Message of Hope | Pastor Gloria

You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

What is the true meaning of Christmas? Besides, if you

take away all the glimmer and the brightness, what do

you get out of it?

Right?

What can you understand if someone is going to ask you,

what does Christmas truly mean to you? Is it going

to be those presents and cookies and the tree, or

is it beyond that the very gift that no one

else can ever give us, the gift that is towards eternity,

the kind of peace that no one else can give us,

but only God. Yeah, so if you have your Bibles, Okay,

why don't we turn to my card chapter five? Thank you, Juny.

Just follow through the scripture, sirm Okay, so my card

chapter five five. Okay, let's look at versus one on words. Yeah,

all right, So versus one is of course a continuation

from the chapter above. Okay, but let's look at verses

two on words. Right. Chapter five, Versus two, it says, heer,

but you, Bethlehem, Aprit, though you are little among the

thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forward

to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose

goings fort are from of all, from everlasting. Therefore he

shall give them up until the time that she was

in labor as given birth. Then the remnant of his

brethren shall return to the children of Israel, and he

shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of

the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the

Lord he's got, and they shall abide. For now he

shall be great to the ends of the earth. Was five,

and this one shall be peace. Amen. So if you

look at this portion of scripture here, okay, if we

look at this whole, you know it starts off by

saying Bethlehem of Apraath. Right during this time, if we

go back to history and we try to learn the

people was living in a lot of oppression. Okay, they

were going through a lot of difficulty. They're going through

a lot of struggles, right, And that is when this

word was given, a prophecy was given of what's to come. Yeah,

And that is why when we read on it says here,

yet out of you shall come forward to me, to

the one who is the ruler of Israel. So if

you can just go back to that whole context of

you know, people being so powerless, oppressed in struggle and

wondering when is our help going to come? And they

were actually waiting for the Messiah. Yeah, and so I'd

just like to share with you a couple of pointers

that we can draw from this chapter about who this

gift of hope is that is given, which is very

much relatable to the times that we are living in

as well and the different seasons that you could be in. Yeah.

The first one is that we can see from verses

two on wards is that he is the promised Messiah, right,

that's the first point. He is the promised Messiah. In

the midst of the shame the people that were going

through the sufferings that they were going through, God revealed

his grace, his mercy, his justice, and in fact his

gift of salvation. God did not come earlier later. In fact,

he came at the right time. Jesus came at the

right time. Yeah. And as mentioned, you know, and we

know this place, Battlelyhem is a very small, insignificant place,

and yet God chose that very town. Well, I think

this tells us something about who God is, right, that

is how he works he You know, as humans sometimes

we like things to be big and famous and loud, right,

But God chooses the smallest. God chooses the weakest. And

that is why sometimes when you even hear testimonies, you

hear people saying things like, wow, it's not ready for it,

you know, or I was not equipped or I thought

I couldn't do it, but yet God showed up. But

imagine if you have at all of it figured out

and then you go and answer a call or do something,

But how is God going to actually show up? Or

how is his name going to be glorified? And that

is why I believe that is how God uses our

circumstances or different seasons in life to actually show up. Yeah,

and you know, just just echoing the different testimonies we

heard about the mission strip. You know, I was part

of it as well, and Elaine was the team leader, right,

and so when we signed up for this strip, you know,

me and Elien were just chatting about it. You know,

we didn't know that things would have been so busy

during the leading on towards missions and after missions again,

some of you would have known. My one of my

testimonies that I shed that I didn't know that I were

losing my job okay. So when I signed up for

this mission strip, I didn't know I was that's going

to happen. Okay. So I was like, okay, I think

I can manage the trip because it's going to be

towards the end of the year and you know, they

will not be much work with school and so it's

going to be an easier season of the year. Right.

But who knew? Okay, I lost my job and because

the company was restructuring, there were more work to be done, okay.

So leading on until the last day of missions, I

was telling Ilien, I just need God's strength because it's

just so tiring, you know, to get things down the

very tight timeline, you know. And I just went in faith, okay.

And of course I had to prepare my message as well,

and not just in English but in Bahasa okay. And

so I was saying, God, you need to give me

the words to speak the message that you want me

to deliver to the people. Right. And so I preached

that night. Okay. I preached that night and we had

a sketch going on, and then there were they had

special Christmas celebration on a Saturday. Yeah, So I went

forward and you know, I was all smiling, but Dibdin

God knew how how nervous I was thinking that would

I say the wrong basa word, you know, to get

the people's attention, or the right word to say, right?

