Unshakable Hope | The Ancient Future | Online Weekend Experience

[Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] hey everyone welcome to valley creek online my name is ali and this is sarah and we're a part of the online staff team we're so glad that you're joining us today in the chat let us know your name and where you're watching from so that we can say hi and if this is your campus let us know by filling out the form at the link below our team would love to connect with you and help you take your next step here at valley creek that's right and we want to tell you about something exciting that's coming up this month so normally we meet at the first tuesday of every month for tuesday night prayer this is just an opportunity for us to gather in god's presence as we pray and worship together but this month we'll be doing something a little bit different we'll be meeting on the second tuesday october 12th at 7 pm the doors will open at 6 30. this will be an in-person only experience at the flower mound campus and let me tell you why we're going to be singing the songs of our house and praying them out as we record our next valley creek worship album so if you live in the dallas and fort worth area we want your faith captured so we want you to know that you're invited and we hope to see you there so we are one church that meets on multiple campuses and carries the hope of jesus to thousands of locations so wherever you are in the world let's join in with the rest of the valley creek family as we worship jesus together [Music] all right valley creek come on there's life in his presence today there's victory and there is joy so we turn our hearts to him today the lord is in this place [Music] all right we know this [Music] [Music] we know that my god [Music] [Music] oh i'm gonna see a victory i'm gonna see [Music] a victory [Music] i believe [Music] name of jesus [Music] this is why cause i know how this story is is belongs oh [Music] you turn it for good you take what the enemy meant for evil and you turn it forward you turn it come on sing it over your own life today [Music] [Music] you take what the enemies [Music] [Applause] and you foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] victory [Music] victory [Music] [Music] [Music] you take what the energy [Music] is today [Music] [Music] seasons may change [Music] our promise is [Music] is [Music] you are my truth so my faith is sure nothing can take this away from me [Music] this rock is secure jesus is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] you where else would i go [Music] jesus [Music] the [Music] oh [Music] behind me is is where else [Music] [Music] where else would oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] where else [Music] you are the voice to me where else where else would i go [Music] jesus christ [Music] the cross before me the world behind me i lay it all down that is choosing the narrow gate that is choosing the ancient path actively laying down defenses laying down opinions laying down preferences complacency worldly thoughts i lay it all down and i say i choose you jesus i choose you jesus so i can just encourage you we're gonna sing that again i just encourage you to call out to him and say i choose you i choose to walk the path that leads to you no turning back [Music] i choose [Music] the cross before [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] now is behind me [Music] i lay [Music] [Music] oh [Music] we lay down everything for you right now we realize that you are better so let everything else fade away as we sing this let's be reminded of who you are the truth of the grace [Music] [Music] [Music] and spoke your name [Music] [Music] oh jesus christ my living [Applause] [Music] what i his grace the god of ages stepped down from glory to where i [Music] i have forgiven [Music] oh jesus christ [Music] jesus christ [Music] your buried body it began to breathe out of the silence the roaring lion declined the grave has no claim all on me all right every voice we saved then came the morning [Music] [Applause] lord jesus christ set me free [Music] jesus christ hallelujah jesus christ come on one more time every voice we sing oh [Music] has hallelujah its grip on me and you have broken every day this salvation o jesus christ jesus christ [Music] [Music] yes jesus we thank you that your hope is alive your hope is alive and it is in this place no matter how we walked in no matter what we're facing your hope is alive and it's tangible for us today it's not in the past it's not the future it's right here right now for us [Music] so jesus we just breathe in hope today and we thank you for your grace and your mercy that gives us new life this is all in your name and everybody said amen amen all right valley creek i'm so glad that you are with us today want to go ahead and find your seat as we continue through our service today [Music] okay hey everybody welcome to valley creek come on whatever campus you're at today denton flower mound gainesville lewisville the venue or online somewhere in the world let's just welcome each other together come on we are so glad that you are here with us and we have been in this series called the ancient future practicing the way of jesus and really what we're doing is we are talking about let's see if that's straight that's right that look good okay we are practicing the way of jesus and what we've been doing is we've been talking about those who have gone before us we said that there's an ancient wisdom an ancient way an ancient word if you will that is our path through this modern life in every generation in every situation and every circumstance jesus