Ever see a child open a present they “needed” at Christmas but not what they “wanted”? Thanks for the socks and underwear Grandma. As a society we have come to place greater value on what we want than what we need. But Jesus was the ultimate need gift and still is today. We are in our sermon series – Change Your City – it’s all about Jesus showing up on the scene of a city called Capernaum and the city was changed; which then changed the world. Capernaum means – village of comfort – your ability to change your city is linked to moving past your comfort. Today’s message is “All I Need For Christmas”…

There are no mentions of Christmas in Capernaum. But the Holy Spirit began to speak and prep my heart after I read a historians look at Capernaum. Josephus, who turned to be the best historian for this time, writes about the area of the sea of Galilee and Capernaum:

“The country also that lies over against this lake hath the same name of Gennesareth; its nature is wonderful as well as its beauty; its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees can grow upon it, and the inhabitants accordingly plant all sorts of trees there; for the temper of the air is so well mixed, that it agrees very well with those several sorts, particularly walnuts, which require the coldest air, flourish there in vast plenty; there are palm trees also, which grow best in hot air; fig trees also and olives grow near them, which yet require an air that is more temperate. One may call this place the ambition of nature, where it forces those plants that are naturally enemies to one another to agree together; it is a happy contention of the seasons, as if every one of them laid claim to this country; for it not only nourishes different sorts of autumnal fruit beyond men’s expectation, but preserves them a great while; it supplies men with the principal fruits, with grapes and figs continually, during ten months of the year  and the rest of the fruits as they become ripe together through the whole year; for besides the good temperature of the air, it is also watered from a most fertile fountain.”

The Holy Spirit revealed to me what was happening to the plant life in Capernaum and paralleled it to believers.

A plant needs 3 things to live –

1. soil,
2. environment,
3. water –

A believer finds all 3 of those in Jesus

All I need for Christmas…The Gift that is Jesus:

1 – Soil  – The success of a plant depends on it remaining planted in the soil that feeds it.

John 15:1-4 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

REMAIN* – stay planted. Stop hopping into a spot you think will be fruitful for you. All you need for Christmas is Jesus. Stop confusing your pruning for your relationship with Jesus.

Doing Life Together –

When we are planted where Jesus wants us planted we dont choose who or what  we are next to. Jesus chooses. I love the quote from Josephus. “it forces those plants that are naturally enemies to one another to agree together”. What does the verse John 15:1-4 on remaining planted mean to you? Are you working with or against the people or resources Jesus has given you?

2 – Environment – Plants live or die based on the environment.

Mark 4:37-40 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. 38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” 39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Winter is always before spring…. storms will try and take you out before you’re fruitful. Your faith in Jesus will keep you planted during the storms.

3 – Water – Plants can only live as long as they have  water

John 4:13-15 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Your source of Life is Jesus. Don’t confuse your wants for your needs.

Next Steps – Your next step is more about what you are giving. “the inhabitants accordingly plant all sorts of trees there” – You inhabit the Kingdom of God – Are you planting all sorts of seeds there? the seed of hope, peace, kindness, love, joy?

Matthew 4:13

13 He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali,

Nazareth – guarded one. – we can look at this definition 2 different ways.

• 1 – Step Up – we are the guarded one like Jesus. protected in our infancy of Christianity. At some point we need to realize through the authority of Jesus we have a mission. to bring the love of Jesus to those who can’t get it themselves. There can be an attitude of wanting to stay guarded.

Ephesians 3:11-12

11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

• 2 – Let it Go – we have something we are guarding from our past. we haven’t let go of. It could be sin, it could be comfort, it could be anything that was in a past season that you are holding onto. It’s what is preventing you from changing your city with full effectivness.

Matthew 19:16-22

16 And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do so that I may obtain eternal life?” 17 And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 Then he *said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false testimony; 19 Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man *said to Him, “All these I have kept; what am I still lacking?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be [a]complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.

Matthew 4:13

And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali,

Eph 3:17

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Hebrews 6:19

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,

1. on the boat secure or
2. in the depths of the ocean grabbing on to what we cant fully see or comprehend.

You do not have hope connected to Jesus when you have a pessimistic attitude of “we’ll see what happens”

You aren’t dealing with change. You are waiting to see if the change is acceptable for you to move in.

All believers have had some personal experience with Jesus. We were touched and our Spirits were restored. Our physical or mental health may have also been restored. Beyond Church is where your God given skills make room for Jesus to change your city. “Beyond Church” is the next message in our “Change Your City” series.

Mark 1

29 After Jesus left the synagogue with James and John, they went to Simon and Andrew’s home. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. 31 So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand, and helped her sit up. Then the fever left her, and she prepared a meal for them. 32 That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. 33 The whole town gathered at the door to watch. 34 So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.

If you are listening to this message now or sitting here today and haven’t had a personal experience with Jesus yet, and you want to begin your relationship with Jesus, would you be so bold and email [email protected]; or direct message us on any social media platform. Just search Lighthouse 805.

The thing that stands out in this story is that Peters mother-in-law was touched by Jesus then immediately serves Him.

Most of us today wrestle with what’s my kingdom contribution? What is my skill? What is my purpose? How am I serving the King of Kings? How am I impacting the Kingdom Of God?

Peters mother-in-law made a meal for Jesus and everyone there. I think the miracle and meal together unlocked vs 32.

Most of us have already been touched by Jesus. We just need to start walking in our skills, gifting, purpose… so that our City is Changed. 

__Identifying Your kingdom contribution, Skill, Purpose__

Based on Peter’s mother in law here are some basic attributes of turning your skill into a purpose.

1. It Unifies – It brings people together, it isn’t divisive.
2. It’s seasonal.

• • • • The meal was for that precise moment.
      • It will happen again. Most people do something once then and think its over.

3. It strengthens – it was food to give nourishment to sustain what came next. It will build people up or strengthen them.
4. It’s your skill – your kingdom contribution will look like you
5. There is room for Jesus.

Doing Life Together –

1 Peter 4:10-11

10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

The message translation

Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit.

Talk about what this verse is speaking to you. Are you using the gifts God gave you beyond church? Talk about a gift you have and encourage the person you talk with.

Mark 1: 32-34   32 That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. 33 The whole town gathered at the door to watch. 34 So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.

Why after sunset?

In Bible times, the new day started when the sun went down. So if the sabbath was Sunday, they waited till first thing Monday to bring their friends and family to Jesus. Because on the sabbath it was the law to rest. 

1. REST is NOT RECOVERING from what was…. but actually PREPARING for what’s to come.
2. Church is for hearing Jesus and learning what we should be acting on this coming week.

Your skills will make room for Jesus to heal and save people through the week; but you need to understand the significance of Church preparing you for the mission of “Beyond Church”.

35 Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. 36 Later Simon and the others went out to find him. 37 When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”

38 But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.”

Your city will be changed if you posture yourself like Jesus:

1. Prioritize relationships – God first, people second
2. pray before doing
3. know your mission – you are here to bring Jesus to others in all the towns in your city.

NEXT STEPS – Go beyond Church this week. Start your Monday in prayer for direction like Jesus. Then use your skills for others like Peter’s mother in law. Lets change our city.

Ever feel like you’re doing everything you know to do, but it just doesn’t amount to anything? Or what your trying to get never materializes? Sometimes we can find ourselves close to Jesus and still feel like our nets are empty. Listen to this message and build your faith to fill your nets. This is the message “Empty Nets” in our Change Your City series. Follow along here:

Luke 5:1-11

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

1. The Shallows vs The Depths

• Shallows – Where Jesus speaks to us
• The depths – Where Jesus calls us to action

James 2:14-17

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

James 4:17

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Doing Life Together – 

What is your depth with Jesus? What is He calling you to take action on?

