A season of blessing is coming. Hold on to God's promises; trust His timing and stay faithful.
#Religion
#Faith
#Trust God
#Waiting on God
#Promises of God
#Love of God
#Grace
#Preparation
#Blessing
#Kerry Shook
#Romans 4:3-8
#Romans 4:16
#Romans 4:18-21
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Kerry Shook Ministries with Kerry Shook | Love is on the Way | April 3, 2022
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- Kerry Shook: Some of the greatest treasures you'll ever
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- discover in life are found in the test
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- that you're going through.
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- ♪♪♪
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- Kerry: Mendelssohn, the great composer, once visited the
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- cathedral at Freiburg, and he walked up into the organ loft
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- and asked the organist if he could play.
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- And the organist didn't recognize him and he said no.
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- You know, he was really protective of
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- the great organ there.
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- And then Mendelssohn finally convinced him, you know after
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- some time, that he was proficient at playing the organ,
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- that he could play the organ.
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- And so reluctantly, the organist let him play.
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- And as the first note thundered out across that great cathedral,
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- the organist was just stunned, for he had never heard such
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- beautiful music played from that organ.
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- And then someone whispered to him, "That's the great composer,
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- Mendelssohn."
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- And the organist was overjoyed and just couldn't believe his
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- good fortune.
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- And later he would say, "And to think I almost
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- missed the master."
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- See, I don't want you to miss the master and what he's about
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- to do in your life in the coming weeks.
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- I don't want you to miss your season of blessing
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- that is on the way.
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- And so, we can't create a season of blessing, but we can
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- recognize it and receive it when it comes our way.
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- And so, we're gonna look at Abraham today because he was a
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- man who was ready for his season when it came.
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- And so, open your Bibles to Romans chapter 4, and I want to
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- welcome all you guys worshiping with us through our satellite
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- campuses and everyone worshiping with us through our broadcast
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- and online ministry, everyone here in the Woodlands,
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- wherever you are.
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- We are so glad that you're connected with us.
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- And it's really great to see all your faces here
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- at the Woodlands.
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- But let's stand together in honor of God's Word.
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- For, you see, God is up to something.
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- He's up to something huge in our church.
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- He's up to something miraculous in your life, but sometimes you
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- can't see it because sometimes it's underground and
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- everything's being developed.
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- It's kind of like when this building was being built.
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- I remember coming out here constantly to the land and not
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- seeing anything.
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- I saw lots of trucks and lots of workers and lots of busyness,
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- but everything was going into the ground, into the foundation.
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- Everything was being poured into the foundation.
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- It took months to build the foundation for this building.
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- And it seemed to me like nothing was happening.
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- When am I ever gonna see something?
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- But it was all about the foundation, the most important
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- part of any building.
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- They were making sure they were building a foundation that could
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- hold the structure, and it could be what God is doing in your
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- life right now is making sure the foundation in your life can
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- hold the blessing that's about to come.
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- He wants you to be built for the blessing so that you can receive
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- it and that you can hold on to it and then you can give it out
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- to make a difference in the lives of others.
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- So, let's look at Abraham and how he did that.
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- "For the Scriptures tell us, 'Abraham believed God, and God
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- counted him as righteous because of his faith.'
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- When people work,
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- their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned.
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- But people are counted as righteous, not because of their
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- work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.
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- David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those
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- who are declared righteous without working for it: Oh, what
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- joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins
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- are put out of sight.
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- Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord
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- has cleared of sin.'
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- So the promise is received by faith.
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- It is given as a free gift.
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- And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we
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- live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith
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- like Abraham's.
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- For Abraham is the father of all who believe.
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- Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept
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- hoping, believing that he would become the father
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- of many nations.
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- For God had said to him, 'That's how many descendants
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- you will have!'
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- And Abraham's faith did not weaken, even though, at
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- about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as
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- dead and so was Sarah's womb.
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- Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise.
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- In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this
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- he brought glory to God.
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- He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever
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- he promises."
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- You can be seated.
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- This passage tells us that God's blessings are a gift.
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- There's nothing we can do to earn or deserve
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- God's blessings in our lives.
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- You see, when God sends a season of blessing, it's just all out
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- of his mercy and out of his grace.
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- It's God's job to bring the season of blessing, and it's our
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- job to recognize it and to receive it
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- out of his mercy and grace.
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- But we have to be able to recognize and receive it and the
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- key to that is faith.
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- This passage tells us the secret to being ready and prepared for
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- God's plan is faith, and we see that Abraham had faith that was
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- built for the blessing.
