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Max Lucado – God’s Great and Precious Promises: Finding Unshakable Hope · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Regal is a lifelong fan of the Philadelphia Eagles
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: football team. 30 years as a season ticket holder. You know,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: it takes a lot of tenacity to be a fan
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of the Philadelphia Eagles. They haven't won a Super Bowl ever.
• 0:20
  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
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: a diehard fan. He even mentioned the Philadelphia Eagles in
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: his obituary. When he died, his friends read in the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: paper his request that eight members of the Philadelphia Eagles
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: football team serve as his pallbearers. Why? Because he wanted
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: to give the team one more chance to let him down.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: We all know what it's like to be let down,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: not by a football team necessarily, then again perhaps so,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: but most likely by a family member or friend or
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  Speaker 1: company or school or even the government. We feel let down.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe that's why we so treasure the promises of God
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: because through the promises of God we see the heart
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  Speaker 1: of God and we discover a God because of of
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  Speaker 1: his unbreakable word offers an unshakable hope through his promises.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: We're going to pray as we begin this study on
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: the series entitled Unshakable Hope. I've been made aware that
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  Speaker 1: there are some people watching online from Florida, Georgia, and
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: other areas who cannot leave their homes or shelters to
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: attend a church. And so they're watching with us online.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: And we want you to know we're praying for you.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: We're honored to share this hour with you, and we
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: pray for God's peace and protection. And the Oak Hills
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Church said, Amen. So, Lord, we do pray for these,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: your servants and children who find themselves today in the
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: path of a hurricane. We pray for anyone in this
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  Speaker 1: room who has family members or friends in that situation.
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  Speaker 1: We ask, Lord, that you would provide peace and protection.
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  Speaker 1: And Heavenly Father, while we still do not understand how
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  Speaker 1: these storms happen, we trust that you do and that
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  Speaker 1: you have a plan. We're choosing to trust you. And
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  Speaker 1: then there are, Father, those of us not in storms
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  Speaker 1: of Hurricane Irma fashion, but our own personal storms of
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  Speaker 1: illness or disease or financial struggle or relationship issues. Would
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  Speaker 1: you please, Father, today Speak words of promise and hope
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: over this whole church. We need to ask you to
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  Speaker 1: forgive our speaker because his sins are so many. And
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  Speaker 1: grant that we can see Jesus, just Jesus. Through Christ
• 3:11
  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.
• 3:49
  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 in grand pomp and circumstance, followed by Roman legionnaires.
• 4:03
  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 the Christian movement from the very beginning.
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  Speaker 1: Agrippa's great-grandfather attempted to kill baby Jesus when Jesus was
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  Speaker 1: born in Bethlehem. His grand-uncle murdered John the Baptist, and
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  Speaker 1: his father, Agrippa I, executed James, threatened to do the
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  Speaker 1: same with Peter, but ended up just putting Peter in prison.
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  Speaker 1: You might say it out that this family had it
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  Speaker 1: out for the followers of Christ and now Paul the
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  Speaker 1: rabbi stood before him he was in trouble for preaching
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: and teaching a new religion so how would the apostle
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  Speaker 1: Paul defend himself and what was without a doubt the
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  Speaker 1: most important speech of his life how would the apostle
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  Speaker 1: Paul justify his actions of being a purveyor of this
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  Speaker 1: new found faith would he appeal for mercy Would he
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  Speaker 1: demand justice? Here's what he did. After a word or
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  Speaker 1: two of introduction, here's what he said to Agrippa. And
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  Speaker 1: now it is because of my hope in what God
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  Speaker 1: has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today.
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  Speaker 1: Paul's defense included no reference to his accomplishments, though he
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  Speaker 1: himself had prayed for the dead to come alive, and
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  Speaker 1: they did. Paul's defense included no reference to his Roman
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  Speaker 1: citizenship or appeal for any preferential treatment. None of that.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: His only explanation was this. Well, I just believed in
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  Speaker 1: the promises of God. So did Abraham. So did Noah.
