2025-12-07 - Wish List - Hope

[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the Sermon Podcast from Church at The Well and Telsin, Maryland.

[SPEAKER_01]: To learn more about Church at The Well, visit our website, Thewellboltmore.com.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now, here's today's Sermon from our pastor, Dane Carreway.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, first of all, I got to say last week, our church went above and beyond with filling the barrel.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to say a big thank you to everybody whom to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: The report I was given was that the bearer was so full that we literally had to go find another ministry to give stuff to.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I was here on Monday or Tuesday, I was here late in the week to make sure that the bearer got shipped.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I made it from that corner to about where the table is trying to move it by myself before I decided that I needed help.

[SPEAKER_00]: The barrel going up on the power lift don't back of the truck.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like this is kind of going kind of slow You guys must have really failed the barrel.

[SPEAKER_00]: So good job church.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how heavy these things usually are I don't know if they're gonna charge his extra when it gets to the ship, but we did a good job

[SPEAKER_00]: I've talked to Ms. Lathia, who is going to be meeting our barrel in Jamaica.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's good to have transparency with our church.

[SPEAKER_00]: They told us that because of the some of the ports not being fully, what's where we're like.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, fully operational, that it may not make it there by Christmas.

[SPEAKER_00]: They said definitely by New Years, but it may not make it there for kids to open up a Christmas day.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, I need to remember, it's an island.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're not doing Christmas trees, you know, like we would think of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, we'll make it there in time for them to do like their Christmas Bible camp and things like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it'll be there in time.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'd be there on the first day at camp, but it'll be there by the last day at camp, if that makes sense.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So, but I want to say a big thank you to everybody who gave.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're excited about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're excited that it's not just canned goods.

[SPEAKER_00]: That it's closed and toys.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had Mike to take me a picture for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, oh, that's all the stuff that did make it into the barrel.

[SPEAKER_00]: What does that, you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, so I'm just really proud of how our church was able to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I've asked for pictures and things and report back once it gets there.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're able to see the progress and be able to see the blessing one to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, we've tried to make it a point to do this that we don't do double announcements that when whoever's hosting is giving an announcement and then I come up and give you the same announcement, but for this one and in the future ones I'm going to double down and double click on what Ana just said because I want you to know how much of a big deal it is for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: A couple years ago,

[SPEAKER_00]: I was doing some research and I was at a pastor's thing and they talked about how when we do jingle jingle, you know, bright lights, Christmas, churches love to do this and when we do this we do this and effort to try to attract the Christmas crowd.

[SPEAKER_00]: that we try to, you know, go after the folks that are literally coming from the shopping malls or other way to shopping malls and maybe they'll stop in the church for 30 minutes in order to go, right, in order to keep shopping and things like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, it really ignores and we miss the folks that this is hard, Christmas is hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just a holiday, but it's the end of the year.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the reminder of who's not at Christmas.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the reminder of what did it happen this year that you wanted it to.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was talking to folks yesterday, and even before church we're talking about what are all the things we have to do, not like before December 25th, but for a lot of us it's like December 25th and then December 31st and what are all the things that I got to do, either for work for me, for my family, and it just like,

[SPEAKER_00]: It's all like backloaded, and now the clock is ticking.

[SPEAKER_00]: After Thanksgiving, it's like you're clocked in.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're probably waking up earlier, they did in October or in July right now, just because you feel like you've got to get more done.

[SPEAKER_00]: You feel like you have to fix some things.

[SPEAKER_00]: You guys have to close some things out.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can, I can, you know, it's fun for me sometimes when me and my mom are both working in the same room because I can kind of hear with the government, you know, contractor world sounds like, and everybody's, anybody celebrating Christmas yet, you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody's, like, they're like, we got two weeks that we're going to run hard, I'm very to a teacher.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they're not doing Christmas parties yet, like there's work to be done.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: So what we wanted to create and even kind of like in the mix of all that, I wanted to create the space and just like not just that not because we needed another service or we needed another special thing to do, but I wanted to create the space for all of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: that it would be cathartic and it would be the worship that you need with the Lord and kind of the recommitment and the reconnection that we're going to talk about this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: The God of Hope, the God of Peace, that in the midst of all the struggles and the mix of all the heaviness that

[SPEAKER_00]: that we would have a service that was less jingle bells and more so they got like in the midst of all that happened this year you were my hope you were like in the midst of of of my did you lose somebody this year will somebody not be around this year that that was that was around last year

[SPEAKER_00]: Was there a job thing that happened that was heavy and that like you're still dealing with the pain of or you're like, is there a prayer request that that hasn't been answered yet?