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- See, God has to build us for the blessing so we'll be able
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- to contain it.
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- And so, how did Abraham get prepared for the blessing,
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- really, how did God prepare Abraham for the season of
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- blessing that was coming?
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- There's several things that I want us to see here, four things
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- that we have to do to prepare to receive what God has for us.
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- First, don't waver during a difficult season.
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- It's only in the difficult seasons that
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- our faith is developed.
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- That's what Abraham experienced because God promised him that
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- his season would come.
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- God promised him he'd be the father of a great nation, that
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- he would be the father of many great nations.
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- He was promised that he would be the father of great nations and
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- that his descendants would be so numerous, it'd be like the stars
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- in the sky, you couldn't count them all, that his descendants
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- would be so numerous, it'd be like the grains of sand on the
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- seashore, you can't count them all.
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- And yet, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were experiencing
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- infertility.
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- He was promised he'd be the father of great nations and yet,
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- he couldn't have a child.
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- Now, that's what I call a season stopper.
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- God said, "Your season is coming," and yet there was a
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- season stopper that stopped him in his tracks.
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- And before your season of blessing arrives, you will walk
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- through a difficult season.
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- That's just part of God's plan so we'll be built for the
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- blessing, so our faith can be built.
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- Before your season arrives, you will walk through seasons of
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- difficulty, and you will experience season stoppers that
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- stop you in your tracks and make you reexamine everything that
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- you put your trust in.
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- That's just how God builds our faith.
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- And when Abraham went through this season of difficulty, look
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- at what he did in Romans 4:20.
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- "Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise.
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- In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought
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- glory to God."
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- It was the difficult season that built Abraham's faith strong
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- enough to receive the blessing.
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- In James 1:2 it says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and
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- sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because
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- you know that the testing of your faith
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- develops perseverance.
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- Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and
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- complete, not lacking anything."
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- Focus in on that phrase, "The testing of your faith."
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- To find the treasure, you've got to go through the test.
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- There's just no other way around it.
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- To find the treasure, you've got to go through the test, and some
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- of you needed to hear that desperately because you've been
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- on a difficult stretch on the freeway of faith and the road
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- has been so painful and so rocky that you're
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- just about to give up.
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- But don't you dare give up when the treasure is just
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- around the next turn.
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- You have to go through the test to find the treasure.
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- That's just the way it is.
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- And you're on the verge of the greatest treasure of your life
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- because the greater the test, the more you're blessed.
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- So, don't you dare give up when the treasure is just
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- around the next turn.
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- It's just how God builds you to be blessed.
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- You're built for the blessing, and you've gotta go through the
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- season of difficulty where you have those season stoppers.
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- And it just makes you reexamine everything that you're putting
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- your trust in so you can go right back to the rock, the
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- solid rock, that's the foundation that the blessing
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- can be built on.
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- Some of the greatest treasures are buried the deepest.
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- Some of the greatest treasures you'll ever discover in life are
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- found in the test that you're going through.
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- Some of the greatest treasures you can only find
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- in a season of difficulty.
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- For example, you can only find the treasure of real joy when
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- you're going through a season of difficulty when you dig beneath
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- your circumstances.
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- You see, the treasure's buried deep so you gotta dig deeper
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- beneath the circumstances to find the real treasure because
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- so many times we think, "If I can just change my
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- circumstances, then I'll be happy."
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- We think, "If I can just change jobs, I'll be happy.
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- If I can just change houses, I'll be happy.
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- If I can just change locations, I'll be happy.
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- If I can just change my problems, I'll be happy."
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- But if you have to move one inch from where you are right now in
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- order to be happy, you will never be happy.
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- See, the problem is you take the problem with you wherever you go
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- because the problem is not your circumstances.
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- The problem is you.
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- And happiness is an elusive destination that you will never
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- arrive at until you get to heaven.
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- Happiness is an elusive destination that will always
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- keep you from being happy until you realize the joy
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- is found in the journey.
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- Right in the middle of the difficult season is the only
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- place you can find joy is in the middle of the difficult seasons
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- of your life.
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- That's the only place you'll ever discover it.
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- And joy is found, not in the season ahead, it's found in the
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- season you're in.
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- And so, God will allow you, many times in your life, to go
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- through seasons of difficulty so you can find the deepest
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- treasures that are buried under the difficulty
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- female announcer: Still to come with Pastor Kerry Shook.
- 00:11:12.887 --> 00:11:15.457
- Kerry: Faith is not denying the facts.
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- Faith is just recognizing that God is the final fact.