But I just said, God, I surrender. At this point,

I don't think I have anything in control. I can

only do what I can. But you lead the way,

That's all I said. Yeah, And so I just preached again.

I preached. I didn't plan to actually even share my

testimony about you know, losing my mom and how you know,

I got walked through with me. But I have felt

the nutch of the Holy Spirit when I was preaching,

you know, And so I just was obedient and I

shed it. And so I preached. I preached the whole message.

And then after the summon, as I was sitting down

and they're all eating, and then I had few sisters

who came, the different eboos, the ladies there, they call

them as ebus. And so this one Ebu came to me.

Her name is Katherine, right, and so she came to

me and she said, pastor, message she said in Malay,

I say in English, yeah, Pasta, the message you shed

to me was really for me. I walked in halfway

and I was looking. I said, Si, the pantucha cup,

so I put your chac up. Okay. I looked at

this girl in the front, thing, why is she talking?

Because you know it's not the usual pastor was preaching. Yeah,

so she's a new person who's not a regular, so

she's start wondering, okay with this person. But everything you

said was like God telling me and I needed to

hear it. And then she was in all tears. And

at that point I was actually thinking in my mind

like did I actually preach well? As in like did

I say the right words? Did I say enough? You know,

it's just the human part of me. I was thinking

like did you see enough? And all that? And then

she came and she said, basta you mukin figure Basago

sang at tappy sung at jealous. Okay, you you think

translating it, you think your basa was not good enough.

But it was so clear just for me to know

and receive it. And then she said, by the way,

I lost my father last year during Christmas season and

it is a difficult season for me. And when I

heard your testimony, just God just gave me hope. Yeah,

and that is when I was reminded that God uses

your the smallest that you can bring and offer your weaknesses,

you know, the stories that you have, your brokenness. Sometimes

to you you may think it's just a hardship I

went through, right, who can relate to it? But you

never know how far it goes because these are real stories. Yeah.

And like what Mikael said, sometimes we'd never we we

take testimony something very light, but no, they are very powerful. Yeah,

and that is what God uses. And so going back

to the scriptures here, God used a small town like

Bethlehem to bring the story of the King of Kings. Yeah.

And if you're seated here thinking that I'm just too little,

what impact am I going to bring? Or how am

I going to be seen? But let me tell you this.

God sees you. He knows you, He knows your heart,

he knows your ability, he knows your strength. Men can

can forget sometimes the closest people can forget it right

like who this person is? Or what have you done?

Have you done enough? But God remembers, Yeah, God remembers.

God uses the smallest, the weakest to bring his name higher. Amen.

And God is faithful to his promise when we read

this scripture here, it was a prophecy, a word that

was given, and true enough, it took place right, the

miss came and he never abandoned this, okay. And as

we know, when we read this scripture, it talked about

that he is the one who is the ruler, he'll

be the everlasting, and he shall be the one who

is will be there savior. Yeah, he'll be there savior.

Now let's look at Exiah chapter eleven versus one to five, right,

Exire chapter eleven versus one to five. Okay, it saysier

there shall come forth a rod from the scheme of Jesse,

and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The

spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit

of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,

the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

And so when we go back to this root of

scheme of Jesse, it's just the lineage of King David, okay.

And that was the prophecy given. In fact, some Bible

scholars would say the Book of Isaiah is it's pretty

much like the Fifth Gospel because it speaks so much

about who this Jesus is about to come. Okay, And

this is one of those examples where we can see

that it prophesies that he will come as this theme

of Jesse and during this time was again the time

of oppression. And yet it says, and a brunch shall

grow out of his roots. If you can imagine a

root that is already about to break, and yet there's

a green brunch coming out. And that is who Jesus is.

He came out of that difficult situation, difficult time, right,

And what does it say about him that the spirit

of the Lord shall rest upon him? Who he is

to us the spirit of wisdom and understanding. He's able

to give us that right. He is the spirit of

counsel and might. That is who he is, the spirit

of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. And

as we come to us the end of this year,

why don't you take this scripture as a form of

a reflection and ask the Lord what is it that

you're seeking? God? More? Do you need more wisdom the world?

Have God in the Book of James's asks for wisdom

and it will be given unto you, right, Or maybe

you're asking God, I just need understanding in this world

of chaos and the news and the things I hear,

and sometimes I can't even understand what's going on. Well,

ask the Lord for understanding. He gives you clarity. Yeah.

Or if you're in the midst of making decisions sometimes

heard decisions, and you're wondering what should I do? Should

I move, should I stay on? Should I what is it?

