Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: And I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving.
Speaker 1: In your life.
Speaker 2: Enjoy the message, and what a privileged to minister of
Speaker 2: the Word of God to you today.
Speaker 1: I decided just to use one verse.
Speaker 2: It's completely coincidental that this is my eleventh Christmas sermon,
Speaker 2: is the pastor of Elevation Church, and my text happens
Speaker 2: to be Isaiah eleven. This is the coolest Christmas scripture
Speaker 2: that you've never heard. I promise you you've never heard this.
Speaker 2: You probably never heard this little verse of scripture. And
Speaker 2: I know you've never heard it in a Christmas sermon
Speaker 2: and I had not either, So I decided just to
Speaker 2: preach it. And the Lord has really been using it.
Speaker 2: And I want to read you this verse. And don't
Speaker 2: worry if you don't see what it has to do
Speaker 2: with Christmas right when I read it, but you will
Speaker 2: in a minute. A shoot will come up. This is
Speaker 2: Isaiah eleven. Verse one shoot will come up from the
Speaker 2: stump of Jesse from his roots, a branch will bear fruit. Again,
Speaker 2: a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse
Speaker 2: from his roots, A branch will bear fruit.
Speaker 1: It is a very.
Speaker 2: Promising prophecy that Isaiah delivers to a people who have
Speaker 2: been cut down and reduced to almost nothing. One of
Speaker 2: my favorite country preachers used to have a saying. He
Speaker 2: would say, when you're down to nothing, God is up
Speaker 2: to something.
Speaker 1: Elbow your neighbor real quick, tell him.
Speaker 2: God is up to something in your life, even if
Speaker 2: you can't feel it, even if you can't see it,
Speaker 2: even if you can't discern it with your natural senses.
Speaker 2: I want you to know that God is up to something.
Speaker 1: In your life.
Speaker 2: If you've had a Banner year or a Baron year,
Speaker 2: God is up to something in your life. He was
Speaker 2: up to something in the nation of Israel. They had
Speaker 2: placed their hope in other gods, and yet the promise
Speaker 2: of redemption echoes over seven hundred years before the birth
Speaker 2: of Christ through the prophet Isaiah. He says, a shoot
Speaker 2: will come up from the stump of Jesse from his roots,
Speaker 2: a branch.
Speaker 1: Will bear fruit.
Speaker 2: Let me back up and read that one more time,
Speaker 2: because I think I see Jesus in this text from
Speaker 2: his roots, A branch will bear fruit. Could it be
Speaker 2: that the branch Isaiah speaks of is the baby that
Speaker 2: was born in the town of Bethlehem. Could it be
Speaker 2: that the eagle eyed prophet is seeing through seven centuries
Speaker 2: into our present hope.
Speaker 1: Peter calls it a living hope.
Speaker 2: The author of Hebrews calls it an anchor for our souls.
Speaker 2: We celebrate this season that hope has come. Somebody, shall
Speaker 2: I have a hope? I have a hope. Say it again,
Speaker 2: I have a hope. Let the devil hear you say it,
Speaker 2: because he's been messing with you and you've had a
Speaker 2: hard year. But let him know that you're still standing
Speaker 2: by the grace of God and you.
Speaker 1: Have a hope. Somebody, shall I have a hope? And
Speaker 1: it's a.
Speaker 2: Certain kind of hope. It's not a floating hope. I
Speaker 2: saw Holly watch a movie a few years ago. It's
Speaker 2: been quite a few years, and they called the movie
Speaker 2: Hope floats.
Speaker 1: I didn't watch the movie. Holly had it on.
Speaker 2: And I don't know anything about the movie, but I
Speaker 2: know that the title is inaccurate, because.
Speaker 1: Real hope is like an anchor.
Speaker 2: It doesn't float on the surface of your situation, but
Speaker 2: it gets down to the bottom and holds on tight
Speaker 2: while you're going through hell. Can I preach a little
Speaker 2: bit on Christmas Eve? Just a little bit? And so
Speaker 2: when you get Paul involved. Paul is the New Testament
Speaker 2: apostle who took the Gospel to the Gentiles, and he
Speaker 2: says something instructive in Romans chapter eight. He wants to
Speaker 2: talk about the nature of hope, and when he goes
Speaker 2: to talk about it, he says that in this hope,
Speaker 2: this is Romans eight twenty four, we were saved, But
Speaker 2: hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who
Speaker 2: hopes for what they already have. But if we hope
Speaker 2: for what we do not have, if we can.