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- ♪♪♪
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- Kerry: Chris and I really want you to know about our new
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- book that just came out in paperback.
- 00:11:33.942 --> 00:11:36.111
- It's "The Gift Of One Day: How To Find Hope When
- 00:11:36.111 --> 00:11:39.214
- Life Gets Hard."
- 00:11:39.214 --> 00:11:40.548
- We all go through hard times and difficulties and pain, but God
- 00:11:40.548 --> 00:11:44.219
- wants to see you through with his hope.
- 00:11:44.219 --> 00:11:46.588
- I know one of the most difficult days we've ever experienced was
- 00:11:46.588 --> 00:11:50.558
- when our grandson Jude Samuel was born,
- 00:11:50.558 --> 00:11:53.128
- and he only lived for 24 hours.
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- It was devastating to us and we still grieve.
- 00:11:55.897 --> 00:11:59.033
- But yet we know that he's with the Lord in heaven and the way
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- that little boy lived those 24 hours taught us how to live the
- 00:12:03.238 --> 00:12:07.075
- rest of our years.
- 00:12:07.075 --> 00:12:08.543
- I know you know someone who's going through some pain and
- 00:12:08.543 --> 00:12:11.546
- problems, or maybe you're going through a difficult time
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- in your life.
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- And so, I hope you'll call us right now.
- 00:12:16.251 --> 00:12:17.852
- We'd love to pray with you and pray for you and would also love
- 00:12:17.852 --> 00:12:22.357
- to get you this book for a gift of any amount, "The Gift Of One
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- Day," because God wants to get you through today.
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- He wants you not only to survive,
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- but he wants you to thrive.
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- He has a great plan for you.
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- Kerry: So, right now if you're going through a season of
- 00:12:36.938 --> 00:12:38.940
- difficulty, it's just part of God's plan, and he's bringing
- 00:12:38.940 --> 00:12:42.877
- you to this place where you're built for the blessing
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- because it's on its way.
- 00:12:47.816 --> 00:12:50.185
- And so, we see here that Abraham didn't waver
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- during a difficult season.
- 00:12:54.355 --> 00:12:56.224
- Now, God chooses the season, but we get to choose whether or not
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- we experience joy in the season.
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- That's the choice that we can make.
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- But then there's a second thing that Abraham did, and that's he
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- rested in God's timing in a season of waiting.
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- I have to rest in God's timing in the season of waiting because
- 00:13:12.207 --> 00:13:15.109
- there's always a season of waiting before
- 00:13:15.109 --> 00:13:17.011
- the season of blessing.
- 00:13:17.011 --> 00:13:18.346
- That's just the way God builds our faith.
- 00:13:18.346 --> 00:13:19.948
- In Psalm 37:7 it says, "Rest in the Lord, wait patiently
- 00:13:19.948 --> 00:13:24.018
- for Him to act.
- 00:13:24.018 --> 00:13:25.453
- Don't fret and worry.
- 00:13:25.453 --> 00:13:26.788
- It leads only to harm."
- 00:13:26.788 --> 00:13:29.157
- Focus in on that phrase, "Rest in the Lord."
- 00:13:29.157 --> 00:13:32.994
- That's so important because when I'm waiting on the Lord,
- 00:13:32.994 --> 00:13:36.364
- I get restless.
- 00:13:36.364 --> 00:13:37.699
- I don't know about you.
- 00:13:37.699 --> 00:13:39.267
- When I'm having to wait, I get really restless and sometimes I
- 00:13:39.267 --> 00:13:42.670
- run ahead of God, and it causes all kinds of problems.
- 00:13:42.670 --> 00:13:46.507
- You see, rest is a sign of maturity,
- 00:13:46.507 --> 00:13:48.610
- and you have to learn to rest.
- 00:13:48.610 --> 00:13:50.411
- When kids are little, they hate to rest, you know, just ask the
- 00:13:50.411 --> 00:13:54.816
- preschool teacher trying to put them down for a nap.
- 00:13:54.816 --> 00:13:58.753
- They hate to rest.
- 00:13:58.753 --> 00:14:00.088
- I remember when my kids were babies, you know, it's like they
- 00:14:00.088 --> 00:14:03.057
- would just fight it.
- 00:14:03.057 --> 00:14:04.893
- As toddlers and it's naptime, they would just fight it trying
- 00:14:04.893 --> 00:14:07.829
- to stay awake because rest is a sign of maturity, and you'll
- 00:14:07.829 --> 00:14:14.669
- never be blessed until you learn to rest.