[SPEAKER_00]: And you just need like 40 I mean last year Jen on a like 40 micah was it like 45 minutes you need 45 minutes just to kind of like connect with the God of the universe that this was Like as hard as this one I still trust you

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this is like the Old Testament prophets type of thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is like David, this is what David would have done.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I trust in you God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have my commitment, my heart, my affection.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm going to be honest with you about how I feel.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be honest with you about how heavy this is, and it's not my disbelief.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not my mistrust of you or distrust of you, it's not that it's me being honest with God about how heavy this is, and I need to worship that way sometimes.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're listening to the words of oceans?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's not jingle bells.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, I'm walking to somewhere that does not feel safe.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to do something because only guys have me, I'm going through this because it's hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you ever really see words that there's another in the fire?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's still fire.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, we sing these songs as worship and we can sing it with a smile and we can sing it joyfully.

[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, like, it's a commitment and it's being honest with where we are.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's the space that we're going to create.

[SPEAKER_00]: The reason we're not supposed to announce something with all the day, the reason why we haven't yet is because originally it was going to be tonight.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I think our church was kind of telling us what they want.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think our church is,

[SPEAKER_00]: honest with, then you put something on a Sunday evening.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm out, bro.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, so we wanted to do it at a other time.

[SPEAKER_00]: We made do it here on a Tuesday between now and then.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need to firm up some things.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've made a commitment to to to to to Robin Perry that I will not announce a date without her permission.

[SPEAKER_00]: So as soon as that, it gives us that if either it won't be this Tuesday and maybe be the next Tuesday maybe even think of it Wednesday and in French on the Dayton's community circle day We'll see we'll figure it out but I want I wanted to create that space for our church Last year was like five of us and I'll be honest with you that like that was the best part of my Christmas season last year We'll just be able to journal and get honest with God as the past of our church like

[SPEAKER_00]: I was having a hard time like leading us in the next thing because I could not stop crying from the last like part of it, so Yeah, I just want to make push that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know it's weird to announce something without a date But I need you to like think like when data announced this this may be May need to be the space that I need in order to come in with God what I need the way that I need to this holiday season

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sweet.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me pray for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll tell you where we're headed the next couple of weeks.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, thank you so much for the season.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for Brian speaking last week and just what I was able to do for us in the way that we needed to respond to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, I pray that as we get into this new series that you would speak to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: You would have us think deeper about what we need from you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm all we're looking for you from this holiday season and Jesus didn't pray, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our folks, as you can see, we are in, we are not in the book of access morning, so go ahead and turn to X1, just kidding.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're in a news series called The Wish List.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what your house is like, this is how they season, but I've been hit with The Wish List since October.

[SPEAKER_00]: My wife's birthday is October 3rd, months of November 6th, which list were coming around in my house, like October 1st, and it's because of the Amazon catalogs come out around then, maybe some of the target catalog comes out around then, big Walmart's got one too, and the stuff comes.

[SPEAKER_00]: And my kids have iPads now, and they're finding things and their friends are starting to get things and things are added to the wish list almost every day.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't, this is not a sermon against wish list.

[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't like, remember Jesus is the reason for, like, you know, whoa, whoa, we're not headed that way.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what I want us to think of is when we think of these wish lists, yes, they can be fun and be helpful.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're married to a wife like I am, my wife takes the kid's wish list as her own personal treasure hunt to save the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: The reason why Geno and Parker exist is because my kid's wish list, I would have never bought these stocks.

[SPEAKER_00]: We had a parade yesterday and they were walking like actual dogs, you know, full-sized dogs down in the parade and I'm like, on that yellow lab, let's box up and you know when Parker today and set him on the side of the road.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is what it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm in that dog.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's the dog right there.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the reason why we have these dogs is because because of my kids wish list.

[SPEAKER_00]: The problem with that is the year that my kids asked for these dogs, Grandma got on my paths.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the dogs didn't matter that long because, you know, they had like, whatever.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like, like, you know, like, we know what they can be dangerous.

[SPEAKER_00]: They can be fun, they can be dangerous.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are several adults in here that have wishless.

[SPEAKER_00]: You still do the wishless things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you are like married to a partner.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is very bad at gift-giving and you have to drop the wish list like like suddenly over the course of time like huh There's another K-Joolers commercial man.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been missing my ring since the last week You know what I mean like it could be like something like that I hope I'm not starting arguments right now Did you know that there are actually apps that That that teenagers and young adults love that that act like a wedding registry, but for a person

[SPEAKER_00]: Like where you could like like my our cousin Morgan sent this to us last year or the year before where she was like, Hey, did you guys get my my Christmas list like what do you talk about Morgan she sent me an app and it was like Morgan's Christmas list And it was like like a wedding registry it game with links and and sizes and things and kids like can like send this out to us So if you get one of those you heard it here first I was so kind of awkward for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if any guys feel like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel awkward asking for stuff

[SPEAKER_00]: It feels weird like my love to ask or anything, you know, especially now older like I never understood like that what I really think I need for Christmas is a good pair of socks, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I was I was outside at Camila's uh, uh, coolest and a parade yesterday I'm like my feet are much feet of cold.

