Hope is Here

I want to once again invite you to join me. I'm going to be reading at a Romans

Romans 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15 and verse 12. The word of the Lord says this and again Isaiah says

there shall be a root of Jesse and he who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles

in him the Gentiles shall hope. Everyone say hope. Verse 13 now may the Lord or

may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may

abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. As we celebrate the birth of

Christ here today and in this season I want to preach just for a few moments

this afternoon on hope is here. Everyone say hope is here. Amen. Why don't you join

me in prayer right now? Let us go before him and invite you to close your eyes.

Father we thank you for giving us this opportunity to gather today God like we

do every Sunday but Lord with an emphasis on celebrating your birth God we

have gathered to worship to lift up your name to celebrate that over 2,000 years

ago God. Heaven came down and touched earth in the form of a baby boy God and

we give you thanks today. Now I pray God that you would speak to us for these

moments that we have in the service on this message of hope and that someone's

life someone's heart would be changed by the Word of God. I pray God an anointing

in this place would continue to flow and that it would flow out of my body out of

my spirit. God touch all of us in Jesus name. Everyone say amen. Now you may be

seated in God's presence. What happened to hope? That's the question today.

According to a recent Pew Research poll it appears that hope is at an all-time

low as most Americans at this point in time like never before in history feel

generally pessimistic about the future. There's just not a lot of hope these days.

You look around you not only see it in the news clippings and in the media

but you see it on people's faces. People are just lacking hope. In particular this

research found that 63% of Americans are pessimistic about the country's moral and

ethical standards. 59% are pessimistic about its education system and only

25% of Americans are optimistic about marriage and family. These things are

are very important of course to the fabric of our nation and there's just

not a lot of hope about the future of these sacred institutions, these sacred

things that are very important to our daily lives. Now you couple this with

the results of a Gallup poll this year which found that depression has hit a

record high with 29% of adults being diagnosed and this is just the tip of

the iceberg as you begin to look across the landscape of our society and our

culture you begin to see that there's just not a lot of hope. People are not

living with much hope. These negative outlooks are symptomatic I think of a

very deep-seated and deep-rooted condition of hopelessness. There is a

sense of hopelessness that stems from a variety of issues that seem to be

plaguing society such as economic challenges, mental health issues and

personal struggles, societal pressures and a general lack of purpose in life. But

most of all this grim outlook stems from the lack of a true and living hope

that can only be found outside of ourselves through a living and heavenly

Savior because someone say amen. So today I've come to confront the root of

hopelessness by pointing out a greater root the root of Jesse the Son of God

the Son of Man Jesus Christ the Lord who came down to millennia ago in the form

of a baby boy. So we're going to combat the root of hopelessness by getting to

the true root of hope today. I want to begin by talking about the source of hope

and the writer here in Romans the Apostle Paul begins to dive into some very

interesting some fascinating truths that should be important to all of us

believers today and non-believers alike. He begins to unearth some theological

gems as he starts to talk and discuss the the origins of Christ and His coming.

He begins to talk about these things and the implications of His birth from a

biblical and theological perspective and he goes beyond just the traditional

narrative story of Christmas that we hear. He goes beyond just the telling of

a manger and of three wise men and the story of the nativity. He gets down to

the innermost part of the story which was the prophetic element to it and

here the Apostle Paul quotes from Isaiah the prophet and mentions the root of

Jesse. Now that's not a term that you typically hear about on Christmas

celebration services but it's very much indeed a Christmas theme when you think

about what it represents. It refers to a prophetic Jewish lineage. The root of

Jesse. While Jesse was an important figure he was the father of King David who

was a very important figure in Israel's history and the line of David is very

significant in Jewish tradition because God had made a covenant promising that

David's descendants or his children out of his lineage would rule the throne of

Israel forever. So God had made this promise to David that out of his line

that Israel the throne would be ruled forever and so the Jewish people were

very much living in anticipation of a coming chosen one of a Messiah of an

anointed one who would eventually fulfill this prophecy of coming from the

stem or the line of David to be the son of David to be a descendant of David and

so the root of Jesse is very important especially if you look at it through that

Jewish mindset that Jewish lens of history very important the root of

Jesse and the root of Jesse symbolizes the family tree that Christ would come

through and this is significant it's important that we understand this this

detail this fact about the line that Jesus came through because it was this

very line that would qualify him to make him the rightful heir to the throne of

David the rightful heir to sit over his people and we read in Matthew if you'd

like you can go through all the genealogies you begin with Matthew chapter

one and you start to read all the baghats you know the so-and-so be got so-and-so

