Sermon

Hold On

Elation Church

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  1. Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

  2. Elation Church. I've entitled today's message,

  3. Hold On. Look to the person beside you and say,

  4. Hold On. Sometimes we have to hold on. It's not

  5. always the easiest thing to do is to hold on.

  6. Now, the strange thing is you're not really going

  7. to understand what the title of the message.

  8. Really means, fully means until the end. So you

  9. can be thinking about it before we get to the

  10. end. What about that? Everybody say, hold on

  11. one more time. James 3, verses 3 through 5. We

    James 3:3–5

  12. can make a large horse. I found out last week

  13. a horse can be 1 ,200 pounds. I've been saying

  14. 600 pounds. We can make a large... That was two

  15. weeks ago, wasn't it? I remember from two weeks

  16. ago. We can make a large horse go wherever we

  17. want by means of a small bit in its mouth. Everybody

  18. say, wow. So why is this a Bible verse? Here's

  19. some more information for you. Verse 4. And a

  20. small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever

  21. the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds

  22. are strong. Everybody say, wow. Now, this is

  23. factual information, but the Bible's not just

  24. about factual information. Right? We can look

  25. at the encyclopedia for that. This is an illustration.

  26. It's actually two illustrations. Because the

  27. very next verse tells us what God is talking

  28. about when He says, okay, you put a bit in a

  29. horse's mouth, even though the horse is really

  30. big, you actually steer, everybody say steer,

  31. you steer that horse with the bit in its mouth,

  32. and then there's a rudder on a huge ship. It's

  33. small in comparison to the ship, right? But you

  34. can take that rudder and you can steer. See,

  35. they didn't have steering wheels 2 ,000 years

  36. ago. I don't know if you figured that out yet

  37. or not. But in our terminology, we're talking

  38. about a steering wheel, right? I mean, we still

  39. have ships and rudders and horses and bits, but...

  40. The rudder steers the ship. So what is God giving

  41. us these illustrations for? He's saying that

  42. that bit in the horse's mouth and the rudder

  43. on the ship is just like something on your body,

  44. and that is your tongue. Everybody say your tongue.

  45. Verse 5 says, in the same way, just like that,

  46. just like that. The tongue is a small thing.

  47. So if the bit steers and... causes the horse

  48. to go in a certain direction. And if the rudder

  49. steers and causes the ship to go in a certain

  50. direction, God wants us to know in the same way

  51. your tongue steers you and puts you on course

  52. or in a certain direction. Your tongue does.

  53. Even though it's a small thing. And we need to

  54. remember this. Now, some of you are saying, well,

  55. I've heard this now for four weeks. Well, have

  56. you done it yet? I saw a preacher one time say,

  57. you know, everybody keeps saying, well, you just

  58. keep preaching the same thing. He said, well,

  59. I'm going to keep preaching it until you do it.

  60. You're just going to keep preaching that same

  61. message until somebody applies it and becomes

  62. a doer of the Word. Don't worry, the message

  63. is different. It's not the exact same message.

  64. Your tongue steers the direction of your life.

  65. The direction that you're going in determines

  66. the destination. You can't go south and ever

  67. make it to New York. If you go south, you might

  68. get to Key West, but you're not going to get

  69. to New York. So if you want to go to New York,

  70. you better go north. If you want to go to Key

  71. West, you better drive south. Do you understand

  72. what I'm saying? Some of us keep steering our

  73. lives towards Key West when we want our lives

  74. to end up in New York. Not that anybody wants

  75. to go to Key West or New York. Those are figurative.

  76. Everybody say figure two. You want peace. You

  77. want the direction of your life to be taking

  78. you to peace, but your tongue is taking you to

  79. worry and anxiety. I can't get much more plainer

  80. than that. Your tongue determines the direction

  81. and destination of your life. Your words are

  82. important. Look at the person beside you and

  83. tell them, remind them, your words are important.

  84. Your words are important. Proverbs 18, 21. Your

  85. tongue can bring death or life. Those who love

  86. to talk will reap the consequences. So if you

  87. want life, you got to speak. Don't ever expect

  88. for your destination to be life if you're speaking

  89. death. You might say, well, Dean, that's just

  90. all up to God and it has nothing to do with what

  91. I say. Well, God said it does. God said it has

  92. to do what you say. Just throwing it out there.

