Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
If you could turn to Hebrews chapter 11.
And this is part three of the Hall of Faith.
And that's what it's known as.
And we've delved into the introduction of this,
plenty, I think plenty of Sundays that we don't have to do that again.
But this is part three and specifically the heavenly hope.
And so let's pray and thank the Lord.
He's going to reveal some things to us.
And so, Father God, we thank you that we have so much hope in you, Lord God,
that we can always trust that you're taking us to somewhere better.
Better according to your view.
And Lord God, and when we follow you, we discover that it truly is better for us as well.
So Lord, we thank you for that.
We ask you, Lord, to really pierce through any distraction that I might be causing here
this morning, or perhaps anything that's on people's minds that they think are
more important than hearing from you.
And Lord, we ask your Holy Spirit to just come and really just cleanse us
of any distraction, any wrong thought, any pessimism, Lord God, or any depression,
Lord, anything that's blocking hope.
Because Lord God, we really do have a heavenly hope.
And Lord, the more we lay hold of that,
the more we receive what that hope is leading to here on earth, Lord God.
And we want to access everything that's stored up in heaven.
We want to start tapping into that right now, right here, Lord God, because we need it now.
So Lord God, we ask you to speak to us through your wonderful word in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So a couple months ago, Jill and I went down to see my daughter Morgan and her husband,
Tevin.
He's an associate pastor at some mega church in Orlando area and our two grandsons,
Kingston and Coast.
And while we were there, we went to the church.
And at this church, there's a lot of Disney.
They have a school, right?
Disney school in Disney, right?
And they have a lot of Disney workers that actually attend this big mega church,
because it's literally like 15 minutes from Disney.
Anyone ever go to Disney land or world or anything?
I think it would be world around here, but anyway.
And so it's just an interesting breed, you know, people who are like all in to Disney.
But as I was thinking about that, I'm thinking, you know, like Disney,
Walt Disney, like really changed quite.
He just, he just created so much new things into humanity, some good, some bad,
whatever, however you feel about it.
I personally, I'll just say Jill keeps saying,
we got to take the grandkids to Disney.
I'm like, no, we don't.
To me, it's a money pit.
We did it, been there, done that.
And actually we used to have this great deal of friends of ours had a timeshare
in Disney and we would go to Disney and stay at the timeshare.
So we saved a ton of money, you know, going out.
So we actually went down a few times, you know,
but all I remember is every ride you get off,
there's a cash register waiting for you, a shop, a gift shop with stuff.
And you're like, oh, you know, so I don't know.
It's just going to drop tens of thousands down there.
So I'm like, we're not going to stop talking about it.
Okay. But any, yeah, Morgan lives there.
And by the way, what's funny though, is that that they have a year pass.
So they go for next to nothing.
So like, you know, whereas some kids might go to a playground,
Kingston and coast are in magic kingdom,
going on a ride in the middle of the day.
And we're like, like, you know, they have no idea until later on how they,
you know, how different they have it than others
because it's so cheap for them to go to Disney.
But anyway, as I was thinking about Walt Disney and how much he really
changed the face of entertainment and family entertainment and amusements.
And as I was thinking about him, you know, he had such a vision, right?
I mean, could you imagine like he, back in the 50s,
having this vision of this amusement park that,
that he, that families would go and they would stay there,
drop a ton of money.
Okay.
But they would have just a great time and all the characters
you could develop out of this.
It was a vision, right?
And he was so like captured and assured and mesmerized by that vision
that he started to, to develop it and commit to it and talk to investors,
start to look for land.
Now this was in California for that, you know, the land,
but he was looking for land and, you know, talking to developers.
And he was really committing to this with investment of time and energy and,
and vision, right?
And then from there, of course, he just went all in and he said,
I have to do this.
Like he wouldn't rest until it was completed.
By the way, I looked into him.
