The Gift of Hope | Pastor Darren Palmer | Faith Church

I feel like there's a refreshing spirit in this

place that wants to give people something perhaps

that they haven't had in a while, and that is

the gift of hope. Hope. Hope deferred. makes

the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a

tree of life. Praise God. He wants to give people

hope. I'd like you to turn with me to Ephesians

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 hallelujah hallelujah

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Paul in Ephesians chapter 1 offers one of what

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

we have come to call the apostolic prayers and

they are places in the New Testament where the

Apostles Many by Paul in his letters, but others

as well, actually pray prayers for the church

that are powerful. And this is one of them. And

in verse 16, he says, I have not stopped giving

thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

Remembering you in my prayers. I believe... that

God is calling our church to a new season. And

part of that new season is fanning prayer into

flame. I want you to join me in prayer. There's

an act of obedience that God has called me to.

And in fact, I don't think it was an audible

voice, but it felt like one. I've never heard

the audible voice of God. It felt like one because

I was sleeping, and I was in that place where

I was half asleep and half awake. Have you ever

been there when, and God sometimes can speak

to you. Now sometimes it can just be your own

imagination. You need discernment in it for sure,

but God can speak to you in that place. And there

I was and I felt the Lord speak to me and say

this, mobilize the seniors in the region to pray.

And I woke up and I felt that just. go into me

just and something is going to happen. A movement

that goes way beyond this house that mobilizes

people that thought that they were forgotten.

And God brought me to Simeon and to Anna in the

New Testament that were waiting for God to work

that had given themselves for in one case. decades

had been giving themselves to prayer and God

wants to mobilize people that thought that they

were forgotten to re -engage in the kingdom in

an assignment that they can fulfill. Intercession.

And so I feel like God is about to bring us into

a new season. And I just throw that out there

for you to pray with me because I don't know

what that's gonna look like yet. But I believe

that God is gonna mobilize seniors. One reason,

because seniors have time. Another reason because

seniors have seen God work and move. But this

is not to get together and reminisce about the

old days. It's not to get together and to just

talk about all of the difficulties that we're

having as seniors. You know, the older I get,

the more people talk about their body functions.

Am I wrong? You what? The other side. Organ recital.

Organ recital. Oh, recycle, recycle. Oh, yeah,

yeah, yeah. This and that. But I want to see

I want to see seniors help usher in the new move

of God for the next generation, for their generation,

but for the next generation. I believe a key

to what God is doing is the older generation

imparting into the younger generation. Amen?

Amen? Praise God. And so he says, I remember

you in my prayers. How many of you prayed for

Faith Church this week? Oh, wow. Look at that.

Look at that. That is incredible. You don't know

how encouraged I am right now because this is

the reason God is working, because people are

praying. Hallelujah. as we increase prayer for

one another for the church God begins to move

in power and he begins to do incredible things

I have not stopped giving thanks to you remembering

you in my prayer hallelujah Connie do you want

to share your testimony come on up here I want

Connie to share what what happened in her life

recently and this happens because of prayer At

the first of the year I told the Lord I really

want to dig in I want to know him more and Deeper

and one thing I was praying was God your perfect

love casts out all my fear And I didn't have

any particular fear at that time But it I just

wanted to pray that over and over after I prayed

it for a few months I was having trouble with

my eye And they took a picture of it and said,

my ocular nerve is swollen, which is usually

a sign of MS. So he sent me to a neurologist.

And they took all sorts of pictures and stuff.

And he said, I want you to take one more test.

It's a lumbar puncture. And then I'll decide

definitely that you have MS. I said, so there's

a chance? He said, no, there's no chance. He

said, well, next time you come in, we'll discuss

medicine and our treatment plan. And what he

didn't know was I served the great physician

and I have wonderful Christian praying friends

and I had no fear and I think Lord had been preparing

me all that time and I had no fear and I went

into the thing I took my son and we were sitting

there and the doctor opens the thing and he looked

at it and he said Your spinal fluid is clear

He looked at it again and he was reading and

he goes you don't have any sign of MS Come on

give God a shout of praise. Yeah Hallelujah Oh,

glory to God. Now, we don't know if she just

never had it or if God healed her from it, but

she's had symptoms. And we're believing, we're

believing in this house for an increase in miracles

and for God to be touched. Two weeks ago, on

Monday, I got a bunch of texts that people forwarded

me. There was a back that was healed. There was

a shoulder that was healed. There was something

else, a hand, a hand that was healed right, right

down there, right down there. God is touching

people in small ways and in big ways in things

that only He can do. And do you know why that

happens? Because we pray. Yes. Wow. Wow. Praise

God. That's amazing. That's the power of God

at work. And that's what Paul said. Paul said,

when I came to you, brothers, I did not come

with wise words of human wisdom. He didn't want

their faith to rest upon his ability to persuade.