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  Speaker 1: So did a prophet named Isaiah. And so did a
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  Speaker 1: Hebrew maiden by the name of Mary. And so did
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  Speaker 1: a preacher by the name of Peter and this apostle
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  Speaker 1: by the name of Paul you know the heroes of
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  Speaker 1: the Bible come to us from all walks of life
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  Speaker 1: some were single some were married some were powerful some
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  Speaker 1: were simple some were rulers others were servants but one
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  Speaker 1: common denominator united them and unites them still they believed
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  Speaker 1: in the promises of God because Noah believed in the
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  Speaker 1: promises of God He believed in rain before rain was
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  Speaker 1: even a word. Because Abraham believed in the promises of God,
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  Speaker 1: he left a home he had seen all of his
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  Speaker 1: life for a place he had never seen. Because Joshua
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  Speaker 1: believed in the promises of God, he led two million
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  Speaker 1: people smack dab into enemy territory across the Jordan River.
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  Speaker 1: David conked a giant. Peter rose from the ashes of regret.
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  Speaker 1: And the Apostle Paul found a grace worth dying for,
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  Speaker 1: all because they believed in the promises of God. They
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  Speaker 1: knew this. If you'd like to fill in blanks, here's
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  Speaker 1: the first one. God is a promise maker. He's a
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  Speaker 1: promise maker. One writer went so far as to call
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  Speaker 1: such saints heirs of the promise. It is as if
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  Speaker 1: the promises of God were the family fortune. And these
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  Speaker 1: men and women were smart enough to show up at
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  Speaker 1: the reading table of the will. Listen to this extended
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  Speaker 1: passage from Hebrews chapter 11. By faith Noah when warned
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  Speaker 1: about things not yet seen in holy fear built an
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  Speaker 1: ark to save his family. By faith Abraham when called
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  Speaker 1: to go to a place he would later receive as
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  Speaker 1: his inheritance obeyed and went even though he did not
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  Speaker 1: know where he was going. He lived in tents and
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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
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his
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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 boy,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: did they have a lot of promises from which to pick.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: How many promises do you think there are in the Bible? Anyone? Fifty?
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  Speaker 1: A hundred? Two hundred? One student of scripture set out
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  Speaker 1: to count the number of promises in the Bible. It
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  Speaker 1: took him 18 months. But finally his list included 7,486 promises.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to study each and every one over the
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  Speaker 1: coming centuries. What the pine trees are to the Rocky Mountains.
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  Speaker 1: The promises of God are. To your Bible. Everywhere. Prolific. Unending. Unbending.
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  Speaker 1: And perennial. The promises of God. They are the stitching
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  Speaker 1: in the spine of your Bible. Not only does God
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: make promises, but scripture is equally clear that God keeps promises.
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  Speaker 1: He's not just a promise maker, but he's a promise keeper.
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  Speaker 1: His promises are irrevocable because of who God is. Look
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  Speaker 1: at this. He never changes. He never casts a shifting shadow.
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  Speaker 1: James 1, 17. He's unchanging. He sees the end from
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  Speaker 1: the beginning. Never caught off guard. Makes no mid-course correction.
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  Speaker 1: Not victimized by moods or weather. He is unchanging. What's more,
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  Speaker 1: he is faithful. The Bible says God can be trusted.
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  Speaker 1: To keep his promises. He's strong. He never over promises
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  Speaker 1: and under delivers. God is able to do whatever he promises.
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  Speaker 1: But most of all, he cannot lie. The Bible says
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  Speaker 1: it is what? Impossible. Not improbable. Not unlikely. It is
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: absolutely impossible for God to lie. Do you think a
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  Speaker 1: rock can swim? No. Do you think a hippo can fly? No. 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 1, 2 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 1,
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  Speaker 1: 2 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 today.
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  Speaker 1: about my father. When I was 12 years old, my
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  Speaker 1: dad let me tag along with him as we traveled
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  Speaker 1: from our small town to the thriving metropolis of Lubbock,
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  Speaker 1: Texas for a Saturday trip. Our goal was to purchase
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  Speaker 1: new tires for the family car. I've told you a
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  Speaker 1: lot about my dad through the years. I so wish
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  Speaker 1: you could have known him. Passed away many years ago.
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  Speaker 1: He was unadorned by wealth, unimpressed by power. He was
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  Speaker 1: just a simple West Texas oil field mechanic, as square
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  Speaker 1: as a radiator with thick hands, and a deep conviction
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  Speaker 1: that a person is only as good as their word.
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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 too loud, 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, sir,
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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 began to watch this exchange going back
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  Speaker 1: and forth. My dad said, you don't believe I am
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  Speaker 1: who I say I am? And the man said, well,
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  Speaker 1: 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, well, then you go
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  Speaker 1: out there and you take those tires off the car
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  Speaker 1: right now. Whoa. There was an awkward silence. And I
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  Speaker 1: do remember we went home with the tires that day.