Speaker 1: Hold on and hold out and hope for what we
Speaker 1: do not yet have, we wait for.
Speaker 2: It patiently, and patience is the proof of hope. My
Speaker 2: subject for this Christmas is learning hope the hard way.
Speaker 1: Learning hope the hard way.
Speaker 2: Because what Isaiah's stump that has been cut down in
Speaker 2: Paul's theology, christology and numatology of the Spirit of God
Speaker 2: that lives on the inside of you all have in
Speaker 2: common is that they describe a certain kind of hope,
Speaker 2: not the kind of hope that you might have as
Speaker 2: a Panther's fan. Listen, I hope that the Clemson Tigers
Speaker 2: beat the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Speaker 1: As do all Christians.
Speaker 2: Now tossed around like that, the word hope means very little,
Speaker 2: because the fact of the matter is it.
Speaker 1: Won't bother me much if they don't.
Speaker 2: A bunch of boys and some spandex aren't going to
Speaker 2: keep me up at night. I am not so worried
Speaker 2: as to really say I hope. All I really mean
Speaker 2: is it would be nice. It'd be nice my mom
Speaker 2: went to Clemson. It would be nice if they got
Speaker 2: to win. I don't care. I don't really hope for that.
Speaker 2: I didn't come to talk to you on Christmas Eve
Speaker 2: when you could be doing a lot of other things
Speaker 2: about that kind of hope. Today, I'm talking about a
Speaker 2: certain kind of hope, a hope that has to be
Speaker 2: learned the hard way. How many have ever had to
Speaker 2: learn something the hard way? If your husband isn't raising
Speaker 2: his hand, maybe you could raise it for him if
Speaker 2: he don't want to be honest, some things you have
Speaker 2: to learn the hard way. Some things can only be
Speaker 2: developed the hard way. I was talking to a campus pastor.
Speaker 2: It might have been you, Jonathan, I don't remember, and
Speaker 2: they asked me about my preparation, and I told him
Speaker 2: a story. I said, I prepare a lot before I preach,
Speaker 2: and I overprepare. The reason I overprepare is because one time,
Speaker 2: thirteen years ago, I went to speak at an event.
Speaker 2: I got lost on the way, so I started getting angry,
Speaker 2: and I was a little flustered.
Speaker 1: When I got there.
Speaker 2: And I got up in front of the event and
Speaker 2: it was a mother daughter banquet, and I've never been
Speaker 2: more unprepared for anything in my life. I didn't know
Speaker 2: it was other daughter banquet. I had prepared for something different.
Speaker 2: I thought it was a youth service, and I didn't
Speaker 2: have anything to say to the mothers and daughters.
Speaker 1: But I learned the hard way that day.
Speaker 2: I hated how that felt so much, being up in
Speaker 2: front of people with a microphone and a Bible.
Speaker 1: I resolved in my heart I will never stand.
Speaker 2: In front of people behind a pulpit unprepared again. But
Speaker 2: it took the experience of embarrassment. You know, my mouth
Speaker 2: is going dry, and my face is turning red, and
Speaker 2: I stood there and I resolved. I promised myself, I
Speaker 2: will never.
Speaker 1: Be in that situation again.
Speaker 2: And it doesn't mean that all my sermons are going
Speaker 2: to be great, and it doesn't mean that all of
Speaker 2: my sermons are going to be funny or equally inspiring,
Speaker 2: but they will always be my best. I decided that day,
Speaker 2: but I had to learn it the hard way. Those
Speaker 2: of you who come to the church know we have
Speaker 2: three kids. The only reason I keep them around this
Speaker 2: for sermon material. And oldest one's eleven. His name's Elijah,
Speaker 2: and he gave me a good line the other day
Speaker 2: we were writing. I was taking him to school, and
Speaker 2: I said, who is your favorite teacher that you've ever had?
Speaker 1: He's in sixth grade.
