Sermon

The Power Of Hope

True Life Fellowship Church Podcast

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  1. Open your Bibles to Acts chapter 3 and meet me at verse 1. We'll read through to verse 10.

    Acts 3 chapter mention

  2. Acts chapter 3, verse 1 through verse 10.

    Acts 3:1

  3. Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

  4. And a certain man, laying from his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily.

  5. Somebody shout, daily. at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful,

  6. to ask alms from those who entered the temple.

  7. Who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.

  8. And fixing his eyes on him with John, Peter said, look at us.

  9. So he gave them his attention.

  10. Expecting. Somebody shout, expecting. Shout it again, expecting.

  11. To receive something from them.

  12. Verse 6, then Peter said, silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you.

  13. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

  14. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up. And immediately his feet

  15. and ankle bones received strength.

  16. Verse 8, so he leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them,

  17. walking, leaping, and praising God.

  18. And all the people saw him walking and praising God.

  19. And verse 10, then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the beautiful

  20. gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened.

  21. Let me ask you a question. Has life turned out like you thought it would?

  22. Oh, no. Honestly. Good answer. Good, honest answers. Has life turned out like you imagined?

  23. This man, lame man, 40 years old to be exact.

  24. Acts chapter 4 tells us how old this man is.

    Acts 4 chapter mention

  25. Lame from his mother's womb.

  26. So this man was born handicapped, deformed,

  27. disabled, unable to walk, unable to move forward unable to process his own sort

  28. of motion he needed help he needed support,

  29. he had a different scenery than

  30. the rest of the people that could stand because he's

  31. lame and maybe you

  32. feel the same way maybe you feel that you're

  33. stuck you can't move forward you're at a place that you can't get out of you're

  34. in a position that you can't overcome because of your lameness and this man

  35. went to the temple every day,

  36. every day even in his condition even in his disability even in his deformity

  37. even in his mindset, he went to the temple every single day.

  38. He had to have friends that brought him to the temple because he's lame.

  39. There are no wheelchairs. There are no motor scooters.

  40. He's lame. Someone had to carry him. He had a mat with him to carry him on a mat.

  41. So he had some good friends, and these friends would bring him to the temple every single day.

  42. That means he didn't miss.

  43. There were no breaks. He showed up at the temple daily.

  44. Every day he was at the temple. it's sunny

  45. outside he kept coming to the temple it's foggy

  46. outside he kept coming to the temple it's raining

  47. outside he kept coming to the temple it's icy

  48. outside he kept coming to the temple it's sleeting

  49. outside he kept coming to the temple it's cloudy

  50. outside he kept coming to the temple he's tired

  51. he kept coming to the temple he doesn't feel like going

  52. to the temple today he kept coming to the temple he kept

  53. coming and he kept coming and he kept coming and

  54. he kept coming and he kept coming and any excuse that

  55. we all could come up with didn't stop him from coming

  56. he kept coming to the temple in

  57. his condition in his pain in his disability in his inability to move forward

  58. in his inability to walk himself he needed to rely on somebody but I tell you

  59. what he had some good friends how many know you need some good friends in your

  60. life his friends kept bringing him to the temple,

  61. and he kept going to the temple.

  62. Nothing stopped him. No excuses, no offense, no bad weather,

  63. no pain, no tiredness. It didn't stop him.

  64. He had to get to the temple, and every time he went to the temple,

  65. he showed up begging, begging.

  66. He's asking alms, begging, begging, begging

  67. and so he's sitting at the front of the

  68. temple he's there every day everybody recognizes him

  69. because it's like clockwork he's faithful he's gonna

  70. show up and he's there every day begging begging

  71. begging begging at the temple every day he's there

  72. he's he's begging he's begging but he's there he's there

  73. but he's begging he's there but he's begging he don't want to beg

  74. but he's there but he's begging he kept coming because he's begging he's

  75. there he's there he's faithful he's consistent he's begging

  76. at the temple every day didn't take

  77. any breaks scripture says he was there daily then

  78. Peter and John show up at the

  79. temple Peter and John can be

  80. compared to Peter the church when Jesus said upon this rock I'll build my church

  81. he's talking to Peter and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it he's

  82. compared to the church a lot of people view Peter as symbolism of the church.

