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God With Us Brings Hope
9 Plays1 day ago
Advent Week 1: Ps. 139:7-12; Mk. 5:25-34; La. 3:21-26
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Transcript
The Fishermen's Tale of Survival
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In the summer of 2017, there were two long-time commercial fishermen, John Aldridge and Anthony Sosinski. They left out of Montauk, Long Island, and they headed out about 40 miles offshore, and they went to do some crabbing.
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So Anthony went down below to sleep while John went out to prepare the crab traps on the deck. And as John was pulling on the handle of one of the traps,
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It snapped and he tripped backwards and he fell right off the back of the boat. True story. To make matters worse, the boat was on autopilot and so it just kept cruising.
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And as John surfaced from the water, he began screaming for help, but he knew there was no way that Anthony would ever hear him. And in fact, Anthony did not hear him.
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So John sat there bobbing up and down in the water as it drove further and further away until it eventually drifted out of sight. He was alone, treading in water in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, without a life vest, thinking to himself, no one's even known I'm out here. Nobody's going to miss me.
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This is probably going to be the end. this is where I will die. Can you imagine what that must have felt like, being out there in the ocean at night, dark,
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Falling off of the back of the boat.
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About four hours later, Anthony woke up. And he realized quickly that John was nowhere to be found. And so he called the Coast Guard. And the Coast Guard began its search procedures. But even the Coast Guard commander admitted that there was so much open water, they were pretty...
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Unsure that they would ever find John. Anthony did find the broken handle on the crab cage. And so he knew roughly where they dropped these crab cages at. And so he phoned into the Coast Guard and alerted them to shrink their search area to a much smaller area.
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John managed to float all night long, if you can imagine that. And in the early hours of the morning, just as the sun came up over the crest, he saw a fishing buoy. to which he swam to and held onto in less than an hour a coast guard helicopter flew by and they saw him swimming and splashing and screaming and so the rescue swimmer jumps in the water and swims up to John and he says brother we've been looking for you for nine hours to which John said I've been looking for you for twelve
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John Aldridge miraculously was saved to that day. It's an amazing survival story. It's an amazing story of hope.
Metaphors of Hope and Resilience
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And I would bet if any one of us were out there in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, bobbing up and down alone, we would probably have given up hope long ago.
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But friends, hope is like that. Hope is a whisper that maybe, just maybe, If I can make it through the night, if I can make it through the storm, maybe, just maybe, there's a buoy.
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Maybe, just maybe, somebody will see me and rescue me. My question for you this morning, brothers and sisters, is what is that hope in your life? For some, it is the first candle that's lit when the power goes out during the storm.
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For others, it's the faint line on the pregnancy test that you've been struggling to get pregnant. Maybe it's the doctor telling you you have a chance of beating that cancer.
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Maybe, just maybe, hope is the flicker of the star of Bethlehem that night that's flickering right over the manger.
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Maybe, just maybe, hope is that baby that that's born in the major.
Advent: A Season of Hope and Reflection
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Friends, this is what we're stepping into this first Advent Sunday.
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It's a time of hope. It's a time that we get to expect something to happen. So what do we do this season, this Advent? How do we get ready to jump into a season as Kaylee has been all week long, expecting something great to happen?
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It's time of anticipation. It's a time of longing. It's time where we get to join in this long wait for this Messiah who is to come to celebrate his birth, to be alert for his second coming.
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Advent is not just something we do for the next four weeks. It is a it's a heart change that we undergo. My prayer for you today as we step out of a very busy hurried frenzied time of year that I would ask you simply to slow
Personal Struggles and the Power of Hope
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down to pause to prepare your heart to prepare place to focus on the much greater story of what God is doing in redeeming you and I that he's redeeming a broken creation that he'll come back one day and he'll make it all perfect
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My hope, my prayer for you today is if you don't know him, that he is there with us. And he's still in the business of rescuing.
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I put just as a note to myself today, as I always do, before I come up each Sunday, I like to just write a quick quick couple of notes to jog my memory of something that happened within the last couple of weeks. And I just put on here, i don't know where you're at spiritually.
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I can only guess. Many of you put on a really good face. You really do. Many of you are struggling today. Some of you don't know Christ.
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You may come in and when I see you and I shake your hand and I say, how's things going? You tell me, pastor, it's great. Things are great. I talked to Debbie earlier today before church started and I said, many, many years ago when struggled with alcoholism, um I told people I was great.
00:06:34
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I was great every time I saw them. And then I would immediately go right back into that addiction. Brothers and sisters, my hope for you today is that if you're there, if you're if if you're struggling, if you're floating, if you're adrift, if you're rebelling, today's the day that you that you come home.
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Advent is a time of celebration. I was celebrating with Kaylee earlier today. I thought, my goodness, look how excited she is. she only She could only realize how excited I am for her.