- 00:14:14.669 --> 00:14:19.474
- You have to learn to rest.
- 00:14:19.474 --> 00:14:20.808
- Now, you can work really hard and rest on the inside where
- 00:14:20.808 --> 00:14:23.811
- you're totally at rest and at peace.
- 00:14:23.811 --> 00:14:25.213
- You're in this waiting season.
- 00:14:25.213 --> 00:14:28.349
- You're in a season of waiting for God to come through.
- 00:14:28.349 --> 00:14:31.019
- You're in a season of waiting for things to happen.
- 00:14:31.019 --> 00:14:34.289
- You're in a season of waiting for your season of blessing, but
- 00:14:34.289 --> 00:14:38.126
- that season of waiting is so important because that's the
- 00:14:38.126 --> 00:14:40.628
- only season in which you can learn to rest, to enjoy the
- 00:14:40.628 --> 00:14:45.300
- moment, to enjoy the journey instead of always looking
- 00:14:45.300 --> 00:14:51.572
- forward to that next season, to experience peace, to experience
- 00:14:51.572 --> 00:14:56.844
- that rest where we enter into his rest.
- 00:14:56.844 --> 00:15:00.748
- You'll never be blessed until you learn to rest in the arms of
- 00:15:00.748 --> 00:15:06.721
- the Savior, and you rest in his care and you rest in his timing
- 00:15:06.721 --> 00:15:10.591
- and you rest in that he knows what is best for you.
- 00:15:10.591 --> 00:15:14.329
- So, how do you rest?
- 00:15:14.329 --> 00:15:16.364
- Well, you rest in God's promises?
- 00:15:16.364 --> 00:15:19.033
- Abraham did that.
- 00:15:19.033 --> 00:15:20.368
- In Romans 4:20 it says, "He didn't tiptoe around God's
- 00:15:20.368 --> 00:15:22.704
- promise asking cautiously skeptical questions.
- 00:15:22.704 --> 00:15:26.007
- He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God,
- 00:15:26.007 --> 00:15:29.777
- sure that God would make good on what he had said."
- 00:15:29.777 --> 00:15:32.547
- I love how The Message paraphrase puts this.
- 00:15:32.547 --> 00:15:35.350
- "Abraham plunged into God's promise."
- 00:15:35.350 --> 00:15:38.219
- He put everything on the line.
- 00:15:38.219 --> 00:15:40.154
- If God didn't catch him, then he was done.
- 00:15:40.154 --> 00:15:43.791
- He plunged into God's promise.
- 00:15:43.791 --> 00:15:45.360
- God promised him he'd be the father of a great nation, that
- 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:48.596
- meant he'd have a son.
- 00:15:48.596 --> 00:15:49.998
- Abraham never doubted, but he did praise God
- 00:15:49.998 --> 00:15:53.034
- before it happened.
- 00:15:53.034 --> 00:15:54.369
- So, don't waver in a difficult season, and rest in God's timing
- 00:15:54.369 --> 00:16:00.108
- in that season of waiting.
- 00:16:00.108 --> 00:16:02.343
- But then there's a third thing you need to do and that's
- 00:16:02.343 --> 00:16:04.579
- surrender to hope in a season of hopelessness.
- 00:16:04.579 --> 00:16:07.715
- There will be seasons of hopelessness and usually it goes
- 00:16:07.715 --> 00:16:10.451
- in that progression.
- 00:16:10.451 --> 00:16:11.786
- Season of difficulty and then you get to wait while it's
- 00:16:11.786 --> 00:16:15.590
- difficult in the season of waiting.
- 00:16:15.590 --> 00:16:18.059
- And then you come to that season of hopelessness while you're
- 00:16:18.059 --> 00:16:22.830
- waiting in the difficulty.
- 00:16:22.830 --> 00:16:24.732
- In Romans 4:18 though it says, "Abraham, when hope was dead
- 00:16:24.732 --> 00:16:27.769
- within him, went on hoping in faith.
- 00:16:27.769 --> 00:16:29.904
- He relied on the Word of God."
- 00:16:29.904 --> 00:16:32.373
- Look at that phrase, "When hope was dead."
- 00:16:32.373 --> 00:16:35.243
- How do you know when hope is dead in your life?
- 00:16:35.243 --> 00:16:38.379
- You start using the word "never" a lot.
- 00:16:39.447 --> 00:16:44.519
- "I'm never going to graduate.
- 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:47.855
- I'll never get married.
- 00:16:47.855 --> 00:16:50.792
- I'll never get over this hurt.
- 00:16:50.792 --> 00:16:54.062
- I'll never get past this addiction.