Luke 5:1-11

3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

In the shallows and the depths there was Jesus, Peter, and a pile of empty nets.

A continual empty net is an indicator that you need to move from the shallows to the depths

If you feel like you are unproductive, if you are missing something even though you have Jesus. I challenge you to move to the depths like Peter and Jesus; and take action on the word of God. Take action on what the Holy Spirit is speaking to you about.

You might say but I’ve tried before and it didn’t work…in order to change your city…. you gotta try again.

Luke 5:1-11

5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

Your faith-lead actions in changing your city will inspire others to do that same.

2. What does it take to be a successful fisherman?

5 Skills all fishermen need (and we need to change our city):

1. 1. Navigate the seas – position ourselves to fish where the fish are at.
   2. Catching fish – know what tool to use for the situation. How to communicate with our friends, family, neighbors, co workers….
   3. Prepare the fish – they had to salt and brine the fish to last the journey. Are we equipping and our loved ones to last the journey of life?
   4. Export the fish – are we discipling our fish/family/friends to go change their cities?
   5. Repeat – keep fishing.

Next Steps – Which part of the fisherman’s step are you on? Finish your step and move onto the next one. 

Have you gotten too comfortable with being comfortable? Have you ever been so comfortable on the couch and the remote was too far away? Where you allowed the next episode or show to start playing? Like your comfort allowed the world chose what you would take in? This is the issue with most believers…. Their comfort has become more important than their calling.

This is the first message in our sermon series “Change Your City” – Christ Calls. This sermon series is focused around the city of Capernaum in the Bible. The city that Jesus ministered in. And it’s interesting to note that Capernaum means “village of comfort”.

This sermon series is all about changing your city.

Our city is different even if it has the same name. Our individual cities are the places/people we interact with all the time. Where our unique talents, gifts, and passions are known and live. But one thing we all need to understand before you start trying to change your city –

Is that the only way your city can be changed is BY Jesus THROUGH you.

Its starts with His calling of you.

Matthew 4:18-20

18 Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He *said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

• Our responsibility – follow Jesus
• His responsibility – Jesus does the changing and transforming

We follow him: He makes us (He equips us)

Jesus is transforming you as you follow Him.

You do not make yourself. You do not become who Jesus calls you to be without Jesus…

1 Thessalonians 2:13 – Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe.

Doing Life together – 

What are you believing God to work on in your life as you follow and believe in Him? Have you been trying to fix or solve it yourself? How do you allow and believe Jesus will work on you?

We can’t change our city unless we understand Jesus has called us to; and in that calling He equips us and works on us.

In Capernaum there were 3 main groups of people that interacted with Jesus

1. those that followed. 
2. those that received but remained comfortable. 
3. those that came against what He was doing.

Let’s look at what happened to the people in groups 2 & 3…

Note: People fought to rebuke Jesus to remain comfortable. Will you fight against being a follower of Jesus to remain comfortable?

Matt. 11:23-24 – 23 And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. 24 Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”

Jesus rejected and rebuked Capernaum because they witnessed and saw all the miracles but didn’t follow Him – their faith was nothing more than routines, rituals and rules.

Remember the couch example?

Group 1 – the people that followed Jesus we know what happened. That’s how we got the New Testament,

Jesus leads you out of comfort and into calling.

Have you ever noticed that when leaving comfort and entering calling… sometimes things go wrong, get hard, or act like a storm in our lives?

It happens today and it also happened back then.

Mark 4:35-41 – 35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Some of you will chose to follow Jesus this sermon series.

You will step out of comfort and into your calling – you will go after this season to reach your city.

You will leave your comfort and face a storm… which may cause you to panic.

All you need to remember is remain steady on your faith… re-listen to the Faith Check sermon series and set Jesus as your foundation.

In leaving Capernaum the first storm occurred.

In leaving your place of comfort a storm might happen.

Do you have the faith needed to keep moving forward?

NEXT STEPS: Begin praying and fasting that the Holy Spirit would reveal how to change YOUR city.

Who are we? Our Church logo is a lighthouse. It is purposefully the shape of the cross and embodies who we are as disciples of Jesus. We understand the shape of the cross and lighthouse from the 2 greatest commandments:

Mark 12:28-31

28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

I want to break down the vertical and horizontal from the lighthouse which is the cross :

Vertical –

• We are built on the foundation of the rock that is Jesus.
• We are powered by the Holy Spirit from within, like the power that courses through the lighthouse allowing the light to shine;
• We always are focused up towards the Father and our future home in heaven.

*  Foundation in Jesus

Psalm 119:105

105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

*  Power source of Holy Spirit

Psalm 18:28

28 You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

*  Always pointing towards the Father and future home in heaven

*We act out that “Vertical” alignment by taking “Next Steps” to:

•  Grow and build on our foundation of Jesus. 
•  Keep our power source like the lighthouse going, and focused on the Father in heaven, our destination.

Matthew 7:24-27

24 “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. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Horizontal –

A burnt out lighthouse will allow and tolerate tragedy in its appointed location.

Lighthouses were built to help guide people home. To prevent death and tragedy. Too many believers stop at “Love God” and forget that Jesus also said “Love Your Neighbor”.

• You are appointed in your city.
• You are a lighthouse.

On the arms of the cross what was nailed? 

The arms of Jesus. Wide open to love an accept everyone. As we continue growing in our relationship with Jesus our arms need to be reaching out to our city, our loved ones, our community…His arms and the light of the lighthouse are what we need to remember. It’s reaching out to change our city.

Matthew 5:16

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

John 9:5

5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

****DOING LIFE TOGETHER****

Jesus is in the world through you. What does this verse mean to you?

* We live out this “horizontal” alignment by “Doing Life Together”:

The single greatest way to save a life, offer a future, show what home really is, shed light, repeal the darkness.?… Keep your light shining into peoples lives you connect with.

We need to be lighthouses in our communities. Like tiny fires.

Mark 3:13–14

13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach

God has been speaking to me relentlessly to study Pastor Paul of the Bible.

I want to unpack the vision of Lighthouse 805 Church in a practical sense through what the Holy Spirit has revealed through Pastor Paul.

I want to shed light on where we are headed, because I need us all to start grasping the direction of Lighthouse. If you don’t fully understand it in this 10-15 min that’s ok, I just need you to have joy and an open heart to begin receiving from the Holy Spirit.

– We need joy and listening to the Holy Spirit.

– What we don’t need is complaining, grumbling and gossip.

Paul – Pastor Paul of the Bible  – he reached 3 groups of people – local, distant, future

• Paul discipled his people locally – in jail, 1 on 1, and groups.
• Paul discipled people at a distance through his letters. These groups received the letters and did next steps to grow, disciple, and do life together.
• Paul discipled the future because the letters stood the test of time for groups to receive and take next steps and do life together even now.

I heard a warning from the Holy spirit. Our Church is called to creatively place His word into communities. That’s where life will happen. It’s not about having content online that will change lives. 

Where we are headed is doing community in Ventura, while raising up and discipling  communities across the nation. So as we meet Sunday morning and have the word we will do life together and take next steps in Jesus. There will be living rooms with friends and families and coworkers watching the message and doing life together and taking next steps together.

There was a Word spoken over us a long time ago. We are called to pastor a dual church. I know it is the Holy Spirit birthing something in us… as we pastor in Ventura – doing life together and taking next steps…. we pastor and disciple these other Lighthouse communities.

We will have failed if all we do is put sermons online and hope someone watches it.

If you are watching this message online and are interested in being a Lighthouse community – wether it’s opening your home up or even leading a community regardless of location, where you want to do life together and take next steps in Jesus, email us at [email protected].