[SPEAKER_00]: What I'm going to tell is a nice pair of socks, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: I would be willing to bet that more importantly than any other list of stuff that what we actually want for Christmas other things that we don't know how to put on a list.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm still in a want mode.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like what you need is like I'm still in a want mode.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like what would you actually want?

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't know how to put that on a list.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mostly because you don't think you can actually ask anybody for this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Most adults in this room have a deeper wish list in their soul that you don't know how to ask for, a list that you don't write down, but you feel, let's go, let me give you some examples of what that could sound like.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wish life didn't feel this heavy, wish life wasn't that crazy, is that on your wish list?

[SPEAKER_00]: I wish I wasn't this anxious, I wish I could go to sleep and not think about everything that

[SPEAKER_00]: Is that on your wish list?

[SPEAKER_00]: I wish that the year would have gone differently.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of the idea for quite a Christmas.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have to mourn how the year went.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is that on your wish list?

[SPEAKER_00]: I wish I had more hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wish I actually had an expectancy that things would be different that it could be different.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's out on your wish list.

[SPEAKER_00]: So today we're talking about that last thing I said, that idea of hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: But before we go any further, I want to think about this and just to make sure we're on the same idea of what hope is.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of the times we use hope as a synonym for a wish.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you read your Bible, you understand that this isn't what hope is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope is a lot less about being a verb and a lot more about being a noun.

[SPEAKER_00]: that hope is a person, hope has a name, like you can hear that somewhere, like, you know, like the hope is in somebody.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not something you do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you can put your hope in somebody, but you're putting your hope in your hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: because your hope is Jesus, that was a bar.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like that's where it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't wish for something.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't wish for Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: You put hope in something, and you have a solidified expectancy for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: We say things like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is how we use hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope traffic isn't crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know it's a big game today, it's a big game today.

[SPEAKER_00]: You guys pray for the Jones Household, we've got the Steelers versus the Ravens.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Joe is hoping that the Steelers win, Brian is hoping that the Ravens win.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a Joe, I just, you know, I can't have Ravens fans.

[SPEAKER_00]: Happy, can't have, haven't.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope that they win.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope the Christmas bonus hits the way that it's supposed to.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that's not hope, that's wishful thinking, that's how we would use it, that's crossing your fingers and hoping things go your way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Biblical hope is actually different.

[SPEAKER_00]: We know this, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Biblical hope is resting your confidence in the character of a God who keeps his promises.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm saying again, biblical hope is resting your confidence.

[SPEAKER_00]: Confidence, I am confident that this is what it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am confident that you are who you are.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am confident that you're gonna do what you said you're gonna do.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm confident in the character of a God who keeps his promises.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not optimism.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's bigger than that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not optimism.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not pretending, it's not ignoring reality.

[SPEAKER_00]: Biblical hope is the settled confidence.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am satisfied, I am settled, I am all in.

[SPEAKER_00]: That God is who He says he is, and God will do what He said.

[SPEAKER_00]: He will do, even when nothing in your circumstances looks like it yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Shadraq, me shacking a bend to go there into the fire and He says, a kingdom of the crusher.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I, I, I, I, I, I were not gonna bow to you because this isn't what God wants to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm confident and I have hope and the God will save us, even if he doesn't.

[SPEAKER_00]: because our hope is bigger than our circumstances.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, being against the law, being put into the fire, my hope is in something bigger than that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Life was bigger than that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was bigger than just like what happened like in this circumstance.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have hope in a bigger God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have hope in a bigger thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this circumstance, like our hope is in something different.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope is not, it's not a feeling you create.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even when nothing's in your circumstances, it's not a feeling you create.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a foundation that you stand on, and this is why Christmas matters.

[SPEAKER_00]: Christmas is God stepping into our story to say, I see you, I'm with you and I'm working even in the dark.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the question we're after today is this, why is hope, what I need this Christmas?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why is hope something that should be on my wish list?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why is hope, what I need this Christmas?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why hope?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why not more rest?

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you are hoping for more, like, you know, why not fewer problems?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why not just relieve from the pressure?

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's why, because

[SPEAKER_00]: Like what someone who is living in hope, feel what comes on, actually, I'd have to do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like you are my living hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like when you have this, it changes the way that you live your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: It changes the way you carry everything else.

[SPEAKER_00]: It changes the way that you approach everything else that you have.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're living in the hope that you have in Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you lose hope, even small things feel impossible.