  93. Somebody smile. I'm not mad at you by telling

  94. you this information. I love you and I'm telling

  95. you this information because I want you to speak

  96. life. If you want your destination to be life,

  97. I want you to speak life. Speaking in agreement

  98. with what God says brings God's promises and

  99. blessings to you. I haven't put it this way yet,

  100. but we're progressing. Look at the person beside

  101. you and say, we're progressing a little bit in

  102. this study. We're moving forward a little bit.

  103. We're getting... Speaking in agreement with what

  104. God says brings God's promises and blessings

  105. to you. But guess what? Speaking in opposition

  106. to what God says moves God's promises and blessings

  107. out of your reach. Selah. Let me sit there and

  108. think about it a minute. Now, we've looked at

  109. David's words. We've looked at Zechariah's words.

  110. We've looked at Mary's words. We've looked at

  111. the shepherd's words. If you haven't listened

  112. to those, you can listen to them on podcast or

  113. Facebook or YouTube. They're all there. All right?

  114. Just go to Alation Church. So today we're looking

  115. at a different story in the Old Testament, but

  116. we've got to set the stage. So, here's where

  117. we are this week. How many of you remember this

  118. story or were here for this series that I entitled

  119. Going to the Promised Land? God's people had

  120. been slaves in Egypt. They hadn't been slaves

  121. all of the 400 years. When they first arrived

  122. there, they were the honored guests. But it turned

  123. out that they became the slaves in Egypt. And

  124. they cried out to God and they wanted to be free.

  125. So God delivered them. He sent a man named Moses.

  126. Are you familiar with the story? He sent a man

  127. named Moses to bring them out of captivity and

  128. to take them somewhere. Where was he taking them?

  129. Everybody say Canaan. But then say the promised

  130. land. You see, God told Abraham that this is

  131. your land. Everywhere your foot treads, it's

  132. yours. I've given it to you. So he had given

  133. it to Abraham and his descendants. And then they

  134. had not been in the land for over 400 years.

  135. And God says, look, I've promised this to you.

  136. It's a land flowing with milk and honey. It's

  137. an amazing place. You're going to move into houses

  138. that you didn't build. You're going to reap from

  139. gardens that you didn't plant. It's going to

  140. be a great place. It's a place for you. And it's

  141. my promise. Everybody say promise. It's my promise

  142. to you. So hold on to that thought of it being

  143. a promise. That promised land was promised by

  144. God. Now, it should have taken them about 11

  145. days to get there. It took them a long time to

  146. get there. God was dealing with them and they

  147. were just complaining and complaining and complaining

  148. and complaining all the time. And God was doing

  149. miracle after miracle after miracle and just

  150. as soon as the miracle was over, they'd start

  151. complaining again. Everybody say wrong words.

  152. Wrong words. But they finally get to the edge

  153. of the promised land and in Numbers 13 verses

    Numbers 13:1

  154. 1 and 2, the Lord now said to Moses, Send out

  155. men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I

  156. am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader

  157. from each of the twelve ancestral tribes. Picking

  158. up verse 17. Moses gave the men these instructions

  159. as he sent them out to explore the land. See

  160. what the land is like. Find out whether the people

  161. living there are strong. Are weak. Few. Are many.

  162. See what kind of land they live in. Is it good

  163. or bad? Do their towns have walls? Or are they

  164. unprotected like open camps? Is the soil fertile

  165. or poor? Are there many trees? Do your best to

  166. bring back samples of the crops you see. So the

  167. spies went into the land. They came back. Was

  168. the soil fertile? Were the crops amazing? I mean,

  169. if it takes two grown men to carry one bunch

  170. of grapes on a pole, that's a lot of grapes.

  171. That's all I'm saying. It's pretty fertile vineyards.

  172. They came back with a report. Here's the report.

  173. Everybody say words. Everybody say promise. God

  174. made them a promise, right? But what are their

  175. words in response to God's promise? This was

  176. their report to Moses. We entered the land you

  177. sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful

  178. country. Everybody say, great place. A land flowing

  179. with milk and honey. Here's the kind of fruit

  180. it produces. Everybody say, good land. Good land.

  181. But... The people living there are powerful,

  182. and their towns are large and fortified. We even

  183. saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. The

  184. Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites

  185. and Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country.

  186. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean

  187. Sea and along the Jordan Valley. Now, it started

  188. out with a good report of the land. But now all

  189. of a sudden it's going downhill. They weren't

  190. speaking in agreement with the promise anymore.