  83. And then John is the disciple whom Jesus loves.

  84. So he's the one whom Jesus loves. A lot of people feel like John would tell

  85. people, I'm his favorite.

  86. You remember when Judas was about to betray them, one of the disciples leaned

  87. on him and said, which one is it?

  88. And Jesus whispered to him, it's the one that's going to dip the bread. That was John.

  89. So he's the disciple whom Jesus loves. And so the church and compassion showed

  90. up to this lame man today.

  91. Glory to God. This man kept coming. He's a candidate. He's faithful.

  92. He's getting ready to receive something.

  93. Scripture says he asked alms of them.

  94. And Scripture says that they looked at him and said, look at us.

  95. Now notice I want to show you something. Follow me. Follow me,

  96. Darren. I want to show you something.

  97. Come right here. Josh, I want you to come. Come right here, and I want you to

  98. sit right here on the ground, on your bottom, almost with your knees up,

  99. if you know what I mean. There you go.

  100. This is probably how this man is sitting, okay?

  101. He's lame on the ground. Peter and John are walking up.

  102. The church and the compassion has walked up, and he's sitting on the ground.

  103. And he's asking for alms, and they say, look at us. So look at the scenery.

  104. There's two different sceneries. He's looking at knees all day long.

  105. But they wanted to get his attention. So they said, look at us. Change your scenery.

  106. Stop looking at what condition you're in.

  107. Stop looking at where you're at. Stop looking at all the obstacles and challenges

  108. that you're going through, and look up at us.

  109. Look at us. So he, the scripture said he gave them his attention,

  110. his focus, his concentration, expecting to receive something.

  111. All right, you can go back to your seat, but I'm going to call you back in a second.

  112. Expecting to receive something. I know, don't want to get you uncomfortable,

  113. but you got to go home and stretch.

  114. Expecting to receive something.

  115. It didn't say he was expecting to receive money. Now, we know he was there to

  116. receive money. That's why he kept coming. He's begging.

  117. But he's actually expecting to receive something.

  118. Expectation is the breeding ground for miracles to take place in your life.

  119. Have you heard the saying, you get what you expect?

  120. I believe that's very true. You get what you expect because expectation is like

  121. a magnet that draws possibilities into your life.

  122. And so he's expecting to receive some.

  123. So not only did he give them his focus and his attention, and notice,

  124. I love this about the church.

  125. The church should be a place of love and power.

  126. Come on, somebody say amen to that. We should be a place of love.

  127. Love, you come here and you're around us, you're going to receive the love of God.

  128. And not only are you going to be loved, you're going to receive the power of God.

  129. Something good is going to happen to you. Something's going to break in your life.

  130. Something's going to change in your life when you encounter the church.

  131. So this man encountered the church and he said, look at us.

  132. So he gave them his attention expecting, expecting his mind.

  133. When you're expecting, you know, your whole attitude changes when you're expecting.

  134. I remember with Stacey and all the kids that we've had, and she's pregnant,

  135. and when we're expecting to her to deliver the baby, I started feeling Braxton

  136. Hicks too, by the way, all right,

  137. but when you're expecting to receive the baby, we're getting stuff together.

  138. Rooms are getting created and painted, and beds are getting made,

  139. and those cribs were so hard to put together, and we're getting it ready because

  140. we're expecting to receive our new baby boy or our new baby girl. We're expecting.

  141. So we're acting. Our whole mindset, our whole attention, our whole focus,

  142. our whole concentration is different because we're expecting something.

  143. What are you expecting?

  144. What do you desire? Or do you just wake up every day with no expectation?

  145. And I believe no expectation will rob us

  146. of the benefits of what God wants to provide

  147. for us the blessings he want to pour out for us

  148. if we don't have any expectation I believe we're being

  149. stolen from by the enemy because of

  150. our lack of expectation this year

  151. the Lord told us this is going to be a year of our hopes fulfilled what does

  152. that mean hope is the word expectation of something good to happen well if you

  153. don't have any expectation then you're not gonna see it fulfilled so let me

  154. ask you again what are you expecting,

  155. What are you expecting? Mark 11 tells us whatsoever things you desire when you pray.

  156. Now notice you have to desire something first.

  157. A lot of us go to God with no desire. Well, Lord, I'm just here.

  158. Well, what can I do for you, brother? Nothing.

  159. You better go with some expectation.

  160. Lord, I'm expecting you to do the miraculous. I'm expecting that money to come in.

  161. I'm expecting my children to act right. I'm expecting some things to change.

  162. I'm expecting some breakthrough to take place in my life.

  163. He's expecting in his concession, in his deformity, in his inability to move

  164. forward, in his plight, in his race, from birth, always looking at knees.