- 00:16:54.062 --> 00:16:57.498
- I'll never get through this problem."
- 00:16:57.498 --> 00:17:01.769
- Start using the word "never" a lot.
- 00:17:01.769 --> 00:17:04.172
- And some of you have been using the word "never" a lot because
- 00:17:04.172 --> 00:17:08.342
- you've come to this place where hope has died.
- 00:17:08.342 --> 00:17:12.713
- Here's the great news.
- 00:17:12.713 --> 00:17:14.449
- When you come to the place where hope has died, you're in the
- 00:17:14.449 --> 00:17:17.885
- place where resurrection can happen.
- 00:17:17.885 --> 00:17:21.823
- Hope has to die before it can be resurrected.
- 00:17:21.823 --> 00:17:24.559
- Christ had to go to the cross on the Good Friday,
- 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:27.228
- but Sunday was coming.
- 00:17:27.228 --> 00:17:28.896
- Resurrection was coming because no resurrection
- 00:17:28.896 --> 00:17:32.667
- can take place without death.
- 00:17:32.667 --> 00:17:35.136
- The seed has to go into the ground and die before it can
- 00:17:35.136 --> 00:17:38.139
- come alive and grow and sprout.
- 00:17:38.139 --> 00:17:41.309
- And sometimes God has to let us go to that place where all hope
- 00:17:41.309 --> 00:17:47.381
- is dead, so we'll stop putting our hope in so many things that
- 00:17:47.381 --> 00:17:53.254
- can never bring life.
- 00:17:53.254 --> 00:17:54.989
- And we can go right to the only hope that we've ever had, and
- 00:17:54.989 --> 00:17:59.393
- that's hope itself.
- 00:17:59.393 --> 00:18:01.762
- Hope has a name, Jesus Christ.
- 00:18:01.762 --> 00:18:04.298
- And sometimes God will allow all my hopes to die so that I can
- 00:18:04.298 --> 00:18:09.170
- find the only hope that lives because I place my hope in so
- 00:18:09.170 --> 00:18:15.910
- many things that never bring life.
- 00:18:15.910 --> 00:18:18.479
- And maybe that's where you find yourself right now.
- 00:18:18.479 --> 00:18:20.615
- What do you do when all hope is dead?
- 00:18:20.615 --> 00:18:25.052
- You keep hoping in your only hope Jesus Christ.
- 00:18:25.052 --> 00:18:29.724
- When all hope is dead, that's the only time that you'll ever
- 00:18:29.724 --> 00:18:34.262
- find that you only have one hope, and that's Jesus Christ.
- 00:18:34.262 --> 00:18:37.365
- Because when you don't have anything else, when Jesus is all
- 00:18:37.365 --> 00:18:42.170
- you have, that's when you find Jesus is all that you need.
- 00:18:42.170 --> 00:18:46.407
- And if you're at the place where hope is dead, you're at the
- 00:18:46.407 --> 00:18:49.277
- place right before deliverance.
- 00:18:49.277 --> 00:18:52.513
- It just doesn't feel like it.
- 00:18:52.513 --> 00:18:55.416
- It feels like you're at the place where all hope is dead.
- 00:18:55.416 --> 00:18:59.187
- But you look to the one, the only one who can resurrect
- 00:18:59.187 --> 00:19:03.791
- dreams and hopes, the only one who can resurrect marriages, the
- 00:19:03.791 --> 00:19:11.699
- only one who can bring resurrection,
- 00:19:11.699 --> 00:19:15.169
- Jesus Christ, our hope.
- 00:19:15.169 --> 00:19:19.240
- So, you surrender to hope in a season of hopelessness.
- 00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:22.276
- In Romans 4:19 it says, "Without weakening in his faith, he faced
- 00:19:22.276 --> 00:19:26.113
- the fact that his body was as good as dead, since he was about
- 00:19:26.113 --> 00:19:29.450
- a hundred years old, and Sarah's womb was also dead.
- 00:19:29.450 --> 00:19:32.920
- Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise
- 00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:35.890
- of God, but was strengthened in his faith
- 00:19:35.890 --> 00:19:37.925
- and gave glory to God."
- 00:19:37.925 --> 00:19:40.528
- Look at that phrase, "He faced the fact."
- 00:19:40.528 --> 00:19:44.265
- Abraham was 100 years old, Sarah was 90 years old.
- 00:19:44.332 --> 00:19:47.668
- They still hadn't had a child. They were at a dead end.
- 00:19:47.668 --> 00:19:51.105
- Those are the facts.