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  Speaker 1: And I do remember learning something about honesty. Those who
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  Speaker 1: take honesty seriously are serious about honesty. Now, if just
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  Speaker 1: a simple man, a good man, but just a simple
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  Speaker 1: man would do that, how much more, how much more
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  Speaker 1: would a holy and mighty uncreated, ungoverned God do the same.
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  Speaker 1: The Bible is serious that God is serious about keeping
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  Speaker 1: his promises. What was said about the way God protected
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: the Israelites can be said about the way God protects us.
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  Speaker 1: Not one of all the Lord's good promises to Israel failed.
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  Speaker 1: Every one was fulfilled. So the question is not will
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  Speaker 1: God keep his promises? The question is Will we build
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  Speaker 1: our lives upon them? Here's a question. Upon what are
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  Speaker 1: you building your life? Upon what are you building your life?
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  Speaker 1: We're all building our lives on something. Maybe you're building
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  Speaker 1: your life upon the dependability of a spouse. Maybe you're
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: building your life on the promises of a company. Maybe
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: you're building your life upon the fidelity of the economy.
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  Speaker 1: I would suggest to you those are risky places to
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: build a life. You might be actually doing What Jesus
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: talked about when he talked about two builders. You might
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  Speaker 1: be building a house on sand. He told a parable
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: about two builders. You remember the parable, right? These two
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  Speaker 1: builders had something in common. Both were building, both had supplies,
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  Speaker 1: both built a house, and both endured a storm. Here's
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  Speaker 1: how the story went. Therefore, everyone who hears these words
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  Speaker 1: of mine and puts them into practice is like a
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  Speaker 1: wise man who built his house on the rock. The
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  Speaker 1: rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and
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  Speaker 1: beat against that house. Yet it did not fall because
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  Speaker 1: it had its foundations on the rock. But everyone who
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  Speaker 1: hears these words of mine and does not put them
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  Speaker 1: into practice is like a foolish man who built his
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose,
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  Speaker 1: and the winds blew and beat against that house and
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  Speaker 1: it fell with a great crash. Again, the two builders
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  Speaker 1: had a lot in common. Both built houses. Both had supplies.
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  Speaker 1: Both had a house. Both faced a storm. But one
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  Speaker 1: chose to build on sand. Maybe the sand was cheaper
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  Speaker 1: or easy to access. The other built a house on
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  Speaker 1: a stone, a foundation of rock. Maybe it was more expensive,
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  Speaker 1: more difficult. But he wanted to be sure his house
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  Speaker 1: was built on a secure place. Please note, in this story,
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  Speaker 1: both endure a storm. Just because you try to build
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  Speaker 1: your house on the right place does not mean you
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  Speaker 1: won't face a storm. It does mean, however, that when
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: the storms come, though the winds blow and the rain falls,
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  Speaker 1: you won't get wiped out. So the question is, upon
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  Speaker 1: what are you building your house? Maybe a modern-day rendering
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: of this parable would read this way. Two people set
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: out to build their houses. The first went to RPF
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Home Supply, Regrets, Pain, and Fear. He ordered lumber that
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: was rotted by guilt. nails that were rusty from pain,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: and cement that was watered down with anxiety. Since his
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: home was constructed by RPF supplies, every day was consumed
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  Speaker 1: with regret, pain, and fear. The second builder chose a
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  Speaker 1: different supplier. She secured her supplies from Hope Incorporated. Rather
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  Speaker 1: than choose regret, pain, and fear, she found ample promises
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  Speaker 1: 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: And 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 7,486 promises. But we are going to
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  Speaker 1: study some that I have found to be especially helpful
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  Speaker 1: in encouraging others and also in encouraging myself. But these
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  Speaker 1: promises do us no good if we don't ponder them.
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  Speaker 1: I'm thinking that if we could sample some of these promises,
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  Speaker 1: they would whet our appetites for the rest of our
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  Speaker 1: lives to become those who feast upon the promises of God.
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  Speaker 1: You can engage personally. Every day you can spend a
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  Speaker 1: few moments looking at some of the passages that we're
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  Speaker 1: studying in a given week. You can do that through
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  Speaker 1: your iPhone, the app on YouVersion, or you can pick
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: up the study guide, the daily reading guide that we
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: have prepared. You can do this in community. You can
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: be a part of a group that meets in a
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  Speaker 1: neighborhood or at work or where you work out. We
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  Speaker 1: have several hundred groups meeting all across the Hill Country.