I think he was Christian, at least that was the reported ideas, you know,
I love hearing that Christians did amazing things, you know,
so Walt Disney, you know, definitely did have a huge impact on all children's
entertainment and so forth.
And I have a slide up there, Tammy.
So what did Walt Disney actually do?
He had hope.
Because when you think about all these phases of his vision,
it was really the development of hope because he had a vision,
this amusement park, all the characters and so forth.
And, and he was confident about it.
He said, this isn't just a blip in my mind.
This is something that I'm going to commit to.
Okay.
And then from there, he was confident of it.
And then from there, he wouldn't rest until it came to completion.
Right.
And, and really, so he had hope.
He had high hopes, right?
I have high hopes.
We've got high hopes.
You remember that song?
We've got high apple pie in the sky hopes.
And if you're a visitor, like, this is a weird guy.
What are we doing here?
But anyway, but he had, you know, he had high hopes, you know,
and, and look, it came to fruition.
And it always amazes me that people that really changed,
really the, the course of humanity, think of the Wright brothers, right?
Wilbur and Orville, you know, and they were Christians too.
Like I said, so many Christians did amazing things.
In fact, their, their father Malcolm was a Bishop, a Protestant Bishop,
you know, and they were raised as Christians and they had this vision.
Imagine having vision that I want to fly like that bird.
Okay.
Like, and all, you know, what happened out on Kitty Hawk and all the
trying to get those planes flying and everything.
And now here we are, you know, well, now we're no longer in a shutdown.
But like people can't fly anywhere because there's,
there's no air traffic controllers.
Imagine Orville saying to Wilbur,
what happens when there's no air traffic controllers?
You know, like, what are you talking about?
Right.
Sometimes we don't even know where our vision is going to go.
Right.
But, you know, the Orville, I mean, the Orville brothers,
the Wright brothers, they had a vision.
They were confident of the vision.
We can do this.
Right.
They were committed to the vision and they wouldn't rest
until that vision was complete.
Well, as we read today about Abraham and Sarah,
in the same way, the word is going to tell us that's what they had.
They had a vision.
Okay.
And they were confident.
They were assured of that vision and they were not even sure of it,
but they were committed to it.
In other words, they would invest everything they had into it in terms of their lifestyle.
And then finally, they wouldn't rest.
They saw themselves as pilgrims in a foreign land.
They wouldn't rest.
Now, in the same way, believers, Christians, you know, we have hope in the Lord.
And though Disney may see the outcome, at least some of it, the outcome,
Disneyland was built, but so many other things weren't yet.
But he had a vision and he actually saw complete it.
Well, the Wright brothers, they certainly saw that two-layered winged airplane fly
and they saw it, right?
But some things we're never going to see this side of heaven as believers, right?
We're going to see some of it.
We're going to see a remnant or a shadow of things to come.
We're going to like be able to see some evidence.
You know, in fact, remember in Hebrews 11.1, we started off this whole study of the hall of faith.
And the first verse we saw was now faith is the substance.
And depending on your version, substance, I called it foundation.
It's the confidence.
It's the assurance.
It's the reality of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
So we're going to see some of the evidence of our faith and our hope here on earth.
But someday when we get there, we're going to see the fruition of all of it.
And we can trust the Lord is building something in heaven for us.
Amen.
And this idea of hope, the noun, alpis, okay, is not just a wish.
A lot of times we say, oh, I hope I win the lottery or I hope this or I hope that.
And it's kind of like wishful thinking, isn't it?
But alpis in the Bible is expectation or anticipation of good from God.
In fact, actually, the word is used for bad, too.
You know, when you anticipate bad in the Bible, that means you're hoping for bad.
Doesn't that seem like it doesn't fit right?
I really hope something bad happens today.
What, are you crazy?
But really, if we're anticipating bad things, guess what we're going to see?
Bad things.
We're always going to see the glass half full.
I mean, half empty, not half full.
We're never going to see the potential.
We're only going to see what isn't, not what will be.
And so this is the idea of this hope.
