Sunday Message - Dr. Frank Damazio (December 18, 2016) | Life Bible Church

Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's really

great to be back at Life Bible Resort. I'm always

so impressed and so amazed when I drive out here

that it's like, you know, an epiphany. All of

a sudden, here's this resort and such a beautiful

piece of property and building. I have with me

my wife. I want Sharon to stand so you can see

that. I'm really married to that lady. She's

aging like a fine wine, and I'm aging like a

flat beer. We're a great couple. It's really

great to be with Bob and Jane. We were elders

together at the Bible Temple for years and been

together for, geez, Bob's 140. But we've been

together a long time. Such a great preacher,

prophet, father, him and Jane. Just wonderful,

wonderful leaders. So great to be with them.

I've actually been with him twice lately. Mark

Strong's church a few Sundays ago. And here,

we're just kind of making a habit out of this.

This is amazing. You should start tithing to

me, I think. I think that would be a... Yeah,

we could start today. Okay. And I want to...

Also say it's an honor to be with Brad and Jen.

I'm so proud of them. And again, you're blessed

to have such great pastors. You're really blessed

to have them doing a great job. And I want to

also welcome Jen back, too. They welcome Brad,

but nobody welcomed Jen back. Would Jen stand?

We're glad to have you back. No applause, just

throw money her way. Beautiful couple. I had

a chance to meet with your elders yesterday for

a little while and get to know them. And I'm

so impressed, so impressed with the integrity

and the heart in that leadership team. And you're

blessed, again, to have a great eldership that

works with Brad and works with the church here.

If you don't mind, since I'm kind of the dad

of the house, you know, so to speak, I'd like

the elders and wives to stand. So a lot of you

might not know exactly who they are. Most of

you would. But I want the elders and their wives

to stand together and just tell them thank you.

Thank you. In the back. Some are not here. But

thank you for... Most of them have been serving

for a long time in this church. And don't take

that for granted. That's not normal everywhere

you go. And so it's just great to see a good

team working together and great pastors, great

facilities. And you have such a great future.

Amazing, amazing blessing of the Lord on the

house. Good presence and great worship. The gals

that did the worship this morning, they were

just smoking it. I mean, I shouldn't say that.

Got to watch everything you say nowadays, you

know. But just a great, great team. All right.

I have a little bit of time with you this morning.

And understanding that you have a full day today,

if you're coming back tonight, most of you probably

are. And then Candlelight, I'm impressed that

you're not doing church on Christmas Day. Knowing

Brad, that would have been a great thing to give

up, you know. I'm sure he had a prophecy just

for that Sunday morning. But our church is also

up in City Bible. We're multi -site. We have

many, many services on the weekend. We're not

doing church on Sunday. And we did a, Mark Estes,

who is now the pastor there, he did a video from

his house. for the Christmas service that they

will play during the service time for online

and also give a DVD to people. It was a great

idea. I just wish I would have thought of that

when I was pastoring. I hate it when he comes

up with such great ideas. And then people say,

that was a great idea. Pastor Frank, you never

did that, did you? Well, no, no. I was saving

on the budget. But that's something you should

do, Brad, is do something live that they can

see on Sunday, a little devotional or something.

I'm not telling you what to do. Okay. I'm going

to go to the Book of Lamentations. It's not exactly

the Christmas morning type. book to go to. You

know, usually it's the Gospel of Luke and Matthew

and all that. But the message I have is certainly

a Christmas type message because I'm going to

zero in on one of the attributes of the Lord

Jesus as far as what he gives to you and I and

how we live life. Not everybody in this room

is on top of the mountain this morning. Not everybody

in this room is totally happy and fulfilled and

healthy. spirit, soul, and body, there would

be some people in this room, like every room

I've ever preached in in my whole life, that

would be hurting. That would be discouraged,

depressed, dysfunctional in some places. Life

through you occurred this year. And going in

2017, it's not a great thing for you. It's a

challenge. And so you have that side. You have

some people that are disappointed, not so much

in life, but maybe themselves, just disappointed

that they should have risen to higher mountains

in their life and achieve more and you know we

could go down the line and talk about a lot of

different things but the The word that I want

to give you this morning will be very personal,

and I believe there will be a great time of prayer

at the end of this message if the Holy Spirit

will kind of smile on what I'm going to say here.

I think it will minister to a number of people,

no matter where you are in life. If you're like

me, kind of toward the ending years of life,

looking back on children and grandchildren and

schools and colleges and degrees and writing

books and everything I've done, and then looking

forward to, oh. Looking forward to what now?

What do I look forward to? Reinventing myself.

Reinventing our ministry. We're out of the boat

right now. We're into a whole different era of

living. And with that comes the same amount of

faith. and expectation and hope for the future

that you should have had when you were 15 and

20. You have to have it when you're 60, 65, 70,

75, 80, and right on through. Sharon's dad turned

90 this coming year. And one of his friends,

who is also one of my friends, who I preached

for my whole life, actually just turned 100.

And so I'm looking at those two. You know, there's

a picture of the two of them together. Do you

see the one that Mark posted? It's on my phone.

