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Advent 2024: Hope · The Father's Business Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The Father's Business was founded by Sylvia Gunter to encourage people to a deeper relationship with God.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I'm Elizabeth Gunter Powell.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: And I am Kimberly Roddy.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: We are so glad that you've joined us.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: We're excited to tell you about our Ruach Journey Conference.
• 0:20
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• 0:21
  Speaker 2: It will be March 5th through 7th at Sandy Cove Conference Center in Maryland in 2025.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: And for the first, time, we're going to be offering two tracks at the same time.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: You can either come and be a part of the beginner track, which is for people that are new to the idea of Ruach Journey, or be a part of the advanced track for those of you that have either attended a conference before or have done the Ruach Journey study.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: That's available on our website.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: So if you want to come be a part of that beginner track, we're going to give you the foundation for the teachings of the Ruach Journey.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: We'll be talking about the biblical foundation for blessing your spirit, how to live from your position and identity in Christ, understanding your unique design.
• 1:00
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• 1:03
  Speaker 2: If you want to go deeper in this advanced track, then we will dive even deeper into these topics.
• 1:09
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• 1:12
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• 1:15
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• 1:18
  Speaker 2: This advanced track will be an opportunity to focus on building what you've already learned.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: So we hope that you will join us for one of these tracks.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: And if you're looking for that perfect Christmas gift to give to someone, now's your time, because between now and the end of the year, we are offering this conference at an early bird discount rate of $2.99, which will be a huge discount off of the full price of the conference.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: So go to our website, thefathersbusinesscom, click on events to learn more and register today.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Well, hi everyone.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: We're so glad that you're joining us today.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Obviously, we have entered into December and so we are beginning an Advent series.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Today, we are going to start this Advent series by talking about hope.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: When I think about hope, I think about the verse Romans 15, 13.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: It says may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Paul was praying there, recognizing that God is full of hope and praying that the God of hope would fill us with all these things so that we can overflow with hope.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Elizabeth, when you think about hope and you think about the Christmas season, how do those two things go together?
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Well, I think it's very easy to think about Christmas, because a lot of the theme of everyone is merry and bright and we wish you Merry Christmas and it's the most wonderful time of the year.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: And so everyone seems to hype up this type of year like it's the most wonderful time of the year.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: And so everyone seems to hype up this type of year like it's going to be the answer to everything that has not gone well this year for us, right, and I think that can be hard, because that's not always the case for everybody.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: It's not always the case.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Some of us may be experiencing the best Christmas season ever.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Some of us are full of excitement and joy and and it's wonderful and things are going really well for us this year.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: And for others, we're walking through heartache.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's the first Christmas without a loved one, or there's a family crisis, or our friends are struggling, and that all feels very overwhelming.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: So we have this pressure to keep it together, and that can be a lot.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that is why I love the verse that you started our podcast off with Kimberly, because it reminds us that hope isn't something that we have to muster up on our own, and I'm so grateful for that because, honestly, I'm just tired.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: I don't have the energy to muster up hope right now.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: It's not about us striving for a positive outlook or forcing ourselves to find a reason to keep going.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Hope is a gift, and it's a gift from God that's rooted in who he is.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think we need to pause for a moment and we have to think about Romans 15,.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: 13 describes God as the God of hope.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: So hope is part of His very nature, it's part of who he is and because of that, like I said earlier, he's the one who fills us with hope.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: We don't have to muster it up on our own in him and receive hope from him as we lean into his unchanging character and allow him to fill us with his joy and his peace, so that from that place hope overflows, not by my effort but by the power of the Holy.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Spirit.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I love that the verse doesn't say may the God of hope give you just a little bit of hope to get by.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: It says overflow, and I think of like beyond Niagara Falls, right, like that water overflowing, like the power of that.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: God's desire is for us to live in abundance, not just a little bit of hope here, a little bit of hope there, but an overflow of hope that pours into every area of our lives and I don't know about you, kimberly, but I know for me that overflowing hope feels like such a gift, especially when life does feel heavy or I feel dry, because it feels like I've been giving and giving and caring for others and pouring out into other people and I just feel a little parched and it's easy to forget our need for hope when things are going well.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: But the truth is, whether we're in a hard place or a good place, we all desperately need God.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very, very true.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: It's in those moments of struggle when hope becomes even more precious and real and so meaningful.