And so we're going to read now that Abraham and Sarah had hope.
And though they didn't see it this side of heaven, they will someday, you know?
As I think about this, like hope, a lot of times we cling to that verse in Jeremiah 29, 11.
Can you quote it?
Well, we just showed you.
We'll read it.
I'm about to say, wow, you guys are good.
But we can read it together.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord.
Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope, a hope.
You know, he has plans for good things for you, not bad.
You know, things in this world that happened to us, we blame God for it.
When really, that's just the fall of the world.
But when we trust him, we know that he is taking us out of that into something better.
And so let's dive right into the word.
And we're only reading nine verses today or seven something.
But anyway, let's take a look at Hebrews 11 verse eight.
And by faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place
which he would receive as an inheritance.
And he went out not knowing where he was going.
By faith, he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country,
dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
For he waited for the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God.
Well, isn't that epic sounding, you know?
He's building something for you that really isn't even of this world.
You might see a remnant of it, but it's something even greater.
And so Abraham believed he left a land where his father and his whole family owned.
And he would have been an heir probably of a lot of property, but he left.
But you know what I love about the New Testament?
I don't know if you've ever noticed, but someone pointed out to me one time,
like, wow, that's right.
Whenever the New Testament talks about the patriarchs of the Old Testament,
do you notice they never talk about the bad things?
They only talk about the good things.
Isn't that interesting?
Like, you know, it talks about Samson did some bad stuff.
Well, guess what?
It only points out the good stuff.
And you know what that says to me?
You know what it says?
That he will remember our sins no more.
We are New Testament believers.
You know?
He's not going to say, oh, remember?
Yeah.
Well, you remember when Darren did that thing, you know?
Remember Pop?
You know, he's not going to say that.
He's going to say,
Darren, Darren's here with us, Pop.
You know?
I mean, this is how he sees us, you know?
He's going to remember those things no more.
Because, you know, Abraham wasn't instantly obedient.
Do you know that?
Like, in fact, we have a map up there that shows that when Abraham left Er the Chaldeans,
right, he left with his father.
He was supposed to leave his father.
He actually brought his father.
Now, probably his father says, I want to go, too.
What are you going to say to your Pop?
You know?
Stay home.
No.
He, his dad went with him, right?
And then did he go right to Canaan?
No.
He went to Haran, which is kind of a roundabout way to the Promised Land,
probably to avoid desert and everything.
I left the current countries in there because I thought it was interesting
to see where Haran is in Turkey.
And he cut through what's now called Syria and so on.
And then he stayed in Haran 15 years until his dad died.
So, you know, so he obeyed God.
But there was some delay for whatever reason.
We don't know the reasons, right?
And then he moved to Canaan, okay?
But then there was a famine.
And then you know where he went?
Egypt, okay?
Which is all the way down to the far, let me see.
Far left, okay?
That little pie wedge, right?
So he went across that in two.
And so he left the Promised Land and was in Egypt.
And you know what happened in Egypt?
You know, first of all, Pharaoh took Sarah, his wife, to be in his harem.
You know, that could have been dangerous, right?
Thank God the Lord intervened and didn't allow Pharaoh to have his way with Sarah.
But there, Sarah is, you know, going to be the mother of faith in a sense,
Abraham being the father of believers, right?
The first one who was credited righteous because of his faith in God.
But there, Sarah, you know, almost pawned off to Pharaoh, okay?
And not only that, but while they were there,
they picked up a hitchhiker named Hagar, okay?
Hagar the hitchhiker, right?
And so she went with them back finally to the Promised Land, right?
And then you know the story with her and Ishmael and so on, right?
So, you know, Abraham obeyed, but there was some delay, okay?
And there was some derailed decisions, I guess you'd say, right?
And even some doubt, you know?
Because then the Lord said, no, I'm going to give you a son, okay?
And a Promised Son, and it's not Ishmael.
And do you remember what happened?