He is the God of counsel, right, like it says

in verse two, and might, and then he says, the

spirit of knowledge. The world can offer us a lot

of knowledge. Right with one click, you get all the

information that you need. But we need the kind of

knowledge that comes from God as well, so that we

can actually be prudent with the knowledge that we have

of the world. Yeah, we know how to kind of

like have a balance, you know, to not just get

all of the world because of what God says, You're

not off the world. We're not called to be off

the world, right to walk in the spirit. So if

you have more of God's knowledge, more of his word

in your life, you will also be prudent right put

in a sense where you will know how to differentiate

what is good knowledge and bad knowledge? What should I

follow and what I should not sometimes the good looks done,

the bad looks good sometimes, or the good may not

always be good in the eyes of God. Right, So

how then do we discern? How then do we choose?

It is only through the knowledge of God. Yeah, So

let this be your prayer as we come to us

this final week of the Christmas to leading on towards Christmas.

What is it that you're seeking for? What is it

that you're asking the Lord? So that I can step

into the new year with all these gifts with wisdom,

is understanding, is knowledge, and I can leave this life

to the fullest doing all that He has called me

to do, be in the marketplace, in the ministry, or

in your school, with so much more of strength. Not

because I am capable, but because God has given me

his wisdom, his knowledge, and He's understanding. Yeah. Let that

be our prayer. So besides the like I said, the

fun of Christmas, let's also take time to remember that

He is the promise that has been given to us. Yeah,

and let's hold on to this promised Messiah. Amen. Right now.

The second point that we can learn from the Book

of Micah as we read just now, is that he

is the good Shepherd. Yeah, he is the good shepherd,

it says in verses three. Therefore he shall give them

up until the time that she is in the labor

as given bird. Then the remnant of his brethren shall

return to the churn of Israel, and he shall stand

and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord. Yeah,

he will feed his flock. So he is the good shepherd.

There's different references in the Bible that mentions it as well.

And as we know, a good shepherd does not leave

even one person astree. Everyone is counted, okay, two, you

might have ninety nine, and to everyone is say, you

already have ninety nine, and it's okay. Let the one

go astray and find their way back. No, he is

going to wait until that one come back. Yeah. And

a true sheep will know how to hear. He saw

her voice of shepherd, right, You can hear when the

shepherd calls. That is what part of knowing and having

the understanding and the wisdom of God. If you have

his wisdom, if you have his understanding and discernment, when

the shepherd calls you or gives you a nuts, you

will know that, Okay, this is him who is calling me,

and I'm gonna go after him. Yeah, let's desire to

have that kind of a relationship with our father in heaven,

the one that clearly is tuned in. Let's tune in

our years, right, Let's tune in our frequency like they

call it, so that we can know for sure this

is the voice of God and this is not. And

of course how can we do that. It's by spending

more time with him, just like how it is with

human relationships. The more time you spend with him, the

more you know he's heart. Yeah, he's had. In John

ten to sixteen, is says I have other sheep that

are not off this fall, bring them also, and they

will listen to my voice. So there will be one

flock and one shepherd. That is the plan of God.

One flock, one shepherd. There's not supposed to be a

few shepherds. Okay, if not, you're going to confuse the sheeps. Right,

There's going to be one flock, one shepherd. And that

just means we are part of this plan of God

reaching out to the other ships and bringing them back

to that one flock. Right. And how many of us

are you know, actively sharing our stories and sharing our

gospel Christmas is a good time to share that message, right,

the message of hope, the message of wisdom, you know,

the message of you know, there's so much more hit

though the world may not look like that. Right, It's

about going with God and saying, yes, Lord, use me together,

help me to answer this call, help me to be

bold with my you know, with my my relationship with you,

and to bring this good news to artist as well. Yeah,

for those of you have been you know, joining us

in the past two weeks, you know that we have

been going through this series of unpacking the vision right,

and unpacking the vision just means we're trying to share

as many as much as we can to all our

whole church about what the vision is that God has

given to ex church, which is Habercook right, what it says,

can you remember what's our the scripture that we hold

on to our mission so that the water so that

they all heard urge right, will be filled with the

glory of God. Right, that everyone will know who God is.