One of the clearest images of vision we’ve had was the necessity of making the stage inside the church into a living room; because we are going to be an extension of your living room.

Next Sunday some of you are joining us in person on the lawn for live service.

For those who are not in the 805, here’s a challenge –  meet on the lawn with someone where you are. Invite someone to Church in your home, outside your home, in your backyard. .. Whatever you feel comfortable with in covid times. And make sure you give us a shout out in the comments and chat… take some pictures and post!

YOUR NEXT STEP is into the next season – This week pray how you can be a lighthouse and THEN DO what the Holy Spirit reveals.

Some of you started having visions of people on your lawn, of a small community that does life together…. Begin praying for the Holy Spirit to strengthen you and message us to begin equipping you.

This sermon marks the end of a season AND  the start of a season. I believe not only for our church but for you watching or listening to this now.

How do you move your faith forward? Or how to do you live a life from a place of faith? Where it’s at the forefront of everything you do… everything you are. And why would or should you? That’s the subject of todays Faith Check message “Faith Forward”. 

Let’s look at the gold standard of faith from Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 15:16

When I discovered your words, I devoured them.

They are my joy and my heart’s delight,

for I bear your name,

O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.

Step 1: Search and discover His Word for today, for now, for this season… always.

Step 2: Devour them like a good taco. Take it in and chew on it, absorb the life giving qualities.

Step 3: My Joy and Heart’s Delight = They bring mental health, emotional health and spiritual health.

Step 4: I bear Your name = Because I’m called by Jesus; I can call on Jesus

We’re always talking about looking at the scriptures in context –  Let’s do a faith check on Jeremiah…

Jeremiah chapter 15… the “gold standard of faith” verse is found right in the middle of this chapter; right in the middle of a gripe session from Jeremiah to God. “I have to deliver Your word to these people. Jeremiah is upset…And now…. They don’t like me. They hurt me. And where are You? ”

The best verse in this chapter is:

Jeremiah 15:20 nasb

Therefore, thus says the Lord,

“If you return, then I will restore you—

Before Me you will stand;

And if you extract the precious from the worthless,

You will become My spokesman.

They for their part may turn to you,

But as for you, you must not turn to them.

“Extract the precious from the worthless”

***Doing life in the comments.***

What are worthless thoughts you can ditch and some Word you can put in their place?

Jeremiah 15:20 (The Message)

“Take back those words, and I’ll take you back.

Then you’ll stand tall before me.

Use words truly and well. Don’t stoop to cheap whining.

Then, but only then, you’ll speak for me.

Let your words change them.

Don’t change your words to suit them.

Break down this verse…

Proverbs 3:5

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

15. Romans 8:6

“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

16. Romans 12:2

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

1. Repent of the worthless, cheap, pointless words that you have used 
2. Replace with living, encouraging, fulfilling words.

“Let your words change them…. Don’t change your words to suit them.”

NEXT STEPS: Use your words with the authority of God.

Let’s take an audit of our words this week and make sure we are sifting through for the life giving, fulfilling words; and letting go of the worthless, cheap, useless stuff.

Wondering how to develop strong faith? Faith in the face of attacks, turmoil, …life? In this latest message of our Faith Check series “Strong Faith” – we’ll look at Jeremiah’s strong faith and how it got there.

Jeremiah 1:17-19

17 “Get up and prepare for action.

Go out and tell them everything I tell you to say.

Do not be afraid of them,

or I will make you look foolish in front of them.

18 For see, today I have made you strong

like a fortified city that cannot be captured,

like an iron pillar or a bronze wall.

You will stand against the whole land—

the kings, officials, priests, and people of Judah.

19 They will fight you, but they will fail.

For I am with you, and I will take care of you.

I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Jeremiahs responsibility was to prepare and proclaim…. that’s our responsibility also.

That is how we gain a strong faith.

Get up – prepare for action

Some translations say gird your loins – meaning tuck your robe into your belt cause you are about to run. The more we develop our faith the more we need to be ready to listen and act on the Word of the Lord.

Tell them everything I tell you to say. – say what the Holy Spirit speaks to you about. 

Tell everything the Lord says. Don’t add to it. Don’t take away.

Do not be afraid of them – or God will make you look foolish

Jeremiah 1:18-19

18 For see, today I have made you strong

like a fortified city that cannot be captured,

like an iron pillar or a bronze wall.

You will stand against the whole land—

the kings, officials, priests, and people of Judah.

19 They will fight you, but they will fail.

For I am with you, and I will take care of you.

I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Jeremiahs responsibility was preparation and proclamation.

Gods responsibility is preservation…

Doing life together in the comments:

How does Jesus preserve you?

Today I have made you strong….. foundation in Jesus. Strength comes from God making us strong….. and when does he make us strong?

Today!!!! He makes us strong.

When a city was fortified the enemy couldn’t overtake it. It was a waiting game. Either the enemy went somewhere else or the people in the city starved and let the enemy in…. Too many believers get surrounded by the enemy and allow themselves to starve and eventually cave….

Your nourishment comes from the Lord strengthening you daily. Preserving you with His word.

Eternally: He preserves your soul.

In turmoil: He preserves your mind, heart, life.

He preserves us through the enemy, through life situations…. because He is with us.

Your faith is strong because Jesus preserves you through preparing and proclaiming His Word.

There is this imagery in Jeremiah 20:11-13 of what it looks like when Jesus preserves us through our preparation and proclamation of His word.

11 But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior.

Before him my persecutors will stumble.

They cannot defeat me.

They will fail and be thoroughly humiliated.

Their dishonor will never be forgotten.

12 O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,

you test those who are righteous,

and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets.

Let me see your vengeance against them,

for I have committed my cause to you.

13 Sing to the Lord!

Praise the Lord!

For though I was poor and needy,

he rescued me from my oppressors.

YOUR NEXT STEP: Make sure your faith is strong: Prepare and proclaim His word.

Get a verse this week for your life to meditate on and start proclaiming it.

Double down on next steps – I want you to start preparing this verse in your spirit and begin proclaiming it…

Matthew 5:14-16

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Our next season and sermon series is “Change Your City.”  The sermon series will be hyper-focused on everything happening in and around Capernaum in the Bible. And Matthew 5:14-16 happens just outside of Capernaum.

Would you begin proclaiming the word of God over our next season with me?

What does it mean to have unshakable faith? Constant, unfailing, indisputable, without question…It all starts with having Jesus as our foundation – last weeks bones give us the ability to move and carry forward. In this weeks message “Faith Check – Unshakeable Faith”, we look at just that. Confident constant faith that carries you through the storms of life, verses riding the waves like a roller coaster.

Just a reminder – Salvation and foundation are different.  Last week the challenge was for the Church to seek the Holy Spirit in how we need to individually make Jesus our foundation, so that we can move into the next season carrying the vision from the Holy Spirit.

This week – How do we keep moving with the vision?

Jeremiah 51:59-64

59 This is the message Jeremiah the prophet gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign. 60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon—all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. 61 He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. 62 Then say, ‘Lord, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither people nor animals will live in it; it will be desolate forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. 64 Then say, ‘So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people will fall.’”

The words of Jeremiah end here. Here he passes the baton.

The story shifts perspective onto Seraiah

Seraiah—Yahweh has prevailed … in other words – Jesus Won! Won and done.

Our faith on Jesus comes from the past… Jesus won. I’m not sitting around questioning Jesus or my faith or reality. I am confident Jesus won.

Let’s do life together in the comments and start proclaiming what Jesus already won over. I dare you to be bold and proclaim things that might feel scary right now, but pick up the inheritance of deliverance that belongs to you and proclaim it.

Doing life in the comments – Proclaim what Jesus has Victory over!