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This is just the beginning of her long journey. I don't know where you're at. If you're in a dark place, if you have a lot of pain, if you have chaos in your life, if you're in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, if you feel like everything is lost, all I want you to know this morning is God has come in the person of Jesus, and he has made a way.
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Repeat after me, God has made a way.
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It's a long way that God has navigated this journey throughout history. You'll remember back in the garden, and I know as soon as I say that everybody goes, oh no, he's starting in the beginning of the book.
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You know what it was like in the beginning, in the garden, peaceful, serene, God and humanity walking in shalom,
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Wholeness. But it didn't last that long, did it? Genesis 3.
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The fall. Adam and Eve chose sin and separation happened. But you know, even after that fall, you may be unaware of the moment after that, God says, what?
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I'm in the business of fixing it all.
Scripture as a Source of Hope
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I'm gonna start that process right now of fixing it all. I'm gonna restore, I'm gonna heal all that is broken and I'm gonna make it whole once again.
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This is the overall story of the Bible, friends. He's making a way. He's reminding his people there's hope that there is a way and he's still at work. So no matter where you're at and today in your journey, whether you're far off or if you're walking close and hand in hand with him, wanna encourage you,
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He's still there. He is God with us. He is Emmanuel. Maybe your hope just simply needs rekindling. That's what I wrote in my notes this morning. Rekindling, this idea of something that's smoldering that maybe was once a ah blazing fire.
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Like I'm sure Kaylee is this morning. Her journey is just beginning and she's on fire for the Lord. How many of y'all were like that at some point? And now maybe it's simmered. Man, during this season, brothers and sisters, I hope we just the Holy Spirit just blows a little bit and rekindles that flame for you.
00:09:33
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how How can we rekindle and reconnect to God's hope during this Advent season? Well, um I just have a few few ideas. Straight from God's Word, because that's where we like to go.
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and don't like to have... a Any of my own opinion in this, by the way, because I really have little to say of any importance. It's really God's word that I want to direct you to.
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Hope is based on God's word. That's our first point. Part of God with us, Emmanuel, God with us, is the written word in which he has left for you and I. The beauty of The interaction that Kim and I had with this couple at dinner is we had the commonality of Jesus Christ and his word.
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I said, tell me about that church you guys are at. And and and she said, well... And by the way, I have to admit, i already knew about this church. i had already I already knew something about this church just from a past interaction.
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I knew it was a retirement community and it was a much older congregation, right? They they literally don't have young people there. It is it is an older congregation. And I said, tell me about that church. And she said, our pastor preaches right from the Bible.
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And I thought, amen to that. How encouraging. There's another one of us out there that's preaching right from the Bible. All the way there in College Station.
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it It gives me hope to know there's somebody else preaching God's word. And so that's where we're we're going today.
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He didn't leave us here without an instruction manual. He gave us this. Brothers sisters, this is the hope we have in Jesus Christ. We have a book that tells us exactly how he wants us to live, how to relate to him. Matter of fact, who he is.
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God's word does not save us. This book will not save you. It is that personal relationship with Jesus that will save you. But this book points us to him. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us.
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And the psalmist, as Marilyn so eloquently read today, a just beautifully, i don't i know I don't plan this. I know this is all the Holy Spirit, ties in with some of the songs that we were singing today.
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And I know the music people would like to take credit for that, but they didn't even know that I was going to put Psalm 130 there today. I didn't even know I was going to put Psalm 30 until earlier this week. Look at Psalm 139 with me. Can we go there real quick? Psalm 139.
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Psalm 139, starting verse 7, says,
The Constant Presence of God
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i I can never escape your spirit. I can never get away from your presence. If I go up to heaven, you are there. If I go down to the grave, you are there.
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If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell in the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me and your strength will support me.
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I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night, but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.
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Brothers sisters, God with us, Emmanuel with us, means that there's nothing that can separate you and I from Him. I like the NLT. I like how this reads. Listen to how the NIV and the ESV start this way.
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Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence, right? Giving us a sense of no matter where I go, God's there.
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If you're floating in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, he's there. That should give you hope. If you fall off of the back of the boat, he's there. That should give you hope.
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The NLT kind of gives us a ah different nuance. It says, I can't escape you. I can never go far enough away and you're still there.
00:13:45
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I just put, for some of you this morning, you probably have not fallen off the back of the boat. But you sure are swimming head first as far away from God as you can possibly get. If that's you this morning, if you think you can out swim God, let me reassure you, you cannot.
00:14:03
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He's still there. If you think you can outrun him, the psalmist tells us here, even in the darkness you cannot hide from God. That should give you great hope.
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Although I will tell you, in the depths of my addiction, I didn't want to hear that. You might be there this morning. I thought for some reason I could hide. That I could put on a good face in front of the Christian brother and sister.
