← Church of the Highlands - Sunday Messages - Audio
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Okay. All right. Here we go. Wait. How do I want to start it? From the top? All right, let's do it. Let's mess this up. Check. 1, 2, 3. Check. 1, 2,3. Check. All right. Here we go. Okay. Hold on. Hold on. One more second. One more second. Well, I have a cough drop. Hey, what's this for again? I saw a video the other day about how every church video starts like this. I'm like, I do that for everything. Hey, everybody. Hi, there. Hey, guys. Hi, everyone. Hey, there. Hello to all. Hey, church. What's up, everybody? Oh, y' all know I got so close. If you are on our Facebook page. Facebook. Almost had it. Nope. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. And I'm je Join today. Ja Join today. Third part of our mess. Let me catch my breath. Okay. Our hope is to give you a fresh place. Nope, I missed it. Let's start over. Corner beginning. Let me do that again. Bergenning beginning. We can't wait to meet you.
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We hate it. Sorry. I messed up.
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I wanted to say we can't wait to meet you. A change of towels. Change of towels. We'll change those towels out for you. We believe God is We believe or link to God. Oh, it's so close. I just want to say this is always an incredibly special and impactful time of our church. It's pouring down rain.
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With a fleet of faith A mountain moves with a single name A lot's made new.
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With.
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A lifted hand the sea became land and the people all trot through Given the smallest things it's wild what God can do Are you waiting for a miracle? Are you thirsty for something more? Are you desperate for some good news? Just watch what God can do With a song of praise Prison walls break with a healing tide oh, everything changed Honor of lost the power of hell off. And the light came bursting through Given the smallest days it's why what God can do Are you wandering in the wilderness? Are you searching for an open do? Are you begging for a breakthrough? Just watch what God can do the.
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Heaviness that I used to feel is gone. No matter what I go through, I know that I can feel joy. The answer is Jesus. He stepped in and completely, completely transformed my life. He redeemed me and restored my family. It's mind blowing how good the Lord is. He has changed and transformed my life. Jesus has transformed me and he has delivered me. I promise you there is a light. The one holding that light. You'll always have him there.
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I wander in the wilderness I searching for an open door I just watch what I can do.
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What a year. Come on. Can we give God a big hand clap of praise? I think we might have a little bit more in us than that. Come on. In this amazing year, God is so faithful. And what a great day to be in church. I want to take just a moment and welcome all of you to church. Those of you that are watching online right now, on the other side of the camera, thank you for being with us. And also we are joined by all 28 of the Alabama Department of Corrections facilities. You guys are family to us and you're about to feel it. Grants Mill, why don't you clap your hands and say hello to everybody on the other side of the camera. What a great day to be in church the last Sunday of 2024. And you guys, check this out. All of the campus pastors are preaching today. And so you guys get me. And online you get me. And so I'm super excited, thrilled to be here with you and of course, just want to honor our pastor, Pastor Chris. What an honor it is to have this moment to be able to share with our campuses today. And I'm really, really, really grateful. I do want to let you know next Sunday is the first Sunday of a brand new year. And if you were at our Christmas services, you know, Pastor Chris has declared next year a year of new beginnings. Super exciting. And he's actually gonna be back next week and is starting a new series. So trust me, you don't wanna miss it. You wanna start the year off right, in the right way. Okay. I wanna tell you a few things, give you a couple updates, and then we're gonna jump into God's word. First one is this. And I know that you're fired up about it. I am too. Next Sunday starts our season of 21 days of prayer and fasting, the 5th through the 25th. And so make sure. I'm gonna talk more, give you some more details, but write those dates down, you don't wanna miss it. And then this one has already gotten a lot of questions. I actually got three questions yesterday at prayer. Are we having first Wednesday this week? We are not having it this week on January 1st. So celebrate the new year with your friends, your family. We will have first Wednesday on January 8th, and then also motion night will then push to January 15th. Just so you're all aware, parents, students are aware of when that is happening. And then the final announcement are kind of helping you understand the season that we're in. We are in our legacy season that you've Been hearing about today through December 31st, and I just wanna