Speaker 2: Now that's not a prairie quest, but if you want
Speaker 2: to throw us in on your list, that's okay. And
Speaker 2: he said, he said, He said, it depends what you
Speaker 2: mean by favorite. Do you mean the one that I
Speaker 2: had the most fun with or the one that I
Speaker 2: learned the most from, Because those answers would be different
Speaker 2: depending on what you mean by favorite. How did he
Speaker 2: understand that about school as an eleven year old? And
Speaker 2: we don't get it in our Christian life, in our
Speaker 2: spiritual life.
Speaker 1: That the seasons of our life that are the.
Speaker 2: Most fun aren't necessarily the most fruitful, And the seasons
Speaker 2: of our life that we get the most out of
Speaker 2: aren't necessarily the ones that we would choose to go through.
Speaker 2: There are some seasons of your life that will cut
Speaker 2: you down and take off your branches. We call them
Speaker 2: pruning season. But even in the pruning is a promise.
Speaker 2: Isaiah said, I see a stump cut down to nothing,
Speaker 2: but I see a shoot coming forth from the stump
Speaker 2: and got us up to something.
Speaker 1: In your life. This Christmas.
Speaker 2: So we celebrate this season that hope has come into
Speaker 2: the world, but we've got to remember not only that
Speaker 2: it has come or who it came through, but how
Speaker 2: it came. I mean, it had to be hard. It
Speaker 2: had to be hard. That's kind of left out by
Speaker 2: the time you see our modern interpretation of the Nativity.
Speaker 2: It had to be hard for Joseph to really believe
Speaker 2: that his wife, who had not had sex with him,
Speaker 2: because they were not husband and wife yet, but they
Speaker 2: were what the Bible calls betrothed, that his wife, being
Speaker 2: a virgin, was pregnant. It had to be hard for
Speaker 2: him to really take that at God's word. It had
Speaker 2: to be hard for Mary to have to look people
Speaker 2: in the eye and convince them that.
Speaker 1: What she was carrying was from the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: Forget about even that part, okay, because it had to
Speaker 2: be hard for them to believe.
Speaker 1: I know that, But just.
Speaker 2: Physically, the way God chose to come into the world
Speaker 2: shows us something about the nature of the way he works,
Speaker 2: and I think we should look at it, because if
Speaker 2: you sanitize the Christmas story, you strip it of its significance.
Speaker 1: To miss the.
Speaker 2: Struggle of the Christmas story is to miss a window
Speaker 2: into the.
Speaker 1: Way God works. When God wanted to.
Speaker 2: Come into the world, not only did he pick a virgin,
Speaker 2: Not only did he pick a womb that would represented
Speaker 2: impossibility so that he could bring forth infinite potential. Not
Speaker 2: only did he pick the hardest situation to bring forth
Speaker 2: this son, but he didn't even make hotel reservations. When
Speaker 2: it came time for them to stay in Bethlehem. They
Speaker 2: didn't even have They didn't even have a room at
Speaker 2: the Ritz.
Speaker 3: When you think if.
Speaker 2: God was coming into the world, he would Airbnb or
Speaker 2: something to make sure that this couple had a place
Speaker 2: to stay. Talk to me somebody and see. We miss
Speaker 2: it because we think that when God says he's gonna
Speaker 2: do something in our lives, it's going to be easy.
Speaker 1: But it's not.
Speaker 3: It has to be hard.
Speaker 2: A quick look at the history of the Bible shows
Speaker 2: you that God likes to do things the hard way.
Speaker 2: It is his preferred method of carrying out his purpose.
Speaker 2: So don't think you're weird if your life has been hard,
Speaker 2: and don't assume that you're doing something wrong, because God
Speaker 2: will often allow life to cut you down to the stock.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, he did it to Moses.
Speaker 2: Moses was called to lead the children of Israel out
Speaker 2: of Egypt. I'm gonna take you through the whole Bible,
Speaker 2: but I do want to go to Exodus because there's
Speaker 2: this interesting Prisms verse that says, out of Egypt, I've
Speaker 2: called my son because Jesus had to go with his
Speaker 2: parents to Egypt when he was very little, because Herod
Speaker 2: wanted to kill him. Because God doesn't birth his son
Speaker 2: into the world into ideal circumstances, but into a very
Speaker 2: chaotic environment where Roman oppression was so common to the
Speaker 2: people that they feared for their very life under the
Speaker 2: madman named Herod. We think we have bad presidential candidates.