  165. He's expecting to receive something.

  166. Peter and John the church they look at him and they say silver and gold I do not have,

  167. now that was an opportunity for him to be disappointed

  168. you know what I'm here to get some money and you know why I'm you know why I'm

  169. here I'm here every day you see me every day you know I'm doing the same thing

  170. every single day you know I'm here how dare you tell me silver and gold you do not have,

  171. and they tell him silver and gold we do not have that was an opportunity for

  172. disappointment now let me talk to you a little bit about disappointment because

  173. we've all dealt with disappointment raise your hand if you have dealt with disappointment

  174. disappointment is simply an event that took place that didn't go your way.

  175. And let me say this to you about disappointment the word dis, D-I-S means not.

  176. Appointment could also mean assignment.

  177. So when you are disappointed, you need to look at it and say,

  178. maybe that wasn't my assignment.

  179. Come on, somebody. Did you get that? Maybe that wasn't my assignment.

  180. Maybe I wasn't supposed to do that.

  181. Maybe you view it a little different. And yeah, that person disappointed me

  182. or that job disappointed me. I didn't get that raise and that disappointed me.

  183. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't my assignment.

  184. I was working for a large mega church.

  185. I talk about it in the Hope Switch in my new book. And I was going for an assignment

  186. I felt like to be the full-time youth pastor at this church.

  187. And I was already doing it on an interim basis.

  188. I was already doing it. And then when the time came for them to say,

  189. you know what, we want to give the full-time position to someone,

  190. they didn't even choose me.

  191. How dare them not choose me? They didn't choose. They chose some other dude. His name was Peter.

  192. Okay, that's all I'm going to say about that. Yeah, yeah, this is ironic.

  193. We're talking about Peter. He wasn't a Peter in the Bible, okay?

  194. I said, Peter? They told some other guy named Peter. And I was,

  195. you know, I said, I was disappointed.

  196. I was disappointed. I was hurt. I hadn't gotten crossed over into discouragement.

  197. I was discouraged. And then I was depressed.

  198. I'm a young man, 20-something years old, already had, I mean,

  199. this youth group had about 80 to 100 students in it. I'm already got connections

  200. with parents, and then I'm on an interim basis, and you didn't even choose me.

  201. You went a totally different direction, and I'm discouraged almost to the point of depressed.

  202. Couldn't sleep at night.

  203. Lord, is it me? I mean, did you not want me? Did you not, am I not good enough?

  204. Am I a mistake? Come on, somebody.

  205. Am I the one? Is it, am I a bad leader? am I a bad person like why didn't you

  206. choose me now in the moment what I didn't know is the Lord wanted me to move

  207. to Charlotte North Carolina.

  208. And I needed to be disappointed, not my assignment, because my assignment was somewhere else.

  209. Are you listening to me? So I needed to get somewhere else because somewhere else was my assignment.

  210. And now can't nobody fire me, praise the Lord.

  211. Can't nobody say I can't do it. I'm in my assignment now. Amen. man.

  212. And so the man could have been disappointed because they said to him,

  213. silver and gold, we do not have.

  214. He could have got angry, discouraged, disappointed, and discouraged.

  215. Let me say one other thing about discouragement.

  216. Discouragement always comes when things don't work out the way you think they should.

  217. You know, discouragement can wake up with you in the morning,

  218. go into the bathroom with you, brush your teeth with you,

  219. check social media, and you're looking at it and you can even laugh,

  220. that was funny, and be discouraged at the same time.

  221. Go down, cook breakfast for your kids, tell them everything's going to be all

  222. right, this is going to be the best day you ever had, act right in school,

  223. represent the Alexander name very well, at school today represent Jesus well,

  224. and be discouraged the entire time.