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: The hope that God gives isn't dependent on our circumstances, which is incredibly powerful, and it gives me hope when I say that right, the hope is rooted in His unchanging character and because of that, god's hope sustains us in every season, whether we're walking through a valley or we're standing on the mountaintop, because we both know that when you're standing on the mountaintop, there's a valley coming, and when you're in the valley, the mountaintop's coming.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that is so true, and I think about how this applies to the Christmas season.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: We're reminded that Jesus is the ultimate expression of hope season.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: We're reminded that Jesus is the ultimate expression of hope His birth, life, death and resurrection are the foundation of the hope that we have in God and that's the hope we celebrate at Christmas and I think about at Christmastime.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: When we talk about the beginning of Advent, we are talking about waiting as well.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: They were waiting for the Messiah and if you listen to some of our podcasts from last Christmas, we talked about some of that, and for anyone who's listening today, who feels like hope is hard to find right now, we want to encourage you because it is hard to wait.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: That's what Advent is.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: It's a season of waiting.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: We're remembering a season of darkness where light did come and we know that now, but they didn't have that perspective in the biblical days and sometimes in our days we don't have that.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: We don't have that right, and we can think about conversations we're having with people every day where I was talking with someone this morning and I just wanted to offer them hope because life is dark and it feels heavy, and they just wanted to call because they were like I don't really know what I need from you.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: I just needed to talk.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: And sometimes that's what we are.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: We're there to offer people hope because we're filled with the God of hope.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: So God's hope is for you, whether you're facing loss, uncertainty or just the everyday, normal challenges of life, the God of hope sees you, he knows your heart and, as you trust in him, this isn't pithy, but he will fill you with his joy and his peace and hope will overflow.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: And it's not about pretending everything's okay or putting on a happy face.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: That's not what hope is.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Hope is often found when you feel like you can't hope and yet you trust anyway.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: It's trusting God and it doesn't mean that we won't face pain or challenges, but it means that we have this source of hope that's bigger than those challenges and that's why I love we keep going back to the phrase God of hope.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: My hope is not in Him, even showing up for me, because there's a lot of areas of my life where, either presently or looking backwards, I can go.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: I don't really agree with how you handle that God.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Not real sure that was your best choice, even though that's what you did, so obviously it was your best choice.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: So I'm not even looking to what God has done for me to be my source of hope.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I'm looking for who.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: God, him.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: His never-changing, ever-present, always-the-same yesterday, today and forever type character is where my hope comes from.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so true, elizabeth.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: So, as we trust in Him, who is that hope?
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: It overflows through us, out of us in us, and it touches the people around us, our families, our friends and even strangers.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: And it's a hope that points back to Jesus, the one who came to bring light into the darkness.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: And I have that tangible example this morning where I was speaking to someone who, admittedly, doesn't know Jesus.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: He even said he was thinking of putting his kids in a Christian school one time because they offered a really good education.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: And one of the people interviewing him said well, tell me about when you found Jesus.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: And he said I sat there kind of dumbfounded, like would you help me find Jesus?
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: Like I feel like he wears Waldo sometimes and he admittedly doesn't know Jesus.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: And I'm trying to have these conversations with him to offer him these glimpses.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: And this morning I'm trying to have these conversations with him to offer him these glimpses.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: And this morning I was able to say to him I'm just going to pray that you can have hope that you don't even understand right now.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, cause I mean I get.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: I get what he's saying.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Kimberly, I've been walking with Jesus since, you know, I was wee little and there's still times I feel like I'm playing.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Where's Waldo with him and I?
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: A lot deeper foundation than than your friend does, and so there's.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: There is so many people that we meet in our daily lives, whether they be our friends or even strangers, we see at the store, and all of us are sharing this common hunger.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: We want hope, we want assurance.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Life feels dark right now for whatever, and we've all got our own reasons for it, but we're all searching for that little bit of assurance that it's going to be okay, that God is still on the throne and that he's really going to show up for me, because it's easy for me to believe in the sovereignty of God on the big things.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: I believe that he controls the universe and the planet spin because he says so.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: I believe that he controls the universe and the planet spin because he says so.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: It's a lot harder for me to believe and have that hope when it's my personal life and the personal things going on with me.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: That's where I sometimes wonder has God forgotten my address, you know?
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Has he lost my phone number.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: I don't feel like he's as involved in my life as he truly is, and so I agree with that prayer that this would be a season where God would give us eyes to be able to see and help us have hope.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: So how are some practical ways that we can practice trying to have hope and giving hope to others during this season?