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  Speaker 1: You can go online and and find one of those
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  Speaker 1: groups and you can study through this workbook together you
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  Speaker 1: can study through this workbook with your family and most
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: of all you can study through this workbook as a
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: as a way to reach out to encourage people in
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  Speaker 1: our culture in our streets in our neighborhoods who need
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: some help who need some hope we have special video
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: curriculum messages that will be used in our small groups
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: and And these video presentations are really of high quality.
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  Speaker 1: I don't say that because I'm the speaker in them.
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  Speaker 1: I say that because we partnered with a wonderful organization
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: called Trinity Broadcasting Network. And they put us in a
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: great studio with five cameras and really captured top quality presentation,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: not just because they wanted us to have it, but
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: because it's going to be used in television in the
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: upcoming months and years. But we get to have access
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: first and we're using it in our home groups. I
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  Speaker 1: hope you'll be a part of those. And I hope
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  Speaker 1: you'll think of somebody who could use some words of hope.
• 20:46
  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.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Did you know that the suicide rate has increased 24%
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: since 1999? 24%. If a disease saw that kind of spike,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: we would call it an epidemic. How do we explain
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: such an increase in the number of people who are
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: orchestrating their own departures? We've never had more entertainment. We've
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: never had more comfort. We've never been able to travel
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: like we are today. How do we explain the deep
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: sadness and despair that many people face? Well, for all
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  Speaker 1: the answers, I think one has to be on the list,
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  Speaker 1: and that is people are dying for a lack of hope.
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  Speaker 1: They have been taught by a secular society that all
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  Speaker 1: of life is what you can see, touch, and hear,
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  Speaker 1: and smell. There's nothing spiritual, nothing beyond the grave, that
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  Speaker 1: there's no real purpose we're here. We're just the circumstance
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  Speaker 1: of an accident of nature. That's called secularism. And secularism
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  Speaker 1: sucks the hope out of a society. Because if there's
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  Speaker 1: nothing more to life than between birth and death, well,
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes there ain't much. I believe we live in a
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  Speaker 1: day that is hungry for hope. People of the promise
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  Speaker 1: are great purveyors of hope because they pray, they ponder,
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  Speaker 1: and proclaim the promises of God. The people, the heroes
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: in the Bible did this. They are like Abraham. Abraham.
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  Speaker 1: about whom it was said he didn't tiptoe around God's promise,
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  Speaker 1: asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and
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  Speaker 1: came up strong. You know, I like to see the
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  Speaker 1: promises of God as an apothecary shelf of remedies for
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  Speaker 1: the human condition. They're stacked up on the shelf, just
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  Speaker 1: like you might stack medicine up in your bathroom shelf
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  Speaker 1: so that you'll have it there whenever you need it.
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  Speaker 1: And the people of the promise know how to treat
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  Speaker 1: the fears and struggles of life with the promises of God.
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  Speaker 1: Let's say you wake up one morning and you're feeling
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  Speaker 1: that the world is out of control. Well, instead of
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  Speaker 1: giving in to the fear, you reach up for the
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  Speaker 1: bottle that's labeled Romans 8, 28. All things work together
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  Speaker 1: for the good of those who love him and are
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  Speaker 1: called according to his purpose. And rather than giving in
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  Speaker 1: to the fear, caving in to the trepidation, you stand
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  Speaker 1: upon the promise of God. Or maybe you wake up
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  Speaker 1: one day and you have more troubles than you can count.
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  Speaker 1: And you reach over for John 16, 33 and open
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  Speaker 1: up the bottle. And Jesus says to you in this world,
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  Speaker 1: you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer because
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  Speaker 1: I've overcome the world. And rather than be overwhelmed by
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  Speaker 1: the problems you choose to stand, you build your house
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  Speaker 1: upon the promises of God. Or maybe sometime you feel lonely.
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  Speaker 1: You feel like you're all alone. Maybe indeed you are
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  Speaker 1: all alone. But then you flip back in the Bible
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  Speaker 1: to the promise God gave to Gideon. The angel told him,
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  Speaker 1: God is with you, almighty man of valor. What a
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  Speaker 1: precious promise. What a great and precious promise. And you
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  Speaker 1: tell yourself, I'm not alone. The presence of God is
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  Speaker 1: with me. And rather than give in to the loneliness
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  Speaker 1: and its consequences, you stand in fellowship with your heavenly father.