Speaker 2: I mean, this guy was killing babies in Bethlehem when
Speaker 2: he heard Jesus was born because it represented a threat
Speaker 2: to the throne. And so Isaiah's prophesying to a people
Speaker 2: who are under a Syrian oppression, and Jesus comes into
Speaker 2: the world under Roman oppression. Because God likes to come
Speaker 2: into hard situations, He's not scared of that. And so
Speaker 2: when he picks Moses, he says, go to Pharaoh, the
Speaker 2: most powerful man in the world.
Speaker 1: And tell him to let my people go.
Speaker 2: And when you tell him to let my people go,
Speaker 2: he's going to say no. Now, why would God tell
Speaker 2: me to do something, And in the next breath inform
Speaker 2: me that it won't work.
Speaker 1: Because it had to be hard.
Speaker 2: If it was easy for Moses, if he just walked
Speaker 2: up into Pharaoh's court and said let my people go
Speaker 2: and Pharaoh said all right, Moses would dab on Pharaoh
Speaker 2: walk out and think he was convincing. But Pharaoh had
Speaker 2: to say no so that God could And this is
Speaker 2: God's own wording.
Speaker 1: I didn't make this up.
Speaker 2: He said, I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that I
Speaker 2: can gain glory. In other words, if it wasn't hard,
Speaker 2: you would think it was you. If it wasn't hard,
Speaker 2: you would trust in yourself, and yourself is not an
Speaker 2: adequate support system for the glory of God. So I've
Speaker 2: got to allow some things into your life that are impossible.
Speaker 1: For you so that you can know what Mary knew.
Speaker 2: That nothing shall be impossible with God.
Speaker 1: It had to be hard.
Speaker 3: By the time the.
Speaker 2: Israelites came out of Egypt, they come up to the
Speaker 2: Red Sea and God instead of taking them around the
Speaker 2: body of water, WA's what God does?
Speaker 1: God is kind of crazy.
Speaker 2: God says, I'm not gonna take you around it. That
Speaker 2: would be the normal way, that would be the human way.
Speaker 1: Let's do it the hard way.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna take you around it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take you through it.
Speaker 2: Stretch out to your staff, and the waters will part.
Speaker 1: And about the time.
Speaker 2: You get through, look back over your soular and the
Speaker 2: Egyptians that were ruling.
Speaker 1: Over you, you will see them no more. I'm about to drown.
Speaker 1: What's chasing you down? But I gotta take you the
Speaker 1: hard way, the hard way. God likes to do it
Speaker 1: the hard way.
Speaker 2: I don't have time to tell you about David and
Speaker 2: his slingshot. God could have used the armed soldier to
Speaker 2: kill Goliath, but how would they have known that he
Speaker 2: was the Lord if God didn't do it through something
Speaker 2: so silly as one rock.
Speaker 1: God likes to do things the hard way. Get so
Speaker 1: if you have.
Speaker 2: Thirty two thousand men, he's not gonna let you fight
Speaker 2: with thirty two thousand men.
Speaker 1: He's gonna get you down to three hundred.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's why you've been cut down to a stump.
Speaker 2: Maybe you were relying on the fruit too much. But
Speaker 2: this is a season where God wants to prove your
Speaker 2: root system and show you real hope, and sometimes you.
Speaker 3: You got to learn it the hard way.
Speaker 2: He couldn't come into the world floating on the crowd
Speaker 2: cloud looking like some superhero.
Speaker 3: He couldn't.
Speaker 1: He couldn't have come like that with an s on
Speaker 1: his chest.
Speaker 3: For savior of the world.
Speaker 2: Had to come in weakness, so that you would know
Speaker 2: that in your weakness he is strong.
Speaker 3: And I don't know it's because I.
Speaker 2: Spend so much time speaking to young people that I
Speaker 2: think in such simplistic terms, or maybe I'm just a
Speaker 2: simple man.
Speaker 1: But I started thinking about.
Speaker 2: And I texted Jess and I said give me a
Speaker 2: bouncy ball. I want to use it in the sermon.
Speaker 2: I didn't tell her I wanted to use it in
Speaker 2: the sermon. I said, give me a bouncy ball. I
Speaker 2: didn't tell her why I wanted it. Maybe she thought
Speaker 2: I was losing my mind, or I hadn't bought Christmas
Speaker 2: for Holly yet.
Speaker 3: That'd be bad, wouldn't it.
