was a call that was specifically for you by name.
[00:11:32] The Bible says in Galatians 3:26 that you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And then in chapter four, in verse seven, it says, you are no longer a slave, but you are a son. And if you are a son, then you are an heir of God through Christ. Oh, my goodness. You have been purchased not just to be a servant or a slave in the kingdom of God. You are royalty. You're an heir of God himself. That's a big deal. So you've not Been called to live as a peasant in this life. God has called you to rule and to reign with Christ Jesus. The Bible says you are seated with him in heavenly places. He has placed you in himself above all principality, power and authority. Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself here.
[00:12:24] But listen, if you don't like your family history, that word to be born again, you've heard me teach on this. But it's the Greek word geneo. It's where we actually get the same word in English for genes. To be born again literally means to be re gened. And so you can look and you say, well, I don't like my family history. There's divorce and there's abuse and there's brokenness and there's addiction in my family history. You don't know my sin history. You. You don't know the brokenness. Everybody in my family dies before they're 50. This is the trajectory of my life. I have good news for you. When you believe in Jesus, the Bible says he's given you the right to become Ganeo. Born again, regened. You are a new creation. You have the blood of Jesus flowing through you. You're in a new family change and transformed. So now your inheritance is not addiction, poverty, sickness, confusion. Your inheritance is royalty. You are saved, you are healed. You are made whole. You are sustained by the power of God Almighty. That's good news.
[00:13:44] You look at the life of Simon Peter, this young man who's a fisherman. He was a part of the family business. His brother Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist. But Peter was not. We don't know where he was in his faith walk when he met Jesus. But we do know some things about Peter. We know that he was a cussing sailor. We know that he was a Christ denier. We know that he was a violent and brash man. We know at times he was idolatrous, even after following Jesus. Let's build tabernacles to Moses and to Elijah. And we'll include you too, Jesus. We know he was influenced by Satan on at least one occasion, that he was religious and Paul had to rebuke him. We know that he was broken after he denied Christ. We know that he was backsliding. He went back to his former life of fishing.
[00:14:42] And yet he writes these words.
[00:14:46] We have been born again to a living hope because of the resurrected Jesus. And this is what he says. We have received an inheritance. Everybody say inheritance.
[00:15:00] We've received an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled and unfading. I Want you to think about this. You remember the first encounter that Peter had with Jesus.
[00:15:14] Jesus preaches out of his boat, and after he's finished his sermon, he tells Peter, I want you to push out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. And Peter obeys. He lets down the net and brings in a miracle catch of fish. It's a supernatural event. And as he witnesses this, the Bible, his response is very interesting. Luke 5, 8. When Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. O Lord, this revelation, if Jesus can look into the water and see the fish, you better believe he can. Look into my life and see all of my stain and see all of my brokenness, see all of my sin. I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but last week we had prophetic rooms. And I met somebody who was afraid to go into the prophetic rooms because they were so sure I'm gonna sit down in front of a prophet and that prophet's gonna see the ugly thought that I had yesterday. And I'm not doing that. So you watch people avoid. Cindy Jacobs was sitting in the first service. And I remember being afraid the first few years to talk to that lady because I was sure she would see the stain in my life.
[00:16:36] And this is, this is what Peter felt in his heart. Depart from me. I'm a sinful man. But do you know what I believe Jesus saw in Peter?
[00:16:48] He looks at this young boy and he saw an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled and unfading. Jesus looked beyond the dirt. He looked beyond the stain and he saw, this is going to be an apostle. This is going to be a man who is useful in the kingdom of God. And I'm here to tell you today, church, when God looks at you, he sees you the very same way. He doesn't see your shortcomings, your failures and your mess ups. He's looking and he sees the call and the potential and the destiny that is on your life. And he's come to call it out of you.
[00:17:27] I'm partnering with Jesus today to call the treasure out of you. I want you to write this down. Number one. Living hope reveals treasure.
[00:17:37] Living hope reveals treasure.