- 00:19:51.105 --> 00:19:52.540
- You can't change the facts.
- 00:19:52.540 --> 00:19:53.874
- The facts are the facts.
- 00:19:53.874 --> 00:19:55.509
- Faith is not denying the facts.
- 00:19:55.509 --> 00:19:58.045
- Faith is just recognizing that God is the final fact.
- 00:19:58.045 --> 00:20:03.317
- He is the final fact and the final act, and he rules and he
- 00:20:03.317 --> 00:20:07.521
- reigns over the circumstances.
- 00:20:07.521 --> 00:20:11.359
- Faith is not denying reality.
- 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:13.160
- It's just recognizing God is greater than my current reality.
- 00:20:13.160 --> 00:20:19.000
- And God wants us to come to that place when all hope is dead,
- 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:22.169
- that we have nothing left to hope for,
- 00:20:22.169 --> 00:20:24.639
- but we put our hope in him.
- 00:20:24.639 --> 00:20:25.973
- We put our hope in him because he is our only hope, always was,
- 00:20:25.973 --> 00:20:29.744
- always will be our hope, Jesus Christ.
- 00:20:29.744 --> 00:20:34.081
- And maybe you're at that place, I just want you to see that in
- 00:20:34.081 --> 00:20:38.819
- that place where all hope is dead, just surrender to God's
- 00:20:38.819 --> 00:20:41.555
- miracle of deliverance because when you're at the place of dead
- 00:20:41.555 --> 00:20:46.127
- end, it doesn't feel like deliverance is on the other side
- 00:20:46.127 --> 00:20:48.629
- of the door, but it is.
- 00:20:48.629 --> 00:20:51.399
- God brings us to the place of dead ends
- 00:20:51.399 --> 00:20:52.967
- so he can bring deliverance.
- 00:20:52.967 --> 00:20:54.302
- And so, you're right there right on the verge of it.
- 00:20:54.302 --> 00:20:56.804
- Just surrender totally to him and look to him.
- 00:20:56.804 --> 00:21:00.041
- When all hope is dead, what do you do?
- 00:21:00.041 --> 00:21:01.609
- You keep hoping in the only hope, Jesus Christ.
- 00:21:01.609 --> 00:21:05.746
- And then surrender to God's method of deliverance.
- 00:21:05.746 --> 00:21:10.451
- You see, sometimes I have an idea of how I want God
- 00:21:10.451 --> 00:21:13.387
- to work in my life.
- 00:21:13.387 --> 00:21:14.722
- "God, here's the way you should work this miracle, and I'll kind
- 00:21:14.722 --> 00:21:16.324
- of help you out."
- 00:21:16.324 --> 00:21:17.658
- Abraham did this.
- 00:21:17.658 --> 00:21:18.993
- Now, Abraham didn't doubt, but he did try to help God out.
- 00:21:18.993 --> 00:21:20.594
- And he tried to help God out, how?
- 00:21:20.594 --> 00:21:22.830
- He was 75 years old, and they still hadn't had a son.
- 00:21:22.830 --> 00:21:26.133
- And so, Sarah, his wife, comes to me and says, "Well, why don't
- 00:21:26.133 --> 00:21:29.103
- you have a child through my maidservant Hagar?"
- 00:21:29.103 --> 00:21:32.773
- So, Abraham thinks, "Well, that's probably the way God's
- 00:21:32.773 --> 00:21:34.642
- gonna work.
- 00:21:34.642 --> 00:21:35.976
- You know, it's gonna be a normal conception."
- 00:21:35.976 --> 00:21:38.346
- So, he has a child with Hagar and they name him Ishmael.
- 00:21:38.346 --> 00:21:42.216
- But God says, "No, that's not the way I'm going to work, but
- 00:21:42.216 --> 00:21:45.886
- I'm gonna bless Ishmael anyway.
- 00:21:45.886 --> 00:21:47.221
- And he became the father of the Arab nation.
- 00:21:47.221 --> 00:21:48.956
- And then when Abraham was 100, and Sarah was 90, God works this
- 00:21:48.956 --> 00:21:52.026
- miracle, and Sarah conceives and gives birth to Isaac.
- 00:21:52.026 --> 00:21:56.897
- And Isaac became the father of the Jewish nation.
- 00:21:56.897 --> 00:21:59.467
- So, for the last 2.000 years, all the conflict in the Middle
- 00:21:59.467 --> 00:22:02.136
- East has just been a family feud because Abraham
- 00:22:02.136 --> 00:22:05.139
- got ahead of God.
