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Gods Great Precious Promises- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Regal is a lifelong fan of the Philadelphia Eagles
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: football team, thirty years as a season ticket holder. You know,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: it takes a lot of tenacity to be a fan
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  Speaker 1: of the Philadelphia Eagles. They haven't won a Super Bowl ever,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: and they haven't won an NFL championship since before the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Super Bowl was called the Super Bowl. But he was
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  Speaker 1: a die hard fan. He even mentioned the Philadelphia Eagles
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  Speaker 1: in his obituary. When he died, his friends read in
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  Speaker 1: the paper his requests that eight members of the Philadelphia
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Eagles football team serve as his pall bearers. Why because
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  Speaker 1: he wanted to give the team one more chance to
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  Speaker 1: let him down. We all know what it's like to
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: be let down. Not by a football team necessarily then
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  Speaker 1: again perhaps so, but most likely by a family member
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  Speaker 1: or friend, or company or school or even the government.
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  Speaker 1: We feel let down. Maybe that's why we so treasure
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  Speaker 1: the promises of God, because through the promises of God,
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  Speaker 1: we see the heart of God and we discover a
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  Speaker 1: God because of his unbreakable word, offers an unshakable hope
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  Speaker 1: through his promises. We're going to pray as we begin
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  Speaker 1: this study on the series entitled unshakable hope. I've been
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  Speaker 1: made aware that there are some people watching online from Florida,
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  Speaker 1: Georgia and other areas who cannot leave their homes or
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: shelters to attend a church, and so they're watching with
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  Speaker 1: us online. And we want you to know we're praying
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  Speaker 1: for you. We're honored to share this hour with you,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: and we pray for God's peace and protection. And the
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  Speaker 1: Old Kill's Church said, Amen, So Lord, we do pray
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  Speaker 1: for these your servants and children who find themselves today
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  Speaker 1: in the path of a hurricane. We pray for anyone
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  Speaker 1: in this room who has family members or friends in
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  Speaker 1: that situation. We ask Lord that you would provide peace
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  Speaker 1: and protection and Heavenly Father, while we still do not
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  Speaker 1: understand how these storms happen, we trust that you do
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  Speaker 1: and that you have a plan. We're choosing to trust you.
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  Speaker 1: And then there are Father, those of us not in
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  Speaker 1: storms of hurricane irma fashion, but our own personal storms
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  Speaker 1: of illness or disease, or financial struggle or relationship issues.
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  Speaker 1: Would you please, Father, to day speak words of almise
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  Speaker 1: and hope over this whole church. We need to ask
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  Speaker 1: you to forgive our speaker because his sins are so many,
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  Speaker 1: and grant that we can see Jesus, just Jesus through Christ.
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  Speaker 1: We pray, and all the Church said. The contrast between
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  Speaker 1: the rabbi and the king was stark. The jew was
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  Speaker 1: old and bent. He had no bodily advantage. Two years
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  Speaker 1: in prison had left him gaunt, his cheeks hollow and smudged.
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  Speaker 1: His purse had but a few coins, and his entourage
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  Speaker 1: had but a couple of friends. His beard was full
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  Speaker 1: yet gray, and he wore the simple cloak of a
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  Speaker 1: traveling preacher. Compared to the king, he was simple and impoverished.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, compared to King Agrippa, anyone would have appeared
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  Speaker 1: simple and impoverished. He and his sister entered the courtroom
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  Speaker 1: that day and grand pomp and circumstance, followed by Roman legionnaires.
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  Speaker 1: King Agrippa was the curator of religion for the area,
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  Speaker 1: the overseer of the region, and he was no friend
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  Speaker 1: of Christians. Paul, by contrast, was just a simple missionary.
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  Speaker 1: He had every reason to fear the judgment of King Agrippa.