stop and say what an incredible church you are. You are so generous. What we've been able to do already in this season of legacy by blessing organizations and blessing individuals has been remarkable. And so thank you for your generosity already. I do wanna say, though, if you wanna participate, you'd still like to be a part of this legacy season. You can today. I'll tell you more about how to do that at the end of service, but then also for the next couple of days. And so as we wrap up the year, you can still be a part of that. I do wanna jump on into the message today, though, and I wanna tell you it's a message about hope. All right? That's what today's message is gonna be about. And you've heard a lot about hope this month. And so what I believe is, I believe since you've heard several messages about hope, when God stirs that in multiple times across multiple weeks, I think God is trying to say something. I think there's something that God is trying to say in this way. And of course, we've heard from Pastor Chris a couple of different times on the topic of hope, and he's done an amazing job talking about how do we have hope in the middle of storms of our life when we're going through things, how do we have hope in the middle of the things that we're going through today? I wanna bring a little bit different angle on the message of hope and talk to you about not necessarily what we're going through, but as we step out of one year and into a brand new year, I think that God is wanting to take us to some things that we're gonna need hope for. So not just what we're going through, but what we're going to. And my goal and my hope today through a very simple message is to give you some practical ways to experience hope in your life. And I wanna start with an incredible verse. I absolutely love this verse. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23 says this. Let us hold. Everybody say the next weird word. Let us hold unswervingly. That's a fun word to say, let us hold unswervingly. I wanna pause right there and say what we're holding onto unswervingly is we're getting ready to find out. But the word unswervingly literally means to retain or to keep firm possession of. Almost just a handle on it. So what are we supposed to retain or keep firm possession of? Let us hold unswervingly to the here's our word. To the hope we profess. Check this out. For he who promised is faithful. I want to start by telling you the hope that we profess is not a thing. The hope that we profess is a person. And that person is Jesus. And Jesus is faithful in every single way. Now, this year that we're currently in, we have dubbed it the Year of Miracles as we wrap up 2024. And I am very excited to stand before you today and say I have heard so many miracle stories. Literally, like, only way that it could happen is God showed up, moved in this person's life, and a miracle took place. I've heard so many, and I have celebrated with every single person that shared their miracle story with me. But I also know that there's a lot of people that have not gotten your miracle yet. And that can be hard. Especially when you look around and you hear celebration of this person getting a miracle and this person getting a miracle, but you haven't seen yours yet. And in the middle of that, you can begin to feel hopeless if we're not careful. In fact, I got a text from a dear friend just about a week and a half ago. It says this. It says, good morning. I would love to receive full healing from all imbalance, dizziness, fullness in my ears, ringing in my ears, faint feelings, et cetera. It still just comes randomly. Never know why. Not always in stress times or in anxious times. Just randomly. I wrote in my journal today asking the Lord to heal me like he has healed others. Full healing. The Year of miracles is almost over and I sure would love to be a recipient before 2025. How many of you can relate to that? We've seen it happen in other people's lives. I've been praying. I've been standing, I've been believing. I've been trusting God. Like I know that there is somewhere that God is taking me to. Like I believe that God is taking me to a promotion at work, but it just hasn't happened yet. Or I know that God is taking me to a restored marriage, but I just haven't seen it take place yet. Or I know that God is taking me to financial freedom in our life, but I just haven't seen it happen yet. Because what happens is between the promise and the fulfillment, it can be hard. And in that we need hope because when we find ourselves in that place, things start to get in the way. I found a fascinating place that I have been so excited to share with you guys today. And it's actually right Here, I want to see if anybody knows this name. I had never heard of the Darien Gap before. Fascinating place. I'm going to tell you all about it. I've been waiting for this moment. The longest road in the world is called the Pan American Highway. And check this out. It is 19,000 miles of road. So for those of you who are road warriors and you like road trips, have yourself a time on that one. 19,000 miles. I've actually got a picture on a map. 19,000 miles. It actually connects all the way from North America all the way down to South America. 