Of Kevin and Hal together, 90 years and 100.

100 years old and still preaching, still doing

stuff, and I'm thinking, okay, I'm only whatever

I am. Because some people will say, well, you

don't look like that. And some will say, really?

I thought you were a lot older than that. So

I don't like the comments. So as you move ahead,

as you move ahead, everybody in this room, needs

this verse. It's on the screen. I'm going to

read it, and I'm going to read it in context.

What comes up on the screen right now is Lamentations

Lamentations 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, 21 through 23. But let me just take

a minute and say who this guy is for everybody

in the room. The guy writing this specific book

is Jeremiah the prophet. He wrote the book of

Jeremiah, one of the major prophets, Isaiah,

Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, the four major prophets

of the Old Testament. Jeremiah was one of the

most... key prophets of Israel's Babylonian captivity,

both pre and after. And a man that went through

unbelievable stuff. Unbelievable. If you know

anything about the Bible, you would understand

that Jeremiah was probably the most suffered

prophet of all the prophets. You know, Daniel

was throwing the lions in, but the lions didn't

eat him. Jeremiah... Was thrown into pits. And

he was thrown into prisons. And he was beat.

And he was mocked. And it just went on and on

and on and on. Nobody quite suffered like Jeremiah.

When you read the book of Jeremiah. You get the

prophet's prophecies. But when you read the book

of Lamentations. You get the prophet's heart.

And in this book. It's his life experience. And

so if you want to read about a prophet's life

experience, don't just read his words. Read his

heart. It's like Solomon. Don't just read Proverbs,

which is wisdom. Read Ecclesiastics, which is

his life. And so when you understand how they

wrote it, when they wrote it, and why they wrote

it, it kind of brings out the words that they're

speaking so much more. And here you have a man

who basically, basically, he had lost everything.

He'd lost everything when he wrote Lamentations.

He lost his city. He lost his culture. He lost

his way of life. He lost his voice as a prophet.

He lost everything. Lamentations is the last

words of this guy. And this book represents something

that you can dig into and find kind of the core.

It's easy to find the words of a man. And sometimes

when you listen to a person preach, like you're

listening to me this morning, you don't have

my background, my heart, my life, my character,

my family, my upbringing, what I've gone through,

how I reacted, what kind of attitude did I have.

You don't have all that. You just have my words.

And you trust that Brad... brought in a good

man, and certainly this man must be a good Christian

man. He's speaking to us. But you don't have

my frame. You only have a small piece of the

puzzle that you hear my words. And that's why

I'm saying reading Lamentations gives you the

frame of the picture, not just the words of Jeremiah.

And this man who suffers so much and lost everything

speaks to me in words that I understand. He says

something to me. That I can live right now and

understand. Now listen to it in a message translation.

I'm going to read from verse. Actually from verse

19. You have on the screen verses 21 through

23. Because there's this one phrase I'm going

to zero in on. But I want you to listen to the

context. Now remember. He's in a passionate expression

of sorrow. That's a lament. Lamentations. That's

what the book is. It's a passionate expression.

Of a person going through sorrow, grief, and

loss. It's a lament. And so in this specific

time in his life, he doesn't lose God. He cries

out to God. He's called the weeping prophet because

he did a lot of weeping in his life. But these

words have a ring to them. Verse 19, Message

Translation, Lamentations chapter 3. I'll never

Lamentations 3 · chapter mention

forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste

of ashes, the poison I've swallowed. I remember

it all. Oh, how well I remember. The feeling

of hitting the bottom. Wow. Those are pretty

potent words. Never forget the trouble, the utter

lostness, taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed.

And I remember hitting the bottom. One of the

things I do is I read biographies. I read people's

lives. I'm an avid reader for that reason. I

like to read real things. I don't read novels.

I don't read any of that stuff. Never have. But

when I read people's lives, I tell you that the

people that really get my attention are the ones

who have hit the bottom, came back. The ones

that hit the wall, broke into pieces and humpty

dumpty fell off the wall and all the pieces had

to be put back together. It's those lives that

I look into and I think, how do they put it back

together? Why did they reach forward at all when

you go through the things they went through?

tell you some stories, but we don't have time

for that. But the people that hit the bottom

are a special kind of people. They're a special

kind of people that go through trials and go

through situations and you go through heartache

and you go through loss and you go through disappointment.

And, you know, it's a wonderful thing when you're

raising kids and everyone pats them on the head

and says, what beautiful kids. But as you get

older, hopefully you raise them right. But sometimes,

even if you're the best parent in the world,

doesn't mean your kids will be the best kids

in the world. Doesn't mean that. And some of

the best parents, I've lived a while with a lot

of close friends that have a lot of children

that I dedicated and married that aren't serving

God or have gone through a divorce or two or

have gone into moral depravity of different sorts

or moral confusion. And to watch the parents

Who have been faithful and godly and wonderful.

And I watched them raise their kids. It seemed

to me they did everything any parent with a righteous

motivation would do. And yet you have kids that

just turn left. Because they're born with a will.