When I feel hopeless and hurting I fast forward 1000 years in my mind. I see myself worshipping Jesus laying in-front of His thrown in heaven. It calms every storm in my life. It keeps me grounded and reminds me that my faith isn’t a roller coaster ride – it’s unshakable. – Pastor Matt

Let’s look at unshakable faith at the end of Jeremiahs story.

Jeremiah in his final act – hands over the word of God to be carried, cast, then camped on.

• Carry the Word
• Cast the Word
• Camp on the Word

We need to be doing this in 2 areas – The Church and Personal life

Personally –

It’s not good to be someone different at all the places you belong to.

You need to have unshakable faith in all areas and all times of your life.

Jesus is the center and everything we have circling around us truly circles around Him.

** If you are dealing with anxiety or control issues…. think of the sun having true control of the earth; and envision Jesus doing the same over your live. Break free of anxiety by trusting Jesus is in full control.

Church – 

The fastest way to kill a church is to expect the pastor to be the only one to carry the word and vision from the Holy Spirit forward.

The fastest way to grow a Church is to carry the word and vision daily alongside the pastor  – not only is this infectious to others it transforms your mind, heart and attitude. 

** Take action on the word and vision daily – if our church keeps saying it’s important that we are “doing life together” in this season; we need to find a way to do life together. When we move into a new season as a church we all move together. 

This week we are focused on external next steps

Next Step – Encourage and pray for someone this week not in your home – then take it to the next level and invite them to communion or Ladies Art night and do life with them.

What is our faith founded on? What gives it structure? Can it hold up to all life holds in store for us? In this next message in the Faith Check series – “True Faith”, we’re talking about just that… time to check our faith. We’re doing a deep dive on FAITH through the book and lens of Jeremiah. It’s about the faith of believers during their exile, paralleled to the exile of our church members from our building. Want to know what Lighthouse 805 Church is really like? Well today’s message is a pretty good look at how we operate. We keep it real. We’re a family. We are Holy Spirit lead. We speak truth to one another. Wondering why we aren’t meeting together in person yet? Tune in.

Today we’re in Jeremiah 32

But first we’re going to look at Luke 6:47-49

“47Anyone who comes and listens to me and obeys me 48 is like someone who dug down deep and built a house on solid rock. When a flood came and the river rushed against the house, it was built so well that it didn’t even shake. 49 But anyone who hears what I say and doesn’t obey me is like someone whose house wasn’t built on solid rock. As soon as the river rushed against that house, it was smashed to pieces!”

Your foundation is based on taking action from Jesus. Listen AND obey. They DUG deep, and BUILT.

Not talking about salvation – we’re talking about foundation. Salvation is secured, but it’s a firm foundation that allows you to grow, receive, and move forward with Christ to the promises God has for us. What does your foundation look like right now? How many of us are finding excuses to not build in this season? Without this foundation set and built on in this current season; we will not be able to hold or carry or move in the vision God has for our next season.

As your Pastor – I’m asking you to commit to making Jesus the foundation in your life now, in this season. Stop making excuses and get rid of anything that has taken up residence in your life distracting you from doing just that.

Jeremiah 32:8-16 “8‘Then, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, “Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.” ‘I knew that this was the word of the Lord; 9so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver. 10I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales. 11I took the deed of purchase – the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy – 12and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard. 13‘In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions: 14“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so that they will last a long time. 15For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.” 16‘After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord:”

Purchase: What is the price we need to pay in this season of our church?

• – Time
• – Dedication
• – Pride
• – Reading and studying the Bible
• – Genuine worship
• – Take action on the Word of God

Through the purchase/setting Jesus as the foundation – 3 things happened:

1. Public – The purchase was done publicly and had witnesses. This makes us accountable and invites others to do the same. This current season is calling us to do life together outside of the 4 walls of a church building. There’s a reason for that. It’s foundation building. If we don’t actively do it we won’t be able to carry the vision for the new season God has for us.
2. Preserve – Jeremiah asked the purchase documents to be stored in clay pots. This was to preserve them for some time, awhile, the future. The Dead Sea Scrolls lasted in clay pots for 2000 years. When we pay the price of making Jesus our foundation we are preserved. Our faith is stabilized. It doesn’t fluctuate up and down with the weather or circumstances. We are steady.
3. Patience – “When are we getting back to normal?” “When will we return to normal?” Wrong questions…. Right question…. “Am I ready for the NEW normal?” Are we patiently preparing for the next season? This is not a passive patience. It’s like the patience of a farmer who diligently plows deep, straight, consistent furrows. Then sows the right seeds, in preparation of the next harvest. We’re not sitting with a book waiting for this season to be over; we’re like the farmer from sun up to sun down preparing for what’s coming. You can’t wait on a crop that hasn’t been planted.

NEXT STEPS – Take action to set Jesus as the one and only foundation in your life.

Is your faith genuine or fake? Real fruit or fruit flavored? Can it give nutrition, reproduce? Or does it rot over time, go stale? We’re continuing our deep dive into FAITH, in this message of our Faith Check series – Fruitful Faith.

Jeremiah 24

After Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the officials, the skilled workers and the artisans of Judah were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the Lord. 2 One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

3 Then the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

“Figs,” I answered. “The good ones are very good, but the bad ones are so bad they cannot be eaten.”

4 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 5 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. 6 My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.

8 “‘But like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the Lord, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt. 9 I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a curse and an object of ridicule, wherever I banish them. 10 I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.’”

Let’s talk about this Bible verse not only as the state of the church in corona time – but also as believers in new seasons.

In this story there are 3 groups of believers:

• The believer that refuses to move to the next season –

• • Bad figs represented not only those against God but those that refused to follow the direction of God.

• The believer that moves to the new season but is waiting to get back to the old season
• The believer that moves to the new season and trusts Jesus

So how do we develop faith like the believers that move into new seasons and trust Jesus?

1 – The Time to Build is Now

People were exiled from their homes. They needed to build a new home. Don’t sit around waiting to get back to normal. This is your new normal.

When we build, we work on our faith and our trust. God will build us up and will not tear us down.

****Doing life in the comments**** 

What is it that you need to build? What do you need to construct in your life? 

When we build inside of new seasons we become like a house vs a tent – there is…

• protection
• limitless power
• sewage / sanitation
• fresh water

When we enter new seasons we need to build and not lament. 

2 – It’s Time to Plant in New Seasons

To set down roots in a new season. Roots represent a source of life. People did not leave when God told them to leave. They thought their source of life was connected to the routines and city they lived in rather than God.

The soil determines the growth of the plant. The root pulls the nutrients from the soil and the plant grows. Jesus is the root, but your season determines your growth.

Some of us are stuck in past seasons. All the nutrients have already been used. Jesus, the root, is telling us to move to the next season for new growth.

We need to move to the next season – mentally, physically and faithfully.

God’s desire is for us to connect to Jesus more that we connect to soil. Meaning – connect more to what Jesus is doing right now and right here; than what He did back then.

Complaining and grumbling is failing to see Jesus in this season. 

Xerox Case Study:

Xerox had the most successful single product of all time. They revolutionized businesses and homes.

They had ground breaking research; but the people in charge decided it wasn’t for them and gave all the technology to Steve Jobs. Xerox had the future in its hands, but the ownership thought it was meant for someone else.

Xerox is like a lot of believers… Reading the Bible and thinking it’s not for me its for someone else.

Jesus is speaking – are you listening to grow?

https://artgrid.io/clip/83735/paper-moving-through-rolls-on-printing-machine

***Like Xerox when we fail to listen, we fail to pivot***

When we fail to pivot into new seasons there are consequences.

3 core consequences from Jeremiah 24:10 as illustrations on this side of the cross and new covenant. 