and you can see all throughout the line of biblical history the patriarchs the

matriarchs and he establishes this this line this theological prophetic lineage

all the way from the beginning of time all the way to Jesus Christ and we see

that in there is Jesse and in there is David and he wants us to see Matthew the

book of Matthew was primarily written to a Jewish audience so he wanted to

establish the fact that this Christ this and this Messiah was indeed the

promised Son of God was indeed the one whom the prophets had spoken of the one

whom Isaiah and Jeremiah and others had spoken even David had prophesied would

come he was that one and so today as we celebrate the birth of Christ let us

understand that that God did not just come up overnight with this idea of

coming to save us he did not have to create a line out of nowhere and zigzag

his way to get to where we are there was indeed a prophetic lineage that Christ

came through to fulfill prophecy and to be that one hope of the world hallelujah

somebody today and the root of the tree is the source of his life and that

picture in my mind today I'm picturing that root I'm picturing that that

established root that that stem that that from that stem and from that that

root is the source of life and today we acknowledge that our hope this afternoon

is rooted in Jesus Christ can you clap your hand let's give God a hand praise

right now amen so we acknowledge that that he came through this very important

very significant line of of kings and priests and prophets Jesus Christ was a

part of that line in 2000 years ago in that lonely manger in Bethlehem the root

broke through the ground just like Isaiah foretold he writes in Isaiah 11

Isaiah 11:1

verse 1 a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse there's the root and his