Because friend, if you can be persuaded by words

into Christianity, guess what? Somebody smarter

is going to come along. and will persuade you

with words out of Christianity. And Paul said,

I don't wanna just give human words of wisdom.

He said, I came to you. When I came, I came with

a demonstration of the Spirit's power. Hallelujah.

So that your faith might not rest merely on words

of teaching, but that your faith might rest upon

the power of God. Hallelujah. Oh, glory to God.

My son. who's away from the Lord. One of the

last things he said to me is, Dad, I could never

deny God. I've seen too much. I've seen too much.

Do you know what is in his heart? The demonstration

of the Spirit's power. Glory to God. Okay, I

gotta get to my word this morning. Because prayer

is the foundation of it all. And it's no wonder

the enemy works so hard to keep you and to keep

me out of the prayer closet. He works overtime

to distract you and to keep you from praying.

But we are in covenant relationship with one

another. And so we're praying for one another

and we're believing God. We are standing with

you. We are standing with you. Amen? We are standing

with you. Praise God. We're standing with each

other glory to Jesus Joshua was in the valley

fighting But Moses was up on the mountain with

his hands raised up and as long as Moses continued

with his hands raised up in intercession Joshua

fighting the battle was victorious glory to God

verse 17 This is my main text this morning And

I'm reading in the New International Version

today because of how this verse is phrased in

verse 17. I keep asking that the God of our Lord

Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you

the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you

may know Him better. Isn't that good? I want

to I want to read that verse one more time I

keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ

the glorious father may give you the spirit of

wisdom and revelation So that you might know

him better This is called discipleship This is

what it's all about Becoming a follower of Jesus

Christ knowing him more and More now we're gonna

talk about some keys to that and some some things

that will happen as you know Jesus more and more

Primarily we talk we just talked about miracles,

but you know what we are not miracle chasers

Right We are not just after the latest goose

bumps and We go through seasons as a church where

it feels like God isn't working as much in the

realm of miracles our Faith and our in our foundation

and our pursuit Primarily is not miracles Our

pursuit is Jesus the miracle worker Amen We are

not just looking to his hand We are looking in

his face Amen Now as you have children you have

children, you know, they often look to your hand

Right. I want I need I wish Can I do this? Can

I do that? Can I have some money? You know what

they're looking for? Your hand. And you know

what? Your hand is a good thing. Aren't you glad

your kids don't look to somebody else's hand?

But they're looking to you. God designed family

for kids to look to the hand of their mom and

dad. But as they grow up, my daughter's birthday

was yesterday, and she turned 28. she's out she's

out west on the coast sitting by the ocean looking

at looking at not seals the bigger one not a

walrus what'd you say no sea lion sea lion she

was watching a sea lion swim in the ocean while

she was talking with us it was awesome actually

And you know what? She doesn't look at our hand

anymore. You know what she does? She looks at

our face. Because now it isn't about what mom

and dad can do for her. It's about relationship.

And we are in pursuit not of what Jesus can just

do for us. But we are in pursuit Him Jesus I

want to know you I Want to know you better I

want to know you more Hallelujah Hallelujah There's

little ones in the house today And we can hear

them it's wonderful if you ever had a little

one That you try to lock eyes with that little

one and it just looks everywhere else But doesn't

it feel good when all the sudden they just stop

and they just look at you. I love that Because

they see and so often times we're looking so

many other places But God wants us to know him

Do you understand the privilege that it is to

be invited to know Jesus? To walk in relationship

with Jesus? To know God? This has been His heart

all along. He wants His people to know Him. Hallelujah.