[SPEAKER_00]: What does it matter anymore?

[SPEAKER_00]: I want so bad use of sports reference right now, but I'm gonna refrain.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wait, when you have hope, even big things become manageable, it would be just like, you can never just seem folks like this, like it just doesn't matter.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like you see the circle sensor up against, but they're just on such a mission.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, oh, they're gonna move mountains.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, who's the best example of this?

[SPEAKER_00]: Pregnant women right before they give birth.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, you've just watched them for like eight and a half of months, like, you know, just like grow more and more tired and, and then like, all of a sudden, like, boom and baby's got to come and they just have to, like, supernatural strength.

[SPEAKER_00]: you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like like leading up to him Cole was born.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like I can't watch on a go to this anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is like she's always uncomfortable and then like I came home one day from work and she's just like made this beautiful like picture collage.

[SPEAKER_00]: She was on like a ladder that was too tall and she's like hey, I've decorated the whole house we're ready for the baby.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've cooked breakfast and dinner for like for three days straight and I'm like

[SPEAKER_00]: How do you mean, what is this, you know, I don't comprehend?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the idea that it changes how you carry everything that you have.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus brings hope, here's our big idea.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus brings hope that does it depend on circumstances.

[SPEAKER_00]: The hope that Jesus brings, the hope that you have to have, it goes beyond circumstances, this is the depend on the circumstances that you have.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope isn't something you find, hope came for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: So why is hope what we need this Christmas number one?

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope breaks into our dark places.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope breaks into our dark places.

[SPEAKER_00]: A passage you've probably read, are you've heard read at Christmas a lot of times.

[SPEAKER_00]: Old Testament passage, we're gonna be an Isaiah chapter nine.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna start reading in verse two.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope breaks into our dark places.

[SPEAKER_00]: The people who walk in darkness will see a great light for those who live in a land of deep darkness and light will shine.

[SPEAKER_00]: You will enlarge the nation of Israel and its people will rejoice.

[SPEAKER_00]: They will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest and like warriors dividing the plunder.

[SPEAKER_00]: For you, we'll break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from the shoulders.

[SPEAKER_00]: You will break the oppressors' rod just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.

[SPEAKER_00]: The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned.

[SPEAKER_00]: They will be fueled for the fire, for a child is born to us, a son is given to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: The government will rest on his shoulders, and he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

[SPEAKER_00]: His government and its peace will never end.

[SPEAKER_00]: He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor, David, for all eternity.

[SPEAKER_00]: the passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven's armies will make this happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to highlight that like how it starts in verse two, it says, the people walking in darkness have seen a great night like, like a lot of times we like the think of the focus of this about being of Jesus, well being like the idea of being a great light.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like when it's like like this is what we look towards, light attracts the eyes, it's what we focus on.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of times we forget how that starts.

[SPEAKER_00]: It starts with that idea of people walking in darkness.

[SPEAKER_00]: It starts with something heavy.

[SPEAKER_00]: It starts with the idea that it's not going to feel good.

[SPEAKER_00]: That we all got to kind of recognize that man, a life without the hope of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's dark, like even like I need you to, you know, and this is probably the best of times of years.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to watch a lot of TVE.

[SPEAKER_00]: in the next month or so.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know our family will.

[SPEAKER_00]: And everything you're going to see associated with, like, like, celebrating this year is people happy.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't sell holiday stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: People aren't smiling.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it's going to signify that this is the time of year to smile.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's going to be a million Christmas tree lighting ceremonies.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or there already have been.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's got to be something like season screening.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's got to be like

[SPEAKER_00]: be married, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's all of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the idea of it like even at someone at their happiest, at their marriage, at their their best celebration, they're still in darkness.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like have you realized that like this time of year, this month from from from whether you are Christmas starts minutes after you get back from trick or treating on Halloween or it starts

[SPEAKER_00]: that this time of year is the happiest and the most joy and the most hope somebody will experience the whole year.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like this is the pinnacle of celebration in their lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's crazy because most socials should say that people experience the most depression in January and February.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's listed a month from Christmas.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a, it just being dark again, whether it's you and you experience this or whether it's the people around you, um, people are, or walking in darkness, that like they filled their lives with stuff, they have that like that, just so they can manage, just so they can cope, just so they can kind of, have you, how many times have you heard this, I just want to get through the holidays.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just got to, if I could just get through this week, we literally were talking about this before church or if I could just get there.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got stuff that I got to do, but until I get there.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't wanna, like, God has blessed me with breath of my lungs.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's blessing with a family to be around.

[SPEAKER_00]: I cannot live my life, like, just trying to get through it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just can't, like, like, there's not a job that's important enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, me to just, like, I have to do this in order to be able to, like, just to get to the next thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, when we live our lives like that, there's no purpose in that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Swirler, like, when we get to the work scene of this thing, purpose is going to be one of these wishlistings.