  225. Discouragement will jump in the car with you and go to work with you.

  226. And if it don't, and if it don't jump, if it don't stay in the car with you

  227. going to work it'll jump on you on the way home from work discouragement doesn't

  228. discriminate this you could be in a mansion,

  229. putting your sipping on the finest wine sipping your toes into a jacuzzi,

  230. and be discouraged the entire time telling yourself money in the bank telling

  231. yourself life is not worth living.

  232. Don't look at someone and think that they're not discouraged.

  233. Things didn't happen the way that they thought, just like in your life.

  234. This is why we need to encourage people, because people are discouraged.

  235. This is why I believe the Lord said this is our year of hope,

  236. of great expectation of something good that is rooted in the promises of God,

  237. that God's going to do something supernatural in our life.

  238. But understand discouragement can walk

  239. around with you all day long it can

  240. hide behind nice outfits don't i look good today nice outfits it can it can

  241. hide behind nice hairdos come on somebody is that the old way of saying but

  242. hairdo it can it can hide behind it discouragement can say hallelujah praise

  243. the lord and be discouraged all at the same time.

  244. And so this man had opportunity he was disappointed could have been discouraged,

  245. he said silver and gold I don't have let me say one other thing sometimes you

  246. have to know the difference here listen to me now you guys are rich say I'm

  247. rich you got to know the difference,

  248. sometimes giving money to someone is supporting them in their condition,

  249. and sometimes giving money someone will snatch them out of their condition,

  250. you got to know which one is the

  251. lord telling you to do that's the wisdom of god that's where you got to tap

  252. in do i do i is this money going to snatch them out of the condition and and

  253. give them a better opportunity or is this money going to keep them in their

  254. condition and they'll be supported in their condition by me just continuously throwing money at it.

  255. You got to know the difference. There are times the Lord has told me to bless

  256. somebody and there are times that I've heard some of the worst stories.

  257. The Lord said, don't give them no money.

  258. Because money will keep them in their condition. And you got to pray and say, Lord, which one is it?

  259. And when you do, follow me, when you do, factor in that you might be getting taken advantage of.

  260. Just go ahead and factor it in. Because there's some deceivers,

  261. some manipulators out there, scammers, and they're good.

  262. And just factor in, you know what? Maybe they took advantage of me.

  263. But I endeavor to do and be kind.

  264. And so this man, he's in this condition. He's looking for money.

  265. They say, we don't have money.

  266. But what we do have, come on, somebody, what I do have, in the name of Jesus

  267. Christ, rise up and walk.

  268. Now, watch this. Come back down here, Josh. Come back down here,

  269. Josh. Come on, give Josh a hand as he comes.

  270. Now, he says, silver and gold, I don't have. But what I do have in the name

  271. of Jesus Christ, rise and walk.

  272. And the scripture says, then he reached down and he lifted him up.

  273. He assisted him. Now, do you see the scenery change from knees to now he can

  274. see your top of your heads now, right?

  275. He lifted him up to another level, another level of health and another level of prosperity.

  276. Now he don't need to beg anymore. Come on, somebody. He can go get a job now.

  277. He can go to work now. He can make his own money now, and he can help somebody else now.

  278. That's what the Lord wants to do. Thank you, Josh. Give Josh a hand.

  279. The Lord will lift you up.

  280. In Genesis chapter 13, verse 14, put that on the screen there, guys, if you don't mind.

    Genesis 13:14

  281. Genesis chapter 13 and verse 14. It said, the Lord said to Abram,

    Genesis 13 chapter mention

  282. after Lot had separated from him, lift up your eyes now and look from the place where you are.

  283. Meditate on that. Lift your eyes. And, well, you know, I'm in pain right now.

  284. Lift your eyes and look from that place. Well, I'm broke right now.

  285. Lift your eyes and look from that place. Well, my kid is acting crazy right now.

  286. Lift your eyes up and look from that place. Well, it doesn't look like I know what to do right now.

  287. Lift your eyes and look from that place where you are. You have to look up. Somebody say, look up.

  288. Say it again. Look up. Say it one more time. Look up. I'm telling you,

  289. sometimes I'm walking around like this.