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  Speaker 1: Agrippa was the last in the Herod dynasty, the Herods,
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  Speaker 1: who indeed meddled with a Christian movement from the very beginning,
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  Speaker 1: Agrippa's great grandfather attempted to kill baby Jesus. When Jesus
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  Speaker 1: was born in Bethlehem. His grand uncle murdered John the Baptist,
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  Speaker 1: and his father, Agrippa, the first executed James threatened to
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  Speaker 1: do the same with Peter, but ended up just putting
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  Speaker 1: Peter in prison. You might say it out that this
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  Speaker 1: family had it out for the followers of Christ. And
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  Speaker 1: now Paul, well, the rabbi, stood before him. He was
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: in trouble for preaching and teaching a new religion. So
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  Speaker 1: how would the apostle Paul defend himself and what was,
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  Speaker 1: without a doubt, the most important speech of his life.
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  Speaker 1: How would the apostle Paul justify his actions of being
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  Speaker 1: a purveyor of this new found faith? Would he appeal
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  Speaker 1: for mercy? Would he demand justice? Here's what he did
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  Speaker 1: after a word or two of introduction, Here's what he
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  Speaker 1: said to Agrippa. And now it is because of my
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  Speaker 1: hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I
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  Speaker 1: am on trial today. Paul's defense included no reference to
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  Speaker 1: his accomplishments, though he himself had prayed for the dead
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  Speaker 1: to come alive and they did. Paul's defense included no
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  Speaker 1: reference to his Roman citizenship or appeal for any preferential treatment,
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  Speaker 1: none of that. His only explanation was this, well, I
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  Speaker 1: just believed in the promises of God. So did Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: so did Noah. So did a prophet named Isaiah, and
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  Speaker 1: so did a Hebrew maiden by the name of Mary.
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  Speaker 1: So did a preacher by the name of Peter. In
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  Speaker 1: this apostle, by the name of Paul. You know, the
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  Speaker 1: heroes of the Bible come to us from all walks
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  Speaker 1: of life. Some were single, some were married, some were powerful,
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  Speaker 1: some were simple, some were rulers, others were servants. But
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  Speaker 1: one common denominator united them, and unites them still. They
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  Speaker 1: believed in the promises of God. Because Noah believed in
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  Speaker 1: the promises of God, he believed in rain before rain
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  Speaker 1: was even a word. Because Abraham believed in the promises
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  Speaker 1: of God, he left to home he had seen all
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  Speaker 1: of his life for a place he had never seen.
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  Speaker 1: Because Joshua believed in the promises of God, he led
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  Speaker 1: two million people smack dab into enemy territory across the
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  Speaker 1: Jordan River. David conked a giant Peter rose from the
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  Speaker 1: ashes of regret, and the apostle Paul found a grace
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  Speaker 1: worth dying for all because they believed in the promises
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  Speaker 1: of God. They knew this. If you'd like to fill
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  Speaker 1: in blanks, here's the first one. God is a promise maker.
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  Speaker 1: He's a promise maker. One writer went so far as
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  Speaker 1: to call such saints heirs of the promise. It is
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  Speaker 1: if it is as if the promises of God were
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  Speaker 1: the family fortune, and these men and women were smart
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  Speaker 1: enough to show up at the reading of the will.
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  Speaker 1: Listen to this extended passage from Hebrews chapter eleven. By faith, Noah,
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  Speaker 1: when warned about things not yet seen in holy fear,
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  Speaker 1: built an arc to save his family. By faith. Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: when called to go to a place he would later
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  Speaker 1: receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he
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  Speaker 1: did not know where he was going. He lived in tents,
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  Speaker 1: as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him
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  Speaker 1: of the same promise. By faith. Even Sarah, who was
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  Speaker 1: past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she
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  Speaker 1: considered him faithful who had made the promise. By faith, Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He
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  Speaker 1: who had embraced the promises, was about to sacrifice as
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  Speaker 1: one and only son. This list goes on for verse
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  Speaker 1: after verse. Jacob trusted God's promises, and Joseph trusted God's promises,
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  Speaker 1: and Moses trusted God's promises. Their stories were different, but
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  Speaker 1: the common denominator was the same. The promises of God
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  Speaker 1: were the pole star in their pilgrimages of faith, and
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: boy did they have a lot of promises from which
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  Speaker 1: to pick. How many promises do you think there are
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  Speaker 1: in the Bible? Anyone? Fifty one hundred two hundred One
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  Speaker 1: student of scripture set out to count the number of
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  Speaker 1: promises in the Bible. That took him eighteen months, but
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  Speaker 1: finally his list included seven thousand, four hundred and eighty
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  Speaker 1: six promises. We're going to study each and every one
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  Speaker 1: over the coming centuries. What the pine trees are to
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  Speaker 1: the rocky mountains, the promises of God are to your
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  Speaker 1: Bible everywhere, prolific, unending, unbending, and perennial. The promises of God.