They're born with. Even though you train up a

child in a way he should go. If they return to

it they can continue. But some don't return to

it. Some don't grab a hold of that. And so some

people get judged by that. Well your kids. Yeah

I know that their kids really want. Well don't.

Just be careful here. Be careful that you don't

judge people that you don't understand the journey,

don't understand the steps, you don't understand

the heart, you don't understand the heartache.

You don't know that they've reached out a million

times to restore that child and never had been

received with any kind of acceptance. And so

people that hit the wall or hit the bottom or

hit the problems and they go through it like

Jeremiah, it says, I remember, I remember so

well hitting the bottom. But there's... One other

thing I remember. And this is where I'm at this

morning. There's one other thing I remember.

And remembering. I keep a grip on hope. I keep

a grip. My message this morning is called keeping

a grip on hope. Jeremiah said there's one thing

I do remember. And he uses the Hebrew word that.

Eugene Peterson translates such a marvelous way.

But it is a great word to translate grip because

it has the idea of reaching out or grabbing onto

something and you won't let go. There's no way

to pry your hands from it. You grip it. You own

it. You take it and you die with your hands and

you will not let it go. And that's the word that

Jeremiah is using. I can't let it go. I won't

let it go. My fingers are on that rope and I

have a grip. On hope. God's loyal love. Couldn't.

Have run out. His merciful love. Couldn't. Have

dried up. That created new every morning. How

great. Your faithfulness. I'm sticking with God.

I say it over and over. He's all I've got left.

What words? Only from a man with cracked skin

and broken teeth and shaved head and a body beat

up. I mean, this guy was, what he went through,

he could not have ended up with a decent looking

body or face. Scars and wrinkles. And yet he

says, you know, remembering, remembering, remembering

this. You never. Never lose your grip on hope.

Because when everything is gone, there's still

God. And he's new every morning. There's another

day. There's another potential. There's another

love that God can bring to your life. He can

turn everything around in one minute, one sunrise,

one sunset, one day. Your grip on hope. Keep

your grip. Hope, here's my definition, is the

confident expectation and firm assurance of things

that are unclear, unknown. Things we can't see.

Things we haven't received. We can call it prophecy.

We can call it mental image. We can call it vision.

We can call it dream. We can call it whatever

you want to call it. But the prophet says, and

as the Bible says with this word hope, hope opens

doors when despair closes them. It's hope. It's

that I won't stop. I won't give up. I'm going

to finish the race. I'm going to stay with God.

I'm believing that God can turn things around.

Until the last breath I take, I'm believing God

will restore Israel and Jerusalem. That was Jeremiah's

heart. And so hope for him was a confident hope

in something God had said, something that the

prophets had said. And yet, for his whole lifetime,

he never sought his whole lifetime. He never

sought. As many of the prophets never saw the

fulfillment of their prophecies. Did you realize

that? They never saw the fulfillment of their

prophecies. They prophesied the beginnings. They

never got to see the end. And they did it with

faith. They did it with confidence. They did

it with hope, saying, I do believe that God is

going to restore and God is going to do. But

they lived and died. And didn't see the word.

I want you to understand today. That what God

has put on your life. What God has said to you

in the scriptures. Not just in prophecy or counsel.

But what the Bible says about you. What the Bible

says for you. God is faithful. God is good. God

is able to do exceedingly abundantly all that

we ask. Or even imagine to be true. And God can

turn your circumstance and your life around.

In one sunrise. One. Do every morning. Not a

thousand, one. One sunrise. You can wake up and

suddenly something changes. Suddenly the clouds

move away. Your heart starts beating. The relationships

that weren't come around, the things that were

closed, open, the door that was locked is unlocked.

All of a sudden, the heavens start pouring out

favor. Things start turning around. You don't

understand it, but all you can say like Jeremiah

is, I don't understand, but how great is your

faithfulness, oh God. One morning, I'm talking

to you today about hope. We grip. Everyone say,

we grip. The act of firmly grasping, seizing,

holding tightly to something. Well, the something

we're gripping today is hope. What are you hoping

for? Never stop believing in hope. Why? Because

miracles happen every day. And you could be one

of them. You could be one of them. An acronym

I saw in hope. A little sign was H -O -P -E.

And this was way back when I was suffering more

physically, but the words were, hold on, pain

ends. Hope, hold on, because the pain will end.

Well, when you're in pain, everything changes.

You don't think right, you don't feel right.

Your personality can change. People that have

never experienced excruciating, continual pain

don't understand people in pain. It's hard to

laugh. It's hard to do simple things. And it

never goes away. It is always there. It doesn't

let up. It doesn't stop. But the hope... Is that

even if you live your whole life. And there are

people that live their whole life in pain. And

have done it very, very well. The resurrection

will give you a new body. The more I go through

things. And as you enter into the age I'm in.

Not that I'm planning on going to heaven anytime

too soon. I've already been at that door a few

times. And turned around and said later, later

for this. But your promise. You still get a new

body someday. Doesn't mean much to someone who's

young and has a great body. You know, someone

says, well, someday you get a new body. So what?