Glory to God. Let me read to you some verses

John 17 verse 3 Now this is eternal life That

John 17:3

they know you The only true God and Jesus Christ

whom you have sent This is eternal life that

they know you The the scriptures honestly were

talking about what heaven is like. There is really

not a lot of material in the Bible about what

heaven is like. There is a little bit in Revelation,

but people ask me all the time, is my pet going

to be in heaven? Am I going to have relationship

with my spouse in heaven? Some of those answers

are very obscure. There's a few verses. We don't

know a lot. And so we know some things that are

for sure about heaven, but this is eternal life.

Not that you have been healed of this or that,

not that you have gone through religious exercise,

all of that. This is eternal life, that you know

Jesus, that you are walking with Jesus. Hallelujah

now Enoch did not know the Lord as Jesus because

he hadn't been revealed the the Son of God has

not had not been revealed until the New Testament

as Jesus but Enoch in the book of Genesis has

an incredible testimony and Enoch it says it

says of Enoch that he Let me just read it to

you. Genesis 5, 21. When Enoch had lived 65 years,

he became the father of Methuselah. After he

became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked

faithfully with God for 300 years and had other

sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a

total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with

God, and he was no more because God took him

away. This is the substantive testimony that

we have from Scripture about Enoch. There's some

extra biblical works about Enoch, but in the

Scriptures, this is what we have. Enoch walked

faithfully with God. Do you know what that sounds

like to me? That Enoch knew God. He had a relationship

with God. Nothing else is revealed. All the testimonies

along the way of this happening and that happening

are not recorded. Just the fact that Enoch walked

faithfully with God. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Wouldn't that be awesome for that to be said

about every person from faith church? That we

walked faithfully with God Whatever else happens

Whatever else takes place praise the Lord for

it, but the people of faith church know God and

They walk with him. Oh hallelujah How many of

you are on that journey? now listen knowing God

and walking with God is incremental it is incremental

it is you start on the journey when you receive

him as your Lord and Savior and So you get on

the path But then there is this growing in your

relationship with God an understanding of who

he is that increases. And Paul knew this because

he experienced it in his own life. He thought

that a relationship with Jesus, he thought that

all that was just cultish. In fact, he was trying

to squelch it out, but then guess what happened?

He met Jesus. He met Jesus on the road to Damascus

and he went, whoa, I was wrong all this time.

And he got on the road and he began a relationship

with Christ that increased and increased and

increased. And so as he is praying for the Ephesian

church, he says, I am praying that you might

know him. Better and better. More and more. And

that's my heart for you. Now I want to ask you,

Christian, that, you know, how many of you have

been a Christian for longer than 15 years? Okay.

Longer. So how many of you less than 15 years

have been walking with Jesus? Okay, fewer hands

are up. This is a church of a lot of established

believers. When you are an established believer,

it can become easier to coast. Right? It can

become easier to just rely on the fact, well,

I'm in it now. I'll be in it. I know I'll be

in it. And you quit. having expectation of increased

relationship with Jesus. The newer you are in

the faith the easier it is to get excited about

every little thing that you discover. But Paul

did not allow that to be part of his life. In

fact, at the end of his life, I don't have this

in my notes, I don't have the exact scripture

reference this morning, but at the end of his

life, he said, I want to know Christ. Sharing

in the sufferings of fellowship, of everything

that Paul had experienced, he was still pressing

into more of God. I want something fresh to come

on you today that will say, Jesus, there's more

of you for me to have. There's more of you for

me to know. There's more of you. And so I'm believing

for something fresh. Perhaps you feel like you've

stagnated in your walk with God. The Lord wants

to jumpstart you this morning, and He wants to

get you going. Hallelujah. And He wants to get

you seeking and pressing in and having expectation

of Him again. Hallelujah. Jeremiah chapter 9

Jeremiah 9 · chapter mention

says this. This is what the Lord says, nor the

strong boast of their strength, or the rich boast

of their riches." Now, let me tell you something.

This is all things God does. Okay? God gives

wisdom, right? But let not the wise boast of

that wisdom. God gives strength, right? He gives

strength. Isaiah 40, it's the promise. They that

wait upon the Lord shall renew there When you

got that word from the doctor Connie, did you

feel strength come into you? Yes Strength comes

from God. It's something that we need but let

not the strong boast of their strength or the

rich boast of their riches is there anybody in

this room that got wealth from Somewhere else

than from the Lord. It all comes from him. Right?

These are things that God gives. He gives wisdom.

He gives strength. He gives riches. Oh, but let

us not boast in that. Let's not boast in those

outward fruits of our relationship with God.