roots a branch will bear fruit I want you to understand today my fram that

that that hope does not stop at the root that's where it begins someone say the

root that's where it starts that's the source but it does not stop at the root

he speaks of a branch and so I want to now talk about the stretch of hope now

that we've seen the source let us see the stretch of hope he says Isaiah he says

not only did I see a root but I saw a branch not only did I see a root but I

saw a branch roots represent depth but branches represent width roots grow

downward and they grow upward but branches grow outward and so the picture

in my mind today that I think that Isaiah was drawing and then the Apostle

Paul echoed in his writings was a beautiful picture of God's plan

flourishing in the world his plan of redemption his plan of hope his plan of

salvation and he points us first to the root the roots us in the ground and we

know 2,000 years ago the room broke the root broke ground but it didn't stop

there it began to flourish and it began to blossom and the life of Christ is the

blossoming and the ministry of Christ is the blossoming of that beautiful

prophetic tree that is now growing not just downward getting stronger and

upward getting higher but growing outward to the furthest expanses that we

can possibly a month imagine in our mind what I have come today to preach to you

today is not only are what we celebrating of what we're putting our hope and our

trust in today is founded and grounded in the ground and strong and sturdy but

God did not say just come and find the root wherever it is there is a branch

of salvation there is a branch that extends to where we are I've come today

not just to preach about the root of Jesse but I've come today to preach

about the branches of the cross and the branches of Christ and that he came to

find us how many of you are thankful that when you couldn't get to him he came

down and he found you come on and give God some praise today Hallelujah Jesus

came to be the branch and as the branch that extends itself to every four

corner of the world as the branch that reaches it to the furthest place that

you can possibly imagine has the branch that goes to where the root will not go

the roots days where it is the roots not gonna move the root is like the word of

God it's unmovable and unshakable all that can be shaken will be shaken so

that which is unshakable remains that's the kingdom that's the root but there

and there is also not just the righteousness and not just the holiness

that is rooted but then there is the grace and the mercy and the hope that

extends beyond because God knows that you're not good enough to get to the

root my God he knows that you're not strong enough to get to the root so he

says I'm gonna touch you where you how many of you today are here because there

was a branch an olive branch a branch of grace and a branch of hope that reached

out to where you were and said I've got enough grace and I've got enough come on

somebody magnify the Lord with me and let's give God some praise today he found

me one day remember the day he found you he found us and I have pictured in my

mind the branching out of hope the branching out and I come to tell you

that hope is one of the stretchiest words in the Bible it stretches to distant

people distant places and distant situations when Jesus came to earth the

branch began to stretch out into unreachable the far corners of society

the dark shadows of the culture the dark shadows of sin and wretchedness and

depravity he goes to places that nobody else would go he touches people that

everyone deems untouchable he goes and sits with sinners and prostitutes and

hormongers and people you would think have no business he goes to the places

that nobody else he stretches to the godly and the ungodly he stretches to

the religious and the in religion he stretches to the saints and the ain't

so he stretches oh my god he stretched to a patient Simeon who is waiting as the

Bible says for the consolation of Israel when he saw that baby boy come and to be

dedicated in the house of God Simeon's tears begin to fall down his face as he

began to magnify God because the branch had touched him oh my god can I preach

like I want you today it touched a hurting man by the name of Jerry is

whose daughter was on her sick bed and needed a miracle and all he said was

just send your word and by your word she shot the branch reaches all the way to

the hospital room it reaches all the way to the crack house it reaches always

somebody knew what I'm talking about today that branch reaches where medicine

cannot reach that branch reaches where doctors cannot reach come on that branch

reaches where the judicial system cannot read that branch reaches where

governors and lawyers and doctors thank you for the branch today

it reached to a thirsty Samaritan woman who wanted the living water and it

reached to a failing Peter who after denying Jesus three times needed a

second chance the branch found him on the shores of Galilee and said come on

it reached him and I've come to tell you today that if you don't know where to

find hope if you're lacking hope in some area of your life and you don't know

where you're gonna find it and you don't know if it's ever gonna get better I've

come to tell you that you're in the right place at the right time the branch is

here the branch of Christmas that's what it is I've got good news it stretches to

every one of us here today clap your hands why don't we give God a hand

praise today come on give him that hand praise hallelujah the branch the

stretchiness of hope it branches out and then with that stretch comes the

support of hope thirdly the support of hope that Paul writes about as he begins

to weave these parallel principles together of God's plan of redemption we

start to see that hope when hope shows up it doesn't come alone he writes now

may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace how many of you are

thankful for joy and peace today amen I said how many of you are thankful for

joy and peace today when hope comes it doesn't come alone hope doesn't just show

it by itself hope is not a one-person party when hope shows up into your life

it brings his friends called joy and peace with it oh thank you God when hope

shows up it comes as a branch intertwined with other branches the branches of

joy and the branches of peace the branches of faith and the branches of

love three things remain faith hope and love my God it comes all intertwined with

other blessings and other mercies and under other graces that God offers to

us today so I want you to know that if you feel any kind of joy I don't know

about you but when I heard the saxophone playing I felt joy in my heart when I

heard the musicians play when I heard the praise he pray something about there

was a joy that's sort of cut let me tell you something if you feel joy in your

heart today that's a sign that hope is here if you feel my God when you are

hallelujah it's a green light if you feel joy in your heart you've got

permission go ahead and smile again brother go ahead and laugh again sister

go ahead and shout again go ahead and dance again sing again lift your voice

again if you feel joy in your heart joy unspeakable and full of glory that's

a sign to you that God is still God and he's still sitting on the throne and

he's not done with me yet come on somebody say hallelujah

hallelujah this joy that I have the world didn't give it to me and the world

can't take it away anybody know what I'm talking about in this place right now

I've got the joy of the Lord down in my soul just like the Bible says

oh da-ba-ba-ba-ba-ya shah I feel the holy ghost so if you if depression is

knocking on your door you tell depression goodbye if anxiety is knocking on

your door you tell anxiety goodbye it brings joy and it brings peace the

peace of God surpasses all understanding hallelujah be anxious for nothing

come on now summer I said be anxious for nothing but by everything by prayer and

supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God and the

peace of God with surpasses all understanding will guard your heart in

mind in Christ Jesus I'm here to tell you that if you feel peace today if you

feel a calming in your spirit that's a sign that hope is here

hallelujah somebody I said hallelujah somebody the Prince of Peace is here

everlasting father Prince of Peace that's one of God's titles and when hope

shows up it brings with it joy and it brings with it peace and I don't know

if there's somebody here today that needs to know that everything is going to be

alright because hope is here when he brings hope he adds to it joy he adds

to it peace just like the wise men they brought these gifts to Jesus they've

they brought these three gifts to Jesus oh hallelujah on that day where they saw

him Jesus has also offered us three gifts this Christmas season it's the gift

of hope and of joy and of peace you better open up those gifts this year

hallelujah oh I said you better open up those gifts it's the gift that you didn't