  191. They began speaking in agreement with what they

  192. saw, with what they felt. We're going to see

  193. some things that they felt that they started

  194. saying too. But Caleb knew this was heading in

  195. the wrong direction. So he just interrupted the

  196. other guys. I don't know who the spokesman was.

  197. We don't know his name. We probably don't know

  198. his name because... He gave a bad report. So

  199. he just kind of disappeared in history because

  200. of his bad report. But Caleb tried to quiet the

  201. people. I mean, there's giants, there's all these

  202. fortified places. He knew where they were going,

  203. so he said, wait a minute. He tried to quiet

  204. the people as they stood before Moses. And listen

  205. to what Caleb said. Let's go at once and take

  206. the land. He said, we can certainly conquer it.

  207. Let's go get it. Here's what he's saying. God

  208. said he gave it to us. God promised us this land.

  209. It might take a little bit of fighting, but we're

  210. going to go get it. Let's go. Let's quit talking

  211. about the negative things that we saw. Hello?

  212. Are you with me? Let's quit talking about all

  213. this negative stuff that we saw and let's go

  214. do it because God gave it to us. So let's go

  215. get it. But the other men who had explored the

  216. land with him disagreed. Here's what they said.

  217. Everybody say, they said. We can't go up against

  218. them. They are stronger than we are. We can't

  219. have it. Here's what they said. I know God promised

  220. it to us. But we can't have what God promised

  221. to us because what we saw is bigger than what

  222. we believe. Think about that. So they spread

  223. this bad report. Not only did they tell it to

  224. Moses, they went home and told it to their wives

  225. and kids and told it to everybody. They just

  226. started telling it to everybody. So the bad report

  227. about the land, they spread it among the Israelites.

  228. Here you go. They said the land we traveled through

  229. and explored would devour anyone who goes to

  230. live there. All the people we saw were huge.

  231. Was everyone huge on the first report? There

  232. were just some huge people. Now everyone's huge.

  233. We even saw giants there, the descendants of

  234. Anak. Next to them, here's what they felt. Next

  235. to them, we felt like grasshoppers. And that's

  236. what they thought too. Do you think they talked

  237. to the giants? Do you think they walked up to

  238. the giants and said, what do you think we look

  239. like to you, grasshoppers? No. No. Everybody

  240. say imagination. So they're speaking. what they

  241. saw that was in opposition to the promise of

  242. God, and then they're speaking their feelings,

  243. and then they're speaking their imaginations.

  244. Come on, somebody. God promised them the land.

  245. What was their response to God's promise? Well,

  246. we had ten people. Given a bad response with

  247. their words, with their imagination, with their

  248. feelings. But we had two people who were different.

  249. Caleb and Joshua. Here's the way they responded.

  250. They exhibited faith in God's promise. They were

  251. not moved by what they saw. Their words remained

  252. in agreement with God's promise. Trick question,

  253. unless you've heard me ask it before. Who got

  254. what they said? Who got what they said? Think

  255. about it. It was 40 years, but Caleb and Joshua,

  256. they moved into the promised land. I mean, it

  257. took them a while, but they got what they said.

  258. You know what? The other ten people got what

  259. they said too. They didn't get the promised land.

  260. And the whole journey they kept saying, why did

  261. you bring us out here for us to just die in the

  262. wilderness? They got what they said too. They

  263. died in the wilderness. So everybody got what

  264. they said. Everybody got what they believed.

  265. Everybody got what they said. Thank you for two

  266. smiles. Here's God's response. Numbers 14, 22.

  267. It's what God says. They have all seen my glorious

  268. presence. Remember Mount Sinai? They saw and

  269. heard God. Everybody saw the cloud and the manifest

  270. presence. They have all seen my glorious presence.

  271. They saw the cloud by day and the fire by night.

  272. They have all seen my glorious presence and the

  273. miraculous signs I perform, both in Egypt and

  274. in the wilderness. But again and again, they

  275. have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice.

  276. They will never even see the land. I swore to

  277. give their ancestors. None of those who have

  278. treated me with contempt will ever see it. What's

  279. he saying? The people who don't believe me, the

  280. people who speak out against me, people who don't

  281. believe my promise, and they don't want to move

  282. forward with my promise, they're never going

  283. to see my promise. Never going to see it. But

  284. my servant Caleb has a different attitude than

  285. the others have. He has remained loyal to me,

  286. so I will bring him into the land he explored.