Abraham actually went prostate, down on the ground, prostrate.
There it is.
I do that every time.
But anyway, you know, he did a liver right on the ground, no.
So he fell down, but we read in Genesis 1717 that he laughed, like God's...
Imagine that, like God says, you know what?
I'm about to do something amazing for you, Ann.
You just wait and see something amazing and awesome is going to happen.
You know, that's not the response God wants to hear from us.
When we laugh and he's given us a promise, right?
But Abraham's on the ground, like, are you kidding me?
What am I going to be 100 when I have this child?
And Sarah's going to be 90, right?
So he's laughing, right?
You know, so there was even a little bit of, call it doubt or confusion, right?
But aren't you glad the Bible leaves all that in there?
Because, you know, these are patriarchs of faith.
Not mention any of that in the New Testament.
Do you walk step by step with God obeying every absolute thing,
doing exactly what he tells you every single time?
You know, I don't, I'm just admitting, you know, I wish I did.
But like, I go astray sometimes, I find a new trajectory, you know, whatever.
But like, you know, but he leaves that in there so we can see, wait a minute, you know,
God has a plan for me and I can't ruin it if I keep trusting him.
I have to keep hoping him.
And then let's read on about Sarah.
Verse 11, and by faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed
and she bore a child.
And when she was past the age because she judged him faithful, who had promised,
therefore from one man and him as good as dead were born as many as the stars of the sky in
multitude, innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
And so here, you know, Sarah was going to be, you know, the queen of nations.
And of course, her name was changed from Sarai to Sarah.
And yet she believed that she would have a baby.
Well, you know, there's more to that story, too.
Okay, you know what I'm talking about, right?
When the three came and God was with the angels talking to, you know,
talking to Abram and say, Hey, you know, actually, where's Sarah?
Oh, she's right in the tent.
And then this picks it up.
Thanks, Tammy.
In Genesis 18, now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age and Sarah had
passed the age of childbearing.
Therefore, when she heard that this time next year at the at the time of
when babies would be born basically nine months, you're going to have a son.
And Sarah is in the tent listening.
And and therefore, Sarah laughed within herself saying,
After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure?
My Lord being old also.
And the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh?
Saying, shall I surely bear a child since I am old?
Is anything hard for the Lord?
At the appointed time, I will return to you according to the time of life.
And Sarah will have a son.
But I love this little tidbit at the end.
But Sarah denied it saying, I did not laugh.
You're talking to God.
No, God, you got that wrong.
I mean, that's it's funny.
Are you glad that's in there?
Okay.
Did you ever have a dialogue with God like that?
Not quite, but something like it, you know, for she was afraid.
And he said, No, but you did laugh like a little back and forth.
It's funny.
Isn't this funny?
But thank God, you know, the word, you know, the Lord has a sense of humor too.
Doesn't he?
And, you know, we could say, No, Lord, I'm not built for that.
Just like Moses.
I can't even talk.
You know, all right, fine.
Here comes your brother.
We'll give him a try.
You know, so, you know, we can't out talk God.
He knows the plans he has for us plans to prosper us not to harm us for a hope and a future.
Amen.
And so this is the idea.
And I'm just so glad I can really relate to this story really about first of all, delay.
Have you ever dragged your feet when God's pulling into a place, you know,
and went kicking and screaming, right?
Or made decisions that kind of derailed where he's taking you to.
And then even doubted when he got you or started bringing you to that place.
I remember even while we were planning this church, I mean, I worked over in
Shalfont Bucks County at Calvary Chapel Central Bucks.
And, and we serve in so many capacities there.
I love that.
We love all the people there.
We had a great time, you know?
And I'll never forget the Solid Rock Cafe, which was this great cafe.
I'll tell you what, our, our fellowship hall is such a great communion of folks.
Don't run out of here at the end of the service.
Make sure you hang out with everybody because it's so much fun hanging out with believers,
isn't it?