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  Speaker 1: The apostle Peter said that the promises of God should
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  Speaker 1: actually be described as great promises. And precious promises of God.
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  Speaker 1: 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 4. 2 Peter chapter
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: 1 and verse 4. I actually skipped a verse and
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  Speaker 1: I didn't mean to do that. I never make mistakes.
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  Speaker 1: But one promise that's been special to me this week
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  Speaker 1: is Luke chapter 21 and verse 25. Given the fact
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  Speaker 1: that we're seeing hurricanes in Texas. Hurricanes in Florida. Fires
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  Speaker 1: on the west coast. Earthquake in Mexico. saw an eclipse
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  Speaker 1: last month. What are we to make of this bizarre
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  Speaker 1: series of circumstances? Well, there's a promise in the Bible
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  Speaker 1: that speaks to that. Luke chapter 21, verse 25 through 28.
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  Speaker 1: And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon,
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  Speaker 1: in the stars, and on the earth, distress of nations
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  Speaker 1: with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts
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  Speaker 1: failing them from fear and the expectation of those things
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  Speaker 1: which are coming from the earth, for the powers of
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  Speaker 1: the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the
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  Speaker 1: Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power
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  Speaker 1: and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen,
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  Speaker 1: look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption
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  Speaker 1: draws near. Most people, when they see storms and natural disasters,
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  Speaker 1: hunker down and they look down. But people of the
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  Speaker 1: promise lift up and look up. We don't know exactly
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  Speaker 1: when Christ is going to come, But we allow these
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  Speaker 1: to be symbols and signals reminding us that it could
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  Speaker 1: be that our redemption is near. And rather than give
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  Speaker 1: in to the fear, we stand on the promise. This
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  Speaker 1: is what Peter was telling us to do. When he said,
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  Speaker 1: God has given us his very great and precious promises
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  Speaker 1: so that through them you might participate in the divine nature.
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  Speaker 1: They're not just valuable, they're precious. They're not just good,
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  Speaker 1: they're great. And these great and precious promises are the
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  Speaker 1: very stones upon which we can journey from sin to
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  Speaker 1: salvation to glorification to redemption. Dwight Moody, over a hundred
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  Speaker 1: years ago, this famous evangelist said this, let a man
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  Speaker 1: feed for a month on the promises of God and
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  Speaker 1: he will not talk about his poverty. If you would
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  Speaker 1: only go from Genesis to Revelation and see all the
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  Speaker 1: promises made by God to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob,
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  Speaker 1: to the Jews and the Gentiles and to all his
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  Speaker 1: people everywhere. If you would spend a month feeding on
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  Speaker 1: the precious promises of God, you would not go complaining
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  Speaker 1: about how poor you are, but you would lift up
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  Speaker 1: your heads with confidence and proclaim the riches of his
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  Speaker 1: grace because you could not help it. Let's be who
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  Speaker 1: we were made to be. People Of the promise. Over
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  Speaker 1: the next few weeks and months as we study these promises.
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  Speaker 1: We will begin each message with a declaration. The words
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  Speaker 1: of this declaration are about to appear on the screen.
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  Speaker 1: And I'd like to invite you to say this and
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  Speaker 1: declare this proclamation with me. Now to do this you
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: need to sit up straight. You need to put your
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: shoulders back. You need to fill your lungs with air
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  Speaker 1: and your hearts with hope. You need to say it
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  Speaker 1: like the devil himself knows you. In fact we can't
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  Speaker 1: do this sitting down can we? Let's all stand up.
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  Speaker 1: Let's all stand up. Those of you who are watching online,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: we need you to stand up too. We're watching. Let's
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  Speaker 1: say it together. We are building our lives on the
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  Speaker 1: promises of God because his word is unbreakable. Our hope
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  Speaker 1: is unshakable. We do not stand on the problems of
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  Speaker 1: life or the pain in life. We stand on the
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  Speaker 1: great and precious promises of God. And all the church said, Amen. Lord,
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  Speaker 1: help us to be people of the promise, people who
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  Speaker 1: choose to stand on the promises of God. Through Christ
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  Speaker 1: we pray.