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  Speaker 1: They are the stitching in the spine of your Bible.
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  Speaker 1: Not only does God make promises, but Scripture is equally
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  Speaker 1: clear that God keeps promises. He's not just a promise maker,
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  Speaker 1: but he's a promise keeper. His promises are irrevocable because
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  Speaker 1: of who God is. Look at this. He never changes,
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  Speaker 1: He never casts a shifting shadow James one seventeen. He's unchanging.
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  Speaker 1: He sees the end from the beginning, never caught off guard,
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  Speaker 1: makes no mid course correction, not victimized by moods or
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  Speaker 1: whether he is unchanging. What's more, he is faithful. The
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  Speaker 1: Bible says. God can be trusted to keep his promises.
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  Speaker 1: He's strong. He never over promises and underdelivers. God is
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  Speaker 1: able to do whatever he promises. But most of all,
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  Speaker 1: he cannot lie. The Bible says, it is what impossible,
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  Speaker 1: not improbable, not unlikely. It is absolutely impossible for God
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  Speaker 1: to lie. Do you think a rock can swim? No?
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  Speaker 1: Do you think a hippo can fly?
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  Speaker 2: No?
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  Speaker 1: Do you think a butterfly could eat a bowl of spaghetti? No?
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  Speaker 1: Do you think you could take a nap on a cloud? No?
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  Speaker 1: It's impossible. Do you think God could lie? No, it's
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  Speaker 1: not that he chooses not to lie, It's simply that
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  Speaker 1: Deceit is not an option. Titus one, too says God
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  Speaker 1: cannot lie. He has no fallen character. Within himself. His
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  Speaker 1: character is sterling and spotless. He cannot lie. Titus one
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  Speaker 1: two also says God does not break promises. He cannot lie.
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  Speaker 1: So when he makes a promise, you can take it
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  Speaker 1: to the bank, because that promise will come true. This
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  Speaker 1: theme of God as a promise keeper gives rise to
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  Speaker 1: a wonderful memory that I have as a child about
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  Speaker 1: my father. When I was twelve years old, my dad
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  Speaker 1: let me tag along with him as we traveled from
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  Speaker 1: our small town to the thriving metropolis of Lubbock, Texas
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  Speaker 1: for a Saturday trip. Our goal was to purchase new
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  Speaker 1: tires for the family car. I've told you a lot
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  Speaker 1: about my dad through the years. I so wish you
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  Speaker 1: could have known him passed away many years ago. He
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  Speaker 1: was unadorned by wealth, unimpressed by power. He was just
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  Speaker 1: as simple West Texas oil filled mechanic, as square as
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  Speaker 1: a radiator, with thick hands and a deep conviction that
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  Speaker 1: a person is only as good as their word. He was.
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  Speaker 1: He was seldom riled, uneasily ruffled. But there was one
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  Speaker 1: time he got riled and ruffled, And it was that
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  Speaker 1: day in Lubbock at the tire store. They had mounted
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  Speaker 1: the tires and lowered the car down from the rack,
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  Speaker 1: and it was my dad's turn to pay for the
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  Speaker 1: tires before we left. Now, some of you will find
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  Speaker 1: this hard to believe, because you're not as old as
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  Speaker 1: the rest of us, But there was a time in
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  Speaker 1: which people would write a check to pay for something
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  Speaker 1: and they did not have to show verification or identification.