[00:17:41] Peter, there's a treasure in your life. There's a call on your life. Peter had all these preconceived ideas, and if you just walk through his story in the Bible, you'll see that he was constantly seeing new dimensions of God giving, revealing his calling and his identity. It didn't all happen at one time. How many know? If God showed you today how he was going to use you 20 years from now, it would freak you out. You'd probably run the other direction. If I knew 20 years ago. It's actually 20 years ago this year that I started as a Bible school student at Christ for the Nations. If I knew 20 years ago that I would be asked to carry the things that I'm carrying today, I would have ran the other direction. I just thought I was going to, you know, get drug addiction, broke off of my life and I'll just love Jesus the best that I can. I had no idea that God would use me in nations, in church planting and bring me a godly wife and make me a godly husband and make me a godly father. If I knew the half of what God was going to ask me to do, I never would have done it. This is why it's a living hope. It's not just one day you get saved. Surrender your life to Jesus and let me tell you everything that I'm gonna do now. Good luck with that.
[00:19:04] It's living and you walk in it. And every day the Lord is revealing to you new dimensions of how he I'm gonna use you this way today. Hey. You've never laid hands on anybody and seen them healed. But today, today is the day. Come on. I know you've never taken a step of faith in your business and with your finance, but today is the day that I'm asking. I know you've never been a witness and carried my good news, but today is. I've never seen myself that way. Jesus, what he's doing, he's revealing the treasure that's on the inside. This is what happens. You give your life to Jesus and he begins to reveal who you are in him.
[00:19:44] See? Peter.
[00:19:47] Peter, you're not a fisherman.
[00:19:49] You are a fisher of Men. Matthew 4:19. Peter, you're not a swearing sailor. No. You're going to write the inspired word of God. There are books in the Bible inspired by the Holy Spirit through a cussing sailor. What in the world? If he would have known that, he probably never would have come on board. Peter, you're not a shifting stone. You're not shaky and wavering. No. You are a rock. And on this rock I will build my church. Matthew 16:18. Peter, you're not a sinner, you're a shepherd. Take care of my flock. John 21:17. Peter, you're not a God denying apostate backslider. You are a Miracle working apostle, I've anointed you Matthew 10:1, and I have commissioned you as an apostle. First Peter 1.
[00:20:43] If he would have known, he would have run the other direction. But Jesus shares a parable that I think will help you see and experience this as well.
[00:20:53] In Matthew 13:44, he says, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure. Everyone say treasure.
[00:21:01] The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid. And for joy over it he goes, and he sells all that he has and he buys that field. Now keep that verse up there for just a moment, because I want to help you. Jesus, in this entire chapter has been sharing multiple parables. And his disciples stop and say, jesus, explain to us what these parables mean. And so he begins to explain to them. And earlier in the very same chapter, he says, listen, the man in my parable is the Son of Man.
[00:21:37] And the field that I described is the world. You'll see this in verse 37 and 38. You can check me on it. And he's describing. So I want you to look at this passage right here. The kingdom of heaven. See, I was always taught that the treasure is Jesus.
[00:21:52] And that boy, if you want to receive him, you give up everything for the joy of receiving Jesus.
[00:22:00] There's a problem with that theology.
[00:22:03] You can never pass the rod was touching on it during the transition. You can never earn forgiveness. You never earn your salvation. You could never give enough to earn a relationship with Jesus. But according to this translation, watch this. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. Jesus said, the field is the world and a man. He said, the man is the Son of man.
[00:22:33] So think about it this way.
[00:22:36] There's a treasure hidden in the world.
[00:22:40] And Jesus looks upon that treasure and sees that it is so valuable that he is willing to give up everything. We could never buy our salvation, but Jesus can. And he laid down his life. He lived a sinless life. He died a sinner's death upon the cross he laid down in the Bible. We quoted it earlier. For the joy that is set before him. He redeemed us. He bought us to himself. You know what? The treasure that Jesus saw in the world was You.
[00:23:18] You are the treasure. He goes on to describe a merchant that is mesmerized by a treasure. And so he gives everything for the joy of owning that treasure. You realize that Jesus, even in your dirt, even in the world, he looks upon you and he sees a treasure. You're worth dying for. You are worth redeeming. To myself.
[00:23:46] So he looks past the dirt. He sees the treasure. And so I believe we would do well to ask Jesus, even today, Lord, what is the treasure you see in me?
[00:24:00] What is the gift that you see in me? If you would ask me 20 years ago, I'm just an addict. I'm broken. I was fatherless. I had all of these reasons why I could never do anything. But bit by bit, that living hope came alive in my heart. And he says, no, you're gonna be a good father and a good husband, even though you didn't have that.
[00:24:21] You're gonna be used by me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've gone through some stuff. You were addicted. But I'm gonna use you to set many addicts free. You see, God is using my story, and he wants to use your story as well. And I want you to notice something.