Well, just hang on, buddy. In a while. In a while,

this will mean something to you. When you have

a big pot gut and arthritis and you can't get

around well and someone says you'll have a new

body, you'll say, when? It all changes. Hope,

hold on because the pain will end one way or

the other. When the world says give up, hope

whispers, just hang on a little while longer.

That's that whisper that says, don't let go.

Hold on. It could turn. And I promise you, it

can. All right, hope. is our triumph against

something that has become an American USA way

of living called pessimism. Pessimism. Hope is

a triumph over a person who's pessimistic. Now,

nobody here would like to have someone say to

you and send you a Christmas card, Dear Pessimist.

It's been so good having you this year because

every time I talk with you, you'd said something

bad. God bless you and have a great Christmas.

Dear pessimist, you're my best friend. If I ever

think good thoughts, I only have to go to you

to get the bad ones. Thank you so very much.

Nobody likes to be called a pessimist, but at

times all of us can be in the category for a

shadow of time. A pessimist... is a person who

has an inclination to emphasize all the wrong

things. They have a perspective that the glass

is always half empty, never half full. It's half

empty. Possibilities or expectations, they always

expect the worst possible outcome. When you talk

with, well, what do you think? They tell you

the worst possible outcome. Well, you only got

a ticket. Yeah, but I'm going to jail. I'm going

to prison. Well, why would he be going to prison?

Because the judge will probably see me, and he'll

probably dig up something else I did, and then

the lawyer won't be there, and then they'll accidentally

throw me in the jail because I got the ticket

there in Harrisburg. We're running in top time.

A pessimist. Well, maybe a realist in Harrisburg,

but no. A pessimist. A pessimist is one when

he sees the choice of two evils, chooses both.

A pessimist is one who feels bad when he feels

good, for fear he'll feel worse when he feels

better. A pessimist is never disappointed. They

count their troubles and forget their blessings.

Pessimism is what leads to a hard heart. A bad

vocabulary. Bad inner conversations. You'll lose

a lot of friends. And the worst thing is you'll

lose a lot of life. You'll live a life. That

you expect to be bad. Expect to go wrong. Nothing's

going to work out. There's three applications

for the job. You're saying to yourself. And I'll

be the one who won't get it. Because I always

don't get it. You actually talk yourself into

unbelief. Into pessimism. Into that range of

thinking. Where no possibilities are for you.

And nothing's going to change. I would like to

say to you. Get a grip on your life. Get a grip

on hope. No matter who you are. A single parent.

A divorced couple. got remarried, someone that's

going through a bad marriage now, someone that

has a health problem, someone, someone, someone,

whatever your challenges might be, could I say

to you with a spirit of faith, pessimism will

not help you. Being negative will not help you.

Having unbelief in your tongue all the time will

not help you. Why don't you turn yourself around

today and say to yourself, the beginning of this

year right now, I'm going to have a new vocabulary.

I'm not going to be the negative, pessimist person

anymore. I'm actually going to say out loud every

morning, every noon, every night, God is for

me. God is working for me. A miracle is on its

way. Everything's going to turn around. I'm going

to be satisfied and happy and live a great life.

My life is under the mighty. hand of a mighty

good God and God loved me. If people don't love

me, that's their problem. God loved me and God

has great things for me. I'm going to have finances.

I'm going to have relationships. People are going

to wait in line to have a cup of coffee with

me. Yeah. And you know what? It's amazing how

a positive life draws Positive things. Why? Because

really, you can call it positive thinking, positive

whatever. But faith, faith is positive. Faith

is positive. Faith believes it could be. So even

if it never happens, at least die believing it

could happen. Come on, that's right. Even if

you don't get healed. Like people say to me,

you've been through cancer and you still have

a bad hip and, you know, my nerves are damaged

and blah, blah, blah, blah. But yeah, but I still

have a lot of other pieces of my body that work.

But the therapist said to me, you know, that

one day it turned my life around, really. She

said to me when she gave me my last final bad

report of my nerves and my hip and stuff, she

said, Frank. Pick up the pieces you have left

and build something great with it. You know,

she got me because I'm a positive guy. But man,

she whacked me. I left that hospital weeping.

I mean, it was a horrible day for me. I expected

not to have these same problems. She is frank.

They're never going unless God, you know, you

believe in God. And of course I do. And he can

heal me anytime. And I do believe that. But for

some reason. I don't. I pray for other people.

They get healed. And I pray for myself, and I

don't get healed. That's a contradiction, but

it's one I can live with. It's the least of my

temporal problems. The biggest problem is not

a bad hip. It's a bad heart. That's your biggest

problem. Your biggest problem is not bad circumstance.

It's bad attitude. Your biggest problem is not

what you don't have. It's you not seeing what

you do have. That's your biggest problem. So

you can change it. I don't care who you are,

where you come from, what you're up against.

You can actually change the aroma of your life

by keeping a grip on hope and faith and your

mouth filled with prophecies about your future.

That is scripture. Just quote the scripture that

all things work together for good. The steps

of a good man are ordered by the Lord. The favor

of the Lord comes upon us like the morning dew.