1. Sword – When we fail to move into our next season we fight God, and we fight people that are living in the new seasons. We can become frustrated and angry with different viewpoints.
2. Famine – We are starving for Jesus to speak to us in our past seasons, but He is speaking from your new season. So you refuse to consume new insights.
3. Plague – Your mind becomes twisted and your heart is hardened towards the freshness of Jesus

2-Part Next Steps:

Part 1 – Build 1 new routine.

Part 2 – Leave 1 soil behind.

Let go of 1 thing from a past season. Maybe it was a glory that was awesome but God is calling you to a new glory. Maybe it was something tragic, and you have been holding onto that pain.

Have you ever seen an artist completely focused on their craft? Everything they do is intentional. Taking their time perfecting their art. They use their hands to shape exactly what is in their mind. This is our relationship to the Father.  We are in His hands as He shapes and crafts us. He is intentionally focused on crafting us…we are His masterpiece.

You are not a mistake. Your past has not disqualified you. You are the artwork of God.

We are continuing our sermon series Faith Check – a series all about faith through the book of Jeremiah. Today’s message is “Forming Faith”.

Jeremiah 18:1-4

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.

• Clay  = you and me
• Potter = The Father 
• The Wheel… is the tool used by the Father to shape us.

Idol check – Do you talk to a person before talking to God? Do you count more on your work providing than God providing?

Doing life in the comments – (Add a comment to engage with us)

How do you stay Planted during the Process? with help from people? your word? 

• Water is Jesus – not only used to shape us, and mold our lives.

• Dry lake bed – cracks are everywhere it is evident water used to be present. Now it’s dry and desolate. If your faith feels dry and things are falling apart or cracked, it’s evidence you need to reconnect your water source.

https://artgrid.io/story/16162/Dry-Lake-Bed

• Kiln is the the Holy Spirit

There are 2 firings for pottery:

1. The bisque fire is to remove impurities and make the pottery stable enough to receive glaze or adornment.

2. The final glaze fire is to cover the porous pottery with adornment and also prevent absorbing external influences.

The Holy spirit likewise is transforming us from an impressionable vessel to sturdy enough to be adorned by the love of Jesus. then transforms us to seal us up from external influences that the enemy would love to distract us with.

• transforms us
• works out the impurities
• prepares us to be a complete vessel
• transforms us from temporary to long term – Sunday morning believer to daily disciple

How do we keep our faith on Jesus in order to grow? 

The Yahoo Case Study

Yahoo failed to grow because the cost was too high and the risk too great.

They were number 1 in search and an online portal to the world –  https://artgrid.io/story/16349/The-Writer

Someone listening here is failing to grow – because the cost of discipleship is too high for you. The cost of serving is too high for you. The cost of reading the Bible is too high for you. The cost of genuine relationships is too high for you.

The risk of losing reputation

The risk of Jesus not showing up when you call on Him

The risk of losing material possessions… a lot of people don’t tithe because their mind is on losing money instead of trusting Jesus.

How do we use faith to stay planted on the potters wheel, when we get past the cost and risk:

Jeremiah 18:15

‘For My people have forgotten Me,

They burn incense to worthless gods

And they have stumbled from their ways,

From the ancient paths,

To walk in bypaths,

Not on a highway,

God is looking at His people and says His people have left the road for a path

There was a difference between the ancient road and the bypath.

 – paved vs unpaved.

STOP avoiding the cost and fearing the risk!

In order to keep your faith on God through all the storms – like the pottery on the wheel in the hands of God….we need to hyper-focus on 2 things found in verse 15:

“People have forgotten me”

1 – Know Jesus personally

Pay the cost of time in reading and discerning. Pay the cost in pride of discipleship. Show up to our communion nights, be part of our Thursday Bible study. Start committing to the next steps we do weekly.

Our church inspires and gives practical ways to deepen our faith.

“burn incense to worthless gods”

2 – Worship Jesus always

Worship is your heart towards Jesus. Pay the cost, time and energy to worship Jesus. – – worship with your heart.

– sing

– serve

– do life together

Your next step this week – Get Connected

Connect to your word. Connect to someone you haven’t talked to since covid started. Serve. Sign up for Bible study Thursday night.

Have you lost faith? Finding Faith – is the first installment of our new series “Faith Check”. This sermon series “Faith Check,” is a Holy Spirit lead deep look at FAITH through the book of Jeremiah. Have you ever seen an abandoned house? Yard overgrown, paint peeling, broken windows, dirt and neglect, just broken down? This is what our spirit looks like when we loose faith.  Let’s be honest with ourselves and have a Faith Check. What state is your faith in?

Jeremiah 13:1-11

13 Thus the Lord said to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” 2 So I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the Lord and put it around my waist. 3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, 4 “Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me. 6 After many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and lo, the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless.

• Jeremiah represents Jesus
• Belt represents Humanity
• Euphrates represents behind enemy lines.

What is FAITH? –

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

James 2:26 says, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

If we are the belt, then the buckle is faith. It must be firmly engaged and attached to Jesus.

Are you able to keep your faith up while behind enemy lines or do you fail?

Blockbuster Case Study – 

They were in the movie rental business. The truth is we value movies and entertainment more than ever today, but blockbuster failed. Why?

 – Because they dug deep into their routine.

– The world changed and they didn’t move forward or adapt.

• Do you have a blockbuster faith right now?
• Is your faith failing because your not moving forward?
• Are you waiting for the world to return to what it used to be?

It didn’t work out for blockbuster and it wont work out for you.

The Inheritance Factor – What faith inheritance are you passing on?

Jesus is moving forward, are you clinging onto Him or hiding in the rocks waiting on things to return?

Doing life in the comments –

*** What are ways you are moving forward in your faith? ***

Gods precisely explains why His people have failed to move forward in their faith in verses 8-11. Let’s look at this and then do the opposite.

Jeremiah 13:8-11

8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord, ‘Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband which is totally worthless. 11 For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise and for glory; but they did not listen.’

 

How do we find faith to fully connect to Jesus?

…refused to listen to My words

1 – Listen to the His Words

Are you reading the Bible to check your list or to check your heart? Listening to the Word is different than reading the Word.

…walk in the stubbornness of their hearts…they were taking steps to further their hard hearts

2 – Take Godly next steps

Are you taking next steps to your faith or to your comfort?

…have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them

3 – Relationship with Jesus

The entire story of the belt shows the Fathers heart. “I want you to be connected to Me.” Are you working on your relationship with Jesus all the time? Is something distracting you?

Your Next Step – Today is the day to let go of old ways and hold onto Jesus.

• Let go of thinking worship isn’t worship without a church building; you are missing out on your weapon that is worship if you refuse to adapt.
• Let go of thinking church isn’t church without Sunday morning; you are missing out on growth if you refuse to adapt.
• What do you need to let go of so you can hold onto Jesus?

Can I let you in on a secret? Hope wins! Every time. This is the last in our Can’t Cancel Hope series. I knew before we started this series the last thing to be spoken was Jesus in the tomb.  In fact, one of the core images in my mind of this series was the picture of Jesus in the tomb; isolated and separated from His friends and people He loved. Waiting to be set free.

Luke 24:1-8:

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

One of the most powerful statements. Why do you look for hope in dead things?

Hope wins because hope is Jesus.

You ever watch a movie for the first time with someone who already seen that movie? Sitting around spoiling every moment. Ohh this is the best part…

Jesus spoiled the end of the story to the disciples, just like…

Jesus spoils the ending of your story, if you listen.

“Spoiler alert, I love you, see you in heaven. Hope wins.” – Jesus

Jesus is our Hope. He knows the plans he has for us. He is telling his plans for you all the time through the Holy Spirit and the Word.

Hope is confident expectation – Jesus was confidently expecting to raise from the dead. 