[00:24:38] Peter describes that inheritance.
[00:24:41] He says that we have an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading.
[00:24:50] Incorruptible. This means that it can never be changed or altered. This is what God has put in you. He's put a gift, he's put a treasure. And it cannot be altered. It cannot be destroyed. It cannot be perverted. God has a plan. He has an anointing, and he will fulfill it. That should be encouraging to each and every one of us. In fact, this is a Greek term. When you see this word incorruptible, it's a Greek term that is used to describe something that is unravaged by an invading army. Literally, the word is unmolested by an invading army. So you imagine the damage, the abuse that an invading army would have as they came in, as they destroyed cities, as they destroyed lives, as they abused. But Peter is saying, the Bible is saying, the treasure I put in you, even if you've been abused, even if the armies of hell have come against you, even if you have been broken and destroyed, the treasure that God has put on the inside of you, it cannot be tarnished. It cannot be broken. It will preserve if you'll stay in living hope.
[00:26:06] He said incorruptible, undefiled. This is actually a religious term in the Old Testament. You'll notice that everything was about what's clean and what's unclean. You can eat this. You can't eat this. If you touch this, you're unclean. If you do this, you wash this way. Then now you're clean. It was holy or defiled.
[00:26:28] This means, oh, this is so good.
[00:26:33] By the blood of Jesus, you're not mostly clean.
[00:26:39] You're not just like, I'm gonna spit on you, wipe you off a little bit, you know, like I do with my iPad screen. No. You have been cleansed thoroughly. You have been washed. You have been made new. You are now undefiled from the world. Oh, man, this is.
[00:26:58] I'm getting happy. This is what God has put on the inside of you. Doesn't matter what your sin history is. If you'll walk with Jesus, he'll cleanse you, he'll forgive you.
[00:27:10] And it's unfading. This means that treasure God has put in you, it's eternal.
[00:27:17] This means. Listen, it's not like you have a high point when you get right with God. And boy, that was glorious. And it's all downhill from here, you know, we're just going to ride this out till Jesus comes and takes us to glory. No, no, it's going to get better. It's glory to glory. It's faith. To faith. It's victory to victory. And this living hope is going to get better and better all throughout your life and even into eternity. It's eternal.
[00:27:52] So how do we get there? Because you just imagine Jesus looked at you. He saw you in the world, and he digs you out of the dirt and there's a treasure on your life.
[00:28:05] But there begins a process.
[00:28:08] Oh, I don't like the process.
[00:28:11] This is how Peter describes it in verse six. In this you greatly rejoice. Though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to the praise, honor and glory at the revelation. Jesus Christ, there's a treasure. There's an inheritance inside of you that God sees in you, but there's a process to bring that treasure forth. Number two, write this down. Living hope endures trials.
[00:28:52] Everybody say trials. I don't like trials. Neither do I.
[00:28:57] It's not fun. But you'll notice Peter describes a couple different types of trials. He says that there will be various trials that's not always going to be the same. So you may have financial trials, physical trials. You may have emotional trials or spiritual trials. You may have personal or relational trials. This is what he means by various trials. And Peter knows what he's talking about. He has just planted a church in Rome at the writing of this text.
[00:29:30] Rome had a horrible emperor. I'll talk extensively about him next week. He would burn down parts of the city and blame Christians because he literally, he wanted to renovate and rebuild the city. He needed a way to do this. We got to clear out this housing. We got to do this. So he started burning it down, blaming believers. And the result was the persecution of the church.
[00:29:51] Burning Christians alive. Peter is writing this. He's talking about various trials. He's not talking about, I don't know, pick your petty thing. Are like gas prices have gone up. That's not a trial.
[00:30:06] He's talking about his friends.
[00:30:09] He's talking about co laborers who have laid down their life for Jesus.
[00:30:16] Various trials.
[00:30:20] You don't ever have to pray for trials.
[00:30:24] We're going to have an altar call for trials. If you want an anointing for trials. We're going to pray for. No, you don't have to do it. Being in this world, trials will come, difficulties will come. I don't believe that God causes trials. Stealing, killing, destroying. This is the devil's territory. But God does not waste anything. You're going through the fire, you're going through testing, you're going through trials. Listen, it's not for nothing, but you must stay in the fight. If you're going to break through to your hallelujah, hallelujah moments, you must stay in it. If you're walking through hell, don't stop.
[00:31:04] If you're walking through hell, don't stop.