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And then I could go back and live however I wanted to live. Funny thing is, God was there too. I couldn't escape him. You can try, brothers sisters, real hard to run from him, but he is there.
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And that should give you great hope. So what do we do with this today? What's our first application? How can I take what the psalmist had said so many years ago, and how can I have this rekindle the hope I have in God's word? Well, let me tell you, um the Baptists do some things really, really well, and I and i love them for that.
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There are other denominations that really put an emphasis on the Advent season. And they really want you to pause and take time and get back into God's Word if that's not your normal habit.
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So how do we do that? how How can I encourage you to do that this Advent season? Well, I provided for you a printout. You'll see there in your bulletin. You'll take it out. One side is an Advent reading plan.
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I found that for you because oftentimes what I hear is, Pastor, I just don't know where to start. Well, guess what? I've given you every day. If you start tomorrow, you'll finish on Christmas.
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Isn't that great? I took all the guesswork out of you. And all the non-Baptists are shaking their head right now. Yes, thank you for that. why do i Why do I make a point of getting back to God's word? Because, brothers sisters, there is real hope found here.
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It's a hope that gets rekindled the more we're in it. The more we study it, the more it it it fills us with this desire to know more.
God's Unchanging Character and Hope
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I can't imagine navigating life or treading water without him.
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I can't imagine these days skipping a day and not reading my Bible. And you're like, yes, but you get paid to do that.
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That is true. But there were many years I didn't get paid to do it and I was still reading my Bible. It is a habit that you have to get into, but it is a habit worth investing in. Second, how do we rekindle hope? Because we focus on God's character.
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Since God doesn't change and we rely on his character, we can put our hope in his character. What is his character? Well, I'm glad you asked me that. Simply flip over that Advent prayer sheet and you'll see i have now provided you God's attributes right there.
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How do we make this real? How do we take what God's character is and and and make it real? Well, here's what I suggest you do. You go home and you put that on your refrigerator.
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You use a little metal clip. Clip it right there on your refrigerator. And every single time you walk into that refrigerator, you look at that attribute list and you think, I'm going to memorize one of those attributes. What do you think about that? Can we do that this year?
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Oh, wait, can we do that this year? here Here's why i make a big point. Sorry, I got one of my pages misnumbered here. how Why is it so important that that we visually see something and it's a reminder?
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so that we get back to knowing who God is. I bet you if you look at that list, you might know four or five of those attributes of God. I bet you you don't know a ton of those attributes.
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Imagine if those were the things that came to mind when you started thinking about God. How that would change your prayer life. How that would radically change how you view Him.
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How that might stir up new hope within you.
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I thought this week, if I had to pick a story, just one story from the Bible, what would be my most favorite story about hope? And it's probably the most easily overlooked story, but I love this story.
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Every chance I could teach this story, I'm just going to teach
Faith and Hope: The Healing Story
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it. Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5, if you will. I love this story. By goodness, it's it's so small. It's about this woman.
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We don't even know her name. Scripture doesn't even give us her name. But she's got this bold hope. It's a hope I long to have. It's a story that's easy easily overlooked. Mark chapter 5 starting in verse 25. Let me just read 25 and 26. 25 says this.
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There's a woman in the crowd that suffered for 12 years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them But she had gotten no better.
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In fact, she had gotten worse.
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Twelve years this woman has some condition. Bleeding condition. It's a condition that would have affected everything that she did. All day long.
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Every aspect of her life would have been infect affected by this. She would have been seen as unclean. Ritualistically unclean. She would have been an outcast. people would have treated her just like they would a leper.
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And it says that she's gone from doctor to doctor and she's trying to ask advice, how do I get healed? And nobody can offer her a solution.
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Can you imagine that? Can you imagine how hopeless she might have been?
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She hears about this Jesus and She hears the story. She hears the miracles. She hears the healings. And she she believes. She has Hope.
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hope awoke inside of this woman. The hope of healing, the hope of a new life, a hope that drove her to take action. Look at verse 27. It says, she heard about Jesus as she came up behind him through the crowd and she touched his robe for she thought to herself, if I can just touch his robe, I will be, and everybody says, healed.
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Can you imagine, brothers and sisters, that type of hope? If I can just get close enough
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Not if I can talk to him. Not if I can tell him the type of pain I'm going through. If I can just touch his robe, I can be healed.
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It may seem like a small action to you and I, but what she did, brothers and sisters, was unthinkable at this time. She would have been an outcast. She definitely wouldn't have been seen in a crowd. She definitely would never have come up to the Messiah.
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But yet, she... jockeys her way through the crowd and she reaches out and touches the hem and verse 29 says immediately the bleeding stopped immediately she's healed and she knew it she could feel it in her body that she had been healed of this terrible condition just like that was it hard you bet it was for her
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Was she afraid? You bet she was. She touches his robe. She gets healed. What does Jesus do? ah Who touched me? Right?