Speaker 2: But I was thinking that it has the ability to
Speaker 2: bounce back. That's exactly what it was designed to do.
Speaker 2: That's exactly what it's meant for. That's why it's called
Speaker 2: a bouncy ball. They named it appropriately for the function
Speaker 2: that it is intended to serve, for the potential that
Speaker 2: it has within its composite structure.
Speaker 3: But in order.
Speaker 2: See if I did the same thing, give me a chair, Rick,
Speaker 2: I know he doesn't mind giving me his chair.
Speaker 1: Rick could do anything for me when you're recking anything.
Speaker 2: Anything to help me preach the gospel, even even your
Speaker 2: own seat on Christmas Eve. Now, look, same ball, different surface.
Speaker 2: Didn't work, because in order for this to do what
Speaker 2: it's meant to do, the surface that it bounces on
Speaker 2: has to be She's on it. Some of y'all are
Speaker 2: remedial it has to be. It has to be. And
Speaker 2: maybe that's why in this season of your life things
Speaker 2: have been hard. Maybe God isn't punishing you. Maybe he's
Speaker 2: preparing you. Maybe you've been cut down for a comeback.
Speaker 2: See as a believer, y'all better help me. Preacher, I'll
Speaker 2: have you here until midnight. As a believer in Jesus Christ,
Speaker 2: you have the ability within you to bounce back. Maybe
Speaker 2: that's why they lay Jesus in a borrowed grave, because
Speaker 2: God had to show the world.
Speaker 1: That you can put me.
Speaker 2: Down in rock bottom, but you can't keep.
Speaker 1: Me from bouncing back. Does anybody have a bounce back
Speaker 1: in your sphere? At this Christian.
Speaker 2: Touch, three people say I can bounce back. I can
Speaker 2: bounce back. I have a hope that bounces back. I
Speaker 2: can bounce back from rock bottom. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 2: the harder the bottom, the higher the bounce. God let
Speaker 2: me be cut down for a little while. But I
Speaker 2: see a shoe coming from the stock.
Speaker 3: It had to be hard.
Speaker 2: Mary had to wonder, the Bible says she.
Speaker 1: Pondered these things in her heart.
Speaker 2: What was happening inside of her wasn't obvious to the
Speaker 2: people around her, because it.
Speaker 1: Had to be hard, and it had to be hidden. Hidden.
Speaker 2: When God really likes something, he hides it. We get
Speaker 2: sent a lot of delicious Christmas treats this time of year.
Speaker 1: Praise the Lord.
Speaker 2: And when I like it, okay, I put it out
Speaker 2: for the.
Speaker 3: Kids when I really like it.
Speaker 2: I have some places around the house, come on that
Speaker 2: I can put stuff where Graham can't find it, where
Speaker 2: the devil can't find it. I have some secret compartments
Speaker 2: for certain carbohydrates.
Speaker 1: Holly doesn't even know that I have.
Speaker 2: I'm not stashing anything illegal, baby, but sometimes peanut butter,
Speaker 2: some stuff is too good for me to just leave out.
Speaker 2: And don't you find it the least been intriguing. I mean,
Speaker 2: I just love the Bible. Here's Isaiah seven hundred years
Speaker 2: out from the birth of Christ.
Speaker 1: Now we have what Isaiah was hoping for.
Speaker 2: And I wonder do we take it for granted because
Speaker 2: we've got it. Paul said, it's harder to hope the
Speaker 2: more you have, because when you have it, you lose
Speaker 2: your ability to hope because you start to hope in
Speaker 2: what you.
Speaker 3: Have and you forget how to hope when you don't
Speaker 3: have it.
Speaker 2: Hope for reconciliation when it's not going well, Hope for
Speaker 2: provision when you're down to nothing. But God is up
Speaker 2: to something. And Isaiah said, you can see it in
Speaker 2: the roots. But the roots, that's the part of the
Speaker 2: tree that you can't see. But that's where the action is.
Speaker 2: As long as that tree stays rooted, it has the
Speaker 2: promise of new beginnings. So Isaiah I said, God's doing
Speaker 2: a hidden work in your life. Sh He's up to something.
Speaker 2: Christmas came in a whisper. Jesus spent the first couple
Speaker 2: of years of this life hiding from Herod because when
Speaker 2: God brings a promise into the earth, that alerts the enemy.