[00:31:08] I received a message from a spiritual son this last week. This is a young man who traveled with me mostly when we were doing evangelism. He traveled with me everywhere.
[00:31:23] And I remember when he came to a pivotal point in his life. I mean, he was traveling with me because he believed that the same things God was doing in me, God was going to use him. But he began to reason like, well, I don't think that this is God's call on my life. And so he left. He walked away, stopped walking with the Lord.
[00:31:45] Ten years have gone by and he just sent me a message this last week. He says, well, I have lived my life.
[00:31:54] God has abandoned me.
[00:31:57] After living in the prayer room daily 4am to 8am every day. All that I gave him, he has left me.
[00:32:08] My father died. My brother is living with a lifelong injury after nearly dying. My daughter has a deformity in her skull. My uncle died unexpectedly. My mother in law committed suicide. I hated Bible school.
[00:32:26] I saw miracles when I traveled with you. I saw miracles on missions in South America. But I don't follow God anymore.
[00:32:36] God has abandoned me.
[00:32:41] I don't know if you've ever felt this way going Through a trial, going through hardship, going through difficulty. But I want to tell you, friend, the Bible doesn't warn us that we will. That we may experience trials. The Bible promises us that we will experience trials. It doesn't say this may come. No, it's a guarantee. In this life there will be tribulation. In this life there will be difficulty. But he promised that if we would walk with him, he would never leave us nor forsake us.
[00:33:16] You've not blown it. And he's not abandoned. I say to my spiritual son, and you are still that I say to every person within the sound of my voice, if you feel like God has taken his hand off of you, no, come to Jesus.
[00:33:31] Come to him. He will give you that living hope, that gift, that treasure he put on your life. It is undone, defiled. It is unblemished. It is eternal in nature. And God has not changed his mind about you.
[00:33:47] He knew the difficulties that would come. He knew the temptation you would face. He knew the battles that would come. He knew the trends of our our nation. He knew what would happen in your family. God knew all of this.
[00:34:02] And with his eyes of fire, in his words that penetrate to the soul, he looked at you and he says, I see a treasure in you. I have a call and I have a purpose on your life and I will fulfill it.
[00:34:21] The key is, are you going to walk with him?
[00:34:27] Been watching the house of David.
[00:34:31] If you have not watched this, you ought to. It's very good.
[00:34:34] I'm watching Saul's decline. I think they've handled it very well.
[00:34:40] His sin, his being demonized. And I'm maybe spoiling the show, but it's in the Bible. You probably know the story.
[00:34:50] And if you know the story, if you continue to follow David's story, him and David actually have a pretty similar testimony.
[00:35:01] Both were anointed as king.
[00:35:05] Both David and Saul sin. They both violate God's commandments. Both of them are confronted by prophets. One is remembered as a legend of the faith, and the other is remembered as a fallen, demonized king.
[00:35:22] When Samuel came to Saul and rebuked him, called him out on his sin rather than repent, Saul said, don't take the kingdom from me. Don't take my crown, don't take my position, don't take my stuff.
[00:35:41] When David was confronted with his sin, you can read his Response in Psalm 51.
[00:35:48] Please don't take the Holy Spirit from me.
[00:35:54] His cry isn't about his kingdom or his name or his title. His cry is, I want your presence don't take your presence from me. He cries out, would you wash me? Would you forgive me? I know that I've sinned from my birth. I have been in sin. But you can wash me whiter than snow. You can purge me with healing hyssop and I will be made clean.
[00:36:21] And God does it.
[00:36:23] God does it.
[00:36:25] Another example you can look at Peter and Judas.
[00:36:30] Here are two disciples, two followers of Jesus. Both of them were anointed and commissioned as miracle workers.
[00:36:40] Both of them anointed as apostles.
[00:36:43] Both of them betrayed Jesus.
[00:36:47] Peter endured the sifting of Satan and was restored.
[00:36:53] Judas ran from God and ended up taking his own life.
[00:37:00] Friend, the only difference I say to every person here today, you may have fallen short.
[00:37:07] You may have blown it, you may have denied him.
[00:37:11] Come to Jesus.
[00:37:13] Come to Jesus. He is merciful, he is patient. He's slow to anger. He's of great kindness and he relents from doing harm. His desire is to leave a blessing and never judgment. Guys, I have given more altar calls than I know thousands over my walk with the Lord. And I've never watched somebody come to the altars in a moment of surrender, wash away my sin. Forgive me, Jesus. I have never been in a moment like that and felt like the Lord said, no, not them.