And so we would hang out the Solid Rock Cafe.
And, and so it was a great time.
It really was.
And John Hasler, he just like, whatever, like, he let us do anything because the Lord was blessing us,
you know, and, and it was just a great time.
And yet the Lord kept putting this vision and Jill and my mind about like,
we got to start something new starts, you know, we got to, we got to do something entrepreneurial
because I'm an entrepreneur, you know, and, and we got to start something, you know,
create something, you know, but we got it so good here.
You know, I mean, really like we have so much opportunity, you know, and then so,
so I was dragging my feet.
I was delaying and this was back in like 2011.
He started telling us that.
And then the more opportunities at Central Bucks were presented.
I said yes to everything.
I don't know.
What am I doing?
So before you know it, I'm like in charge of this, doing this, doing that.
And I'm like, I'm like all in now at Central Bucks.
And I'm like, I'm not like obeying, you know, I'm stuck.
You know, I'm like, I'm delaying, you know.
And then finally I said, you know, I'm not, I'm no youngster here.
I'm like, I'm 50 years old.
Like, why do I want to like tackle that at this point?
You know, I mean, that's for young kids coming out of seminary thinking
they're going to rule the world and blah, blah, blah, you know, like,
but like that unction, that Holy Spirit just kept saying,
oh, you got to do this.
And the more and more, you know, I just realized I have to do that.
Like we've got to do this.
I finally said, you know, I'm going to help you.
I'm going off payroll and no more, you know, pay.
And I'm going to help you find someone to replace me in these capacities.
And that's what we did.
And we actually during that whole time started
Lansdale Life Church during that whole time.
Because we just said, you know what?
We got to do it.
We just got to like commit.
And finally, I was in Haran long enough.
I delayed.
Okay, I derailed with all these other things I committed to.
And I even doubted 50 years old.
But finally, we just said, just do it, you know, just God will do it, you know,
and and he did praise the Lord, you know, and he's still doing it.
You know, he's not finished with us.
He's not finished with any of us here.
Right.
But so I could totally relate on this delay,
derailed decisions and even doubts, you know,
but the Lord is still carrying you to your hope.
He still has a journey for you.
And even when you delayed, when you made poor decisions, dumb things,
you know, whatever you did, he said, we just forget that.
Let's go.
It's time.
It's go time.
So anyway, so let's read all we're going to finish up here in verse 13.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off.
There it is.
What we just talked about Walt Disney, the Wright brothers,
anyone else you want to think of who did great things.
They were assured of them.
Okay, they were.
They embrace them and they confess that they were strangers.
See, they saw it in verse 13.
They were confident.
They were assured of it.
They embrace them.
In other words, they went all in like, I'm not going back home.
I'm going to continue in this land, even though I don't have a home.
And finally, they confess that they were just strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
I think that's what happens to us.
Sometimes we can become complacent, you know?
I mean, hope is like the idea that we see the landscape in front of us
and it might be a valley.
It might be all kinds of obstacles, but we see a mountain up there.
We know that's where we're supposed to go.
We have to get to the mountain.
So if you keep your eyes fixed on where you're going,
keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ,
you know, the author and finisher of our faith,
we keep our eyes fixed on him.
He takes us there.
We don't get caught up in when things don't go right.
We don't get caught up in pessimism.
And we don't get caught up on like obstacles
that interfere with God's goal for our lives.
We can't, right?
And because we have to trust he's taking us to our future.
If we get, if we start camping out where we are
and we start getting complacent and apathetic
and think, well, you know, this is good enough.
It's not good enough.
He's taking you to somewhere better.
So let's finish up.
Verse 14.
For those who say such things declare plainly
that they seek a homeland.
And truly, if they had called to mind that country
from which they had come out,
they would have had opportunity to return.
But now they desire a better that is a heavenly country.
Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God
for he has prepared a city for them.
What does that verse remind you of there?
He has prepared a city for them.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
John 14.
Behold, I prepare a place for you.