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  Speaker 1: Does anybody else remember that? Don't speak to aloud, your
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  Speaker 1: dentures will fall out. It was a long time ago,
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  Speaker 1: but that really was the case. Well, at some point
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  Speaker 1: companies began requiring verification, and they just so happened that
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  Speaker 1: decision cascaded its way down into that Lubbock office and
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  Speaker 1: struck my dad the wrong way. He wrote the check
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  Speaker 1: and handed the check to the clerk, and the clerk said, uh, so,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to need to see your driver's license, And
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  Speaker 1: my dad said what he said, We're going to need
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  Speaker 1: to see your driver's license. Well, I'm standing right by
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  Speaker 1: my dad. I begin to watch this change exchange, going
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  Speaker 1: back and forth. My dad said, you don't believe I
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  Speaker 1: am who I say I am. And the man said,
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  Speaker 1: well it's not that, sir. Are you calling me a liar? Well, no, sir,
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  Speaker 1: not that at all. He said, Then you go out
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  Speaker 1: there and you take those tires off the car right now? WHOA.
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  Speaker 1: There was an awkward silence, And I do remember we
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  Speaker 1: went home with the tires that day, and I do
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  Speaker 1: remember learning something about honesty. Those who take honesty seriously
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  Speaker 1: are serious about honesty. Now, if just a simple men,
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  Speaker 1: a good man, but just a simple man, would do that,
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  Speaker 1: how much more, how much more with a holy and mighty, uncreated,
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  Speaker 1: ungoverned God do the same. The Bible is serious that
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  Speaker 1: God is serious about keeping his promises. What was said
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  Speaker 1: about the way God protected the Israelites can be said
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  Speaker 1: about the way God protects us. Not one of all
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  Speaker 1: the Lord's good promises to Israel failed. Everyone was fulfilled.
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  Speaker 1: So the question is not will God keep his promises?
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  Speaker 1: The question is will we build our lives upon them?
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  Speaker 1: Here's a question upon what are you building your life upon?
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  Speaker 1: What are you building your life? We're all building our
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  Speaker 1: lives on something. Maybe you're building your life upon the
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  Speaker 1: dependability of a spouse. Maybe you're building your life on
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  Speaker 1: the promises of a company. Maybe you're building your life
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  Speaker 1: upon the fidelity of the economy. I would suggest to you,
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  Speaker 1: those are risky places to build a life. He might
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  Speaker 1: be actually doing what Jesus talked about when he talked
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  Speaker 1: about two builders. You might be building a house on sand.
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  Speaker 1: He told a parable about two builders. You remember the parable, right.
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  Speaker 1: These two builders had something in common. Both were building,
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  Speaker 1: both had supplies, both built a house, and both endured
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  Speaker 1: a storm. Here's how the story went. Therefore, everyone who
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  Speaker 1: hears these words of mind and puts them into practice
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  Speaker 1: is like a wise man who built his house on
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  Speaker 1: the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, the
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  Speaker 1: winds blew and beat against that house. Yet it did
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  Speaker 1: not fall, because it had its foundations on the rock.
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  Speaker 1: But everyone who hears these words of mind and does
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  Speaker 1: not put them into practice is like a foolish man
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  Speaker 1: who built his house on sand. The rain came down,
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  Speaker 1: the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against
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  Speaker 1: that house, and it fell with a great crash. Again,
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  Speaker 1: the two builders had a lot in common. Both built,
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  Speaker 1: both had supplies, both had a house. Both faced to storm.