But let the one who boasts boast about this that

they have the understanding to know me that I

am the Lord who exercises kindness and justice

and righteousness on the earth for in these I

delight If you're gonna boast, make this your

boast. God's given me understanding to know Him.

And I've discovered that He is good. And that

He is kind. And that He loves people. Lord, you

are here in this moment right now. Do you know

that one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to

enable you to know God? Do you think He's big

enough to do His job? Yeah? Let me read a verse

from 1 John chapter 5. Verse 20 says, we know

1 John 5 · chapter mention

also that the Son of God has come and has given

us understanding so that we might know Him who

is true. And we are in Him who is true by being

in His Son Jesus Christ He is the true God and

eternal life If you don't know how to increase

in your relationship with God guess what you

can do You can ask God to help you Lord give

me understanding of who you are Do you think

that if you pray that that God will answer it?

He certainly will Lord my prayer this morning

isn't that you would bless me or that you would

heal me or that you would provide for me My prayer

this morning is that you would help me Understand

you more Do you think that God will answer that

prayer throughout your day? Oh, He will. He will.

He doesn't just want to do things for you. He

wants to walk with you. More than that, He wants

you to walk with Him. Hallelujah. There's a difference,

you know. We find that out every time we go to

Kickapoo Park Because the sign there's a sign

on the gate that says walkers go this way Well,

which of us Kami or myself Do you think is more

of the rule follower? So which way do you think

I want to go? I want to go left every time. Do

you know what I discover in that moment? I discover

this, she's not walking with me, I'm walking

with her. Because she goes this way to follow

the rules and which way do you think I go? You

know sometimes we say Jesus I Want you to walk

with me, but there is a difference when we say

Lord I Want to walk with you There is a yieldedness

There is a humility There is a willingness Hallelujah

Hallelujah now So we want to know the Lord. Three

things that need to happen. These are my three

points. One minute for each point. Jesse is laughing

at me. Verse 18. I pray that the eyes of your

heart might be enlightened. Linda prayed this

this morning in prayer Lord let the eyes of our

heart be enlightened You have eyes in your spirit

that go beyond your physical eyes isn't that

right brother bill we have eyes in our spirit

and Those are the eyes that are blinded before

we come to the Lord But when we come to the Lord

just like Saul our spiritual eyes are opened

And Paul is praying for the believers, and he's

saying, God, keep their eyes open. And what are

they open for? May be enlightened in order that

you might know the hope to which he has called

you. Hope. Hope. Now the verse says other things.

But I want to focus on this because we live in

a hopeless world. But Jesus wants his people

to walk in hope and victory. And that can happen,

friend, this morning because our hope is not

rooted in temporal things. Our hope is rooted

in eternity. Glory to God. Our hope is rooted

on where we're headed. Hallelujah Cathy's looking

at her watch am I over a minute? I'm over a minute

already God wants to restore hope to his people

Shake your neighbor right now and say God wants

you to walk in hope Glory to God. He wants you

to walk in hope. He wants you to walk in victory

Not because of your circumstance in fact the

glory of the church is that we don't lose our

hope even in seasons of suffering even in seasons

of difficulty Connie did not lose hope even before

she got the good news and So it does not matter

the believer has hope beyond the grave and So

that's the hope that we walk in in Jesus name

if you have sacrificed your hope pray, God, enlighten

my eyes that I might understand the hope that

you've called me to. You want me to be a believer

that, God, you are going to do it. God, you are

going to make a way. God, you are going to come

through. God, you want me to walk in hope. When

nobody else has hope, believers should have hope

in Jesus' name. Glory to God. Eyes of your heart

being enlightened. Secondly, as you know Christ,

as you make Christ your aim and your understanding,

don't be surprised when His power manifests in

greater ways in your life. Verse 19, His incomparably

great power for who? for us Who believe The power

of God is something that Pentecostal people talk

about often because it is our portion Okay, I

just got done saying we're not chasing miracles

we're chasing Jesus But as we know him better

the power of God is going to work amongst you

in incredible ways What's the source of that?

Let's keep reading. That power is the same as

the mighty strength he exerted when he raised

Christ from the dead. If you believe in the resurrection,

that took an incredible amount of power. for

God to raise. In fact, He stretched forth, the

Father stretched forth His right hand to raise

Jesus out of the grave. And what Paul is saying

is we have no different source, that our power

is exactly the same. Now we need our understanding

of that power to increase. so that we can tap

into it, so that we can see it work and see it

operate. It's no wonder Paul saw peculiar miracles.