  287. He believed. So he's going to get it. Here's

  288. the deal. Everyone received according to what

  289. they said and according to what they believed.

  290. And if you want to find out what somebody really

  291. believes, just listen to what they say. I haven't

  292. said that yet either, but let's just throw it

  293. out there. Alright? If you want to know what

  294. somebody really believes, what their faith is

  295. really in, listen to their words. Does this actually

  296. apply to us? Just in case you're wondering, let's

  297. go to Hebrews 3 .19. It says this, So we see

  298. that because of their unbelief, they were not

  299. able to enter his rest. Everybody say promise.

  300. Everybody say rest. He's talking about the promised

  301. land, and this is their rest from being slaves

  302. and the traveling. Yeah, there was going to be

  303. some battles. There was going to be some warfare

  304. that was going to take place, but it was actually

  305. a place of rest. I like to call the promised

  306. land the abundant life that God has for us to

  307. live in. And just in case you're wondering, when

  308. I use the word abundant life, I'm not talking

  309. about stuff. Because you can have a lot of stuff

  310. and not have abundant life. I'm going to say

  311. that again. You can have a lot of stuff and not

  312. have abundant life. Because there's a lot of

  313. people with a lot of stuff who commit suicide

  314. on a regular basis. Okay? So abundant life is

  315. bigger than stuff. It's just being filled and

  316. overflowing with love and joy and peace. Being

  317. satisfied with your relationship with God and

  318. in Him. I mean, that's abundant life. I don't

  319. care what you have. That's abundant life. So

  320. we see that because of their unbelief, they were

  321. not able to enter God's rest. God's promise of

  322. entering His rest Still stands. So does this

  323. apply to us? It still stands. So we ought to

  324. tremble with fear that some of you might fail

  325. to experience it. What does that mean? God wants

  326. us to experience His life, His love, His joy,

  327. His peace. And it's a shame if we don't experience

  328. it. It's like, how can you know the promises

  329. of God and not experience it? Well, by not having

  330. faith in them. A faith that's strong enough to

  331. move your mouth. This is good preaching, but

  332. it's hard preaching. Somebody smile at the person

  333. beside you and say, this is good preaching. And

  334. tell them my toes might be hurting just a little

  335. bit, but this is good preaching. For this good

  336. news that God has prepared this rest has been

  337. announced to us just as it was to them. But it

  338. did them no good because they didn't share the

  339. faith of those who listened to God. The difference

  340. was their faith in the promise of God. They're

  341. words in agreement with the promise of God. They

  342. spoke in disagreement or against the promise

  343. of God, so they didn't get it. For only those

  344. who believe can enter His rest. Hebrews 4 verse

    Hebrews 4:3

  345. 3. It takes faith. Just knowing that this is

  346. available to you doesn't make it happen in your

  347. life. Just knowing that salvation is available

  348. doesn't make people saved. They have to respond

  349. in faith. It's by grace, it's by God's unmerited

  350. favor, it's by God's acts of kindness and favor

  351. towards you that we can know Christ and be born

  352. again. But it only happens when we respond in

  353. faith. When we believe. And then the Bible even

  354. says this. Confession is made unto salvation.

  355. When we believe. When we surrender. When we confess

  356. that Jesus is Lord. There has to be a confession.

  357. Not just saying the word. Not just saying the

  358. title. But saying the relationship. Jesus is

  359. Lord. Jesus is my Lord. I've surrendered my life

  360. to Him. I want to live for Him. I want to follow

  361. Him. I want to know Him. Only those who believe

  362. can enter His rest. Only those who believe can

  363. take hold of His promises and see those promises

  364. in their lives fulfilled. Only those who believe.

  365. We have to believe God's promises. We have to

  366. believe. 2 Peter 1, verse 3. By His divine power,

    2 Peter 1:3

  367. God has given us everything we need for living

  368. a godly life. During this series, one of the

  369. whole messages was, don't let your words cancel

  370. out your prayers. Here's the deal. God has already

  371. answered most prayers that you pray. He's already

  372. answered. Hello? He's already answered your prayers.

  373. So quit begging. I can't tell you how much of

  374. my prayer life used to be just begging God. Just

  375. begging. We need to get to the point where we

  376. know what God's promise is already. He's already

  377. promised us something that is an answer to our

  378. prayer. And we're up there begging God and God's

  379. saying, Hello? I've already answered this prayer.