- 00:22:05.139 --> 00:22:06.674
- And so many times, you know, I want to control the method by
- 00:22:06.674 --> 00:22:09.343
- which God brings the miracle, but I have to give that to God.
- 00:22:09.343 --> 00:22:12.813
- "God, you work your miracle in your time and in your way the
- 00:22:12.813 --> 00:22:16.484
- way you want to because I can't control that."
- 00:22:16.484 --> 00:22:19.420
- And when I try to help God out, it just makes things worse.
- 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:23.557
- And so, I have to surrender to God to bring that deliverance
- 00:22:23.557 --> 00:22:27.762
- when I'm at a place of dead end and then also say, "God, you
- 00:22:27.762 --> 00:22:30.598
- work your miracle the way you want in your time and in your
- 00:22:30.598 --> 00:22:33.567
- way because you know what's best."
- 00:22:33.567 --> 00:22:35.736
- And then I can move to that fourth thing, open your heart to
- 00:22:35.736 --> 00:22:39.607
- receiving the harvest.
- 00:22:39.607 --> 00:22:41.342
- You see, when you're at a place of dead end, you have wounds in
- 00:22:41.342 --> 00:22:45.146
- your heart.
- 00:22:45.146 --> 00:22:46.480
- When you get to that place of dead end after difficulties and
- 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:49.850
- the season of waiting, you're in a season of dead end, then it's
- 00:22:49.850 --> 00:22:53.087
- so easy to close your heart down because your heart's been hurt.
- 00:22:53.087 --> 00:22:57.324
- Your heart's been wounded.
- 00:22:57.324 --> 00:22:58.659
- You've been let down.
- 00:22:58.659 --> 00:22:59.994
- And so, you want to just close your heart off, but you won't be
- 00:22:59.994 --> 00:23:02.329
- able to receive the harvest that's coming if you close down
- 00:23:02.329 --> 00:23:04.665
- your heart.
- 00:23:04.665 --> 00:23:06.333
- And so, we have to open our heart to receive the harvest,
- 00:23:06.333 --> 00:23:09.203
- but when you open your heart to receive the harvest, you open
- 00:23:09.203 --> 00:23:11.372
- your heart to receive hurt.
- 00:23:11.372 --> 00:23:13.407
- You open your heart to feel the pain, to grieve your losses.
- 00:23:13.407 --> 00:23:18.879
- But that's part of the plan as well.
- 00:23:18.879 --> 00:23:21.215
- You have to open your heart to feel that pain, so you can open
- 00:23:21.215 --> 00:23:24.952
- your heart to receive the harvest.
- 00:23:24.952 --> 00:23:27.488
- Psalm 126:5 says, "Those who plant in tears will harvest with
- 00:23:27.488 --> 00:23:31.592
- shouts of joy.
- 00:23:31.592 --> 00:23:32.927
- They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as
- 00:23:32.927 --> 00:23:36.697
- they return with the harvest."
- 00:23:36.697 --> 00:23:38.999
- Somebody needed that promise today because you're in a season
- 00:23:38.999 --> 00:23:42.369
- of tears, and you've been planting in tears.
- 00:23:42.369 --> 00:23:46.006
- And those tears are just watering the harvest
- 00:23:46.006 --> 00:23:48.742
- that is on its way.
- 00:23:48.742 --> 00:23:50.911
- You've been in a season of tears but I want you to know the
- 00:23:50.911 --> 00:23:54.114
- season of singing is on its way.
- 00:23:54.114 --> 00:23:57.151
- You're getting ready for a season of singing.
- 00:23:57.151 --> 00:24:00.254
- So, warm your voice up, get ready.
- 00:24:00.254 --> 00:24:02.089
- It's time.
- 00:24:02.089 --> 00:24:03.891
- Season of singing is coming, but that season of tears is a
- 00:24:03.891 --> 00:24:09.330
- powerful thing.
- 00:24:09.330 --> 00:24:10.664
- It's a godly thing.
- 00:24:10.664 --> 00:24:12.099
- The Bible says God counts every teardrop that falls
- 00:24:12.099 --> 00:24:14.702
- from your eyes.
- 00:24:14.702 --> 00:24:16.036
- He keeps them all in his bottle because God never wastes
- 00:24:16.036 --> 00:24:18.339
- a single teardrop.
- 00:24:18.339 --> 00:24:20.140
- God never wastes a sorrow.
- 00:24:20.140 --> 00:24:22.276
- He never wastes a hurt.
- 00:24:22.276 --> 00:24:25.145
- Now, I can waste a teardrop.