And you start quoting the scriptures and put

them on your life and forget how you feel. And

before you know it, you feel different. And you

think, why was I so depressed? I can't even remember

why I was so depressed. And then people will

say things to you. My, my, my, you really have

changed lately. And you act dumb and happy. Really,

why would you say that? They say, because you're

not so stinking negative. Oh, that. Yeah, I do

remember. I used to be. People will see your

change and. The atmosphere will draw in angelic

visitation instead of demonic visitation. Because

words have power. They have power. I mean, I

could preach a long time on that. Because I've

lived it. I know it. Okay, you're going to hope.

You're not going to be a pessimist. Hope is a

positive thing. Hope is being able to see that

there is light despite all the darkness. Yeah.

I hear people talk about Trump. I'm so sick of

hearing people talk about Trump and Hillary and

everybody else. What difference does it make?

What difference does it make? For one thing,

no president is God. That's one thing I know

for sure. We're not in Japan. The emperor is

not God. The president is just another leader

in the nation. Do you want a good one? Yes. Can

you find a good one? I don't know. I don't know.

Will Trump do good? I don't know. Will Hillary

do bad? I don't know. Will they recount all?

Who cares? There is one nation under God. And

so prayer will change this nation. No other religious

leader. No other political leader. No other.

Other philosophical thing. It will only happen

when God's people bend their knees, 2 Chronicles

7, 14, and pray, then God will heal the land

and set this thing in order. It's not going to

happen because we get some Messiah. politician

in there. And you hear people talk about, and

they're so into it, they're so emotionally just

distraught over this and what's going to happen

and will Donald do this? Donald, Donald, Donald

Duck, Donald Trump, what does it matter? I'm

not being disrespectful because he's not president

yet. But if he does get set in, our hope It's

not in him. Therefore, he's not going to control

how I see life. Boy, I better watch this and

watch that and this is going to happen. Well,

if anything, some of the laws might even be a

little bit better for us as a church than they

were before because at least he has some conservative

morality in his thinking. Okay, off with that.

And so we have hope. Not because circumstances

change, but because God doesn't change. And if

you don't get a hold of that, everything will

knock you around. Everything. We can smile through

our tears, rejoice in our suffering, and know

our end is not the end of the story. Why? Because

we're eternal people. Okay. Hope. It's finishing

on time. Psalms 42, 5. Why are you cast down?

Oh, my soul, why are you cast down? Why are you

so upset? Hope in God. Psalms 42, 5. Hope in

God. Come on, shout it with me. For I shall yet

praise him for the help that he will bring me.

I'm going to hope. In God. Psalms 130 verse 7.

Psalms 130:7

Hope in the Lord. For with the Lord. There is

mercy. And with him. There's abundant things

that he can do. Okay I'm going to hope in the

God. That can do those things. Now I'm not going

to be a pessimist. But I am going to be. An optimist.

Personally. That's the person I want to be. We

must accept finite. but never lose infinite hope.

Martin Luther King. We will have disappointments.

He says they're going to happen. But don't lose

that infinite thing called hope. Hope in what

God can do, despite what you see around us. Jeremiah

29, 11, for you and me, I know the plans I have

for you, plans to prosper you. This would be

a good scripture for you to wake up to every

morning and quote. And put your name in there.

I know the plans you have for me, Lord. Plans

to prosper me. Not to harm me, but plans to give

me a hope and a brand new future. Write it out.

Put it on the mirror. Put it on your car. Put

it wherever you work. Put it and just say it

a dozen times a day. But I know you have plans

for me. And they're good. And you have a future.

And you're not going to harm me. You're going

to protect me. The devil's against me, but greater

is he that's in me than he that's in the world.

And so I'm going to believe, God, that the plans

you have for me are awesome plans. I'm going

to renew my mind. I'm going to think the right

thoughts. An optimist is a person who simply

prays and believes the Bible. Do those two things.

Pray and believe the Bible. People who don't

pray and don't read the Bible are more prone

to think wrong. Pray. Read the scriptures out

loud. Hope. I'm not going to be a pessimist.

Turn to your neighbor and say, you're not a pessimist,

are you? And for you who know you're talking

to one, say to them, you are going to change,

aren't you? Please? Now turn to your neighbor

and say, you are an optimist, right? How many

of you would say, I am done being a pessimist?

Let me see your hands. Let me see your hands.

Say, I have a problem with this and I'm done

with it. Good. How many of you would say, I'm

not the greatest optimist, but I am really going

to give it a shot this coming year? Let me see

your hands. Okay, you're going to be an optimist,

not a pessimist. You're going to have hope in

the darkness. Here's another one. Hope has in

it resilience power, which is, well, in life,

you better get a hold of resilience. Keep a grip

on hope because hope will bring resilience. Job

14 .7, which Scripture Lord gave me years ago

in the middle of a crisis. At least there is

hope, Job 14, 7. At least there is hope for a

tree. If it is cut down, it will sprout again,

and its new shoots will not fail. Another scripture

in Job along the same lines, in Job 17, says,

even if the tree that's been cut down and the

stump looks like it's dead, And you would be

walking in the forest and you would say, that's

a dead tree, that's a dead stump. Get a stump

machine, get rid of the stump. But Job says,

even if the stump smells water, it will sprout

again. Not that you will water it. If it just

smells water, it will sprout again. Can I prophesy

to you this morning that God has a smell of water

coming your way? And even if you're a tree that's

been cut down and you're a stump and you have

no reason for anyone to even think you're going

to sprout again or you don't think your dream

or your hope or your vision or your future or

whatever it might be will ever sprout again.