[SPEAKER_00]: You gotta have a purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: You, like, when we think about, like, what, what,

[SPEAKER_00]: It breaks into the dark places.

[SPEAKER_00]: When Isaiah says this, he writes these words, God's people were, they weren't doing well.

[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't going great.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you got this prophet, like what was the voice of the Lord, like, you know, that speaks into this.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were scared, they were overwhelmed, they were facing bad news, and they were wondering, does God even see what we're going through and does He care?

[SPEAKER_00]: And we get this prophecy, this picture that points perfectly to Jesus, and say, like, oh, yeah, there's light.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's this light that we're fixed on.

[SPEAKER_00]: By the way, it's not just for them, especially for the folks that would have been around andized on this was for the future, for their lineage.

[SPEAKER_00]: But then idea of this, God even see us what we're going through, that's even care.

[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that the question that a lot of people are afraid to ask, God, do you see my family break apart?

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you see the anxiety that won't let me sleep?

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you see the decisions that are regret?

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you see the pressure that I'm under?

[SPEAKER_00]: And into that darkness, God sends light.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to sit there and I'm like, you know, you've heard this expression before, like the light at the end of the tunnel, it is bad theology to kind of point to like Jesus this like the light at the end of the tunnel.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe not, maybe not terrible theology because, you know, we go through, we go through it in life and then, you know, we know that I'm absent from this world's presence with the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like at the end of my life, I'm going to go and be with Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's fine.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Theology.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I don't think it's a full enough theology because I'm going to experience many atonels in life.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to experience many of dark times in life and Jesus isn't just like, hey, I'll be over here while you're on your way there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now he's the light with this while we go through the tunnel.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, light at the end of the tunnel, you know, like I'm like eternity, like I'm going to walk into the kingdom of God, you know, all of that, but eternity starts now.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's living hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's hope that's within me.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not it's not something that I'm I'm working towards.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not something that I'm I'm like I just got a bear through a bear through a bear through a no, it's something that is that that lives with me the whole spirit lives with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't live through life without the hope that you've already been given when you set the crisis in the first place.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's crazy like when how many followers do Jesus will walk around hopeless when it's available to them?

[SPEAKER_00]: And you think that it's for you to suffer, it's for you to go through things on your own without the hope of God within you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that's saying that it's gonna be, it's not gonna be heavy, that's saying that it's hard, like all of these things are realistic things.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't say that people climb their way out of darkness, they said light came to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the heart of Christmas.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus doesn't wait for you to fix yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sets into your confusion, your disappointment, your question, your mess, your pain.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope doesn't start with you trying harder.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope starts with God coming closer, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, so as we think about, why is hope what I need for Christmas?

[SPEAKER_00]: Number one, hope breaks into our dark places but number two, hope grows when we trust God's word.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope grows when we trust God in his, and what he has to say.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Luke chapter one, we see the beginning of the story of Christmas, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like most stories like started this moment in verse 26.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the six months, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin but true to a man whose name was Joseph.

[SPEAKER_00]: of the House of David in the Virgil's name was Mary.

[SPEAKER_00]: It he came to her and said, greetings, oh, favorite one, the Lord is with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But he was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of reading this might be in the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And behold, you will conceive in your room and bear Son and you shall call his name, Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of the kingdom there will be no end.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I'm a virgin?

[SPEAKER_00]: An angel answered her the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshot you therefore the child to be born will be called holy the Son of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And behold, your relative Elizabeth and her old age has also conceived a son.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is a six month with her who was called Baron.

[SPEAKER_00]: For nothing will be impossible with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Mary said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let it be to me according to your words and the angel to the part of them her.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Mary is going to receive a promise that didn't just look impossible, it was.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that this was something that was impossible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now I've mentioned, there's a couple other like, you know, impossible things that happened here.

[SPEAKER_00]: So hey Mary, you're going to have a baby.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's a big deal baby.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like it's not just any old baby, like, you know, like, you know, uh, this is a big deal baby.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's been, I don't know if you've seen the commercials.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's like a visa commercial where they're showing the bills fans, like that ties into their babies, like by breaking them through the tables, have y'all seen this, like, and it's like, they have a bills vote that kind of baptizes these babies.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, well, this baby is special.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be a part of Bill's Mafia.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: Gave was like, hey, this baby, it's big deal, baby.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there's two other, like, in pop.

[SPEAKER_00]: She's all.