  290. I'm looking up. I'm looking up because my help comes from the Lord.

  291. I'm expecting something good to happen. I'm expecting change to take place.

  292. I'm expecting breakthrough to take place. I'm expecting that phone call to happen.

  293. I'm expecting the good news to happen. I'm expecting to feel better.

  294. I'm expecting to be a blessing.

  295. You got to look up from the place where you are. He told Abram,

  296. stop looking at where you are and look from where you are to where you want

  297. to be. say amen to that that's expectation.

  298. That right there is expectation. I'm expecting something good.

  299. I was in a pastor's meeting recently just the other day, and there's a group

  300. of pastors in the city. We meet at this coffee house once a month or something

  301. like that, and this particular pastor needs a new facility.

  302. He's sharing a church with some people, and he needs a new church.

  303. Thank God that we're in a building that the Lord has placed us together. Amen?

  304. Just thank God for that. Say, thank you, Lord, that nobody's rushing us out

  305. of here, and we're not bopping the lights, and ain't no Muslim group coming

  306. in after us. And none of that.

  307. God has blessed us. Say amen to that.

  308. And so he said, man, we're sharing a building with some people,

  309. and he can't come in at a certain time, and he can't leave.

  310. He's got to leave by a certain time, and his church is growing,

  311. and they're having this situation where it's tough. He goes,

  312. I'm looking for a new building.

  313. So I said, praise God, I'm looking. But then he's going on vacation in a couple of months.

  314. So he's like he's telling us as pastors he

  315. was like if i go on vacation i'm you know that's tentative and i said well why

  316. is it tentative he said because i might get a new building before then and one

  317. of the pastors said well you know it is you know it is march you know it's march

  318. and you're saying by may there's going to be a new building this brother is expecting.

  319. Come on somebody he said I may have to miss my

  320. vacation because I'm expecting to get

  321. a new building and we may have to detour alter our

  322. plans because I'm expecting so I turn to the man I say he's expecting to receive

  323. a new building so everything else it's just tentative because at any moment

  324. I can receive a new building glory be to God are you expecting like that any

  325. moment Hey, tell you, at any moment, this could change.

  326. At any moment, this could be different. This is temporary.

  327. It's subject to change. I'm not looking at the things that are seen.

  328. I'm looking at the things that are not seen because the things that I see, they're temporary.

  329. But the things I don't see, they're eternal. So I'm looking at eternity.

  330. I got my eyes. I'm looking up.

  331. That doctor's bill is going to look a little different now because I'm expecting

  332. it to be different when I go back to see the doctor.

  333. That money is going to come in to pay that off because I'm expecting it.

  334. And I might get some opportunities for overtime.

  335. And an unexpected check may come in or a bonus may come in or somebody may just bless me.

  336. I don't know, but I'm expecting something good to happen.

  337. We got to get our expectations up. We walk around, well, look what's going on.

  338. Look at the politics and look what's happening.

  339. Look, oh my gosh, look what's going on.

  340. And we are Christian folk. Let me say it this way. We're saints.

  341. We should be the most hopeful, joyful, peaceful, expectant people around.

  342. I've been asked, well, Devon, how is it that you just have a good,

  343. with everything going on, that you have a good view on what's happening?

  344. I said, brother, you need to give your life to the Lord. Unsaved man asked me

  345. this. I said, first of all, you got to get saved.

  346. Because if you're not saved, yeah. I mean, everything looks so bad.

  347. I'm saved. And I know that the worst thing that happens to me is I leave too

  348. soon and I go to heaven. Hallelujah.

  349. That's the worst thing. I said that's the worst thing.

  350. I'm going to heaven. I win. So I'm always expecting something good to happen.

  351. I'm expecting it good to happen.

  352. How are you so, what's the word they use? Optimistic.

  353. How are you so optimistic? I'm not optimistic. I'm placing my faith in the Lord

  354. and I'm expecting something good to happen.

  355. I'm expecting to receive something. and at any moment, somebody can reach down and lift me up.

  356. If you look at any sort of advancement in any genre, in any industry,

  357. in any business, listen to me now. Just do some research.

  358. Someone reached down and lifted them up.

  359. Someone reached down and lifted them up. T.D. Jakes, He tells a story how he

  360. was preaching in a storefront church for years.