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  Speaker 1: But one chose to build on sand. Maybe the sand
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  Speaker 1: was cheaper or easy to easy to access. The other
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  Speaker 1: built house on a stone, a foundation of rock. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: it's more expensive, more difficult, but he wanted to be
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  Speaker 1: sure his house was built on a secure place. Please note,
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  Speaker 1: in this story both injure a storm. Just because you
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  Speaker 1: try to build your house on the right place does
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  Speaker 1: not mean you won't face a storm. It does mean, however,
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  Speaker 1: that when the storms come though, the winds blow, and
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  Speaker 1: the rainfalls, you won't get wiped out. So the question
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: is upon water you building your house. Maybe a modern
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  Speaker 1: day rendering of this parable would read this way. Two
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  Speaker 1: people set out to build their houses. The first went
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: to RPF Home Supply Regrets, pain and fear. He ordered
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  Speaker 1: lumber that was rotted by guilt, nails that were rusty
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  Speaker 1: from pain, and cement that was watered down with anxiety.
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  Speaker 1: Since his home was constructed by RPF Supplies, every day
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  Speaker 1: was consumed with regret, pain and fear. The second builder
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  Speaker 1: chose a different supplier. She secured her supplies from Hope Incorporated.
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  Speaker 1: Rather than choose regret, pain and fear, she found ample
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  Speaker 1: promises of grace and protection and security. She made the deliberate,
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  Speaker 1: conscious decision to build a life from the storehouse of Hope.
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  Speaker 1: So which of the two builders was wiser? Which was happier,
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  Speaker 1: in which one is more like you upon water you
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  Speaker 1: build in your house. Can I give you a personal
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  Speaker 1: invitation to really engage in the next few weeks as
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  Speaker 1: we study the promises of God. No, we're not going
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  Speaker 1: to study all seveny four hundred and eighty six, but
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  Speaker 1: we are going to study some that I have found
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  Speaker 1: to be especially helpful in encouraging others and also in
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  Speaker 1: encouraging myself. But these promises do us no good if
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  Speaker 1: we don't ponder them. I'm thinking that if we could
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  Speaker 1: sample some of these promises, they would weet our appetites
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  Speaker 1: for the rest of our lives to become those who
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  Speaker 1: feast upon the promises of God. You can engage personally
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  Speaker 1: every day. You can spend a few moments looking at
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  Speaker 1: some of the passages that we're studying in a given week.
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  Speaker 1: You can do that through your iPhone the app on
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: you version, or you can pick up the study guide,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: the daily reading guide that we have prepared. You can
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  Speaker 1: do this in community. You can be a part of
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  Speaker 1: a group that meets in a neighborhood or at work
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  Speaker 1: or where you work out. We have several hundred groups
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  Speaker 1: meeting all across the hill country. You can go online
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  Speaker 1: and find one of those groups and you can study
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: through this workbook together. You can study through this workbook
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  Speaker 1: with your family, and most of all, you can study
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  Speaker 1: through this workbook as a way to reach out to
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  Speaker 1: encourage people in our culture, in our streets, in our neighborhoods,
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  Speaker 1: who need some help, who needs some hope. We have
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: special video curriculum messages that will be used in our
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: small groups. And these video presentations are really of high quality.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: I don't say that because I'm the speaker, and then
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: I say that because we partnered with a wonderful organization
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: called Trinity Broadcasting Network, and they put us in a
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: great studio with five cameras and really captured top quality presentation,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: not just because they wanted us to have it, but
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  Speaker 1: because it's going to be used in television in the
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  Speaker 1: upcoming months and years, but we get to have access first,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: and we're using it in our home groups. I hope
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  Speaker 1: you'll be a part of those, and I hope you'll
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  Speaker 1: think of somebody who could use some words of hope.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think you'll have to think very long before
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  Speaker 1: you think of someone. Hope is in such short supply today.
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  Speaker 1: Did you know that the suicide rate has increased twenty
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  Speaker 1: four percent since nineteen ninety nine. Twenty four percent. If
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  Speaker 1: a disease saw that kind of spike, we would call
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: it an epidemic. How do we explain such an increase
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  Speaker 1: in the number of people who are orchestrating their own departures.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: We've never had more entertainment, We've never had more comfort,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: We've never been able to travel like we are today.