19,000 miles. But what is crazy about this place called the Darien Gap is that it is a 66 mile stretch indicated by this little box right here. And you can see it blown up a little bit right there. A six 66 mile stretch called the Darien Gap where there are no roads. It's river, it's marshland, it is thick forest, it's very treacherous, it's very dangerous. But there literally is no road through this 66 mile stretch. There's not even a primitive road, like not even a dirt road. And the craziest part about this whole thing is, is that it is 20, 24 and there are not even any plans to make a road. So you're telling me that we have a 19,000 mile road but we can't fix 66 miles of it because it's hard. Look at the picture. This is what it looks like. So this is what that 66 mile stretch looks like. Kind of crazy. But this right here is not complete because there's stuff that's in the way. There's roadblocks, there's hindrances, there's fear. A lot of people when they're talking about the Darien Gap, they talk about drug trafficking and human trafficking. There actually is no law there. There is no police there. It's a place where they talk about great danger. They literally have said it's a place where very little or no hope is. And when I heard about the Darien Gap, I thought, isn't that so true about our life sometimes that 19,000 miles, so much of our life is how we would like it and how God wants it to be. But there's one little section. Sometimes we know God is calling us to something. But there's one section where there's barriers in the way, where maybe fear gets in our way. We're afraid to take that step and go where God wants us to go. Or maybe it's worry or it's insecurity. Maybe it's doubt. Has doubt ever tried to creep into your life when you know God is calling you to something, but you just have this, like, will he really? Or will it happen? Maybe you've even found yourself in a place of hopelessness. Or just say, man, it's just too difficult today. The Darien gap of our lives. What a fascinating place. But here's a verse in the Bible. It's a great reminder of where our hearts should be. It's not always easy, but this is where our hearts should be. We have hope, and that hope is an anchor for our soul. Firm, secure. But the reality is there sometimes is a Darien gap that gets in the way of us getting to the thing that God has for us. In fact, the Bible knows that it actually speaks to it in Proverbs. Look what it says. When we don't have the hope that God wants us to have, it'll make our hearts sick. So if you're wondering why you're feeling the way you feel, or why you're sad or why you're kind of down, or why you're. Your outlook on things is not where it needs to be. Maybe it's just because your heart's gotten a little bit sick because you don't feel like you have hope. And so today, I wanna be very practical. I'm gonna give you some handles to anchor yourself to as it relates to our hope being Jesus Christ. But before we do that, I wanna share just a few verses from First Peter, chapter one that tells us where our hope is found. Look at what it says. It says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy. Can we stop right here? Can anybody testify to the great mercy of Jesus? Say Amen. His mercy is amazing. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a. Say these next two words, born again to a living hope. Stop right there. Look at the person next to you and say, hope is alive. Now look at the person you ignored and say, hope is alive. We're born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last. What this verse, our launching pad for today, is telling us is that no matter what we face, hope is alive. No matter what we face, hope is a person. And that person is Jesus. And the reason we have hope is because of what Jesus did for us on the cross and being resurrected so that we can have hope and life through him. That's where our hope is found. So check it out. Regardless of circumstance, we can be anchored. Listen to me. Not anchored to an outcome. Not anchored to an outcome, but anchored to a person. And that person is Jesus. I love this quote. Charles Spurgeon says this. Without Christ, there is no hope. But with him, hope is a living, breathing reality anchored in the very throne room of God. Beautiful quote. And it's a great reminder, as I was thinking about this, I thought about whitewater rafting. So by show of hands, how many of you in the room have been whitewater rafting before? Raise your hand. Watching online, participate with. Okay, a lot of you here. Okay, great. So you'll understand. I think about whitewater rafting. I think about life. We're in the boat of life. Sometimes we're in calm water, sometimes we're in water. That is crazy. And sometimes you get thrown out of the boat altogether. Right? Now, I can remember distinctly getting thrown out of a whitewater raft one time. And basically, before you get in the raft, they just teach you. They take you through a little class and they teach you how not to die. That is what the purpose of it is. And basically what they tell you is, is you get in the. If you fall out, you get in the water, point your toes up and float downstream just like this until we get to calmer water. Now, the other fact about whitewater rafting is you have never seen anyone that fell out of the raft get back into the raft gracefully, period. It just doesn't happen. Because when you get to a calmer part of the water, this big giant boat, and you're bobbing up and down in the water, you can't even really get