• Hope gets you through. 
• Hope guides you. 
• Hope delivers you…
• Hope wins

What are some of the things that Jesus went through before He rose? 

Hope wins through:

1. Betrayal – Judas and Peter. When those you love let you down.
2. Attacked – Whipped and beaten – When life hits you over and over, wears on you.
3. Suffocation – cross – When you can’t breathe under the pressure of life, or people, you feel like the life is slowing draining out of you.
4. Isolation – in cave/tomb – When you are cut off from people you love.

Doing life in the comments – What do you need Hope Winning through? 

doubt, fear, frustrations, anger…

Hope Always Wins… 

…the only time hope fails is when hope is discarded before results.

What do we need to learn so we don’t throw hope away? Especially when we are that close to breakthrough?

1 Timothy 1:1

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,…

1 – Live in Your Shoes

The first thing Paul says is his name. It’s who he is. If you try and be someone else you will constantly be let down. You are trying to obtain something that doesn’t belong to you. And Jesus is too good to let you have something that doesn’t belong to you.

2 – Live in His Authority

An apostle of Jesus – apostle means “sent one” – Paul was sent by Jesus. He was not acting on his own will but the will of Jesus. Granting the full authority of Jesus over his actions.

When we start living in the authority of Jesus we gain clear direction and lose unclear wandering.

3 – Live in Your New Life

God is the author of your life. He gave you a new life, will you live in it??

• Where you came from does not cancel where you are going.
• Stop dropping Hope because of your past.
• Accepting Jesus as savior gave you a new life.

Remember what the angel said at the tomb – Why do you look for the living among the dead?

Look for Hope in Jesus

Your next step this week – Pick up dropped Hope. Because Hope wins. 

Maybe you dropped hope in an area. Maybe you know someone who dropped hope.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

CHECK THIS OUT!

Our new sermon series starts next week – “Faith Check”

We spent time on Hope. Now we are diving into faith. We will be hyper-focusing in the book of Jeremiah throughout this series.

I want to encourage you to do 2 things:

1st – Get a new journal to write everything the Holy Spirit will speak to you through the entire series.

2nd – Invite someone to watch or listen to a message in the upcoming sermon series. Share a video with them, start a watch party and tag them. Tag them in a comment. Start praying now for who that will be.

Do you remember high school math? There was always that one teacher that was super passionate about math even 1 week before summer vacation. Every other teacher had the AV kids roll in that old tv strapped down to the cart to watch a movie; but here you are in math with a teacher pouring their heart out on variables, fractals, and quadratic polynomials.

Growing up in Oregon – late afternoon blue skies were a treasure. Skip math?

We continue our “Can’t Cancel Hope” series with today’s message – HOPE is in Session. We’ve been looking at people in the Bible experiencing tests and dark situations of isolation, despair, hiding, lost, and lonely; and how they found Hope.

Follow along:

School is in session – conducting classes.

• What are you learning when life happens?

We are jumping into the book of Job today to look at 3 different sessions.

• Oppression
• Recession 
• Depression

Ultimately the enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy.  –  according to John 10:10

The enemy uses tactics to try and get you to misplace your Hope.

You can’t cancel Hope. You can’t kill Jesus. So the enemy uses tactics to get us to place our Hope on anything but Jesus.

1 – Hope is in Oppression

Job 1:6-12

6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Does Job fear God for nothing? Is Job’s Hope tied to the blessings or the blesser. 

Satan has this theory – if bad things happen to good people; then good people will lose their Hope in God.

He ultimately wants us to accuse God of the bad things.

Satan has a 3 step program for you loosing Hope:

1. Move hope from God to stuff
2. Wait for stuff to fail
3. Get you to accuse God for stuff failing

Hope is in oppression by placing our Hope correctly.

Too many people don’t learn the lessons found in life. Things get tough, they blame God.

2 – Hope is in Recession

Job 1:20-22

20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,

and naked I will depart.

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;

may the name of the Lord be praised.”

22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Recession is a significant decline in the economy. I want to look at Job’s response in complete recession. He lost his family, his wealth, his everything.

• It is not wrong to grieve from loss. 
• It is healthy to grieve.
• It is wrong to accuse God of your loss.

Satan wishes that you would blame God too.

Job didn’t blame God here. He tore his Robe and shaved his head and worshiped God.

You can’t control what you loose; but you can control your response.

Robe, hair and worship were all very public expressions.

When we are grieving it is ok to be public about it. Don’t think you need to hide how you feel.

Job was public about his grieving….. but he was public about his worship too. 

His robe and his hair were symbols of ethnicity, background, wealth, tribe, land owner, successful businessman.

He tore his robes and cut his hair to show his identity was grieving; but his posture was worship.

Hope is found in recession when we worship.

***Pause here to join us in the chat or comments and do life together:***

What are different ways you worship God?

3 – Hope is in Depression

Job 1:20-22

20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,

and naked I will depart.

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;

may the name of the Lord be praised.”

22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Finding hope in depression is first rising up out of your emotions, your mind, and your state. 

…then he fell to the ground in worship.

Hope is in depression through our position to Jesus

Hope is found in oppression, recession and depression.

If something still feels off something is miss-aligned.

God questions Job.

…..then Job replies.

Job 40:2

“Will you discredit my justice

and condemn me just to prove you are right?

Job 42:5-6

5 My ears had heard of you

but now my eyes have seen you.

6 Therefore I despise myself

and repent in dust and ashes.”

NEXT STEPS THIS WEEK:  Find something to repent to Jesus about.  Maybe it’s misplacing your hope on stuff, maybe it’s a lack of worship, or maybe it’s failing to position yourself at the feet of Jesus.

Have you ever felt so alone it weighs on you? Where you’re longing for an answer that seems forever away or impossible? Not actually talking about coranvirus and the ongoing stay at home orders. I’m actually talking about leprosy. Lepers were required to stand 6ft away and wear cloth face masks. Crazy similarity to today, right? We are continuing our “Can’t Cancel Hope” looking at people in the Bible experiencing their own isolation, dark, hidden, places holding on for the HOPE that is Jesus. Today, we’re in Matthew 8… a message that places our biggest breakthrough from a million miles off to just 6ft away.

Matthew 8:1-4

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.

What closes the gap of our breakthrough?

Matthew 7:7-8

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

How do you get closer to breakthrough?

1) Receive – you gotta listen to receive. 

word > precedes > breakthrough

2) Positioned – you must position yourself at the foot of the throne.

The reason we fail is not believing. The reason why people secretly lack faith is from bad positioning…

The leper calls Jesus Lord. Lord – meaning: owner, person I belong to….

Jesus had disciples. He had a church services. But up to this point people called him teacher, rabbi…. why do you think Jesus asked the question later on who do people call me? Who do you call me?

Many people follow Jesus and have not positioned Him as Lord.

Is Jesus your teacher? Or is He your Lord that teaches?

**Join the discussion down below in the comments**

Discussion question today is – How can you personally position Jesus as Lord this week?

The leper called Him Lord publicly, bowed at his feet and worshipped Him before any healing ever happened.

3) Motivated – Why was he motivated?

He wanted to rejoin community, he wanted to do life together….

Jesus reached out his hand and touched him.

2 perspectives.

1st – Leper that needed a breakthrough.

2nd – Jesus who showed the man His love.

For some of us we are in the shoes of the leper needing breakthrough.

For some of us we need to realize that we need to be the shoes of Jesus.

There is a 3rd perspective – the crowd that stayed on the sidelines. They watched but did nothing.

!!Our church does life together and takes the next steps.!!

Jesus healed 3 people after Church.

• Leprosy – those that society rejects.
• Centurion servant – those that we hate
• Peters mother-in-law – those we love

Jesus demonstrated His love through healing.