  380. I've already made this answer available to you.

  381. I've already given it to you. You just need to

  382. receive it by faith. You need to quit begging

  383. me for it and receive it. I've known people before

  384. that just begged and begged and begged and begged

  385. for God to save them. Oh God, please. Now, for

  386. us in this room, that's probably strange. I've

  387. had people say that they just can't get saved

  388. and they beg God to save them. How many of you

  389. know that Jesus' work on the cross has already

  390. answered that? It's available. It's available.

  391. You don't have to beg God for it. I'll use my

  392. most common illustration. Peace is already given

  393. to you. Jesus said, I give you my peace. I leave

  394. it with you. Not like the world's peace. It depends

  395. on what's going on around. But my peace is bigger

  396. than that. And I've already given it to you.

  397. So we don't need to beg him for peace anymore.

  398. We need to receive the peace that he gave us

  399. by faith. He is Yahweh Shalom. He is peace. By

  400. his divine power, God has given us everything.

  401. Look to the person beside you and say, everything.

  402. God's already given you everything you need for

  403. living a godly life. It's already been given

  404. to you. Listen, we have received all of this

  405. by coming to know Him. It's part of being in

  406. Christ. The one who called us to Himself by means

  407. of His marvelous glory and excellence. And because

  408. of His glory and excellence, look at the person

  409. beside you and say, God's a good God. Because

  410. of His glory and excellence, He has given us

  411. great and precious promises. Hundreds of promises

  412. that God has made to you. Hundreds. I think it's

  413. more than a thousand. I think it's more than

  414. a couple of thousand if you look at the promises

  415. in the Bible. There's a lot of things that God

  416. has promised to you. And the majority of them

  417. probably aren't evident in your life today. Here's

  418. the deal. It's not God's fault. God is not holding

  419. out on you. He's given us great and precious

  420. promises. These are the promises. Does anybody

  421. ever get knocked around by the world? The flesh?

  422. The devil? Anybody get knocked around and beat

  423. up a little bit every once in a while? Well,

  424. the promises of God enable you to share God's

  425. divine nature and escape the world's corruption

  426. caused by human desires. I did not write this.

  427. I'm just delivering the message. So God has given

  428. you great and precious promises that will enable

  429. you to escape the world's corruption caused by

  430. human desires. And in view of all this, get this,

  431. Make every effort to respond. Everybody say respond.

  432. See, it's our responsibility to respond. I didn't

  433. write this. In view of all this, make every effort

  434. to respond to God's promises. We have to respond

  435. to God's promises. We don't just sit back and

  436. say, God, I know you promised it, so I'm just

  437. going to sit here and wait. Why isn't it showing

  438. up in my life, God? You promised it. Why isn't

  439. it here? Why are you holding out on me, God?

  440. Why? Faith is what's missing. What is your response

  441. to God's promises? What is your response? Here's

  442. the deal. You will receive according to what

  443. you believe and what you say. But I don't want

  444. any responsibility, God. I just want you to zap

  445. me with it or the preacher to zap me with it.

  446. I don't want any responsibility. See? You're

  447. going to receive according to what you believe

  448. and what you say. Are you going to respond to

  449. God's promises with words of faith or words of

  450. unbelief? It's up to you. You might say, what

  451. did Jesus say about it? Mark 11, 22 and 23. Here's

  452. what Jesus said. He says, have faith. We're talking

  453. about faith. Have faith in God. Don't have faith

  454. in yourself. Don't have faith in your imagination.

  455. Don't have faith in your feelings. Have faith

  456. in God. Because when we have faith in God, we're

  457. connected to the source that can do something

  458. about it. So he is able. He is all powerful.

  459. He's the one who can do something. So let's have

  460. faith in him. Let's have faith in what he's promised.

  461. Let's have faith in what he said. Have faith

  462. in God. The disciples were like, wait a minute.

  463. That fig tree, last night you spoke to it. Everybody

  464. say spoke. You spoke to it, and then today it's

  465. withered up from the roots. So what's going on

  466. here, Jesus? So Jesus said, have faith in God.