your arm over the top. And there's no handles. There's nothing to grasp on the outside. The only way to get back in the boat is to have a person reach down and grab your life jacket and pull you back in and fall backwards. Only way to get back in. It's not graceful, it's not pretty, but it's the only way to get back in. Can I tell you that in the whitewater of life, the only way that we're gonna have the kind of hope that Jesus wants us to have is to grab hold of a person. It is a person. It is not a thing. It is a person that we grab hold of to be anchored to. And so today, here's the title of our message. I wanna Give you some handles of hope. I wanna give you some handles of hope. Very practical. With each of these, I'm gonna give you an action step that you can take into the new year that I think is gonna help you. And so if we're gonna anchor ourselves to the person of Jesus, there's five ways. The first one is this. Here's the first handle of hope. You gotta know how to cultivate God's presence. I'll tell you what I mean. First of all, I wanna share Romans chapter 15. It says, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and all peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may. I love this phrase. Abound in. What God promises us is that we'll cultivate his presence. We don't just get enough hope just to get by, but he will overflow. It literally means overflowing. Or to exist in large amounts. We will have so much hope that it overflows out of our life. Here's another verse. Psalm 62 says, yes, my soul, find rest. Read these next two words with me. Find rest in God. That's where my hope comes from. What does it mean to be in God? We have to cultivate his presence every single day. And I want to challenge some of us. I think some of us need to put this at the top of our list. For what we're really going to commit to this year is cultivating God's presence in our lives every single day. One of the best ways to do that is through worship. One of the best ways to do that is just getting in the presence of God. And I want you to do some things. I want you to try some things this year. Find a rhythm that works for you with your time with God. For me, my personality, I don't know if you're anything like me, but I cannot do the same thing every day. Every single morning, all year long. I will get bored out of my mind. I have to change it up. I have to keep it fresh. I have to have a new time, a new place, a new plan. I have to kind of change it up throughout the year. You have to find a rhythm that works for you. But you've got to know how to cultivate God's presence. If you're going to hold onto this handle of hope that is Jesus. Say, where do I even begin? Here's where you begin. If you don't currently have a time with God every day, we call it the first 15. Take the first 15 minutes of your day. Five minutes of worship. Five minutes of the word and five minutes of prayer. That simple. Just start somewhere. And here's the action item. Stepping into a brand new year. I'm gonna be intentional about structuring my daily time with God. I'm telling you, if you'll do this, you're gonna have hope like you cannot even imagine. In fact, I love what Isaiah 40 says. Those who hope in the Lord. Tell me who wouldn't sign up for this? Gonna renew their strength. Anybody want that? I do. Those that hope in the Lord will soar on wings like eagles. Yep. Give me some of that. They will run and not grow weary. Every time I run, I get weary. I want some of that. They will walk and not be faint. We hope in the Lord through cultivating his presence. It's powerful and you gotta know how to do it. Second one. Second handle of hope is to stand on God's promises. This is important. Look at Psalm 119. What it says. My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word. If you're taking notes, I want you to write this statement down. God's word is meant to inform and transform. I think it's easy for us sometimes to just read the Bible so that we can learn more. And that is important. Reading God's Word to learn and to grow in that way is important. But we also need to make sure that we're reading God's Word to transform, to change. When I read God's Word, my life should look different when I'm done. I think we live in a culture right now where kind of the popular thing is, let's take the Bible and make it fit our life. Where God has never changed his stance. He says, no, you take your life and have it fit the Bible. That's how we need to live our life and let God's promises transform us. I love how Matthew says it. Many of you will know this story. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock right here. This is the transformed part. We put them into practice. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house. Yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But look at what happens on the other side. But everyone who just learns, everyone who just reads it to read it, everyone who hears those words but does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And here's what happened. When the rain came, the streams Rose, the winds blew, it beat against the house and it fell with a great crash. I want to be found on the wise side of God's promises, utilizing them. In fact, if we're going to stand on God's promises, we have to know God's promises. If we're going to know God's promises, we have to internalize God's promises. And if we're going to internalize God's promises, we have to regularly engage the book that holds the promises. It's just how it works. And so here's our action item as we step into the next year. I will engage God's Word every single day, single day. How do I do that? What does that mean? If you're walking through something in your life right now, find a Bible verse or verses that apply to your situation. I want you to get you a stack. You can buy 100 note cards for like a dollar. Get you a stack of note cards and I want you to write God's word on those note cards that applies directly to your situation. And I want you to put them all around your house, in the vanity mirror where you get ready, put them on the dash of your car, put them everywhere that you can see them. Because when you see God's word all around you, you're gonna see it and then you're gonna begin to say it. And when you begin to say it, you're gonna begin to believe it. And the power of the promises of God will go into operation in your life and you're gonna find hope like never before. Bible reading plan. As we step into a new year, you gotta have a plan to read and engage your Bible. The one year Bible on the front page of our app and our website. Super easy. Takes about 15 minutes a day for you to read the one year Bible. YouVersion has tons of Bible reading plans. Find one that works for you. Another great and practical idea coming up at the end of January 1st part of February, we're gonna launch a brand new small group semester. And we always have small groups that will help you understand God's word better. Maybe you need to make plans right now. Just say, okay, when small group semester launches, I'm gonna get in one that helps me engage God's word. Not just read it, but helps me engage God's word. Here's why second Timothy says all scripture is God breathed and it is. Everybody say this word. It is useful. That means it is a tool. That means it is a resource. It's something that we can use in our life. It's useful for several things. For teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness so that the servant of God, that's us, may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. The Bible. A handle of hope. God's word through Jesus is gonna be a handle that you can hang onto will give you a lot of hope. That leads directly to our third one. I want you to write this down. Our third handle of hope is to live God's purpose. You might be here today and you've never heard this before and I wanna tell you for the first time, possibly you have a God given purpose to fulfill with your life. You are not just here on earth because you're not just here haphazardly. You have a purpose that is specific, that is strategic and that is significant. And God wants to use you in a mighty way. Let me tell you what the purpose for all of us is. Kind of the overarching purpose. We find it in Matthew 28 it says this. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. This verse tells us that every single one of us that has Jesus in our life, we are called to not just go, but we are called to also make. What does that mean? It means we're not just meant to go out into the world and live our good little Christian life ourselves. We are to go out there and make something with our Christianity. We're to go out there and make disciples. Show people how to live for Jesus, give the good news to them. It's so, so, so important. What you and I have to do is we have to discover what our part looks like. Now for those of you that have been around here for a long time, you're like, ah, yeah, he's probably about to talk about that growth track thing. He's about to tell us we need to do step one and you're right, but I want to take it a step further today. This is a great point to say, next time next Sunday at 6pm Step one of the growth track, which is a three step process to get you connected to God's plan and purpose for your life is happening. But listen to me, the growth track was never designed to be an end all, be all for you doing what God created you to do. It is meant to be a catalyst that is just the beginning. So you can then take your purpose into your everyday Life. What does that mean? If you're a CEO, you're supposed to take your thriving relationship with Jesus into your workplace and make a kingdom impact with your employees and those you do business with. If you're a stay at home mom, you're to take your purpose and step into your home with confidence and anointing and power and called by God to impart to your kids and your family who Jesus has called you to be. If you're a plumber or an investor or a student, your job is to go and make I want you to commit to being in church this next year. I think being here on Sundays is vital. But I'm not just talking about being in church. I'm talking about living our life as the church. Get outside these walls and make a difference. Here's our action step for this next year. I'm gonna align myself every single day with God's plan to use me. How powerful would it be if every day we got up and we said, lord, today I want you to use me however you want. Look at me in my eyes everybody, every single day, God wants to use you to make a kingdom impact. There are no days off from making an impact for the kingdom. We just have to make sure that our life and our heart is aligned with God's life and God's heart for