[SPEAKER_00]: you know what I mean she she she she's not as young as Mary Mary's teenager she's old lady and she was told that she was barren by the way um there's no face book or no status updates there's no cute like pregnancy announcement photo you know what I mean like people are like up we're having a baby pumpkin like you know if there's there's not a that you know there's no gender reveal so Gabriel's given news you know what I mean like there's no news going back and forth across the the land

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, this sounds like, oh, yeah, let's miss having a baby.

[SPEAKER_00]: When we should, as believers, I'm not asking you to believe in Harry Potter.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not asking you to believe in magic.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I am asking you to trust in the character of God, who can do things that are outside of our understanding.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope that you follow Jesus long enough to just be able to experience this now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's the thing, this isn't like a me like preaching about sign gifts.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what you believe about that and things like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: All I know is that there's been things in my life that have happened that I can't explain other than this God had something to do with it.

[SPEAKER_00]: What if we just defined miracles is that?

[SPEAKER_00]: You've probably seen some.

[SPEAKER_00]: What has God done outside of your being able to go from point A to point B?

[SPEAKER_00]: How could you explain it?

[SPEAKER_00]: How can you explain then God doing something outside of his realm?

[SPEAKER_00]: If God has a purpose for something, he's going to do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: This happened to me, here's a recent testimony.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was having one of these times, and I just, this has just been me and my rhythm with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why I preach about it so much.

[SPEAKER_00]: There was a couple weeks ago where I knew

[SPEAKER_00]: that I knew that it was three a.m. in the morning, and God was saying, hey, David, it's time to go get your knees, but it's time to go and pray, and I just need you to, like, and I'm doing the sleepy prayers of God, I don't know what, while we're up, I don't know what we're supposed to be, you know, being about.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just start going through like my Rolex of people in church and I'm like, I think they're going through this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know he's dealing with that and I'm praying about all the things that I think I'm supposed to be praying about.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I just kind of come back to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, I just know you told me that to wake up this morning and I want to be obedient.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever we have planned for today this week.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then less than a week later, I was able to see clearly on this is what we were meeting about.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, this one of my obedience and he went at me to be alert

[SPEAKER_00]: This was this was the coach coming on the bench and saying hey in five minutes you're going into the game I need you to be prepped for what I'm about to do Now is that virgin birth?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, it's not but that but this is God like like I can't I can't You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't like like this is this is God showing up in a supernatural way to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is me

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, like, if you can ever get to that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you've got ever, like, you know, like allow your, not your imagination, but allow what you believe to play out in a tangible way in a way like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I think sometimes, like, we make the Christmas story and even like, Moses and the Plegs and all of the supernatural things that about, do you really believe that Jesus came back from the dead?

[SPEAKER_00]: If you can't get there,

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't believe what you believe.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like at some point, you got to ask yourself, do I really believe that not only can a virgin give birth to a baby, but do I believe that that guy can grow up in 30 something years later, die for the sake of our sins on a cross, and then come back to life?

[SPEAKER_00]: Do I have a belief in that?

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that part of what it is is like, you know, not only that's hope breaking to dark places, but we got to trust God, we got to trust His ability to do the impossible.

[SPEAKER_00]: We got to entrusted His, what He says that He can do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mary is young, she's poor, she has no influence, she has a fiance and a plan in God kind of interrupts everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like here's the thing, like in all of the circumstances for this happened, for Mary, none of it works out in her immediate tangible favor.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like it doesn't work out on her behalf.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's plan is bigger than hers and God's including her and his plan for what needs to happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what does God say in verse 28 says, you are highly favored.

[SPEAKER_00]: you are highly favored.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of times when we see God interrupting our plans, we like to think about it as God's mad at me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why is he like agreeing with me how I want this to go?

[SPEAKER_00]: This was not on my schedule, this is hurtful, this is painful, why am I having to deal with this?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why is this like why am I sick?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why am I going through this job chain?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like we think about it like, well, guys just mad at me or he wants me to suffer because I've been bad or something.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first thing that Gabriel says is not Mary, you're about to go do some stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's, you know, you're highly favored.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are a highly favored, like you've done well.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the ultimate recommendation letter.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is like an angel showing up and saying, hey, I'm coming here on behalf of God and the first thing that I want you to know is not your assignment, but that you are highly favored.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some versions say you are blessed among women, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Mary's response in verse 38, I'm the Lord servant, may your words be, your words to me be fulfilled.

[SPEAKER_00]: She trusted God before she ever saw a single sign that has promised was happening or for her good.

[SPEAKER_00]: That it was that it was even going to be pleasing to her.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm your servant.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get it going.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's, I'm signing up.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is where real hope grows by the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope doesn't grow when life finally becomes easy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you only have hope in God when it's in the good times?

[SPEAKER_00]: Does your hope that lives inside of you, that you experience that you interact with every day?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is it's most present when you're in the ease of the seasons?