invites us to be his disciples learners students followers one who becomes like the one that they're following he invites us to practice the way of jesus and this has been a big series it's been a weighty series it's been a challenging series and really the heart of this series is it's a calling up it's an invitation to submit to the lordship of jesus it's an invitation towards repentance it's an invitation to turn your heart to jesus in fact i love this god says if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will i hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land i think this series is god calling out to us and he's saying hey you're my people you belong to me and if you will get off the modern road get back on the ancient path if you will just turn your heart back towards me you will experience my kingdom come in your life if we will return to the lord we will realize he will return to us and we discover that he never left us in the first place because he never leaves us nor forsakes us in fact i love this in acts it says repent then and say with me turn to god so that your sins may be wiped out that times of refreshing may come from the lord repent change your mind and not only change your mind change your direction turn to the lord if you will turn your heart to the lord the times of refreshing that you long for will come and the theme verse that we've been walking through in this series is just jeremiah 6 a prophetic calling over our lives in this season stand at the crossroads and look ask for the ancient paths ask where the good way is and walk in it you will find rest for your souls he says you're at a crossroads and there's a modern road that leads to destruction in an ancient path that leads to life and we've been pulling this verse apart and what i want you to notice today is that it says walk in it walk in it not run in it walk in it why because walking is the pace of jesus you can run on the modern road of this world all you want but if you're going to take the ancient path if you're going to walk on the narrow road you have to go at the pace of jesus and jesus invites us to walk because to take a narrow path to take an ancient way requires discipline and intentionality and focus and patience and trust and submission and surrender and none of those things are possible when we're running i mean think about it all through the bible god's constantly invite us to walk to walk with him to walk in the spirit to walk in his ways to walk in the light to walk according to his word he's inviting us to walk with him on the narrow path in relationship because if you've ever been running while you're running you're so out of gas you're so out of energy that you can't talk and listen to no one but when you're walking you can talk and listen all day long and so if you feel like you're running through life you have to ask yourself then are you actually following jesus because the pace of jesus is to walk on the ancient path i mean do you remember the old kid story the tortoise and the hair remember that it's a turtle and a rabbit and they decide they're going to race and so they line up the gun goes off and boom the hair takes off and he gets so far ahead he goes at blazing speed and he gets so far ahead that he gets distracted he gets tired he gets wore out and he lays down and he takes a nap and then here is the tortoise one simple step at a time and eventually the tortoise wins the race i think that is such a great picture for what we've been talking about so often we want to run through this life we want to run to get ahead run to be successful run to be significant run to perform to earn to achieve to become somebody to do something and in our running we get lost we get distracted we get tired we get wore out and all the while jesus is just inviting us to follow him one next step at a time and if we do not only will we win the race we will find rest for our souls you see that's how the ancients lived they just walked with god and i love this that romans tells us that everything that was written in the past all of the stuff in scriptures the stories of those who have gone before us was written to teach us so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope in other words the stories of all the people who have gone before us walking in the ancient path it's there for us to teach us to encourage us to give us endurance and ultimately to give us hope why because the ancient path is a path of hope the narrow path is paved with hope and if you look at those that have gone before us one of the primary characteristics of their life is unshakable hope if you read the scriptures and you discover all of the people who have walked with god one of the things that's so evident in their life it was just hope there's hope in their words hope in their countenance hope and how they live the world would have defined them as people with hope come on noah had hope even though the world was flooding moses had hope even though he was leading difficult people through a desert nehemiah had hope even though he was exiled daniel had hope even though he was thrown in alliance then the first century church had hope even though they were persecuted arrested and martyred they were people of hope because the ancient path is the way of hope but hope is really interesting isn't it like hope is really hard to describe but it's easy to identify a hope is hard to define but you know when you have it and you know when you don't and you know when someone else has it and you know when they don't so what is hope well really simple hope is the confident expectation of the goodness of god hope is the joyful anticipation