us. That's why 21 days of prayer. Perfect time for you to align yourselves with God's plan for your life. There's tons of resources on the app, on the website. You've got a week. I want you to be praying and asking God, how should you participate in our 21 days of prayer and fasting this year? What should that look like? And honestly, I think some of us need to push ourselves a little bit this year, maybe more than you have in years past and really lean in. The best way to tell you what fasting is, of course, again, there's lots of resources, but fasting connects us to God while at the same time disconnects us from the world. And that's two beautiful things. When they happen together, it'll be one of the most powerful things you've ever experienced. Let me show you what some of the fast options are. If you want to know what some of the types of fasts are. The selective fast this is where you can select certain foods to eat, not eat. Partial fast. This is where you can fast certain meals. So maybe you want to fast breakfast and lunch and then only eat the evening meal or maybe sun up to sundown, you're fasting but then in the evening, you're eating. That would be a partial fast, a complete fast. This is liquid only. This is typically going to be water or light juices. And with all of these, by the way, make sure. Make sure you talk to your doctor. Make sure you have full approval on that side before participating. But this next one is incredibly powerful by itself or in conjunction with the others. And that's a soul fast. How many. Y' all know that some of us would do really, really good if we had 21 days with no Instagram, no Facebook, no TikTok, none of this stuff. And we just separated ourself from that. Television shows, news. Like, what if we just got all of that out of our life? That's a soul fast. Because what we're wanting to do is align ourselves with God's heart so that he can let us live out the purpose he has for us. I love how Colossians says it. He is the one we proclaim. That's the going. We're going and we're making. He's the one we proclaim admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. And I love this next slide. To this end, I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works. I love this because what it says is God's not just gonna do it all for us. There is a level of energy and strain and pushing forward ourselves where we're stepping into being who God called us to be, that we're gonna have to put forth. Okay? It's important and powerful, and I absolutely love it. Here is number four. And this is not the most fun, but it is very, very necessary. Okay? We have to embrace God's process. It's a handle of hope, I'm telling you. It's a handle of hope through Jesus that we can have. Now, Pastor Chris shared this a couple of weeks ago a lot on this topic. So I'm not gonna spend much time here. You can actually go back and watch those messages. But I do need to restate that there is purpose always in God's process. Our role is just to embrace what it looks like. Again, not the most fun, but it is a necessary part. Because when we embrace it, we receive all that God wants to do in it, through it. And hope is the byproduct. Here's scripture that says it. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance Perseverance produces character and character produces hope. That's the byproduct. Hope is the byproduct of embracing God's process. Many of you may know, back in August, when I was speaking at 21 days of prayer in August, I shared a story of my 17 year old daughter who for two and a half years has battled a debilitating back and joint pain issue. Like literally most nights, went to bed crying, struggling, just. We've been to every doctor we know to go to, we have prayed for her every 21 days of prayer, right standing right here, anointed her with oil, we have prayed, we have declared that the sickness would leave her body. Whatever was going on, no doctors could figure it out. It has been a process. It has been a process two and a half years. And my daughter this year at high school retreat, she told me before she went, she's like, I just want to go and I want to have a powerful encounter with God. And I don't even think it was necessarily about her healing specifically, but she just said, I want to have a powerful encounter with God. And so she went to high school retreat. Pain in the back and her joints, excruciating. And when she got back from high school retreat down here, right here in the front of this room, she said, I want to tell you a story about high school retreat. And she began to share this, that during worship on one of the nights, the only place she could find relief from the pain was to get on her knees and lean forward a little bit. And in that moment she had a mighty encounter with God where God said to her, harper, this is not just the posture for your worship right now. I want this to be the posture of your life, right towards me always. And it was a moment that honestly just wrecked her. Like that was the moment she was praying and asking God for, for him to meet her where she was. And he did. And he spoke that this is the posture, which basically what he was saying is, I just want you to embrace the process. Shortly after that, she, she felt somebody come over or she felt the Lord tell her to go stand over by the, by the wall there. At the high school retreat, once she went