That is the main thing. Right, Like what Passe Againa

always says, make the main thing the main thing right,

do not confuse it with or what else? What if

my talents are not enough for what if I can't

what if this and reject me. It's just a rejection. Okay,

give a smile and say it's okay. If you don't

wan to come to church, let me try another time,

or let me move on to another friend. Yeah. So

we've been going through this series about unpacking the vision

because we want everyone to be on board and they say, yes,

let's do this together as one church. Yeahs. And in

the coming year, we are very big about training our people,

you know, we want to equip you know, if you're

talking about doing small group like what we heard in

the testimony just now, it's about training our young people

so that they'll have their tools and the confidence to

bring it out back to their campus or to bring

it out back to your marketplace. Yeah, and to just

keep doing the good work, you know. And so we

want to equip our people. Yeah. So let's partner on

with our shepherd, Okay, not to just enjoy being his sheep,

you know, and his love and care just to ourselves,

but to allow others to feel and know the message

of hope as well. Amen. Right, it says in Efphicients

two four to six. But God, who is rich in

mercy because of His great love for us, even when

we were date in our sins made us alive together

with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. Turn to

the person next to you and tell them, by grace

you have been saved. Right, by grace, you have been saved.

And so that just means we are God's gift. You know,

we are chosen by God. And how precious is that gift? Right?

And let's allow others also experience Him as their savior. Men.

In Jeremiah thirty one Tree, it says, I have loved

you with an everlasting love. Therefore I've drawn you with

loving kindness. This is what God is telling us. I've

loved you whenever, a lasting love, a love that can

never be compared to anyone's love. Right, And this scripture

we all know John Tree sixteen. For God so loved

the world that he gave his one and only son

that whoever that believes in him will not perish, but

will have everlasting life. So you and I have that promise,

an everlasting life. Yeah, what a blessing it is to

have this gift. And so let's bring this to others

as well. In this Christmas season of Christmas. You know,

I was also thinking, who else can I invite, you know,

to church? My friends and my aunt. So my aunt

agree to say she's coming. She's not a believer yet,

you know, so she's coming to church. And I have

another friend who is coming as well. So I'm just thinking,

you know, because we always look forward to Christmas, right,

I mean time with friends and gifts and things like that.

But I had this thought of, you know, how nice

if more people will be able to experience this goodness,

this sense of assurance. I'm not sure about you, but

if you've been walking with God long enough, there's the

sense of security that we have, you know, like, yes,

whatever we see out there, whatever that's going on, there's

a sense of peace and assurance that God is in control. Yeah,

he has it all together. He is sovereign, you know.

So just having that assurance keeps you going right no

matter what hardships you go through. You kind of like

you feel grounded, like what they say, right, you feel grounded.

And then I begin to think about people out there

who may have not known about this gift of Christ.

How would it feel like not having the assurance, or

not having the hope, or thinking like, oh, the world

is just so chaotic and problems every other place. Is

the world going to end? What's going to happen after that? Right?

If you've had conversations with friends and themes, we talk

about all these things, right, but deep down, if you're

a believer, you have the peace and the assurance. Not

like we are trouble free. We still go through trials,

but we know that there's someone walking with us. Yeah,

so let's be reminded of that, because the more we

think of it that way, the more we want to

share to Utherists that I want others to feel this

good news as well, to be blessed, to be set free. Amen. Yeah,

So let this be a Christmas task for all of us. Okay,

we have this one week right as you're meeting different ones,

you're during gatherings, you know, make it a point that

you can share about God's love to them as well. Amen. Now,

the next thing that we can learn from this portion

of Scripture, it says, yeah, in Versus five, and this

one shall be peace. Okay, and this one shall be peace,

meaning he does not only gave us peace, but he

is peaces self. So having him in your life means

you have peace, peace that surpasses all understanding. Yeah. And

the portion of scripture before that again says in verses three,

until the time that she is in labor, has given

Bird that the remnant of his brethren shall return to

the children of Israel. And this example of giving bird

is use. Okay, it's not talking about Virgin Mary. Yeah,

it's not about that, but it's the whole example of

you know, when when a woman goes through labor, the

kind of pain that they go through, right, the kind

of you know, mom's he or you would know this, right,

the pain that you have to feel. But the moment

the child comes out is the joy that it brings, right,

the smile that it gives you, you know, and you're

just filled with gratitude and say thank you Lord for

this gift. And that is what the scripture is reminding

us today. Sometimes we go through hardships, we go through brokenness,

but out of the pain comes this prince of peace,

comes this joy that it was Okay, I went through

it because there was something else that's coming Bird out

of it. Yeah, And this is what the scripture says.

He is the peace. So if you're here struggling with anything,

in your minds. You're going through anxiousness, you're going through

emotional burdens. Let me just encourage us that this too

shall pass. Right, this too shall pass because you know why,

not just because human says it, but because God is sovereign.

God is with you. He is your prince of peace.