of the goodness of god hope is the belief that god's kingdom has come and more of it is coming hope is the belief that god is good and that god is good to me that's hope you see hope is not hype and it's really important to understand this distinction hope is not hype in fact hype is simply counterfeit hope you know what hype is right hype is an external expression that doesn't align with an internal reality it's this loud expression that comes from an internal insecurity but but hope on the other hand hope is a quiet strength hope has this confidence this security this strength this stability within it because it knows that god is good and good to them it understands that hope is not wishful thinking it's not an emotion it's not a feeling it's not the power of positive thinking hope is not i hope it doesn't rain today i hope nothing bad happens i hope we're not late no hope is a person and his name is jesus in fact this is why the bible even tells us that jesus himself are living hope jesus is living hope which is why his main message was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand in other words change your mind because hope is here no matter how bad it may seem no matter how dark things are hope is here and if jesus is living hope and see if you can catch this then to follow him is to follow hope if jesus is hope then to turn to jesus is to turn to hope to move with jesus is to move with hope to obey jesus is to align my life with hope if he is living hope that every next step i take towards jesus i am moving my life towards hope and if he's living hope then when i turn away from jesus i'm actually turning my back on hope and i can run down this modern world all i want but but if i turn away from hope i'm not going to find hope on this modern road am i in fact all you're going to find is disappointment now disappointment in a lot of ways is the opposite of hope and what is disappointment disappointment is simply the difference between your expectations and reality this is what you expect to happen this is what actually happens and this is your level of disappointment and here's what happens we look at the modern road and we think there's something good down there so we have an expectation that's really like here to go down this road but then what actually happens is here and this is our level of disappointment but when we walk down the narrow road if we're honest our expectation is probably here and what actually happens is here and this is our level of increased hope call to me and i will show you great and mighty things which you do not yet know for i know the plans i have for you declares the lord plans not to harm you but plans to give you a hope and a future i will do immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine you see you only walk down a path if you believe there's something good down it if you've ever been hiking if you've ever been backpacking if you've ever been exploring you only keep going down that little path as it gets harder and harder because you believe around the next vent over the next horizon around the next corner there is going to be something good a waterfall a rock feature some amazing selfie station picture space otherwise you would have quit and gone back to the truck a long time ago right that's hope no matter how hard it gets we keep going because we believe over the next rise around the next bend beyond the next corner we will see and experience the goodness of god and if jesus is living hope and we're now included in christ then in a sense we become living hope see if you can catch this if jesus is living hope and we're now included in christ and everything that's true of jesus is now true of us then hope literally becomes part of your nature hope is now embedded into your dna hope is now a part of your spirit hope is a part of your identity it is now your nature in jesus you're included in christ in an atmosphere or an environment of hope this is why the bible tells us that christ in you is the hope of glory i'm included in christ hope is now a part of my life which is why there is always hope because hope is always right here does that make sense to you okay the problem though for a lot of us is we have hope for something when we're supposed to have hope in someone now i want you to see if you can catch this delineation we have hope for something we have hope for our marriage uh hope for that breakthrough hope for that healing hope for for those finances and while there's nothing wrong with having hope for all those things our hope shouldn't be for something it needs to be in some one and this is the biggest delineation between us and those who have gone before us you see the ancients that walk the narrow path their hope wasn't for some theme their hope was in some one their hope was in jesus their hope was in the gospel and their hope was in the kingdom if you read the scriptures all the ancients who have gone before us you will not see their hope for something you will see their hope in jesus in his character and his nature and his goodness you will see all throughout the new testament their hope was in the gospel what is the gospel it's good news it's not good advice it's not good counsel it's not good ideas it's good news good news means something happened and because of what happened everything now has changed what happened the death burial and resurrection of jesus where he defeated sin death and the grave where he restored our identity reconciled our relationship with god redeemed our purpose we're now beloved sons and daughters walking with our father with a purpose on this earth that's the gospel it's good news it's something