- 00:24:25.145 --> 00:24:26.714
- I can waste a hurt.
- 00:24:26.714 --> 00:24:29.250
- But God won't if I'll give it to him.
- 00:24:29.250 --> 00:24:32.286
- And maybe you're in a season of tears right now.
- 00:24:32.286 --> 00:24:34.321
- What do you do in that season of tears where it feels like all
- 00:24:34.321 --> 00:24:37.958
- hope is dead?
- 00:24:37.958 --> 00:24:39.693
- You keep your heart open and you keep planting.
- 00:24:39.693 --> 00:24:45.933
- Because if you close down your heart, you'll miss
- 00:24:42.763 --> 00:24:47.668
- the blessing that's on its way.
- 00:24:47.668 --> 00:24:49.603
- Keep your heart open and you keep planting.
- 00:24:49.603 --> 00:24:52.039
- You see, when your heart is open, you can sense and you can
- 00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:58.178
- feel the hurt and the hopelessness
- 00:24:58.178 --> 00:25:00.314
- that others are going through.
- 00:25:00.314 --> 00:25:01.649
- And when you come to the season of hopelessness, it's such a
- 00:25:01.649 --> 00:25:06.253
- strange thing, but what you need to do is look for people who
- 00:25:06.253 --> 00:25:10.024
- feel hopeless and plant hope in their hearts.
- 00:25:10.024 --> 00:25:13.460
- You plant hope in their hearts.
- 00:25:13.460 --> 00:25:14.795
- And you go, "Well, I don't have any hope."
- 00:25:14.795 --> 00:25:16.597
- You look to the hope Jesus Christ and you just step out
- 00:25:16.597 --> 00:25:20.234
- in faith, and he'll fill you with hope.
- 00:25:20.234 --> 00:25:22.202
- It's not a natural thing.
- 00:25:22.202 --> 00:25:23.537
- It's a supernatural thing.
- 00:25:23.537 --> 00:25:25.272
- What do you do in a season of tears?
- 00:25:25.272 --> 00:25:27.241
- You keep your heart open, and you plant seeds of hope in the
- 00:25:27.241 --> 00:25:29.977
- lives of those who feel hopeless.
- 00:25:29.977 --> 00:25:31.779
- And you feel their pain and their hurt, and you step into
- 00:25:31.779 --> 00:25:33.747
- their lives and you plant hope and you plant hope.
- 00:25:33.747 --> 00:25:36.216
- We're living in a day where people need hope more than any
- 00:25:36.216 --> 00:25:39.987
- other time that I can ever remember.
- 00:25:39.987 --> 00:25:42.089
- And that's one of the reasons that we do all these missions
- 00:25:42.089 --> 00:25:44.959
- and ministries, it's to give hope.
- 00:25:44.959 --> 00:25:48.762
- And if you're in a season of hopelessness,
- 00:25:48.762 --> 00:25:51.265
- you gotta keep planting hope.
- 00:25:51.265 --> 00:25:52.600
- Keep planting hope because your season of singing is on its way.
- 00:25:52.600 --> 00:25:56.003
- ♪♪♪
- 00:25:56.570 --> 00:26:03.644
- Kerry: Chris and I really want you to know about our new
- 00:26:06.280 --> 00:26:08.349
- book that just came out in paperback.
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- It's "The Gift Of One Day: How To Find Hope
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- When Life Gets Hard."
- 00:26:13.320 --> 00:26:14.822
- We all go through hard times and difficulties and pain, but God
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- wants to see you through with his hope.
- 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:20.861
- I know one of the most difficult days we've ever experienced was
- 00:26:20.861 --> 00:26:24.765
- when our grandson Jude Samuel was born, and he only lived
- 00:26:24.765 --> 00:26:28.202
- for 24 hours.
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- It was devastating to us and we still grieve.
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- But yet we know that he's with the Lord in heaven and the way
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- that little boy lived those 24 hours taught us how to live the
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- rest of our years.
- 00:26:41.348 --> 00:26:42.816
- I know you know someone who's going through some pain and
- 00:26:42.816 --> 00:26:45.919
- problems, or maybe you're going through a difficult time
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- in your life.
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- And so, I hope you'll call us right now.
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- We'd love to pray with you and pray for you and would also love
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- to get you this book for a gift of any amount, "The Gift Of One
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- Day," because God wants to get you through today.
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- He wants you not only to survive,
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- but he wants you to thrive.
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- He has a great plan for you.
- 00:27:07.741 --> 00:27:09.743
- ♪♪♪
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