John 14 verses two and three.
Do you have that, Tammy?
He says, and if I go, he says,
in my father's house are many mansions.
And if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you to myself
and that where I am there, you may be also.
You know, he's preparing.
He's preparing a place for us.
And he's preparing us for that place.
You know, it's like he knows the perfect timing.
I just thought of a stupid dad joke,
but I'll give it a shot.
So, so this guy gets to heaven, right?
And it's a taxi cab driver.
Okay, did you hear this one?
And he gets to heaven
and he's with a preacher.
Yeah, this preacher.
So, so anyway, they get in the,
they get in the van with, with Peter, I guess,
and he's driving around.
He's driving through the neighborhoods, you know,
and as he's driving up,
he see, they see this like beautiful, beautiful house.
Okay.
And, and he says, okay, taxi cab driver.
This is your house.
And so, so he gets, I say, wow, you know,
it's beautiful, right?
So, you know, so he goes in
and then meanwhile, Peter keeps driving
and then the preacher's starting to think, wow,
if that, if that taxi cab driver, okay,
got that house, imagine what me, what I will get.
I'm a preacher of the word of God.
I mean, many people have benefited from my preaching.
Okay.
And so they drive up
and they see this kind of humble little shacky thing
and he goes, all right, preacher,
this is your place.
Like, what?
Like, what, that thing?
Like, no, we're not going to do this in heaven.
So this is a dad joke, remember?
And so he said, well, how did that taxi cab driver
get that like mini palace?
And he goes, well, you see,
because when he drove, people prayed.
When you preached, people slept.
Anyway, but he's preparing a place for us, right?
And it's going to be better than we can ever imagine.
Amen.
It's going to be better, you know?
And all these things,
every little trial we go through down here,
it's like, it's going to be nothing
compared to the glory set before us,
ahead of us.
And so, you know, this is the idea that he is,
he has a hope for us.
And, you know, really,
hope is having a big picture.
Again, not getting caught up in the minutia of problems.
I get so, it's sad when I hear people
have such bad experiences in churches, you know?
Because like, no church is perfect.
In fact, somebody told me, Billy Graham said,
you know, if you find a church that's perfect
and you're going to it, you just ruined it.
I don't know if he really said that.
Probably not.
He seems too nice.
Had to be somebody else, right?
Then somebody else.
Anyway, it probably wasn't so harsh.
But like, you know, really, nothing down here
is going to be perfect.
It just isn't, what are we looking for?
Like, it's not going to be perfect,
but we can see perfection when God is guiding us to that.
You know what I mean?
Because he knows where he's leading to, you know?
You know, I love this, you know,
it's the idea like, if we get a big picture, right?
Like something that is beyond,
like God actually takes us
and gives us a better perspective of our life.
It's like Hebrews 6 verses 18 and 19.
It says, you know, that it is impossible for God to lie.
We might have strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast,
which enters the presence behind the veil.
You know, I love that picture of an anchor in heaven.
Isn't that so cool?
Like, you know, you are anchored in heaven,
not in the sea, not in the things of this world.
You're not anchored here.
You know, when people throw an anchor over on a boat or a ship,
it's to stay put, to stay in our place, right?
So we don't get shifted around and move around.
But when we're anchored in the heavenlies with the Lord,
we're anchored where he is.
So no matter what happens down here,
it's like, where are we going, Lord?
Like we're above it.
You know what I mean?
We're like suspended from the obstacles
and trials in this world.
Don't you sense that?
Like when your perspective is from God's point of view,
aren't things so small?
Little problems are like, what's the big deal?
You know, it's like God is so much bigger
than this little issue, you know,
than this little spat I'm having with this person
or, you know, this fragmented relationship.
You know, God's bigger and better than this.
I just have to make it right.
You know, when we see things from God's perspective,
he has the eternal big view.
That's the view we want, right?