that's happened and it now changes everything and how we view the world and their hope was in the kingdom they understood the kingdom was already but not yet that it was now but it was then that it was here but it was there that it had come but that there was more of it to come and so their hope wasn't in situations or circumstances it was in jesus in the gospel and the kingdom and while it may sound like semantics it is not in any way come on the bible has verses all like this all throughout the new testament never be shaken from the hope of the gospel the gospel is the foundation of our hope and that's how those who have gone before us lived in fact they really believed when jesus says behold i make all things new they believed this they believed that the kingdom was coming that he was going to make all things new and that's what hope is no matter how bad something is we believe that he is in the process of making all things new and if you hope in someone you will always hope have hope for something if my hope is in jesus and the gospel in the kingdom i will have hope for my marriage i will have hope for my finances i will have hope for my future i will have hope for all of these things but if my hope is for something and that thing doesn't happen the way i want it to happen when i want it to happen then my hope in someone comes crashing down and that's why so many of us lose our hope in god because our hope and god was never there in the first place it was hope for a situation or a circumstance does that make sense to you we have to hope in someone in jesus we have to lift our hope up beyond the situation or the circumstance in fact i love this in hebrews it says we have this certain hope like a strong unbreakable anchor holding our souls to god himself our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold and where jesus our forefather has gone in before us it says hope is like an anchor and an anchor is only as good as what it's fastened to that hope keeps us steady in the life full of storms but that that hope has to be anchored into into something that's unshakable and what is it anchored into it says it's anchored into the mercy seat we don't have time for this but in the old testament the temple there was a veil that separated god and man and in there was the mercy seat and the priest would have to go in and sprinkle blood for the sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins for the people but when jesus died on the cross the veil was torn open he was the last sacrifice once and for all the lamb of god who would be slain and that is the anchor of our hope it's in jesus the gospel and the kingdom and that's why it's unshakable does that make sense to you let me try to illustrate it for you like this let's say you have tickets to go to hawaii okay you got tickets to go to hawaii and you are very excited about going to hawaii and as the trip gets closer you start to think and you start to have hope and you start thinking to yourself like i hope the flight is not delayed and i hope i get a good seat on the plane preferably in the front at a window and i hope there will be really good snacks because it's it's going to take a while on the flight and i hope there's one of those little tvs in the seat and it has all the new movies i haven't seen yet and then you get to the airport on the day of your trip and the flight is delayed six hours and and you didn't get a seat in the front on the window in fact you got the last row in the middle across from the bathroom and there are no snacks on this flight but there are the little monitors but unfortunately yours doesn't work do you now lose hope about going to hawaii no why because the anticipation and the expectation was going to hawaii it wasn't in the entertainment or in the seating or in the timing the same is true with us sometimes things don't go the way we want them to do we don't have the position we want to have it doesn't have the entertainment that we were looking for it might be longer than we want it to be but our hope isn't in the entertainment in the seating or in the timing our hope is in the fact that we are moving towards the fullness of god's kingdom because of jesus and the gospel his kingdom is coming and his will will be done in every area of my life that is what my hope is but if my hope was in the snacks and we laugh but that's what happens because we put our hope in all these things and they don't go the way we want them to and then we're convinced that god isn't god won't god can't that's not true he already did he already has we just have to change our perspective and sometimes things don't go the way we want them to and so what do we do with that we have to take those things and we have to submit them and surrender them to the lord and allow his peace that surpasses understanding to guard our heart and mind in christ jesus see your hope is your responsibility you are responsible for your own hope no one can give you hope no one can fill you with hope no one can make you have hope you are responsible to cultivate a heart of hope that's why the bible tells us above all else guard your heart for it's the wellspring of life in other words make sure you cultivate hope in here because when hope is in here like a river it flows into every area of your life but when disappointment and doubt and skepticism and cynicism get in here it also flows into every area of life i mean do you remember david in first samuel chapter 30 i think it's the defining moment of david's life for 10 years he's been running from king saul he has had all kinds of hardships and difficulties the israelites have rejected him so he's living