Can I say to you that the Holy Spirit is like

the dew of heaven? The Holy Spirit is like the

water. The Holy Spirit is like the rain. And

there's rain coming your way. And even if it

doesn't hit you, even if you don't feel the power

of the Holy Spirit, Coming right upon you, even

if you're in the place where you can smell it,

it'll work. And you'll have a miracle. So right

now, take a deep breath. Come on, everybody.

Smell the Holy Spirit rain coming. He's going

to water my life. He's going to cause this old

stump to sprout again. The dream that's been

dead for long, that vision, that... Okay, Holy

Spirit. I believe that even though I've been

down, and maybe you've been down for a long time,

or you will experience, who knows, but you'll

all experience what Job talked about here with

the cut down of a tree. And you get chopped down.

The Holy Spirit is always there. And he just

does his miracle thing. He comes in and begins

to breathe life into your spirit again. Before

you know it, your attitudes start changing and

your whole vision starts reemerging again. And

all of a sudden, what was dead comes alive. And

then you realize how dead you were when life

comes. Wow, I was really dead on that. But not

anymore. The reign of the Holy Spirit wants to

come upon your stump. How many of you would say,

and I receive that word for my life right now.

I receive it, Frank. I need water on my stump.

I need water. Habakkuk, one of the minor prophets.

In Brazil, they call it have a cookie. Habakkuk

3, 17 and 18 is the resilient spirit. This is

a scripture you should write out and memorize.

Though the fig tree may not blossom. Habakkuk

3, 17. No fruit appears on the vine. Though the

labor of the olive fails and the fields yield

no food. This is not a good picture. Nothing's

growing on the trees. Nothing's happening on

the vines. Nothing's going on in the field. Nothing's

happening with the food. Though the flock may

be cut off from the folds, or even your things

you're raising, the things you thought you had

control over, and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord. Yep, I will joy

in the God of my salvation. Why? Because he's

the God. Who can make bananas grow on telephone

poles. He's the God that looks past all the things

that are not. Well, there's nothing aligning

for me. There's nothing working for me. There's

nothing in the stall. There's nothing in the

bank. There's nothing in my heart. Nothing in

my mind. I tell you right now, I've sowed seed

and there's nothing growing. I don't see it happening.

God can bypass all the knots and bring you into

a supernatural provision because he's God. His

mercies are new every morning. He doesn't go

by what you see. He goes by who he is. That's

why you never give up hope, even if you are bankrupt.

Even if you are totally down. Great glory in

living life, not in ever failing or never falling,

but in rising every time you fall. For in rising,

you will find the path you should be on, not

in falling. Nelson Mandela. Who I visited in

South Africa where he was in prison. His life

over there. And you think what that one man did.

Well, he had a philosophy. Never stay down. Never

give up. You know, they tried to let him go from

that prison for 17 years. They opened the prison

cell. Gave him the pieces of paper from the government.

And said, you are a free man. He would... Take

his hand, close the prison cell, sit back down.

He says, until they give me why I'm in prison

and what I want out from prison, I will stay

in prison because I'm not a free man. They tried

to free him over and over and over and over again.

And he simply said, no, no. The dream cannot

be fulfilled with that. Even though it looked

like he was a total failure. And people, even

his own wife and his friends, if you read his

biography, the things they said to him were not

kind. They were not kind. Because they were so

upset he wouldn't take the freedom they were

given him. But he said, freedom for me is not

freedom. It's only freedom for us that I'm after.

Me being out of jail is not freedom. I need us

to be free. He had a cause and he had a heart

and he had a vision. And even though nothing

was in the stall at that point, nothing was growing

in his ground. He says the greatest in living

is never staying down, rising up every morning.

When you read how he disciplined his mind to

think and what he said to himself during those

years, you should read his biography. It is a

lesson in hope like you will never, ever read

with another man. I mean, my hope is on a scale

of 1 to 10, I'm .0001 compared to Nelson Mandela.

The man knew how to keep a grip on hope. Ask

yourself right now, what are you letting go of?

What are you not responding to? Why are you staying

down? Why are you beating yourself? The garbage

in your heart and spirit that you're no good,

no value, won't work. It's not going to happen.

I can't see it. I'm too old. What about the poor

me mentality? Poor me, poor me, poor me. If you

get too far into that, it's hard to get a person

out. Or the martyr syndrome. Everything is wrong

because I'm the martyr. And people sometimes

when they're a martyr, they like to tell everybody

about the bad news. They kind of get something

out of the bad. They want people to have sympathy

and feel sorry for the poor me and the martyr

that I'm going through and everything that I

lost. Don't be a martyr. People will encourage

a martyr only for a time. They'll encourage a

poor me mentality only for a time. And after

a while, everyone will get tired of it. And when

they see you coming, they're thinking, I know

what they need, and I'm just sick of saying it.