Not the incremental little tedious minutia view
that we live day to day because if we see life that way,
we're never going to have the hope needed
to build what God wants to build through our lives.
Like from a tangible sense like Walt Disney
or the Wright Brothers or any other person
who has changed the fabric of humanity
through what they have invented,
the Lord is inventing things through you.
And again, we may not see it all down here,
but we will see it someday.
I love hope.
How about Romans 8, 24, 25?
For we were saved in this hope,
but hope that is seen is not hope.
For why does one still hope for what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see,
we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
You know, when I read that,
sometimes my negative mind starts to say,
say, you mean I'm not going to actually see
like any of this we're talking about
until someday when I get there, you know,
and I receive a crown
and I throw it back at his feet anyway, right?
Or, you know, like, but we do.
You know, the more we hope,
remember, like we just said
that hope never disappoints, okay?
It purifies us, okay?
And in fact, the word,
there's a word that says,
hope deferred makes the bones sick.
We actually get sick, you know?
You know what that means?
It's mean, we do see the evidence of our hope
because there's been so many things
that I just sensed would happen.
I had a vision and I said,
Laura, if this is you,
then like I'm going in.
Like, I just, I want to commit to this
as long as you take me.
And then I saw the evidence
and I don't still hope for that.
Why would you hope for something
you already have, right?
But you build upon it.
Now what, Lord?
What's the next thing
that you want to build, you know?
And look to see it come to fruition.
And that's the idea
because we just go from hope to hope,
faith to faith to hope to hope, right?
And we keep building.
As the worship team comes up,
I was thinking about,
I probably always tell them
to come up too soon
and they're standing up here.
I hope you guys don't mind.
In fact, if you want to do a little like
stuff in the background, you know,
you could do that too.
But I was thinking about like,
like if we have hope
that is higher than our circumstances,
that are bigger than our circumstances,
you know, and we don't see that
this is just good enough, you know?
Because when you see things as good enough,
I remember like Lot in Sodom, you know,
when fire and brimstone rained down
and the Lord took Lot out, okay?
And Lot, and he would have brought him back
to the Promised Land.
Think about that.
Like he had an option to go back
with his uncle, Abe, okay?
And he could have lived in the Promised Land.
And as the angels are dragging him out,
you know, and he's like,
oh, you know, don't look back, you know?
And as he's carrying him and his wife,
and he's like, well, do I have to go too far away?
How about this little town over here?
It's a little town.
Isn't this town okay?
You know, named Zor, okay?
Well, the angels are like,
this guy, he just doesn't grasp.
Like there's so much more
than Sodom and Gomorrah,
and he still wants to hang around here, right?
I think a lot of times we just think,
isn't this good enough?
Like can't I be complacent here?
And even his wife turned around
and turned to a pillar of salt.
Like sometimes we just really don't realize
there's so many better things ahead
if we just trust God is taking us there.
You know, and that's what he's doing.
You know, so many people have said,
isn't this good enough?
Israel did it time and time again.
You know, isn't Egypt good enough?
You know, when they finally were crossing
the Jordan River, two and a half tribes said,
isn't this side of the Jordan good enough?
Like do I have to go into the Promised Land?
Like you're right there.
Are you kidding me?
Like why wouldn't you want to go right in?
And then they got in there
and then they started taking over
and conquering the land
like they're supposed to, right?
And then all of a sudden,
isn't this good enough?
Isn't this enough of the land?
Like these people aren't so bad.
You know, this mediocre life isn't so bad.
It's good enough.
It's not good enough.
No, you're better than this.
We're all better than where we're at right now.
We can all improve in Christ.
And I'm not saying about doing more things
and being, you know,
I'm not talking about success from a worldly level.
I'm saying we can all be better
than we are right now.
Does that make you sad?
That gives me encouragement.
I don't want to think, well, yeah,
what you got right here,
it's the best it's going to get.
You know what happens then?
All right, I'm going back.
You know, no, it's higher.
We're going to go higher.