with the enemies the philistines and one day the philistines are going to go fight the israelites so he goes with his own enemy to go fight his own people and when he's on the way to the battle they're convinced he's going to turn on them in battle so they reject him and send him home and while he's walking back home another set of enemies has come in and ransacked his village taken all of the people taking all of their possessions and when they get back and discover it it says david's men wept bitterly and talked about stoning david okay man there ain't no you are literally your seed is in the bathroom on the plane on that deal right like it doesn't get much worse than that but look at what it says david strengthened himself in the lord his god in other words his hope wasn't in the situations or the circumstances his hope was in god and in that moment he could have gave up he could have quit he could have cashed it out he could have sat down and pouted no no he strengthened himself in the lord instead of weaking himself in the circumstances and it doesn't tell us exactly what he does there but if we read scripture and we look at david's life he probably did the things that we see him do and write about he probably gave thanks to god for who god is and what he has done he probably considered his destiny and thought about the things that god has already spoke over him he probably grabbed a hold of a promise of god a promise that god had already made to him and he cultivated a heart of hope rallied his men went and got back his family and his possessions and two chapters later he becomes the king of israel because he understood that his hope was his responsibility or how about abraham he's 100 years old god tells him he's going to be the father of many nations and yet abraham has yet to have a child and in romans chapter 4 it says against all hope abraham in hope against all hope like when there couldn't have been any darker any harder any more impossible abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of god but was strengthened in his faith he strengthened himself in the lord and gave glory to god being fully persuaded that god had the power to do what he had promised abraham didn't weaken himself in the circumstance his hope wasn't in circumstances or situations his hope was in god in the gospel in the kingdom coming he strengthened himself in the lord and so he became so can i just ask you a really simple question in this season like how's your hope have you lost your hope do you have an anticipation and an expectation of doom of despair of darkness of things being hard and broken and lost what are you doing to cultivate a heart of hope what are you looking at and thinking about and putting into your spirit like what you have to understand is that hope is the byproduct of meditating on the the character the faithfulness and the promises of god hope is the byproduct of meditating on the character the faithfulness and the promises of god when i think about god's character his goodness his kindness his love and i think about his faithfulness all the things he's done throughout generations and i think about his promises what he's already promised to me and i hold on to those things and i meditate on them i can't help but have hope start to grow in fact every place of your life that feels hopeless is a place you're believing a lie because if jesus is the living hope and he's making all things new and that area has hope too and the problem is as we get so focused on the temporary circumstances around us we forget the eternal realities within us and if you've lost your hope it's because you forgot you're loved if you feel like you have no hope you've forgotten that you're loved hope does not disappoint us because god has poured out his love into our hearts by the holy spirit whom he has given us love is the foundation of hope in fact that super famous verse that we know and now these three remain faith hope and love but the greatest of these is love we say faith hope love faith hope love faith hope love you realize it's actually love hope faith why because he says the greatest of these is love so love is the beginning so once i start understanding that i am loved love god so loved the world that he sent his one and only son this is how we know what love is that jesus christ laid down his life for us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all will he not then in him give us all things if he gave me jesus why will he not give me everything else so when i understand i'm loved all of a sudden i have hope why because hope is the confident expectation of the goodness of god and if he loves me and he gave me jesus then i can have a confident expectation that he is good and he is good to me and when i have a hope all of a sudden i start to have faith why because faith is being sure of what i hope for and certain of what i do not see so if i don't have faith it's because i don't have hope and if i don't have hope it's because i forgot i'm loved love gives me hope and hope gives me faith that's why the bible says we walk by faith we live in hope and we rest on love if you lost your hope it's because you forgot you're loved and you are deeply loved and that is the foundation of your life i mean do you remember the story of the road to emmaus jesus has just been crucified he's dead he's buried he's in the grave and the disciples think it's over and so two of them leave they're depressed they're discouraged they're defeated and they leave the city and they're walking on this road to emmaus and the resurrected jesus comes and starts walking with them but they don't know it's jesus and it says