So I'm going to talk to someone else because

they have the same story. So how you know you

can't believe what I'm doing? I mean, you just

can't believe this and this happened. And even

last week this happened. I think next week's

going to even be worse. And so they just start

pouring out and they want someone to feel sorry

for them and their life. And maybe their life

should be feel sorry for it. In a lot of ways,

I'm not belittling people that go through sorrow

and death and loss and pain and all that. I understand

it. But there comes a time. When you have to

put it behind you and become the new you. There's

a time. Can't do it too fast sometimes, but there's

a time where resilience, where you quit talking

to yourself about what's wrong and start talking

about what's right. Micah 7 is another favorite

verse that I have. Micah 7, 8. Do not rejoice

over me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise.

And when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be

my light. One translation says, don't keep laughing

at me because I won't be down for long. I always

get up. So you need to look the enemy in the

eye and say to the enemy, go ahead and laugh,

but I'm getting up. Well, you've fallen seven

times and you've been down a long time on number

seven. That's right. And number seven's the number

of perfection. I had a perfect fall, and I had

a perfect time, and I had a perfect failure,

and I had a perfect dark moment, and now I rise

again in the name of my God, and I am not done

yet. And you get up, and you rise again. Proverbs

24, 16, for a righteous man falls seven times,

but they get up, but they get up. No matter how

often honest people fall, they always find a

way to get up again. Disaster destroys the wicked,

but the honest person always gets up. Hope. Hope.

Hope. Keep a grip on hope. Can I hear an amen?

Hope. We'll lift you out of your pit today. Don't

stay in your pit. Don't stay in your path. Don't

stay in your weakness. Don't stay in the mindset.

Life is so short. Why would you not live it overflowing

with hope? And pass it on to your children and

your children's children. Pass that spirit on

to them. When they see you suffering, smile.

Let them know how to handle suffering. When you

have the biggest blow come your way and it knocks

you for a loop, you say to your kids, but I'll

be up again. Don't worry about this. Life has

a lot of things that happen. But God is going

to see us through. Now you just get a grip on

hope. Because God doesn't change. And you pass

on a spirit of tenacity and optimism and faith

and hope. And you start daring to believe mighty

things. Okay. I want to end. I'm not done. You

know, I'm never done. I have many, many notes.

As I was speaking in Japan, Nishihata was translating

for me, and he was a great translator, great

Japanese pastor. I had been there two or three

times with him for a conference, and I'm preaching

away, and he stops in the middle of my message.

And he says, Patsapink, you have so many points,

you're like a porcupine. You have so many points.

You're like a porcupine. You know, I got giggling

and laughing when he said that. I could hardly

get back to my points. I think that's why he

did it, is to mess me up so I couldn't get back

to my points. You got so many points. Okay, I'm

going to give you five ending points. These are

statements that you can use. And they're simple,

but maybe you'll take them down, maybe you'll

use them. I want you to just start confessing

and put it in your mouth, the spirit of hope,

spirit of faith, optimism, etc. Number one, I'm

a new person in Christ. Just start saying that

over and over again. I'm a new person in Christ.

I'm a new person. I got potential. I can change.

I don't have to stay the same. The greatest news

of the gospel, you don't have to stay the same.

You can change. Everybody can change. Number

two, I'm free. I am free in Christ. I might not

totally feel it right now or have everything

together, but I'm telling you right now, the

Bible says I am a free person. I am free in Christ.

I am free in Christ. Number three, I'm blessed.

I'm blessed in Christ. I am blessed in Christ.

And there's scriptures for all these, but you

can go to your own Bible and read for yourself.

I am blessed in Christ. Number four, I am God's

piece of work. If you have sat under my ministry

for the last couple decades up in Portland, 25

years in that one church, I would have the people

do this all the time. Turn to someone and say

to them, and you are a piece of work. No, I'm

not telling you to do that. I'm just preaching.

Why? Because we say that to people and sometimes

when we're irritated or sometimes when we're

just mysteriously interested in why they're so

weird, we would say, boy, aren't they there?

Piece of work, aren't they? We know that by their

tone and their words, we know they mean they're

weird, strange. Or if they're achieving something

more, they are a piece of work. Wow, they're

a piece of work. I want you to know you are a

piece of work. And only God can deal with a person

as weird as you. Only God can love you to the

uttermost. And never question that you're valuable

because you're a piece of work. One time, one

of the famous artists was having lunch with a

very wealthy woman and she spilled her drink,

a red drink on her handkerchief. And she kind

of got frustrated and took the handkerchief and

said, she's going to throw it away. And the artist

grabbed it. He said, no, don't throw that away.

She says, why? It's worthless now. It won't be

clean. He says, let me have it. So he took her

silk handkerchief, and he created an unbelievable

piece of art out of the spill. And he brought

the handkerchief back to the lady. And he says,

you remember when you tried to throw away your

handkerchief at lunch that day? She goes, oh,

yeah, yeah, that's just, it doesn't matter. He

says, well, I did something with it. He gave

her the handkerchief. She was so blown away at

something that was so bad and ugly and a piece

of work. You know, that stupid little handkerchief

sold for $200 ,000. Why? Because what looked

like... Nothing and just a spill and a mistake.