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you feel closest to God when you're on vacation?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is that when you feel the most worshipful?

[SPEAKER_00]: Be honest with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm not sure of vacations.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not always pointing to my maverick city music when I'm on vacation.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know when I need him, I know when I feel his presence, the most is when I'm in the trenches, whether it's me or a friend and we feel like we're groveing before God for his grace and his mercy for whatever we're going through.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope grows when you hold on to God's word while life is still complicated.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think sometimes it's even an exercise that I think God creates despairing you to show how much you need them.

[SPEAKER_00]: You got to remember the first sin that we all love to repeat is that man has always, it's the very beginning, has always looked and saw what God has called us to do and decided we wanted to do things our own way.

[SPEAKER_00]: We love to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: We love it.

[SPEAKER_00]: We love to say like, okay, this is what God wants me to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: and I'm not saying that that's wrong, but I'm saying that there's options.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what Jews are home to.

[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the things that God does, it gives us exactly what we want.

[SPEAKER_00]: Cool, there's consequences to that.

[SPEAKER_00]: One should not do this on your own, to not look your own way.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you hold on to God's word, well, when you hold on to God's word in this complicated, the hope that you have for Him will grow.

[SPEAKER_00]: Somebody today are saying, like, God, I don't see it.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, I don't feel it.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, I don't understand it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God says, you don't need to see it yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: You just need to trust me.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of our some of us that the reason my hope is is some we need for Christmas is, and we need to grow in this, it's because God has this in a longer game than we've been willing to play.

[SPEAKER_00]: that it just hasn't happened facts enough for today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why did I go through this job change?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why did I have to deal with this?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's like, long game.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I'm seeing things that you haven't seen yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you look at your life as whatever the season that your brain can comprehend.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm looking at your life that I already know how the story ends.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, how your story fits into a greater one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope is living God is already working on what you cannot yet see.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, how do we, why is hope what I need this Christmas?

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope breaks into our dark places.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope grows when we trust in God's Word.

[SPEAKER_00]: And also, hope arrives in Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's available to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And back to Isaiah chapter 9, it says, It says, for us, the child is born.

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: God didn't send a philosophy.

[SPEAKER_00]: This wasn't a reiteration of the Ten Commandments like with a rule book.

[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't send the holiday.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sent himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is not a metaphor for hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is the hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like last time I was like a thing about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, oh, like Jesus, like it lifts my spirits.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not a bad thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just telling you it's not the most important thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's a manual, which means that he's God with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's God for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And because Jesus came, you can have hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope in your marriage.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope for your kids.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope for your mental health.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope for your purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope for your tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope even when you can't see the answer yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, hope is not the absence of the problems that we face in life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope is the presence of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is why Christmas matters, guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Christmas is God saying, I'm coming for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm literally here for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've inserted myself back in the story of your disparity for you, for your good, for your purpose, for your salvation.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm coming to you in your darkness.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm coming to you in your disappointment.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm coming for you in your fear and your confusion and your questions.

[SPEAKER_00]: I came near because I love you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have hope that God actually loves you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Cares for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know what can't, like I are able to see like the deepness in spite of the pain that you're dealing with, harshness that you're dealing with, toughness of circumstances.

[SPEAKER_00]: For some of us, hope is the one thing you wish you had all year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wish you had something to hold on to.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, probably stride a some sort of distraction.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I, I just need a good show to watch and like, just the, can't wait for the back to the percent of you know what I mean, we could just get on a trip, just get out of here for a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I could just like, you know, like I get back in the gym, you know, because I just need something that just take my attention away from the heaviness of this season.

[SPEAKER_00]: You deal with some fear or something?

[SPEAKER_00]: Scared?

[SPEAKER_00]: Having a harsh reality of something.

[SPEAKER_00]: Scared what could happen, scared what it could mean.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, this is this state of our country, like nobody like knows, you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: Bit confused.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't know what's next.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't know what to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know that's got to be so frustrating.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been here where you're like, it's not a matter of being scared, it's not a bad idea just being a toughness.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can wrap my head around how tough seeds could be.

[SPEAKER_00]: What about when you don't know what's next?

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been there, I'm almost where I'm at that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got, I want to do which want me to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just don't know what to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a hopeless place to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: You got questions?

[SPEAKER_00]: that you or nobody can really have the answers to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think Christmas matters, because Christmas is a story, whether in any of those situations, darkness, disappointment, fear, confusion, questions, Jesus comes and says, yeah, I'm here with you and that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm in the midst of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm with you while you're confused.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm next to you while you're scared.

[SPEAKER_00]: And can I tell you something that is like, it's not going to be comforting?

[SPEAKER_00]: But what if there's purpose in all of those things?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I'm scared for my children.