YOUR NEXT STEP: This week is to demonstrate the love of Jesus to someone. Someone that bothers you, someone you hate, or someone you love. But most importantly it needs to be someone who doesn’t live with you.

How do you keep hope alive for the best, when it’s been so long you’re tempted to settle? Have you ever been hungry? Standing in-front of an open fridge again and again? Checking the pantry over and over… Nothing looks good enough. The first few times you leave empty handed. But eventually…The hungrier you get…. the more you’re willing to settle for. We’re continuing our “Can’t Cancel Hope” series today with the Man Himself – Jesus. In the scripture today the devil tests Jesus 3 different ways. Each test is actually an exchange. I want you to look at what the devil is trying to exchange. Because what the devil tries to exchange with Jesus, is what he tries to exchange with us too. It’s Independence weekend. Let’s find freedom through temptations in our life.

Follow along with Pastor Matt here:

Matthew 4:1-11

4 1-3 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: “Since you are God’s Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread.” 4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”

Jesus is starving. Jesus is hungry.

The devil tries to force Jesus to transform the stone to bread.

1. The first exchange is what we consume, or take into our life.

Because you have not consumed and fed on the Word of God in weeks, months, years…you are willing to settle in your life.

You settle by turning the stone into bread.

The devil tries to get us to exchange what we consume.

• A stone represents anything that tries to replace or distract you from the Word of God.
• If you genuinely look at your calendar and your bank statement you will instantly see what stones you are exchanging.

The Bible declares that hope is Jesus. But the Bible also explains that the Word was with God at the beginning of creation, and that Jesus is the Word.

So when we consume the Word, we develop our relationship with Jesus; and when we develop our relationship with Jesus – HOPE grows in our life.

The devil wants to remove hope by preventing your relationship with Jesus.

Location is important – 

Matthew 4:1 describes the Spirit as leading Jesus to the wild or wilderness.

Greek definition is – solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited

In your loneliness is where the devil tests you the most. 

Before moving forward in the sermon I want you to grab your phone or device right now and head over to the comments. Whether you are watching live or later… We are going to pause the sermon and do life together. I’m going to give a question and I want you to leave a comment and also engage in other peoples comments down below. 

“What is a stone in your life?” 

Matthew 4:1-11

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6 and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’” 7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”

The devil tries to get Jesus to jump off a high place to see the angels catch Him.

2. The second exchange, Jesus references testing God. 

The devil tries to exchange faith for thoughts, the devil wants to steal your faith and exchange it with thoughts.

• 1st exchange was what we allow into our life
• 2nd exchange is what we think… Any thoughts that questions your relationship with God.

There are people who have been struggling with their faith, because they allowed the devil to exchange their thoughts for their faith.

Did anyone catch the first word the devil says to Jesus in this test…. IF… you are the Son of God… This was an attempt to cause insecurity, doubt in WHO He was.

• The moment the devil begins whispering doubt in your ear is the moment he is scared of you.
• He is trying everything to exchange your faith with doubt.

How do you reclaim your faith?

• You stop testing the insecurities the devil whispers in your ear.
• You read the Word to know who you are and Whose you are.

The lack of Bible in your life is connected to your lack of confidence. Your insecurities and doubts are hard to overcome when you don’t have the Word.

Matthew 4:1-11

8-9 For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth’s kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, “They’re yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they’re yours.”

10 Jesus’ refusal was curt: “Beat it, Satan!” He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.”

11 The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus’ needs.

The devil tries to get Jesus to bow down and worship him..

• first exchange was what we allow into our life
• second exchange was what we think

3. The third exchange is what we worship

Worship is serving. The devil is after who or what we serve. The devil exchanges serving God with serving anything or anyone else.

This test is about worship…Serving God is our worship.

This is the scariest point because some people don’t realize that the devil has swapped God with something else.  The devil will spend more time convincing you to dedicate your life to anything but Jesus.

The devil will try and convince you, that if you simply dedicate your actions to someone or something, all the doors will open and everything will be good.

God says it so plainly… “do not allow your heart to be divided.” 

Every day your actions are for God. Sunday is not the only day for Worship.

This test is where most believers fail Monday through Saturday. 

When your relationship with Jesus only moves forward on Sunday, it is evident the devil has split your heart; and convinced you that the busy-ness of life is first priority over God.

I want you to have Hope through temptation.

Your next step TODAY is make Jesus a priority in your life.

If you would truly make Jesus a priority in your life:

– the Word of God would not be exchanged for anything.

– your faith would not be exchanged for your thoughts. 

– and your worship would be undivided

What do you do when you feel stuck? Or are in fact stuck… like we’re all stuck at home right now. Stuck with limited options for how we’re used to living our lives these days. Do you panic? Do you fight it? Do you shutdown? We’re in our “Can’t Cancel Hope” series where we look at people in the Bible who were in dark, isolated, places; and how they kept hope alive.

Follow along with Pastor Matt here:

Acts 9:8-9

Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

Internal stuck happens usually when God is teaching humility to show you the kingdom. Kingdom being your relationship with Jesus and with People.

Philemon

1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— 2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:

3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

External stuck is usually the devil trying to exchange humility with pride, envy, jealousy, bitterness… to tear down your relationship with Jesus and with people

Paul is doing life together even when he’s stuck.

Just because you can’t see someone doesn’t mean you can’t do life together…

Can we break down what doing life together is? Its mutual impact. 

It’s about what we are giving and receiving. Don’t be that person who thinks they know more than Jesus.

Your impact is not determined by your situation.

Paul impacted hundreds if not thousands of people. Even when he was in prison he still impacted. 

Sermon title is “Hope is Now” – Hope is not getting out of a situation. 

Hope is with you in your situation. 

What are you and Jesus doing while you’re stuck?

Mutual impact 

Philemon 4-7

Every time your name comes up in my prayers, I say, “Oh, thank you, God!” I keep hearing of the love and faith you have for the Master Jesus, which brims over to other believers. And I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do, and that people recognize Christ in all of it. Friend, you have no idea how good your love makes me feel, doubly so when I see your hospitality to fellow believers.

Here’s what “Doing Life Together” looks like through Paul’s eyes:

1. Praying for each other.
2. Being thankful for each other.
3. Feeling joy and happiness when the other person is doing well and successful.
4. Genuine love for each other.
5. Communicating with each other.

Romans 12:15 

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

Who is he doing life together with? Who is he impacting?

• People that are in the same situation – family, relatives, best friends…
• People going through what you’ve gone through –  Oneisimus
• People far away – who is long distance? How can you do life together? Paul did life long distance before technology. 

Pick a person to do life together outside your home. 

Your next step this week: write a letter to someone long distance. Share with them how they build you up. Speak into their life. Write a letter as if you were Paul writing a letter. 

How do you keep hope alive from a distance? Remember the first day of “social distancing”, we’ve been here awhile now. Reflect on some of the actions you had to take at the beginning – setting yourself away, shutting out friends and family, isolating… Remember when it felt abnormal? When you wondered if there was a possibility you could be hurt if you got too close to someone else? This is the next message in our “Can’t Cancel Hope” series where we look at people in the Bible going through dark times, places, isolation and how they kept hope alive.

Follow along with Pastor Matt here:

John 4:13-19

13-14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”

15 The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, won’t ever have to come back to this well again!”

16 He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.”

17-18 “I have no husband,” she said.

“That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’ You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.”

19 “Oh, so you’re a prophet!

The woman at the well was socially distancing herself from her own community for several reasons, and these reasons still plague the church today. 

Why do people socially distance themselves in Church and community?

1 – Fear

2 – Past Hurts

3 – Insecurities

The cure to social distancing is Jesus. Jesus deals with our fears, hurts and insecurities. 