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  Speaker 1: How do we explain the deep sadness in despair that
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: many people face. Well, for all the answers, I think
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  Speaker 1: one has to be on the list, and that is
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: people are dying for a lack of hope. They have
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: been taught by a secular society that all of life
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  Speaker 1: is what you can see, touch and hear and smell,
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  Speaker 1: there's nothing spiritual, nothing beyond the grave, that there's no
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: real purpose we're here. We're is the circumstance of an
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  Speaker 1: accident of nature. That's called secularism. And secularism sucks the
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  Speaker 1: hope out of a society because if there's nothing more
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  Speaker 1: between to life than between birth and death, well sometimes
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  Speaker 1: there ain't much. I believe we live in a day
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  Speaker 1: that is hungry for hope. People of the Promise are
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  Speaker 1: great purveyors of hope because they pray, they ponder, and
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: proclaim the promises of God. The people the heroes in
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: the Bible did this. They are like Abraham, about whom
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: it was said he didn't tiptoe around God's promise, asking
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: up strong. You know, I like to see the promises
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: of God as an apothecary shelf of remedies for the
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: human condition. They're stacked up on the shelf, just like
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: you might stack medicine up in your bath shell, so
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: that you'll have it there whenever you need it. And
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: the people of the Promise know how to treat the
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: fears and struggles of life with the promises of God.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Let's say you wake up one morning and you're feeling
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: that the world is out of control. Well, instead of
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: giving into the fear, you reach up for the bottle
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: this labeled Romans eight twenty eight. All things work together
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: for the good of those who love Him and are
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: called according to His purpose. And rather than giving into
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: the fear, caving into the trepidation, you stand upon the
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: promise of God. Or maybe you wake up one day
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: and you have more troubles than you can count, and
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: you reach over for John sixteen thirty three and open
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: up the bottle, and Jesus says to you, in this
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: because I've overcome the world. And rather than be overwhelmed
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: by the problems, you choose to stand. You build your
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: house upon the promises of God. Or maybe sometime you
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: feel lonely, you feel like you're all alone. Maybe indeed
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: you are all alone. But then you flip back in
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: the Bible to the promise God gave to Gideon. The
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Angel told him God is with you, o mighty man
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: of Valor. What a precious promise, What a great and
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: precious promise. And you tell her yourself, I'm not alone.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: The presence of God is with me. And rather than
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: give in to the loneliness and its consequences, you stand
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: in fellowship with your heavenly Father. The apostle Peter said
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: that the promises of God should actually be described as
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: great and precious promises of God. Tewod Peter, Chapter one
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: in verse four. Second Peter, Chapter one and verse one.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I actually skipped a verse, and I didn't mean to
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: do that. I never make mistakes. But one promise that's
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: been special to me this week is Luke, chapter twenty
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: one and verse twenty five. Given the fact that we're
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: seeing hurricanes in Texas, hurricanes in Florida, fires on the
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: West coast, earthquake in Mexico, saw an eclipse last month,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: what are we to make of this bizarre series of circumstances. Well,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: there's a promise in the Bible that speaks to that, Luke,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: chapter twenty one, verse twenty five through twenty eight. And
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: there will be signs in the sun, in the moon,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: in the stars, and on the earth, distress of nations
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: with perplexity, the sea and the waves, roaring men's hearts,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: failing them from fear, and the expectation of those things
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: which are coming from the earth. For the powers of
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: and great glory. Now, when these things begin to happen,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: draws near. Most people, when they see storms and natural disasters,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: hunker down and they look down. But people of the promise,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Lift up and look up. We don't know exactly when
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Christ is going to come, but we allow thee to