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Well, I think one way is through prayer.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Romans 15, 13 that we started off with is a prayer itself.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: We can make it personal.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: We can ask God to fill us with His joy, peace and hope and help us to overflow with that and pray for others to be filled with those things.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Another practical way is to meditate and to think on God's promises in Scripture.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: There are a lot of different Advent devotionals out there.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of Advent calendars.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of things right now that'll give you specific tools, if you want them, to help you meditate on Scripture and on God's promises.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: There's even several of the Father's Business resources I think of Revealing the Treasures, where on one side you can recall the names of God and those are His promises to us of His character and who he is, and you can take those and know how do they apply to me.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: I think the more we remind ourselves of who God is, the easier it can become to trust Him.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: And I don't mean easy, like oh, it's just, I wake up one day and it's easy, but the more we can grow in that genuine ability to trust Him, even in those difficult days.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: And I think of Isaiah 40, 31 that says, those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: They will soar on wings like eagles.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: They will run and not grow weary.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: They will walk and not be faint.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: That's the kind of hope that gives us strength enough strength to face whatever this season is bringing you.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: It's a hope in the Lord.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: That is what will renew your strength.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I so agree with you, kimberly, that rehearsing the truth of who God is is so important, because I know in my mind, and yours as well, what gets rehearsed a lot is all the anxiety and the worries of the day, because there are legit things that we have to take care of for ourselves, for our families, for our business, and that to-do list is constantly running in my head and it can feel overwhelming.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Other verses, like Limitations 3, 22 and 23 remind us Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassion never fails.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: They are new every morning.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Great is your faithfulness.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Or Psalm 33, 20, 22 says we wait in hope for the Lord.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: He is our help and our shield.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: In him our heart rejoices, for we trust in his holy name.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: May your unfilling love be with us, lord, even as we put our hope in you.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: And once again, just the hope is not in the actions of the circumstances.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: The hope is in the character of God.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's where hope is directly tied to trust.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: As we put our trust in God, he fills us with joy and he fills us with peace, and that leads to hope.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: And it's not the fleeting kind of hope that we think of, it's this deep, sustaining hope that carries us through the highs and the lows.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: It reminds me of Jesus's words in John 14, 27.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: He says peace I leave with you.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: My peace I give you.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: I do not give to you as the world gives.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: The peace Jesus gives isn't temporary or dependent on circumstances, just like the difference between joy and happiness.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Right, it's lasting, it's unshakable.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: When we lean into that peace, we find joy.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: And Jesus told his disciples in John 15, 11, I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete, so that peace and that joy is what ultimately fuels and gives the foundation for that sense, that deep, unfleeting sense of hope, because it's connected to trust.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so good, kimberly, and even as you read that, that's a little convicting to me.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Am I walking around with the feeling and the understanding that what I'm walking around with is Jesus's joy?
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Because Jesus-sized joy seems really, really big versus the happiness I'm trying to manufacture within myself?
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: And so, again, it's that surrendering to, not trying to muster it up on my own, not trying to create it within me, but just tapping into what Jesus has already said, he's promised us, which is joy and peace and hope.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: And another thing I think that really helps me during this time is worship, and singing songs that declare the goodness and faithfulness of God always has a way of refocusing me.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Realigning me is a word we'd like to use a lot around here and realigning my heart and my spirit and my worrying soul and my achy body that's just tired and wants to take a nap.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: All of that comes into alignment with who God is, as I choose to spend time again rehearsing the goodness and the faithfulness of God rather than focusing on my circumstances.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: I think the other way that we can allow God's hope to fill us and invite it in is when we think about community.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: And this time of year we have an opportunity to be around a lot of people, and so it's an opportunity to share your heart with trusted friends or loved ones who can encourage you and pray with you.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: Those are a real lifeline, because we're not meant to walk through life alone.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: And so I bought these two plaques one time that had one had the word hope on it and the other had the word rest.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: And I gave rest to one of my friends and she said she often comes back and says you know, you knew I really needed that, you knew there was a piece in me that didn't rest well, and the other day I got to thinking about she says that often she'll refer back to that plaque I gave her and I started thinking.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: You know, the plaque I bought for me that day said hope.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: And I think that's something that you struggle with because it's vulnerable to hope.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: It causes you to want to like, have expectations, and if you've been around here long enough and heard some of my story, I had a lot of hope in some things in the past.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: I think all of us do.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: We have hope and then we get disappointed and then we don't know what to do with that disappointment.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: So we kind of callous ourselves and we harden ourselves because to hope again is painful.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: It is.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: And so I have this plaque in my bedroom on my dresser as a reminder to hope.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: But it's an intentional reminder that we have to choose to hope, and so one again the practical way to do that is remembering the community that we have and being vulnerable and honest with them and allowing the people in our community to walk with us through life and to help us hold on to hope, Because we can go for a while without water and food and all sorts of things, but I'm not sure how long we can go without hope, because there is a sustaining factor in there that really the depth of that comes from God.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: To think about the fact that God can give us hope is pretty powerful.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would encourage us all, on both sides of that coin, on the community One, we need to be vulnerable when someone asks you how you're doing, and it's your safe person to be honest enough to tell them how you're really doing, but also to take a moment and stop and ask the question.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: This is a really really busy time of year and it's easy to get so wrapped up in the hustle of everything that I don't take the time to slow down and go.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we've got a lot of things we need to get done and the clock is ticking and we only have so much time today.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: But you know what I need to before all that, let me just stop and ask how are you and then the second part really listen when the person is talking to you?
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Because I can be guilty of not doing that, because it's easy to get focused on the task.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: So let's be the community to one another.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: And as we close today, I just want to take this verse in Romans and turn it into a blessing for each of us as we focus in on our hope in God this week, as the first week of Advent is going on.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: So may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, as you trust in him.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: May you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, whether you're in a season of abundance or hardship.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: May his hope sustain you, his peace guard you and his joy strengthen you.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: We're so glad you joined us today.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: If this episode has encouraged you, share it with a friend, so that we can do just what we've talked about today and let hope overflow in us and pour out to others.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: So until we're together next time, may you walk in the joy, peace and hope of our faithful God.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: I want to thank you for listening to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Listening to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 19:30
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• 19:33
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• 19:35
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