  361. Years, he couldn't even get 100 people to show up.

  362. He had a storefront church. Years, someone who used to run TBN,

  363. Paul and Jan Crouch. Paul and Jan Crouch put them on TV.

  364. He went from storefront church to having speaking engagements the next week

  365. for the next X amount of Sundays.

  366. They reached down, lifting them up.

  367. Just somebody right now the Lord is talking to people about you right now and

  368. he's telling other people talk to this person about Natasha about Sharon talk

  369. to this person about Tiffany talk to them about Felix talk to this person about

  370. them because that one conversation could change everything,

  371. but it don't happen to the doubters have you noticed that it seems to only happen

  372. to the people that are expecting,

  373. I'm telling you what, I'm pregnant right now. I know I look a little skinny,

  374. but I'm pregnant right now.

  375. What you pregnant with, Pastor? I'm pregnant with promotion right now. Amen.

  376. I'm pregnant with influence, increased

  377. influence right now. Greater responsibilities, greater oversight.

  378. I'm pregnant. It's just a matter of time before I deliver.

  379. How many of you are pregnant in the house? Hey, men can get pregnant too in this type of pregnancy.

  380. Not in no other pregnancy, okay? Just in this one, you can get pregnant too, praise God.

  381. Just get whatever it is. Whatever you're expecting. Whatever it is you're looking

  382. for. Whatever it is, you're expecting. You're expecting. I'm expecting.

  383. I'm expecting. I'm expecting. That means I'm pregnant.

  384. That means at any moment, I'm preparing for it. I'm preparing for it at all

  385. times. I'm ready. I'm ready.

  386. I'm ready. Can you get here tonight? I'm ready.

  387. Are you listening to me?

  388. Stacey and I have talked about these things. We're ready. If whoever called

  389. me and need me to come tonight, we ready.

  390. Hallelujah. Get that plane ticket and get on there. I got the fork down.

  391. I'll hold it down. Hallelujah.

  392. You got to be ready because you got to be expected. Well, I was surprised I

  393. got that. No, I was expecting that.

  394. Now, you're saying that. You're not saying that because you're prideful.

  395. You're saying it because you have your trust in the Lord.

  396. And you're expecting something good to happen in your life. Somebody say amen to that.

  397. So when he lifted him up, when he assisted him, and I declare that you're going

  398. to be lifting some people up too.

  399. Be looking for people to lift up, people that are ready to be lifted up.

  400. The Lord will lead you to a person. It's time to be lifted up.

  401. It's time for you to allow me to lift you up.

  402. When he lifted them up, he gave him a change of scenery. This is the part I really want you to get.

  403. Expectation changes what you see.

  404. You'll begin to see not with your natural eyes, with your soul,

  405. with your spirit. You'll begin to see opportunities, possibilities, good things happening.

  406. You begin to see that that can happen to me too.

  407. Hallelujah. I have a good friend of mine and several

  408. years ago he acquired an airplane

  409. and I know a couple of friends that that own airplanes y'all me y'all know I

  410. like airplanes and and he acquired airplane he called me up he said I just got

  411. this you know such and such type of airplane and he's a pilot and he was excited

  412. about it I said me too shoot you got it that means I got it too amen.

  413. Amen.

  414. I ain't jealous. Be mindful of being jealous.

  415. I'm not jealous. Amen. You got it. I got it.

  416. Now come pick me up. You know what I mean? And so, so no, no, no, no, no, no.

  417. He's, I said, well, you know what, man, if God can give him an airplane,

  418. then God can give me a debt-free house. Amen.

  419. Say this out to me. Just release your faith. my house is paid in full,

  420. in Jesus name just release your faith right now expect it to happen paid in

  421. full, paid in full how's it gonna happen that ain't none of my concern how it's

  422. gonna happen God's gonna do it did y'all hear about the man the other day at Citigroup?

  423. Y'all didn't hear about this?

  424. Citigroup accidentally deposited into his account $81 trillion.

  425. Trillion. Into his account. They were supposed to give him $280.

  426. And they gave $81 trillion.

  427. Listen.

  428. I'm an honest, honorable man. but I saw that I would have paid off I would have

  429. paid off all y'all's houses come on hurry up you better give me your information

  430. I need it right now right now right now right now right now,

  431. amen scripture said the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just I said

  432. Lord here I am Lord here I am somebody want to make that mistake here I am Lord,

  433. 81 trillion dollars to this man.