We're going to go to a higher level.
That's what we want.
We want to keep going until we get taken out
like Elijah in the chariots of fire.
That's what I want, you know?
We know there's something better.
The Lord has given you a vision,
even just like Joseph.
Joseph had these dreams and these visions.
Like, wow, you know,
everyone's going to be bound to me.
You know, I can't imagine this, you know,
but and all of a sudden, there he is,
a slave, like what happened?
But he just still had the vision.
He had the vision.
He had high hopes, right?
I love that panic at the disco song,
High, High Hopes.
Anyway, shouldn't have even said that.
Scrap that from the records.
It's a good song though.
But anyway, but, you know,
but high hopes really,
when we have a high hope, right?
When you're Joseph, you're like,
I'm not going to get like,
I'm going to keep doing what I do.
If this is where I'm at,
I'm going to thrive, right?
Then of course, he gets accused
of something he didn't do.
He gets thrown in prison.
You know, now he's in prison.
What happened to the dreams?
The vision.
But he was committed to the vision.
He was assured of the vision.
He was committed of the vision.
And he wasn't going to stop
until he saw the vision come to fruition.
And he said to the cup bearer,
will you remember me?
Like, can you just tell people about me
and hear that I, you know,
two more years go by,
still in the prison, you know?
But he kept, he held on to the hope.
And we should too.
We have hope.
Even in the midst of trials,
we can lay hold of that hope.
And it's the helmet of salvation, by the way.
We got this hope that it doesn't go away.
Thanks, Tammy.
You know, there's Abraham and Sarah.
I found this picture.
And, you know, they saw the promise, didn't they?
You know, even when it's like 100 years old.
You know, Sarah, 90 years old.
But they saw it, right?
And they were confident.
They were assured the word says, right?
And they embraced it.
You know, they're like, okay,
if this is what you have, Lord.
And then finally, we'll send away Ishmael and Hagar
if they're not part of this equation.
And then finally, they wouldn't rest
until they had the promise.
They wouldn't stop.
Amen.
You know, when things don't go right,
I think we need to just laugh and say,
you know, isn't it amazing?
This is happening right now.
But God's still gonna complete what He started.
I found this picture.
Isn't that the funniest picture?
Like, can't you just picture Abraham and Sarah?
Are you kidding me?
Like, us?
Like, 190 years old?
Not 190, 100.
And she was nine.
But I just love that picture.
Because they're laughing.
They're like, this is just crazy.
And to think greater than the stars in the sky
and the sand on the shores
are gonna be our descendants?
Like, and there they are just laughing.
I think we gotta laugh.
We have to have an Isaac boat.
You know, Isaac's name means laughter.
Abraham laughed.
Sarah laughed.
We gotta name him Isaac.
Laughter.
And the Lord said, you're gonna name him laughter.
You know, I think we have to have levity.
When things aren't going right, we have to laugh.
Because the Lord laughs.
The Lord laughs at our enemies.
He says, you really think you could stand in the way of me and them?
And He laughs, right?
And that's what the...
We have to just have some joy, even in the chaos,
and say, you know what?
The Lord is going to fulfill what He promised to me.
Amen.
Let's all stand up and let's give the Lord a round of applause.
Hallelujah.
Father God, we thank You that we are anchored in the heavenlies
behind the veil where our forerunner is, You Jesus Christ.
We thank You, Lord, that we can keep our eyes fixed on You,
the author and finisher of our faith.
We thank You, Lord God, that nothing is impossible
where You are guiding You will provide.
So, Lord, we ask You to just download new vision into our minds and hearts, Lord God,
that You would bring creativity to our lives that we never had before.
We would see ideas in our minds and just say, that's it.
That's the answer.
Because, Lord God, that's who we are.
We are Your vessels of greatness.
Greatness, Lord God.
We are great in Jesus Christ.
You live in us.
We thank You, Lord, in Jesus' name.
Hallelujah.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His word.
Don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!