  467. For assuredly, I say to you. He didn't have to

  468. say that, but he just wants to make sure you

  469. know he's serious in saying it. Assuredly, I

  470. say to you, what I'm about to tell you is the

  471. truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

  472. For assuredly, for assuredly, I say to you, what

  473. did Jesus say? Whoever says, everybody hold up

  474. one finger, says. Because our words are going

  475. to be the result of what we truly believe. Keep

  476. that finger up. Whoever says to this mountain,

  477. Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does

  478. not doubt in his heart, but believes. Everybody

  479. hold a finger on another hand for believe. So

  480. now we're equal, right? Saying and believing

  481. is equal. Be removed and cast into the sea, does

  482. not doubt in his heart, but believes that those

  483. things which he says will be done. He will have

  484. whatever he says. Why do you think it says say

  485. three times and believe one time? We focus in

  486. on believing and don't focus in on saying, but

  487. Jesus said say three times and He only said believe

  488. one time. So everybody show me three fingers.

  489. You need to say three times as much as you say

  490. you believe. Because out of the abundance of

  491. the heart, out of what you are, Just completely

  492. in agreement with. When you get to that point,

  493. you're going to talk. Out of the abundance of

  494. the heart, the mouth speaks. If your faith isn't

  495. big enough to move your mouth, it's not going

  496. to move your mountain. If your faith isn't big

  497. enough to move your mouth, it's not going to

  498. move your fear. It's not going to move your worry.

  499. It's not going to move your anxiety. It's not

  500. going to... Move your temptation. If your faith

  501. isn't big enough to move your mouth. And, you

  502. know, I've read verses before where God said,

  503. you know what? If all you're going to do is talk

  504. about your trouble, just quit talking. And we

  505. looked at Zechariah. Remember Zechariah? Several

  506. weeks ago we talked about Zechariah. The angel

  507. of God appeared and said, Zechariah, God has

  508. heard your prayer. Here's the answer to your

  509. prayer. You've been praying this prayer, praying

  510. this prayer, praying this prayer. You and your

  511. wife Elizabeth, you've been praying and praying

  512. and praying and praying and praying and praying

  513. for a son. I know now that you're old and you

  514. probably don't think you're going to have one,

  515. but guess what? God's heard your prayer. And

  516. his words that flowed out of his mouth, instead

  517. of praising God and saying, wow, this is awesome,

  518. God. Thank you for answering our prayer. We're

  519. so excited that we're going to have a son. The

  520. angel called out his words as being words of

  521. unbelief. And guess what? God knew. That the

  522. power of life and death was in his tongue. So

  523. he just shut him up for nine months. Because

  524. that answer to prayer had to do with messianic

  525. prophecy. But nothing going to mess that one

  526. up. Here's my last verse. Let us hold fast. Everybody

  527. say, hold on. See, this is where the title came

  528. from. Hold on. I've been putting it like this.

  529. With bulldog tenacity. Hold on. Like a bulldog

  530. latched on a knot on the end of a rope. You can

  531. pick that dog up in the air and he's still fighting

  532. that knot. He's not letting go of that knot.

  533. Just like my grandpuppy. I gave her a big old...

  534. It kind of scared her at first because I gave

  535. her a Christmas present. My grandpappy, I gave

  536. her a big orange gorilla, the biggest toy she's

  537. ever owned. This gorilla, the body is bigger

  538. than her head, and she's a... But guess what?

  539. If you try to take it from her today, she's holding

  540. on with bulldog tenacity. You can't get it out

  541. of her mouth unless she lets you get it out of

  542. her mouth. Let us hold fast! Why do we hold him

  543. fast? Does anybody know what a confession is?

  544. Does anybody know what a confession is? What's

  545. a good confession? You don't know what a good

  546. confession is? A good confession is an agreement

  547. with what God said. Caleb had a good confession

  548. when he gave his report. Would you agree with

  549. me? He had a good confession. He says, God promised

  550. it, let's go get it. We can have it because God

  551. promised it. Let us hold fast to the confession

  552. of our hope. Everybody say hope. I'm going to

  553. tell you again, the Greek word in the New Testament

  554. that's translated hope for us is the word elpo,

  555. E -L -P -O. It doesn't mean hope so. It doesn't

  556. mean wish. Never in the Bible does that word

  557. hope mean wish or hope so. That's what it means

  558. in English. That's what it means in our language.

  559. That's not what it means in the Bible. Here's

  560. what it means in the Bible. Confident expectation.

  561. And you're so confident that you can anticipate

  562. it with pleasure. That's what hope means. Confident

  563. expectation. And before it is manifest in your

  564. life, you're just anticipating it with pleasure.