[00:37:48] Every time. Faithfully God has been true to his word. I'm willing that none would perish, but that all would come to repentance.
[00:37:58] He wants to wash you. He wants to make you whole. He wants to set you you free. He wants to bring you into his kingdom. Not as a slave, as a son, as a daughter of the most High God.
[00:38:16] Number three. Is everybody still okay?
[00:38:21] Number three. Living Hope has a testimony worship team. If you begin to come. This is my last point at the revelation of Jesus Christ, our living hope.
[00:38:39] You must see him and you must stay in the fight if you're going to experience the testimony.
[00:38:48] The only reason people miss it is they give up in the fight.
[00:38:52] The fight takes them out. I can't overcome the addiction. This financial burden is just too much. My marriage is just too hard. The call of God is laborious. I don't know if I can do it. Whatever your trial is, the only reason that it won't turn for good is if you don't walk with him.
[00:39:11] It's the only reason.
[00:39:14] One of my favorite people in all of the Bible is Mary of Bethany. She was one of the characters in the video we showed earlier.
[00:39:25] Mary. I know there's a lot of Mary's in scripture and maybe it's confusing. You have Mary, the mother of Jesus. You have Mary from Magdala. Mary Magdalene who was demonized. Seven demons cast out of her, became a follower, a disciple of Jesus. There's another Mary named Mary of Bethany. She was a worshiper.
[00:39:47] She was the one who came and broke the alabaster box at the feet of Jesus.
[00:39:52] She's the sister of Lazarus and the sister of Martha. You remember Mary and Martha, Martha serving, busy Mary sitting at his feet.
[00:40:06] These were among the women who helped provide for the ministry of Jesus.
[00:40:13] But there was a moment In John chapter 11, Pastor Tim mentioned this. Last week Mary's brother Lazarus became sick and was on his way to death. And they called for Jesus. Jesus, I know you can heal. But at that point in time, nobody'd seen the dead raised.
[00:40:31] Jesus delayed his coming, but he had a plan.
[00:40:38] And you need to remember this if you're in a trial. God, this is so difficult right now. And I don't. He has a plan if you'll stick with him.
[00:40:49] He has a plan and he has incredible ways of turning things for good.
[00:40:54] They're there crying out for days for Lazarus to be healed, waiting for Jesus to come and Lazarus dies.
[00:41:03] I don't know if you've ever been in a situation you want to talk about a hard fought hallelujah, you know, praise God when you're in the hospital crying out for a miracle that's not coming number of years ago. I've shared aspects of this story before and I, I share it often because it was my own hard fought hallelujah moment.
[00:41:29] My stepfather, he's dad to me, I'll call him daddies riding home one day from work and has a horrible motorcycle accident.
[00:41:39] Remember rushing to the hospital and began 21 Days of Hell on earth as the doctors, as the nurses, as the people of God. Even many from this church I remember, would come out and visit us in the hospital, pray with us, and we believe. But seemed like every single day we got a bad report.
[00:41:59] Fear he may be brain dead. We fear he may be blind. His arm is shattered. I don't know if it'll ever be the same. And it was just like every day was filled with bad reports.
[00:42:09] And what was wild is during this exact same season I was traveling, I was preaching a lot. And I had 21 preaching opportunities in the same 21 days that we were in the hospital.
[00:42:25] And I remember at moments like this is the one that just sticks out to me. But I remember one day the doctors come in and they try and open my dad's eyes and they're shining the flashlight and his eyes aren't responding. And my mom is standing right next to me. She works in ophthalmology. Eyes are her world.
[00:42:46] And the doctor says, we fear that he may be blind if he comes out of this. I don't know if he's receiving his vision back.
[00:42:55] I remember my mom just being broken in that moment.
[00:43:02] And I had a service I had to preach at that night.
[00:43:05] And I asked my mom, I said, mom, I've been with this pastor before. I know he won't. He won't mind if I. If I have somebody else come and preach or if he needs to take the service. And I remember my mom grabbing me and looking me in the eyes and saying, you're gonna go and you're going to preach and then you're going to tell me about the miracles that God works in that service.
[00:43:31] Some of you have heard me tell the story. I go in there and no joke. Rebecca, Isaac, David, Love. I know some here. We're in that meeting. The first three people that respond, by the way, I'm being invited as a healing evangelist list.