He didn't glory in the miracles. He gloried in

the God that gave them. As you pursue Jesus,

the power of God will increase in your life.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. And finally,

there is There is so much more in these verses

that happen. But Jesus is in love with His body,

the church. I want you to look around right now.

I don't know offhand how many people are in this

room, maybe a hundred. or in the building, maybe

100, maybe 75 in this room right now, I don't

know. This is your church family. And Jesus loves

the body of Christ. He calls his church his body.

Just got this picture of him being a bodybuilder.

Listen to the description of Paul concerning

the church in verse 23. His body The fullness

of Him that's Jesus the body is the fullness

of Jesus Who fills everything in every way The

church is the fullness of Christ Jesus fills

everything in every way But the church is the

fullness of Jesus Wow The church is not just

a building on a corner The church is the fullness

of Christ And people have come to the conclusion

that I do not need the church. I'm a lover of

Jesus. I love Jesus. I follow Jesus. I don't

have anything to do with the church. And I do

agree that there are groups of people that are

masquerading as the church. That are not the

church. But the church that he is building The

church that that Jesus shed his blood for to

purchase from every tribe and every tongue and

every nation That church is the fullness of Christ

And when we come against the church We are coming

against Jesus I don't understand at all. It's

a mystery. It's a mystery. He loves his body.

He loves this small expression. There's over

a billion, some people say close to two billion,

forms of Christianity people in the earth today.

Two billion. We have about a hundred of them.

Pretty small deal, but not to Jesus. This church

is the expression of the fullness of Christ.

In each of us lives the King of Kings and the

Lord of Lords. Every single one of you that are

following Christ can can teach me something about

Christ that I haven't currently known We need

each other We need each other so I love what

happens at breakfast tables around the tables

people talking about What Jesus has done for

them if you've not been to breakfast tables at

at nine o 'clock? Come an hour early And you're

sharing Jesus with each other. You're not looking

at the back of somebody's head listening to a

sermon that's probably too long. You're touching.

You are touching people. You are imparting what

God has done in your life to others. I encourage

you to become a part of faith groups because

you're going to share Jesus with other people.

Ladies, go to the bonfire this Saturday night.

You're going to share Jesus with somebody. Amen?

Part of the fullness of Christ is locked in you,

and you share that with the other believers,

and the believers grow and become everything

that God wants us to be. It's why It's why it's

so vital that we're in relationship with one

another more and more And so these three things

as we draw near to Jesus as we know him better

and better our Hope increases the power of God

increases our love and affection and connection

to the body increases Why because we are after

his heart. Oh Hallelujah Hallelujah If you are

new to the church family, I want you to know

that there this this church is not perfect Because

I'm a part of it But I want you to know that

this church has love for one another and we stand

with one another. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise

God. My new friend back there, Carlos, that C

stands for Carlos. And his wife and beautiful

family are from Puerto Rico. This is their second

Sunday here. And I just want to welcome you guys.

And I want you to know that we are in your corner.

And we are going to love you and your family.

And we're going to care about you and your family.

Others of you that are here. The body of Christ

is so important. I told you three minutes and

it's been 15. But can you sense the love of God

in this room? I pray that the eyes of your heart

will be enlightened. Hope. Power. Love. The spirit

of wisdom and revelation. That you might know

him better He loves us oh He loves us oh He loves

us oh He loves us. Oh He loves us. Oh He loves

us. Oh He loves us. He loves us. He loves us

Oh He loves us Oh He loves Hallelujah Lord I

pray for the people in this room. I feel like

we're all at an altar together right now I just

ask God that you would stir in your people hope

Lord some in this room have had their eyes on

the wrong thing They've had their eyes on their

on their family on their spouse on their kids

Not that they shouldn't be concerned But they

have not had their eyes on Jesus this morning

Lord I pray that you would help us to get our

eyes back on Jesus that hope will be restored

God I pray that the power of God would be made

manifest in our midst not just here in this building

but in living rooms and bedrooms in phone conversations

and in in social media I pray God that the power

of God will be released. And God, I pray that

our love for one another will get bigger and

bigger and bigger as we draw near to Jesus. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. And everybody's sad. Amen.