  565. You're already happy about it before it happens.

  566. That's what hope is. Let us hold fast the confession

  567. of our hope. Now, how could we hold fast to a

  568. confession of our hope and have confident expectation?

  569. We can't do that unless our hope and our confession

  570. is anchored in God and His faithfulness. You

  571. know what? I might let you down one day. I don't

  572. want to, but I might let you down. Right? Has

  573. anybody ever let somebody down before? You've

  574. let somebody down. I might let you down. Guess

  575. what? God will never let you down. I could have

  576. every intention of washing your car this afternoon,

  577. and I could tell you that I'm going to wash your

  578. car. But there are things out of my control.

  579. I might not be able to wash your car, even though

  580. I really wanted to. You see what I'm saying?

  581. But there's nothing that is out of God's control.

  582. That could keep him from keeping his promise.

  583. Woo! Let us hold fast the confession of our hope

  584. without wavering. Now here's the key. Can't have

  585. confident expectation right now and then kind

  586. of lose it. And then say, well, I'm going to

  587. have confident expectation again, but now I see

  588. something and oh man. That's probably never going

  589. to happen. Probably never going to happen. It's

  590. called wavering. Wavering. We've got to hold

  591. fast to our words that are based on a promise

  592. of God and we're confidently expecting and we've

  593. got to keep on confidently expecting. You know

  594. why we can keep on confidently expecting? Keep

  595. reading. For he who promised is faithful. You

  596. got to keep confidently expecting even though

  597. what you see is not in agreement with the promise.

  598. Even though you see some giants and fortified

  599. walls and cities. You've got to keep it on the

  600. confident expectation that God has said, this

  601. is mine, this is promised to me, and it's mine,

  602. let's go get it. Are you with me? You can't say,

  603. well, I don't know, these are big guys, but I'm

  604. confident, I'm confident. I don't know, these

  605. fortified cities, I feel like a grasshopper.

  606. Oh, I'm confident. Here's why you've got to hold

  607. fast. Because you have a promise from God. And

  608. it doesn't matter what I see because I don't

  609. walk by sight. I walk by faith. I don't walk

  610. by feelings. I walk by faith. I don't walk by

  611. every thought that comes into my mind because

  612. the enemy's got some flaming arrows that are

  613. trying to get you to not confidently expect.

  614. anticipate with pleasure. When those hit, you

  615. don't just fall for that. Why? Because I've got

  616. a good God and I've got a faithful God. He keeps

  617. His promises. So I'm going to stand. This is

  618. the hill I'm going to stand on. God's a good

  619. God. God keeps His promises. He's faithful. He's

  620. faithful. So here's the DFV. Dean Forrest's version.

  621. After looking up the words. I'm not a Bible translator,

  622. but you can look up these words and you will

  623. agree with my DFV translation. DFV, Dean Forrest's

  624. version, if you're trying to figure that out.

  625. No matter what you see or feel, hold on. Everybody

  626. say, hold on. Hold on to joyful words of confident

  627. expectation. No matter what you see or feel.

  628. Hold on to those joyful words of confident expectation

  629. concerning the promises of God. Concerning those

  630. promises being fulfilled in your life. Hold on

  631. to some joyful words of confident expectation.

  632. And here's a warning. Never speak against the

  633. promises of God. Everybody say, that's wavering.

  634. When we speak against the promises of God, that's

  635. wavering. Don't expect anything if you're back

  636. and forth. Wish I had the verse over here. Double

  637. -minded man is unstable in all of his ways. Don't

  638. expect anything from God if you're just going

  639. to be back and forth all the time. Never speak

  640. against Him. Why do we not need to speak against

  641. the promises of God? Because God is faithful

  642. and He always keeps His promises. And you've

  643. got to be sold out on that. If you're going to

  644. be a person of faith and receive the promises

  645. of God, you've got to be sold out that God is

  646. faithful. If God said it, I can take it to the

  647. bank. Because God is faithful and He always keeps

  648. His promises. Now there's some promises that

  649. He's made me that, hey, it's been years have

  650. passed. I'm not talking about, you know, if it

  651. ain't here in five minutes, we're going to give

  652. up and start wavering. If it's not here by Friday,

  653. we're going to give up and start wavering. If

  654. it's not here by the end of the month, well,

  655. it ain't going to happen. Well, you just spoke.

  656. And it's not going to happen. And you're going

  657. to get what you believe and what you say. This

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