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Don't you love that? And you got to love the clueless disciples. Jesus, what are you talking about, brother? We're in a crowd of people. Everybody's touching you.
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She must have been frozen there, if you think about it. She's healed. She's healed. But then she's thinking, I shouldn't have been here in the first place. What do I do?
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Who touched me? And he looks directly at her and she says, it was me.
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And immediately he brings healing, he brings peace, he brings freedom. And he changes her life radically, not just physically. Friends, that's the that's the surface.
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He fixes something that couldn't be fixed by doctors for 12 years just like that. Physical healing, but more important, spiritual healing. He restores her.
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And I've read that story for so many years, and I had a preacher tell me one time, oh, but you're missing the point. I said, no, man, he healed her physically. He felt he healed her spiritually.
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Done deal. What else can you ask for? He said he healed her socially. She's no longer an outcast. She know is no longer unclean. She is made whole.
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Brothers and sisters, this is what Jesus does. He changes your life radically. She's no longer that lady with the blood disease. Now she's... given a new name.
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What is that name? I don't know, but I sure hope they started calling her Hope from that point forward. Wouldn't that be great? I don't know where you're at today in your walk. If you need that type of healing, if you need that type of wholeness, if you're broken in that type of way, where you've seen doctor after doctor after doctor, let me just tell you, Jesus is in the business still of healing.
Celebrating Advent and Divine Faithfulness
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So as we move through this Advent season, let me encourage you today, that we That we recognize Jesus for who he is. This is why I gave you the attribute list. So that you know who he is.
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He's still that same God that's loving, that's caring, that wants to make you whole.
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He's a God whose character never changes. He's a God that we can place our hope and our faith in. Alright, third.
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Third and final way that we can find hope by focusing on God's faithfulness. How has God come through for you, if I can put it in the most layman terms?
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how How have you prayed for things in the past and God has come through on those answered prayers? How has he done that in the past? And are you remembering that in your life and that's fueling your future hope I put maybe it was a long time ago for you. Maybe it was super recent. Maybe you just went to the doctor. We have a friend, Kim and I, that that has struggled with a small type of cancer. And he's constantly going back to the doctor. and the doctor says, well, the percentage keeps getting lower and lower and lower.
00:25:21
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But it's not zero yet. And so so his wife said, well, do you mind continuing to pray for him? I said, I will pray until you get a zero. Because that's the type of business we're in. We pray for expecting results that that God will deliver.
00:25:39
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He is faithful. J.C. Ryle says if we simply have gratitude, that's the beginning of hope. He says gratitude breeds hope. Thankfulness fosters hope and appreciation brings hope.
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What are you hoping in today? Is it the baby in the manger?
00:26:08
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The book of Lamentations, which we very rarely spend any time in, and I don't know why. Lamentations chapter 3. Listen to to Jeremiah. He gives this same sentiment that J.C. Rowell says.
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Lamentations 3,
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listen Listen to the words of Jeremiah and tell me if we didn't just sing this earlier. says,
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when i remember this the faithful love of the lord never ends his mercies never cease great is thy faithfulness his mercies begin afresh each morning and i say to myself the lord is my inheritance therefore i will hope in him The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.
00:27:03
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It is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. Did you catch that from Jeremiah at the beginning? Yet this is what I call to mind, or this is what I recall.
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Therefore I have hope.
00:27:20
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Brothers and sisters, if you just need to rekindle that flame in your life, perhaps you just need to remember what God has done for you. You know how we remembered? Just a couple days ago, sitting over turkey.
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From Hacho, by the way. whoo Hacho can make a mean turkey. That was a shameless plug up here from the pulpit for Hacho. We sat around the table.
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thanking, remembering the blessings of God for 2025. How many of y'all did that? Y'all did that, didn't y'all? Imagine if we did that every day.
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Thank you, Lord, for what happened yesterday. Thank you for what happened last week. Thank you for those answered prayers. Thank you for taking care of that cancer. Thank you for fixing that broken marriage.
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Thank you for delivering me from that addiction. You are so faithful. You never change. And I just put a question to myself, and I'm gonna pose it to you this morning because I've already asked myself.
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If God was faithful in 2025, what makes you think he's not gonna be faithful in 2026? Brothers and sisters, he is because he does not change.
00:28:38
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Advent is a time of celebration. It's a time of anticipation. It's time where we celebrate God coming with us. Emmanuel. In the darkness, in the pain, in the chaos, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, wherever you may be in your spiritual journey, he is there and he always shows up and he's always on time and he always makes a way.
Apostle Paul's Closing Prayer
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May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the Apostle Paul in Romans 15.
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It's my prayer for you today. And all God's people said.