over there, four different people came over and prayed for my sweet daughter. And the fourth person said, harper, you're going to be healed tonight. When you walk out of this chapel, you're not going to have any more pain. And standing right down here in the front of this auditorium, she said, daddy, when I stepped out of that chapel and I exhaled, I Breathed out every bit of pain left my body. And you guys, she has not had pain since. My daughter is healed. God moved in a miraculous way. We were a recipient of a miracle in the Year of Miracles, which, which is amazing. And we celebrate it every day. But listen to me, the miracle can't be all that we're going for. Cause I'm telling you, my sweet daughter Harper knows God in different ways right now than she did two and a half years ago. Because at 17 years old she was willing to embrace the process. And I think she would even tell you that she values what she's walked through to know God the way that she knows Him. Now I celebrate her healing and I am so grateful that we don't have to watch her go to bed in tears anymore. More. And that she's able to do things that other 17 year olds are able to do and move and work out and function like she hasn't been able to do for two and a half years. I'm so grateful. But I'm even more grateful that she knew what it looked like to embrace the process. Here's the action step and maybe this helps you. I'm gonna ask God to show me what I can learn through every situation. He'll show you. Whatever you're walking through, he'll show you. Because listen to me, God had in his heart for Harper to go to healing. He had a healed body for her. But it was a process that we had to embrace to get there. And I love this quote right here from Corrie 10 Boom. Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. And if we're doing the other three things we've talked about, we'll know God. And when we know God, we can trust Him. And when we trust him, we know he's faithful. And we don't have to be afraid. And we can learn whatever it is we need to learn. It is a handle of hope in the middle of it. And then finally the final one, honestly really is the most important handle of hope is to look forward to God's place. This earth is not our home. So at the end of the day, what we're walking through, what we're struggling with, we will not have to deal with this forever. Because we. If you got a relationship with Jesus Christ, you're going to heaven and you're going to spend eternity healed whole, made new. No more struggle, no more trouble. That's what heaven is. If you don't know Jesus in just a minute, you're going to have an opportunity to surrender your life to him, and your life will never be the same from that moment. But look what scripture says. While we wait, though, for the blessed hope. This is talking about heaven, the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ. Look at 2 Corinthians. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly, all this stuff is going on, we've got issues, we got struggles, we got hardships. Though all this is going on, we are wasting away outwardly, inwardly, we are being renewed day by day for our light and momentary troubles. Let me stop right there and say, not trying to minimize what you're going through today. What you're going through does not feel light, probably, and it does not feel momentary. But I do want you to understand, in light of eternity, whatever you're going through, it is going to be light and momentary. And that's why the perspective of heaven, which is what the final part of this verse says. So what do we do? How do we do that? We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. Since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. When we get our perspective pointed in the right direction, we're going to realize that the answer, the promise, the miracle, the changed circumstance, we're gonna realize that all of this outward stuff was never the point. He is the point. He's the point. And again, we are grateful that Harper is healed, but I'm telling you, she knows the real point is Jesus. It's not the healed body, it's Jesus. Because at the end of the day, we look forward to God's place. And here's the action item. We're gonna pray in just a moment. I will remind myself every day that this earth is not my home. I'm gonna read that one more time. I will remind myself every day that this earth is not my home. I was thinking about this message and one of my favorite worship songs came to my mind. And I just wanna read this last verse and chorus to you. The name of the song is Hope has a name, by the way, says there'll be a day My hope complete now home in glory your face I'll see my pain no more my fear will cease I bow my life, I fix my eyes on Christ my king. I bow my life I fix my eyes on Christ my king. Look at the chorus. Hope has a name his name is Jesus. My savior's cross has set the sinner free. Hope has a name, his name is Jesus. Oh, Christ be praised. I have the victory. What a beautiful song that Reminds us, hope is not a thing. Hope is a person. We're gonna end with this quote, and then we pray. C.S. lewis said this. Hope is one of the theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not, as some modern people think, a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. What a beautiful way to say it. We gotta look forward to God's