even know you needed hey man have someone ever got you a gift and you

opened it up and you it wasn't what you wanted and but you had to kind of fake

it man that's just what I've always wanted well you know how did you know

how am I you know I don't know but then you come on later on you find yourself

using that gift you never thought you needed some of these some people they

didn't know you needed church until you got to church you know I'm saying you

didn't know how oh come on you didn't know how hungry you were for the word

until the word started getting preached you didn't know how far you were until

you got into the house of God but now that you're here brother your mind is

well opened up the gift sister you might as well receive what God has for you oh

my god you might as well and if you don't want it then give it to me because I

can use some more of it in my life I can use some more hope I can use some more

joy and peace the angels told the shepherds as they were there in the night

do not be afraid for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be

to all people he said glory to God and the highest and on earth peace good will

toward man so you see when when hope comes he brings with it joy and peace

hope never shows up alone hope never shows up empty-handed and I've come to

tell you today so hope is here someone say hope is here come on one more time

say hope is here praise God for the support of hope but I want to close

today I don't want to be much longer I want to close today by telling you about

the strength of hope the strength of hope lest you think that hope needs you to

be hope lest you think that hope is depending on you you need to see that

there is something else that is supporting and strengthening the hope in

your life and it is the power of the holy ghost hallelujah Paul continues saying

in verse 13 that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit

someone say abound abound means I love that word it means to overflow a man it

means to overflow it's like David writing in Psalm 23 my cup runneth over

you know God wants to bless you so good that it causes an overflow in your life

oh my god come on now I said he wants to bless you so good it causes an

overflow good good measure pressed down shaken together and running over that

you come you serve a running over kind of God oh come on I said you serve a

running over kind of God God never does anything just at par God doesn't just

want to meet your expectations no no no he wants to exceed your expectation he

shall do exceedingly remember abundantly above all that you can ask or

think according to the power that worketh within you so this is how God does

God does everything in excess that's why when he fed those 5,000 men there was

leftover food amen I don't know about you but sometimes I like the leftovers

more huh you eat you you can have your your ham and your turkey on on Christmas

or on Thanksgiving but I like to have it like a couple of days after because then

it's really like you know leftovers huh you know give them to me and I'm here to

tell you that God is so good he'll bless you he'll touch you and I believe

that we're going we're going into a place right now in the spirit of overflow

I'm not just talking about financial thing I'm talking about spiritual things

I'm talking about God blessing you so much you got joy you don't know what to

do with you like man I just need to give people joy because I got too much joy I

got too much peace I need to start giving this piece away why do you think

God gives you more than what you need not so that you can hoard it for yourself

the devil's alive God gives you more than what you need so that you can give it to

others oh my god hallelujah so if you've got hope today blessed be the name of

the Lord but don't hoard it all for yourself give some of that hope to

somebody else and tell it hey everything is gonna be all right we serve a good

God we serve the God of the overflow that's right

amen somebody and so he says a bound and hope and that's where God wants us to

dwell he doesn't want us to taking the scraps from the table he's giving us a

seed at the table we as children of God are sitting in heavenly places today

that's why he came that's why he came so that hope which was unreachable and

unattainable would come in the form of this lowly this humble baby boy born to

to marry in Joseph why so that hope could touch us and so that we could live

with an everlasting hope as Paul said a living a blessed hope we've got a

blessed hope in God that our hope is not in this world but our hope is in Christ

our hope transcends me on this world amen and we are living in the overflow

and that overflow is in the power how many of you are thankful for the Holy

Ghost today I'm gonna bite if the musicians can come on how many of you are

thankful for the Holy Ghost today oh I'm so thankful for the Holy Ghost I couldn't

serve God without the Holy Ghost I couldn't be a Christian without the Holy

Ghost because this in the Holy Ghost that I get to I get to wear the where the

source and I get to wear the support and I get to wear the strength of my hope is