  434. It took them a minute to recognize it, then they had to get it back and so on and so forth.

  435. Understand that God can get anything to you.

  436. Did I say God did that? No. I'm just saying God can get anything to you, okay?

  437. From anyone, anywhere at any time.

  438. Expect. Expectation. Romans 15, 13. Put that on the screen real quick.

  439. Romans 15, 13. Watch this.

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

  441. may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Keep it up there for a second, guys. Watch this.

  442. God is originator, creator or source.

  443. God is the source of hope. Hope is intense, earnest expectation of something good to take place.

  444. Now may the source of good expectation fill you with joy and peace. Glory to God.

  445. Watch this. In believing, it means you're going to have to believe.

  446. Can't do it without faith. It's going to take faith.

  447. And now he wants you to abound, overflow, have an abundance of expectation.

  448. How? Not in and of yourself, by the power of the Holy Spirit. You can take it down.

  449. This is how we're supposed to live in great expectation.

  450. I'm expecting from God. He's the source of my expectation. And I'm expecting

  451. for him to do some good things, for him to do some great things in our midst, in our life.

  452. I'm expecting for him to come through in ways that he never has before.

  453. When I hear people with extraordinary stories, I'm like, all right,

  454. Lord, you're no respecter of persons.

  455. If you did it for them, you can do it for me. Amen?

  456. When I hear of magnificent and great testimonies, I say, I'm next.

  457. You know, I don't get jealous. I just say, I'm next.

  458. I'm next in line. I might cut in front of you. You know, don't get offended.

  459. I might just jump right on ahead because I'm next. Amen.

  460. Expectation. When you feel like you want to quit, listen to me now.

  461. This is the moment where you have to dig into your hope in God.

  462. At the end of the day, God is with you, in you, around you, will never leave you nor forsake you.

  463. So you got to put your confidence in him at the end of the day.

  464. I trust God. I want to quit. I'm tired. And a lot of discouragement comes through fatigue.

  465. When you get tired, my wife tells me, when I get tired, I get mean.

  466. And I'm not a mean guy, but when you get tired, you get mean.

  467. Well why do I get mean because I'm tired and if I'm tired then I'm probably

  468. discouraged and leave me alone right.

  469. That's why you have to recognize you got to rest.

  470. You got to say, let the weak say what?

  471. I'm strong. When you fatigue, I'm strong. No, no, no, I'm strong.

  472. I'm strong in the Lord and the power of his might.

  473. You begin to put your confidence back in him. Begin to expect from him.

  474. Begin to say, Lord, you did it for Pookie and Ray Ray. You can do it for me too. Amen.

  475. You can do it. I know you can do it. You're a faithful God.

  476. You always provide. You always adhere to your promises. You always come through.

  477. You've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed breaking bread.

  478. You are always the one that's the lifter of my head. You lift my head.

  479. You lift me up. You take me places that I've never been before.

  480. You let me see things I've never seen before.

  481. It's in you I move. It's in you I breathe. It's in you I have my being.

  482. And then you begin to praise the Lord. this man

  483. got up after after he

  484. was assisted scenery change and what

  485. did he do next he started jumping leaping and praising the lord hallelujah you

  486. got to praise the lord they said who is this man jumping around leaping that's

  487. that man that was sitting down

  488. begging his expectation caused him to get into a position, watch this,

  489. to receive more than he even expected.

  490. Now, this is what God wants to do. If you can get your eyes off of your current

  491. situation and your predicament and your plight and the obstacles you're going

  492. through and then begin to believe God to expect more,

  493. God has promised to do more than we even expect him to do.

  494. Put this on the screen, Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20. Watch this in the Passion Translation.

    Ephesians 3:20

  495. Never doubt God's mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this.

  496. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable

  497. dream and exceed your wildest imagination.

  498. Hallelujah. He will outdo them all for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.

  499. Come on, somebody say amen. Say hallelujah.

  500. Give the Lord a shout of praise. This is how you experience true life.