place. I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes right there where you are, and I'm gonna pray two prayers. Okay? First one is for those of you that you need a relationship with Jesus. Say, Blake, you're talking a lot about hope and handles of hope and that are tied to Jesus, and Jesus is what we hang onto. I don't know that I've ever really given my life to Jesus to have that hope. Or maybe you're in the room and you'd say, you know what? I felt like a long time ago, I was close to God, but right now I feel a million miles away. And today you just need to go all in. You need to come back and grab hold of the handle of hope that is Jesus Christ. If you don't know that you're looking forward to God's place, if you don't know that heaven is where you will spend eternity, the only way to secure that in your life is to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Nobody else can do that for you. It is a decision that you have to make on your own. And the good thing is I'm getting ready to give you that opportunity right now. So with heads bowed and eyes closed as we close out 20, 24, if you would say, Blake, I'm one of those. I need to surrender my life fully to Jesus. I need to put my hand on those handles of hope for the first time, or I need to come back to Jesus and let him have complete control, because I've taken some control back. If that's you, on the count of three, I want you to lift your hand and put it right back down. Nobody's looking. This is a private moment, but I want to lead you in a simple prayer if you need to go all in with Jesus today and get that relationship where it needs to be. On the count of three, lift your hand and put it right back down. 1, 2, 3. Slip your hand up. Yeah. Good, good, good, good. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. God bless you, my man. I see you. Anybody else? Hand up? Right back down? Yeah. Good. I see you in the back. Thank you. God bless you. Anybody else? All right, let me lead you in a simple prayer right there where you are. You can whisper it, say it out loud. Just say it quietly. Right there, silently. Just say. Jesus, today I give you my life. I'm going all in with you. I need the hope that only you can give. So right now I surrender everything to you. I ask you to forgive me of my sin, make me brand new and draw me close to you, Jesus. Give me a fresh start with my life. I believe that you are the son of God and that you lived a perfect life. You died on the cross, you were buried, but you rose again. And now you live inside of me. And from this moment forward, my life is never going to be the same again. As I step out of 2024 and into 2025, I'm doing it with a confidence and a boldness that I have a life changing relationship with you. And I'm going to fulfill all that you've called me to do. Come on, say this to him. Thank you for changing my life just now. In Jesus name. Now I want to pray for those of you who maybe one or more of those handles of hope stood out to you today. And you need to reach out and grab hold of those again. And if that's you, heads are bowed, eyes are closed, will you just open your hands right there in your lap, Just right there. Just open your hands to receive from God. I believe God wants to meet you here today. And I believe he wants to give you hope for what you're going to. God's taking you somewhere and you gotta have hope on the journey. So I want to pray through these five things. So Lord, right now I pray for the ones who have their hands open before you. I pray, God, that your presence for the ones that need to cultivate your presence. God, that you would let this be a year that is defined by them knowing and sensing and feeling your presence more than ever before. God, show them creative ways to engage your presence every single day. Or for the ones who need to stand on your promises, I pray you give them supernaturally Bible verses to put around their house and in their cars and places where they can be reminded of the promises from your word, the power that can transform any situation or circumstance. I pray you give them those verses. They would take a step of faith and that they would see them, say them and believe them and that it would transform their life. Lord, I pray for the one who just needs to connect to their purpose, discover their part in going and making, building something for the kingdom of God. But I pray you give them a confidence and a boldness to step out and discover that and walk in it into their workplace and into their homes like never before this next year. God, for the ones who need to embrace God's process, Lord, your process can be hard and, and we might not understand it all, but I pray you give them a boldness and confidence in knowing that you're right there with them and that you're moving even when they can't see it. And God, for the ones who just need to be reminded that this earth is not our home. What they're going through is so hard right now and heaven is gonna be perfect. I pray that you would give them a God, just a joy in their heart of being reminded of that truth today. Lord, we thank you for meeting us here. Thank you for handles of hope that come through Jesus Christ. We celebrate you and all that you've done in Jesus name. Amen and amen. Will you clap louder than you have all day? Celebrate every person. There were hands all over the room. You just made the best decision of your life.