[00:43:46] I can't see a breakthrough for my own family, but here I am now. I'm the guy who's supposed to bring the healing anointing.
[00:43:56] The first three people who respond were individuals who had varieties of blindness. One with a work issue, one with cataracts that had just grown on them. Three different blindness issues.
[00:44:10] Two of those people got healed that night. In the midst of my greatest trial, in the midst of great struggle and turmoil, I didn't quit believing God. I didn't stop praying for my family. And I'm telling you, those 21 days, we saw some of the greatest miracles that I've ever seen in my life.
[00:44:30] God is faithful.
[00:44:33] My dad made it through that. He's sitting on the second row today.
[00:44:45] You gotta walk with him.
[00:44:48] You gotta fight.
[00:44:50] We're gonna pray for grace through trials. In a few moments, as we close, I just bring you back to Mary of Bethany.
[00:45:00] Her and her family did not give up. In their walk with the Lord, they met Jesus.
[00:45:08] You know the story. Jesus shows up at the tomb of Lazarus, Lazarus come forth, and they experience a miracle. Lazarus is raised from the dead. And Mary sister is so thankful over what Jesus has done.
[00:45:25] She brings before Jesus on one occasion, a beautiful alabaster jar.
[00:45:32] Now, we don't know how she acquired this. I don't know if it was an inheritance that was passed down through the generation. I don't know if she took A. I mean, the Bible says it was a year's salary. You imagine 60, $80,000 purchasing something.
[00:45:50] She comes in before Jesus, and in a beautiful moment of worship, she falls on her knees.
[00:46:00] She opens this alabaster box and begins to pour this costly perfume upon the feet of Jesus.
[00:46:12] The Bible says with her tears, she washed his feet and used her own hair to wipe his feet.
[00:46:22] There were moments, I'm sure she may have been wondering, God, why didn't you answer our prayer earlier? But she thought past that moment of unbelief to adore Jesus.
[00:46:35] There were criticisms that came her way. Judas, how dare she spore this expensive perfume at his feet. We could have sold this and fed the poor.
[00:46:46] She stepped past the fight of criticism.
[00:46:51] There was a man who was sitting at that table. Matthew and Mark both mentioned that the dinner they were at was hosted at a man named Simon's house. This is not Simon, Peter. Matthew and Mark both call him Simon the Leper.
[00:47:07] A leper was never allowed to come into the presence of God. A leper was estranged from the people, could not come into a public setting like this.
[00:47:17] And somewhere along his walk, Jesus met him and cleansed him of his leprosy.
[00:47:24] Now he's hosting a dinner, and Mary comes in and she's pouring her affection on Jesus.
[00:47:32] And Simon hypocrisy says, if Jesus was a prophet, he would know the type of woman, the sinful, immoral woman that this is, and he would never let her touch him.
[00:47:51] Oh, the hypocrisy.
[00:47:55] He had been defiled.
[00:47:57] He had been unclean. And he's passing judgment on a beautiful expression of worship.
[00:48:06] But Mary is unfazed. She doesn't respond to criticism. She doesn't respond to the hypocrisy. See, she's not limited by her own sin history and past. Listen, friend, we've all got stains.
[00:48:21] We've all got stains. And don't you dare look at somebody else's uncleanness or unworthiness and say, oh, you can't worship God. You can't be used by God.
[00:48:34] She pushed right past all of that to the feet of Jesus and gave him the most beautiful worship. And Jesus said, everywhere the gospel is preached, you're gonna hear about Mary. You're gonna hear about her worship. This is not waste. It is worship. He declares that she is forgiven. She is no longer an immoral woman. Now she is cleansed. She's a worshiper.
[00:49:03] We have just a few moments here in our service, but what we're gonna do, I'm gonna pray for you in just a moment.
[00:49:12] Many of you are going through trials, and I'm going to pray that God give you the grace to endure it. You're going to make it through. It's going to purify. It's going to bring the treasure out of you. But before we do that, we're going to do what Mary did, and we're going to worship the Lord in a song. We're going to pour our affection on Jesus. You may be here and you're not sure? I think I'm unworthy. I've battled hypocrisy, criticism. I've got my own sin issues, friend, do like Mary.
[00:49:44] Let us come before the throne of God where the Bible says we can obtain mercy.
[00:49:52] We're going to pour our affection on the Lord in the form of our worship. Would you stand all across the room and worship team, I want you to.