their faces were downcast their words were full of gloom and despair and the resurrected jesus asked them he's like hey guys what what's going on and they're like are you serious have you not heard like jesus is dead he's gone he's buried and we had hoped that he was going to redeem israel their hope was for something their hope was that jesus was going to remove the roman oppression and restore israel to being a global superpower but it didn't happen the way they wanted it to so their hope is gone and so they're full of gloom and they're full of despair and their words are dysfunctional and i just want to press pause here for a second and just tell you like hope and hopelessness you know where it is based on the countenance of your face and the words that are coming out of your mouth the mouth speaks out of the overflow of the heart and your face will always reflect whichever world you are more aware of and so if you want to know if you have hope or if you're hopeless just look at your words and look at your face because they are literally telling you the internal realities that are in here and if you think about it the bible always tells us that hope and joy are connected be joyful in hope why because if hope is the confident expectation of the goodness of god how can i not have joy there's no such thing as e or hope right think about a child on christmas day they are joyful with hope they don't know what's about to happen but they know it's about to be good so it's on their countenance and it's in their words so you can say you have hope all day long what we really need to look at are your words in your face is there joy or is there despair so they're walking with jesus and he he says how foolish and slow of heart you are to believe and he explained the scriptures concerning himself and as they walked along all of a sudden it says their hearts started to burn within them and their eyes were opened and they realized it's jesus and the moment they realized as jesus he disappears but they turn direction and they go all the way back to jerusalem and i think that is such a great story for us because when we lose hope we get off of the ancient road we start walking down this modern road of life our faces have despair our words are full of despair but jesus the living hope comes and he starts walking alongside of us he starts explaining the scriptures to us concerning himself talking about his character his faithfulness and his promises and our hearts start burning within us our eyes are open we see it's him and all of a sudden we're able to change directions and get back on the ancient path in fact here's what he says he says i will make the valley of acre which means trouble a door of hope only jesus can make the valley of trouble a door of hope he is the narrow gate that leads to an ever widening life the ancient path is the way of hope but that hope has to be in jesus in the gospel and the kingdom and then we will have hope for everything else does that make sense to you the ancient path is the way of hope i mean let me try to pull this whole thing together for you in a different way think about with me for a second the story of joseph you remember joseph he's got this big dream from god about what his life is going to be like but his brothers hate him and so they take him and they throw him in a pit and they sell them to slave traders and the slave traders take him to egypt and they sell him to an egyptian ruler and yet while joseph is serving this egyptian ruler as a slave even though he did nothing wrong he did it with passion with his whole heart and is unto the lord and a couple years go by and he's serving super well his master but then his master makes a false accusation against him and has him thrown in prison and while joseph is in prison he still does all of his duties and serves his masters with passion with all of his heart as unto the lord and while in prison he makes a few friends and he interprets their dreams and he helps one of the guys get out and he says hey when you get out remember me because i'm here and i shouldn't be anyways but the guy gets out and he forgets about joseph but joseph keeps doing things with passion with all his heart as unto the lord two years go by pharaoh has a dream and the guy remembers joseph and says we got to get this guy out of prison he can interpret your dream and when joseph gets there and pharaoh tells him the dream and asks him to interpret it joseph sits down and pouts says ain't gonna do it no that's not what happens he interprets the dream with passion with all his heart as unto the lord pharaoh is so moved by it that he makes joseph the number two ruler in all of israel and joseph said you intended to harm me but god intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done the saving of many lives here's what i want you to see in that story even though life was falling apart around joseph he woke up every single day with the confident expectation of the goodness of god he never lost his hope most of us would have lost our hope the moment our brothers even started telling us they don't like us because our hope is in situations and circumstances joseph's hope was in the lord because his hope was in the lord it didn't matter what circumstance what storm what situation came against him why because his anchor was fastened to an immovable reality and so he woke up every day with passion with all his heart as unto the lord because he believed that was going to be the day he was going to see and experience the goodness of god so the question is is do you wake up every day with an anticipation and expectation of good do you go to work every day