it's in the Holy Ghost someone say Holy Ghost it's in the spirit of God and

you've got to make sure today if you don't do anything else on this special

service the one thing I would encourage you to do is get more plugged into the

Holy Ghost get more plugged into the spirit of God because that's where your

strength is that's where your power is that's where that that's where we get

what we need to keep going because there are days where you you'll feel like you

can't do it there are mornings you wake up how am I gonna you don't feel like you

can do it you don't have it in you and it's in those days where you realize

that it's not by power nor by might but by my spirit says the Lord oh I'm so

thankful for the Holy Ghost because it's been the Holy Ghost that when I don't

know what to pray brother David I know some of you real spiritual you always

know what to say when you pray but there's some time I don't know what to

say but I'm so glad that the Apostle Paul wrote in second training he said

it's alright because there are mornings and groan when you begin to speak in

tongues you speak in a word in a language you start to enter only you

and God knows but it's the Holy Ghost there are some times I don't know what

to say but I don't thank God for the Holy Ghost whoo my god sometimes I I don't

know what to do I don't know how to respond but I'm so glad I got the Holy

Ghost imagine where you would be if you didn't have the Holy Ghost whoo I don't

think about that imagine what things you you would say oh my god I thank you God

for the Holy Ghost because there's some times I want to I want to send a text

message in my flesh none of you never had this problem man you've never had

this problem but people like me we man I gotta check in with the Holy Ghost before

I say what I'm about to say have you ever written out a whole text and the

Holy Ghost say you better not send that and you just delete it all okay okay

okay okay okay thank God for the Holy Ghost we're gonna say something to your

wife or to your children yeah I better make sure that it's the Holy Ghost

talking right here because it's the Holy Ghost it's the Spirit of God if you see

you'll miss the Spirit of Christmas if you miss the Spirit the Holy Spirit of

Christmas I'm not here to preach about this spirit of Christmas like you know

like this I'll just be you know festive for no reason I'm here to be like the

Holy Spirit of Christmas which is the Spirit of God would you stand with me

this day hallelujah remember these words whenever the devil wants to put a

question mark where God put a period whenever the enemy wants to lie to you

and tell you about your past whenever the devil wants to keep you where you are

and cause you to live back I want you to hold on to these words remember what

we read in Jeremiah 29 and 11 for I know the thoughts that I think towards you

says the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future everyone

say future and a hope someone say hope God said my whole plan for you and your

family is to give you a future and a hope how many of you are thankful to God

for that today I wonder for a moment if we could just give God some praise right

now father I thank you for the hope I know that there's somebody that came into

this place you came in low on hope you came in wondering how this next year is

going to be you came in wondering how you're going to get through this trial

you came in wondering with the work because some of you right now under the

sound of my voice the odds are stacked against you in some way some of you are

dealing with odds that are stacked up against you against your family members

at work oh hallelujah in your ministry your spiritual life and your finances

some of you today it seems like it's stacked against you and even though you

know from a mental standpoint you know or even a biblical standpoint that

God's it controls sometimes it doesn't feel that way because everything is

spinning out of control how about your son your world spinning not happening the

way you want it to happen or in the way in the timing that you wanted to happen

but God sent me here today to tell you that hope is here hope is here hope is

here right now and I don't know who needs it today but I want you to know

that if you need it the branch has already been extended the branch has

already been it's already available to you right now in fact right there where

you are would you begin to close your eyes I feel the Holy Spirit right now

moving I feel God dealing with somebody I feel God talking to somebody right now

I feel that somebody is just hmm hallelujah the is hearing the Lord speak

to you letting you know everything's gonna be alright I just need you to

believe again I need you to hold on and even when you can't hold on hope is

holding on to you I need you to know that God is with you and if God be for

you who can be against oh if God be on your side then who can rise up against

you your God is for you your God is with you your God is in you and

everything I say right now is gonna work in your favor because God is not

slack-consuming his promises God his arms are not too short that he cannot

reach you so if there's somebody today that needs to just oh let him find you

right now let him find you stop trying to save yourself oh my god stop trying

to save yourself let him save you right now let him save you