In the eyes of a master, it was a great way to

paint something really, really peculiar. You

might be in the eyes of people a spill. You might

be, oh boy, them. Or, whoa, they roll their eyes.

I don't know what will come of him or her, blah,

blah, blah, blah. But just remember, beauty is

in the eye of the beholder. And God sees you

so differently. Even with all your flaws, God

actually, don't take me wrong here, but God actually

gets excited about your flaws. Your unique failures.

Things that people would say, oh my, my, my,

my. God would say, oh no, this is, this is perfect.

I can do something with that broken life. And

I'm going to paint a picture that the whole world

will say, how? Like Michelangelo, it said, how

do you imagine what you're going to do? He says,

when I see a piece of marble, he says, I see

something trying to get out. And he said, I sketch

what I see trying to break out of that square

piece of marble. And then I create. that thing

that's trying to get out. And there's a piece

of marble in you that's trying to get out a work,

a life, a way, a dream, a vision, a help, a ministry,

a certain thing that God wants to do that no

one else can see. But if you would just have

hope and faith in how God the Master is dealing

with you, you'll turn out to be a masterpiece.

Not just a piece of work. A masterpiece. Can

I hear an amen? All right, here's what we'll

do. I want to pray. I would like to pray. First

of all, cooperate with me real quickly would

help. Let's all stand up. All right? Just give

me a couple minutes. Don't move. Just let me

kind of wrap this up. Why don't you just close

your eyes for a minute? a minute or so here just

to be kind of private with your heart, with your

life. First of all, in this room today, is there

anybody in this room that would say, Frank, I

don't even know Christ. I don't even have a chance

at life. I'm not even sure what God can do with

me because I've never given my life to God. But

you know what? I need to give my life to Jesus.

Or somehow you got beat off the track. And you're

away from Jesus today and you know exactly what

I mean. And you know you need to come under his

good hand and get your life back under the cross

of grace that's over your life so that God can

do something awesome with you. But if you're

in the room and never really turned your life

to Christ or you're away from Christ, would you

right now just lift your hand straight up just

for a few seconds? Let me see it. Just lift your

hand straight up in this room right now. One,

two, three, just lift your hand and say, Frank,

I need Jesus in my life. Go ahead. Thank you,

ma 'am. Thank you, sir. Anybody else? I'm looking

just, thank you, ma 'am, in the back. Anybody

else? Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you, young

man. Anybody else? You're saying, Frank, I'm

thinking about it, but I know I need to get back

to God. Come on, just lift your hand. What a

great Christmas gift for you. Give your life

back to God. Just lift your hand right now. Those

who haven't lifted their hand yet, just lift

it. Anyone else? Lift it straight up. Just let

me see it. Thank you. I won't embarrass you.

I just want to see that you're responding. That

you're responding. Awesome. All right, now, just

hold on to that for a second. I want everybody

in the room that would say, Patrick Frank, you

know what? I lost a grip on hope. Today, I got

it. I got it. I got it. I'm not going to give

up. I'm not going to lose my grip. I'm going

to get a hold of that thing, and I'm going to

hold on, and God's going to change, and God's

going to work in me, et cetera. You're talking

to me, and you're that person. Say, Frank, I

have lost grip. But I'm putting my hand back

on hope today. Would you lift your hand? Lift

your hand. Say, you're talking to me. I need

encouragement today. I need encouragement today.

I need hope today. I need hope today. Just lift

your hand. Anyone else? Just lift your hand.

Say, I lost it, but I'm going to get it back.

I'm going to get it back. I'm going to get it

back. God's going to breathe. God's going to

water my stump. And I'm going to sprout again.

And it's going to work. God's going to do it

now. I'd like everybody real quickly that lifted

your hand, would you just step out of where you

are and come up, meet me in the front real quick.

Just step out and just come to the front and

stand. Why? Because when you step out physically,

I think something happens in your spirit. You're

stepping out of the past, stepping out of the

wrong. Those that lifted their hand to get saved

this morning, find Jesus or come back to Jesus.

If you would trust me just for a second and come

forward with everybody else and just say, you're

talking to me, I'm turning my life back to God.

Even if you didn't lift your hand and you've

considered that God is good and God is great

and gracious and merciful and wonderful, has

a plan for you that nobody else could possibly

ever fulfill. But God can work in your behalf.

God can take your mistakes and draw something

masterful with your life. I want you to step

out and come forward right now. If you lifted

your hand to find Jesus or get back to Jesus,

I want you to come forward. Thank you. Thank

you. Church, help me out here. I want you just

to take five seconds, turn to anybody around

you, and just say to them, if you need to go

to the front to be prayed for, I will go with

you. Because sometimes people just need someone

to bring them. Would you do that right now, church?

you are interested in hearing other podcasts

or contacting Life Bible Church, go to www .lifebiblechurch

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