with anticipation and the expectation of good do you go to school with an anticipation and an expectation of good do you gather as the church with anticipation and an expectation of good you see this really matters because we have to have hope if we're going to have healthy work apathy is the byproduct of hopelessness the moment i'm hopeless i become apathetic why bother why try who cares it doesn't matter anyways the problem with that is apathy is the enemy of your destiny if we're ever going to step into our destiny we have to live a life of passion with all our heart is unto the lord expecting that today is going to be the day of the goodness of god and this highly concerns me because we're watching a sense of apathy wave across the world but more significantly we're watching it wave through the church where all of a sudden it's like i don't want to work who cares it doesn't matter anyways no it's super care it matters why because god has entrusted us to be on mission with him to bring his goodness his kingdom into every area of life every single day so i have to wake up with passion with the sense of unto the lord with all my heart because i am partnering with him to bring his kingdom come into this reality in life and the reason the reason this matters to us is because our vision is to be a movement of for the city and beyond we want to raise up generations of hope carriers you say what's that a disciple of jesus living on mission to change their world we owe the world an encounter with the goodness of god we owe the world experiences with hope we owe the world to do things with all of our heart with passion is unto the lord so they can see and experience the goodness of god for themselves and begin to anticipate and expect it to come in their life come on and if jesus is the living hope then when he touches you with living hope you become living hope all throughout the bible when god touches you with something you become that thing he says he's the light of the world he touches us with light we become the light of the world he's the righteousness of god when he touches us with righteousness we become the righteousness of god he's living hope and when he touches us with hope we become living hope hope carriers walking through this life with the kingdom of god within us showing the world the goodness of god that they can anticipate and expect his goodness to come in their life remember hope is contagious hope cascades hope influences hope leads that's why peter would walk through the streets and they would put sick people in the streets just so his shadow would touch them why because the internal realities will always affect your external circumstances and when there's genuine hope in here it doesn't need to be hype why because it's just a confident expectation of the goodness of god but you can't give what you don't have and so we have to get our eyes off the situations and the circumstances and hold on to jesus the gospel the kingdom and know that he is making all things new including that difficulty in my life including that pain in my heart including that brokenness in that relationship my hope is in him who he is and what he has done do you realize that if we would just go into the city with a hopeful face and hopeful words we could literally change the entire city with nothing more than that no supernatural power no signs and wonders no miracles a hopeful face and hopeful words because in this season that is supernatural that is a sign and wonder that is a miracle why because there is no hope when i turn away from jesus there's only hope when i'm following him so only we have the ability to then offer that hope to a lost lonely and dying world come on if god is good then the future is full of hope the only question is do you believe that god is good and that he is good to you over that next horizon around that next bend beyond that next corner you can have a confident expectation of the goodness of god so you close your eyes with me come on what's god want to say to you today my guess would be that for so many of us our hope has taken a big hit over this past season i believe today the lord is inviting us to take our eyes off of the situations and the circumstances but look to him the living hope that our hope is in jesus the gospel the good news of what he has done and how it changes everything in his coming i believe the lord wants to stir that hope back up within your heart because he is good and he is good to you so jesus thank you you are our living hope help us turn our hearts towards you because that's turning our hearts to hope thank you that our hope is secure in the foundation of the mercy seat of the finished work of the cross of jesus and that because of you we can always have hope so lord may we turn our hearts to you and keep walking down the ancient path the narrow way that leads to life in your name we pray amen [Applause] let jesus be your unshakeable hope today so that you can be a hope carrier wherever you are if you know someone in your life that needs some hope share this message with them and if you need prayer for anything fill out the form below our team has been praying for you and we'd love to pray with you and if you came ready to give you can do that at valleycreek.org but this week go knowing that god is good that jesus has forgiven you that you are loved and that everything is possible you are a hope carrier have a great week [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Valley Creek Church

Views: 2,011

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: eY7nmKDjd7o

Length: 78min 43sec (4723 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021