[SPEAKER_00]: I watched my wife cry when her daughter asked questions about the act of shooter drill at the school.

[SPEAKER_00]: My daughter was scared to go to school.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because one of these things happened right next to it, where we live, right, and false them right.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a scary thought, and it's the impassarily thing this day.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm this is Dane talking, and I panic, and I think about like the what ifs, parents, you know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like what are the what ifs?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I did this in September, I was like, hey, God, I am in the midst of the fear and the midst of all of that, there's not much I can do because I can't not have my family go to school.

[SPEAKER_00]: They don't want day in homeschool, and God's like, yeah, I'm gonna sit with you in your fear.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in my mind, I'm like, that's not enough, like, what is it like, yeah, no, but, and I get that, like, and by the way, there's not enough security or drills or things that can satisfy your fear, Dane of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've given you hope and I've given you myself that as you are scared, as you have fear, as you have questions, as you have blah blah blah, as you have darkness, as you have disappointment that somebody is sitting with you in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: As you have whatever you're dealing with, it's not going to be a place of hopelessness.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's got to be hope in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, I'm going through this, but God, I'm going through this, I have this circumstance, I have this heaviness, but in the midst of this God is present.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's my appeal, my response, it's more like here's how we respond.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's what I want to ask you to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, for some of you, hope is still the one thing you wish you had all year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but it's not something you can go on and find.

[SPEAKER_00]: They do not have it available at Target.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've checked.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hope is someone who came looking for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: This time here, we celebrate that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It came in a major.

[SPEAKER_00]: He lived among us, he died for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he rose again so that hope would never be out of reach.

[SPEAKER_00]: Listen to me, hope is never out of reach.

[SPEAKER_00]: Today, Jesus is saying, if you need hope, I'm here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's what I want us to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna give you something to pray and I want you to pray today and I want you to pray this week.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, here's the place I feel hopeless.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, here's the place where I feel hopeless.

[SPEAKER_00]: Circumstance, disappointment, like whatever it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Only this, here's where I'm feeling hopeless.

[SPEAKER_00]: My mental health, my job, my family, like here's where I'm feeling the most hopeless.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's the place where I need your light.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's where it's the most dark.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's the place where I need you to break in.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need you to answer the story.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need your presence.

[SPEAKER_00]: What we're really right now, why don't we just do that?

[SPEAKER_00]: With our eyes closed, what would you just be willing to just ask God, like, here's the place where I feel hopeless.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's where I'm feeling the most hopeless.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's where I need your life.

[UNKNOWN]: You

[SPEAKER_00]: Father God, you didn't give us a holiday.

[SPEAKER_00]: You give us yourself so that we can have hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: Got the truth of this season is while we all have our things that occupy our minds from day to day or week to week or for some of us has been months.

[SPEAKER_00]: You came for our greatest need, which was the internal one.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I thank you that you aren't a God who was disdain and who you don't care about our day to day and the hope that we can have for a future with you it permeates into the to the dailys of our lives God.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are classes in that you would solve

[SPEAKER_00]: everything that aches and pains us.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God, we need your presence in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, right now, I'm going to lift up all the requests of my friends here.

[SPEAKER_00]: When we think about the hopelessness that it permeates our lives right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: This week in this season, God, may you be so present in them.

[SPEAKER_00]: We feel you close.

[SPEAKER_00]: in a way that gives us hope to over to live out the lives you want us to with the living hope of you Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: church, today we're starting something new that I hope has a long-lasting effect.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've asked Shelley and Sarah, they're sending them back now.

[SPEAKER_00]: I really want us to be better about starting and I've asked these ladies and some other things that went on.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have a message like guys give us this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you, if you want to

[SPEAKER_00]: to not wait until you get home or until tomorrow when you get some quiet time and you would love for somebody to pray with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you would like somebody to like just to sometimes you don't have the words or sometimes you just need to you know that the word is inviting somebody else into that.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have some amazing, the best thing about our church and ain't the pastor.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the people's heart church, and we got, today we have some amazing ladies that before you leave here, even while the band is singing, you want somebody to pray with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even just like kind of insert into that space, it's like, God, I want to invite you into this place of hopelessness.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, this is why I'm experiencing darkness.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is why I'm experiencing disappointment.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to invite you into that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would love to invite you.

[SPEAKER_00]: This Sunday, in any Sunday, you would meet with one of our folks that are willing to pray with you.

[SPEAKER_01]: You just listened to a message from Dane Carroway, the pastor of Church at the Well and Telsen, Maryland.

[SPEAKER_01]: To learn more about our church and to support what we're doing in the greater Baltimore area, visit our website, thewellballtimore.com.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for tuning in to the sermon podcast from Church at the Well.

[SPEAKER_01]: May God bless you.