Yeah.

And the Book of Timothy it reminds us that he

has not given us a spirit of fear, but he

has given us a spirit off sound mine, power, love,

and sound mine. That is a gift he is given

to us. So if you're still desiring for that sound mind,

it is made available to us, if only we can

ask of him. Yeah, we can ask of him. In

Exiah fifty three versus five, it says, but he was

wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.

The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and

by his wounds we are healed a man. I'm going

to read this again. But he was wounded for our transgressions.

This eve were referring to his Jesus himself. He was

crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace

was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed

a man. And as I'm saying this, I'm just declaring

this over different ones here who are believing for healing

over your lives. Beat a physical healing, or beat a

healing in your minds and your hearts. God is able

to set you free. And you know what the good

news is that He has done it all on the cross.

He's done it all on the Calvary. And all we

got to say is amen. Amen. Is just a sign

of saying, yes, God, You've done it for me, and

I'm just going to take it in. Yeah, we are

healed by His wouness. In Philippians four four to seven,

it says, rejoice in the Lord always. And I will

say again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all.

The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything,

but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanks giving,

present your request to God and the peace of God,

which surpasses all understanding. Will God your hearts and your minds. Amen. So,

if there's anything that you are anxious about and wondering

about how the new year is going to be like

for me, the things that have got to handle, that

is on my shoulders, right. But God doesn't want you

to carry it on your shoulders. He wants you to

lean on him, right, He wants you to hold on

to him, and he's going to carry you through. Okay.

But what the word of God tells us is to

bring it to him by prayer, by petition, made it

known to God. Yeah, and this saying sticks in my mind.

I remember a speaker telling this once. You know, if

you don't feel like praying, talk to God about it. Yeah,

talk to God about it. Prayer is like talking to

God about it. He is your closest friend, He is

your father. He is your everything, and even things that

you can't alter, true words. He knows what's in your heart.

But it's just about making that space and that time

and saying, God, I just need an encounter with you.

Would you come and take over? Yeah? And his word

says He's peace, which surpasses all understanding, meaning we don't

have to get answers. Sometimes because you're looking for answers,

you try't like, God, help me understand this. But what

if we're not meant to understand it? Because that's how

small our human minds are, right compared to who God is,

you know, So sometimes he doesn't just want us to understand,

but to just take on his peace. And He's peace

will guard our hearts and our minds. And a person

who walks out there having a guarded mind and heart

is so secure because we are not relying on human

or what we see in our physical eyes, but we

are relying and trusting in the lot. Yeah, hearts and

minds are guarded. Amen. So just like to encourage us

with this simple message today about the message of hope.

If someone has broken a promise, well maybe you might

find encouragement that God has kept this promise with you.

He has never failed you, He's never forsaken you. If

someone has forgotten you, the Good Shepherd has not forgotten you.

He remembers you. And you'll always remember you. Even when

you feel that you don't you're not seen. And if

you feel anxiousness in your heart, all you need in

this season of Christmas is His peace, peace that surpasses

all understanding. Amen. And as we close here, I just

invite extreme. I just want to go back to that

scripture on the Book of Isaiah and just leave you

with this portion again. And I pray that this would

be something that you can meditate right and reflect on

throughout this week of Christmas. Okay, we read earlier just

now about the reign of Jesse. Yeah, it says here

in Isaiah eleven versus one on wards, there shall come

forth a rod from the scheme of Jesse, and a

brunch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of

the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom

and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit

of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord versus three.

His delight is in the fear of the Lord. And

he shall not judge by the side of his eyes,

nor decide by the yearing of his years. But with

righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with iniquity.

For the meek of the earth. He shall strike the

earth with the wrath of his mouth, and with the

breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness

shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the

belt of his ways. And verses ten of the same chapter,

it says, and in that day there shall be a

rood of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to

the people, for the generals shall seek him, and his

resting place shall be glorious. Amen. I just pray that

in this season of Christmas, you will find rest in

the God of Wisdom, the God of strength, the God

of understanding, the God of knowledge, and even the God

of counsel. Yeah. And as it says here that he

will stand as a banner. And when we learn about

banner here meaning banner means he stands up for us.

He's there for us in every season of our lives. Yeah.

And I pray that you'll find comfort in the Word

of God and to take on this spirit of Christmas

in you and being reminded that the spirit of the

Lord is with us. Yeah. He wants to feel us,

he wants to refresh us for the year. That's a

hit and to just enjoy his presence. Amen.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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this week is going to be a good week. I

hit for you. God bless