John 4:27-30;39-42

27 Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn’t believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it.

28-30 The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, “Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?” And they went out to see for themselves.

39-42 Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman’s witness: “He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!” They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, “We’re no longer taking this on your say-so. We’ve heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He’s the Savior of the world!”

The key to breaking out of social distancing is….

1 – Be honest with yourself and Jesus

2 – Turn Tragedy into Testimony

Our church is digging deeper into what God has called us to do. And what He has called us to is ‘doing life together‘.

Your next step today is: messaging someone who is not living with you…

Start with “How can i pray for you today? Here is how you can pray for me.”

Have you ever waited too long? When we feel stuck for too long; hope becomes hurt. Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick…” Moses is the perfect example.

This is the latest message in our “Can’t Cancel Hope” series, about people stuck in places, holes, caves, boats, isolation… They are separated and we have studied how they kept or found their hope and the actions they took to do so; and how we can apply that to our lives today.

Follow along with Pastor Matt here:

Exodus 3:1-7

“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.

What brings you to the presence of God? 

“Moses led the flock to the far side”

• nahag – to lead or to lament

Exodus 3:3

Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

• It doesn’t matter how you get to the presence of God. 
• It just matters what you do while you are there.

What do you do in the presence of God?

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

1 – Be fully Present

• • Have respect
  • Take our time

2 – Take time

6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.”

• Elohiym Ab – Elohiym (supreme, ruler. nothing over me) Ab (father, head, found, originator). Originator of Art!

3 – Gain Identity

7 The LORD said, “I have indeed SEEN the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have HEARD them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am AWARE of their sufferings.

4 – Acquire Heart of Jesus

• See – Acknowledge what’s happening
• Hear – Listen to stories
• Know – Do life together

Hope is on the way and it’s delivered by you. No excuses! Be like Moses… without the excuses!

Our prayer today is that…Hope is on the Way!

How do you find hope in a hopeless situation? It is so hard to keep hope alive when it feels like there’s no way out, no other side, or no possibility for a good outcome. We are continuing in our Can’t Cancel Hope series. That’s why it’s so important to be tethered and connected to HOPE. Like an anchor. During this series we will explore characters in the Bible that have found themselves in caves, caverns and dark places. Today we visit Lazarus.

Follow along here:

John 11:11 – 15

11 He said these things, and then announced, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I’m going to wake him up.”

12-13 The disciples said, “Master, if he’s gone to sleep, he’ll get a good rest and wake up feeling fine.” Jesus was talking about death, while his disciples thought he was talking about taking a nap.

14-15 Then Jesus became explicit: “Lazarus died. And I am glad for your sakes that I wasn’t there. You’re about to be given new grounds for believing. Now let’s go to him.”

Disciples – Their hope was based on perspective, not Jesus

John 11:17-22

17-20 When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead. Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away, and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother. Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house.

21-22 Martha said, “Master, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you.”

Mary – Her hope was based on results, not Jesus

Martha – Her hope was based on her timing, not Jesus

John 11:41-44

41-42 Then, to the others, “Go ahead, take away the stone.”

They removed the stone. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and prayed, “Father, I’m grateful that you have listened to me. I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I’ve spoken so that they might believe that you sent me.”

43-44 Then he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him loose.”

Lazarus is all of us. we are dead without Jesus.

Let’s look at the 4 things Jesus did for Lazarus.

1. Gave a New Life
2. Removed His Obstacle.
3. Called Him to Next steps.
4. Vulnerably connected

•   Lazarus is all of us – and we are called to be the Church, take the next steps, and do life together.

•   When we have these 3 things happening in our lives. we will find hope in any hopeless situation.

Have you ever been stabbed in the back? How do you hold onto hope when you feel betrayed? We are continuing in our Can’t Cancel Hope series. It is so hard to keep hope strong when someone close to us betrays us or stabs us in the back. The enemy uses other people and situations to try and get us to lose hope. That’s why it’s so important to be tethered and connected to HOPE. Like an anchor. During this series we will explore characters in the Bible that have found themselves in caves, caverns and dark places.

Follow along here:

Genesis 37:5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 

Genesis 37:23-28

23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

• The tactics of the enemy are actually pretty simple…affect you externally, in hopes of hurting you internally. 

• • They stole his robe – his public identity.
  • His robe represented a special relationship to the father. 
  • Your identity represents a special relationship to the Father.
• Your identity is a child of God. Friend of Jesus. Hope filled believer. 
• Your identity is your special relationship to the Father. its found in 2 places in your life…on the outside and on the inside.

• The enemy will try and steal who you are on the outside in the hopes that you lose your identity on the inside.

1. They threw him in a pit – or empty, dry well.
   • An empty well is a prison
   • A full well is a source of life
2. They sold him into slavery – get others to lead you, another word is servant. Someone else was in-charge of his life. 

• • The enemy wants to lead you in your life.
    • your decisions
    • your actions
    • your mind

How did Joseph stay strong and hope filled all those years?

Genesis 50:19-20

But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. 

• How do we deal with identity?

1 – I am not God

• How do we deal with feeling like the world threw us in a pit?

2 – God is in Control

• How do we deal with loss of control?

3 – He brought me

What happens when we get a case of the “why me’s?”. Been there? You know what we’re talking about… Life’s battering ram feels like it’s coming at you from all sides. You’re worn down, worn out, and feeling attacked. And it’s completely unjustified. So maybe you just give up? Maybe you give in to a little pity party? Hmmm…. You may have given up Hope but God never does.

In this Can’t Cancel Hope series we are looking at different seasons in our lives when we need to be tethered and connected to HOPE. Like an anchor. During this series we will explore characters in the Bible that have found themselves in caves, caverns and dark places.

Follow along with Pastor Matt here:

1 Kings 19:8-13a

“So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.

The Lord Appears to Elijah 

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”

Elijah essentially asks God – Why is this happening to me?

Have you ever been there?

I’m doing the right things. I’m saying the right things. I read my Bible. I worshipped.

Why is this happening to me?

Elijah had hope when things were good, but lost hope when things were bad.

You can try to cancel your hope, to quit your faith, to give up.

When it comes to Hope. you gotta remember these 4 things:

1 – You can’t cancel hope

2 – Jesus is Hope

3 – Hope chases you

4 – Hope knows your name

1 Kings 19:13-14

“13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

God asks Elijah what are you doing here?

Elijah asks again… why is this happening to me?

Elijah is all of us.

When we take on the spirit of “why is this happening to me?”, we have allowed something to try and take the place of God.

1 Kings 19:15a

The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came…

God will test us until we pass – unlimited retakes.

If you find yourself in the same situation over and over and over – it might be a test you need to pass.

You will fail your own test when you act like Elijah by doing these 3 things.

1 – See your situation.

2 – Know your situation.

3 – Defeated by your situation.

1 Kings 19:15-17

15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.

How to find hope when you have a case of the “why is this happening to me?”

• Anointing means to place in unquestionable authority.

• Wouldn’t it be crazy if the 3 people God called Elijah to anoint, had a unique name meaning; and they were applicable to us today.

• Hazael – One who sees God

• • You need to see Jesus. Your situation is not the center, Jesus is.
  • Your first task when you retake the same test again… see Jesus.

• Jehu – Jehovah is He – or – one who knows God

• • We need to move from seeing Jesus to knowing Jesus.
  • When the storms and emotions come who do you go to first…friends, isolation, emotions, or vices?
  • Or do you know Jesus and go to Him first.

• Elisha – God is Salvation – or – one who is saved by God

• • If you run from your situation, how can God save you in the situation?

We Need To:

• see Jesus
• know it’s Jesus
• and be saved by Jesus

Pass your test.