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: be symbols and signals reminding us that it could be
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: that our redemption is near. And rather than give in
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: to the fear, we stand on the promise. This is
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: what Peter was telling us to do when he said
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: God has given us his very great and precious promises
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: so that through them you might participate in the divine nature.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: They're not just valuable, they're precious. They're not just good,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: they're great. And these great and precious promises are the
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: very stones upon which we can journey from sin to salvation,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: to glorification to redemption. Got Moody. Over one hundred years ago,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: this famous evangelist said this, Let a man feed for
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: a month on the promises of God, and he will
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: not talk about his poverty. If you would only go
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: from Genesis to Revelation and see all the promises made
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: by God to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to the
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Jews and the Gentiles, and to all his people everywhere.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: If you would spend a month feeding on the precious
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: promises of God, you would not go complaining about how
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: poor you are, but you would lift up your heads
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: with confidence and proclaim the riches of His grace because
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: you could not help it. Let's be who we were
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: made to be, people of the Promise. Over the next
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: few weeks and months, as we study these promises, we
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: will begin each message with a declaration. The words of
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: this declaration are about to appear on the screen, and
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: I'd like to invite you to say this and declare
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: this proclamation with me. Now. To do this, you need
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: to sit up straight. You need to put your shoulders back.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: You need to fill your lungs with air and your
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: heart's with hope. You need to say it like the
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: devil himself knows you. In fact, we can't do this
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: sitting down, can we. Let's all stand up. Let's all
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: stand up. Those of you who are watching online, we
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: needs you to stand up to we're watching. Let's say
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: it together. We are building our lives on the promises
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: of God. Because His word is unbreakable, our hope is unshakable.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: We do not stand on the problems of life or
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: the pain in life. We stand on the great and
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: precious promises of God. And all the church said, Amen, Lord,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: help us to be people of the promise, people who
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: choose to stand on the promises of God through Christ.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: We pray Amen.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: St Warmer.
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: You don't have the steak cloves. As long as you're
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: somewhere out there, that's.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Enough for me.
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: I don't need to hold you near me, don't need
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: promises to keep just the thought that you are breathing.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: Somewhere in this world I see.
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: Even if I'm not beside you, even if you never know,
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: there's a quiet kind of comfort just in knowing you
• 32:25
  Speaker 4: still glow.
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: I don't need forever, I just need you to exist.
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: You don't have to stay with me. You don't have
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: to feel the same.
• 32:46
  Speaker 5: Just as long as you're still out there, calling softly
• 32:51
  Speaker 5: through my days.
• 32:52
  Speaker 6: You don't have to look my way.
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: You don't have to be in my home.
• 33:00
  Speaker 7: It's enough to know where you're living in a world
• 33:04
  Speaker 7: I'm not alone. I won't chase you through the distance,
• 33:12
  Speaker 7: won't disturb your chosen life.
• 33:16
  Speaker 5: I'll just keep you in my silence, like a star
• 33:20
  Speaker 5: that shines at night.
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: Through the darkened, through the bloom.
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: I still think of you.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: You don't have.
• 33:35
  Speaker 8: To stay with me, You don't have to feel the
• 33:40
  Speaker 8: same it's just as long as you're still out there,
• 33:45
  Speaker 8: calling softly through my days. You don't have to look
• 33:50
  Speaker 8: my way. You don't have to be in my home.
• 33:55
  Speaker 5: It's enough to know you're living in a world I'm
• 34:00
  Speaker 5: I'm not alone.
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: I don't need to be your late. I don't need
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: to cross your mind.
• 34:22
  Speaker 4: All I need is just.
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: The truth that you're somewhere, still alive.
• 34:32
  Speaker 6: You don't have to stay with me, you don't have
• 34:36
  Speaker 6: to feel the same. Just as long as you're still
• 34:41
  Speaker 6: after calling softly through my days, you don't have.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: To look my way.
• 34:49
  Speaker 5: You don't have to be my home. It's enough to
• 34:54
  Speaker 5: know you're living.
• 34:58
  Speaker 6: In the world.
• 34:59
  Speaker 5: I'm not alone.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Mhm.