Speaker 2: And maybe you've been in a season of hiding. Maybe
Speaker 2: God is trying to show you the nature of true hope,
Speaker 2: not the kind that floats, but the kind that gets
Speaker 2: down deep enough in your heart where people can't get it.
Speaker 2: Some of you keep giving your hope away easily. You
Speaker 2: haven't learned how to hide it. You're not rooted yet,
Speaker 2: and you have hope when good things happen. But how
Speaker 2: is your home when God seems silent? How is your
Speaker 2: hope when there's no fruit on the tree? How is
Speaker 2: your hope. It's in those seasons. Elijah said, it depends,
Speaker 2: do you mean the teacher that taught me the most
Speaker 2: or the teacher I had the most fun with. Some
Speaker 2: of God's greatest work in my life was when I
Speaker 2: couldn't feel him. That's where he built my faith. When
Speaker 2: I couldn't feel him. He had to hide my faith
Speaker 2: beneath my feelings. That's where hope lies. Beneath the surface.
Speaker 2: That's where hope lies. When you get a bad report
Speaker 2: from the doctor, but somehow, some way, you still have hope.
Speaker 2: Not just hope when you're healthy, not just hope when
Speaker 2: it's a clean bill, not just hope when there is
Speaker 2: a bonus, hope when you don't know how you're going
Speaker 2: to make it through. But my hope doesn't have to
Speaker 2: know how.
Speaker 1: I know who. I don't know how, but I know who.
Speaker 1: I don't know when, but I know who.
Speaker 2: I don't even know what, but I know who.
Speaker 3: It and all.
Speaker 2: It's an anchor for my soul. It's an anchor. And
Speaker 2: what does an anchor do? Goes all the way down
Speaker 2: to the bottom, and from a stump a shoot.
Speaker 3: Is coming forth.
Speaker 1: Think about it. The stump of.
Speaker 2: Jesse that was David's father that represented the Kingdom of Israel,
Speaker 2: and when that kingdom was cut down, God shows Isaiah's
Speaker 2: word to say.
Speaker 1: There's a stump coming forth from the shoote.
Speaker 2: God said this Christmas, some of you have been going
Speaker 2: through things and you thought God was gone.
Speaker 3: He's not gone.
Speaker 2: He is preparing you or growth, and He is rooting
Speaker 2: your hope in a deeper place. I used to think
Speaker 2: that disappointment was the enemy of hope. I don't think
Speaker 2: so anymore. I think disappointment is the doorway to deeper hope.
Speaker 1: See, you have to learn it the hard way. You
Speaker 1: have to put your hope.
Speaker 2: In a person and find out that people can't hold
Speaker 2: your hope. They're not meant to. You have to put
Speaker 2: your hope in your bank ballots to realize that your
Speaker 2: bank account can't.
Speaker 1: Hold your hope. God help you if you're looking to.
Speaker 2: A governmental agency to hold your hope right now. And
Speaker 2: maybe God even allows nation sometimes to get down to
Speaker 2: a stump so a shoot can come forth. And the
Speaker 2: Lord said, there would be somebody here today who has
Speaker 2: allowed your hope to be in things and people and
Speaker 2: success and status. And one day when and if I
Speaker 2: ever and he brought you here, and there's a shoot
Speaker 2: coming forth from the stump. This little Christmas message is
Speaker 2: just the thing.
Speaker 1: See, you came just for Grandma, You came just to
Speaker 1: check it off.
Speaker 2: But God had something different, something deeper, something lasting in mind.
Speaker 2: God wants to give you hope. But my brother, my sister,
Speaker 2: you've got to take hold of it. Hope is here,
Speaker 2: but it is not yours until you take hold of it.
Speaker 2: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
Speaker 2: of things not seen, and from its roots a branch
Speaker 2: will bring forth fruit. You cannot have the fruit of
Speaker 2: fulfillment without the branch of Jesus Christ. That's why he
Speaker 2: was born. He is the branch. And you don't have
Speaker 2: to leave this place disconnected from God. You don't have
Speaker 2: to leave this place disconnected from hope. And you don't
Speaker 2: have to leave this place down to nothing. A shoot
Speaker 2: is coming forth from the stump, and hope is being
Speaker 2: born as the word of.
Speaker 1: God goes forth. This is your day.
Speaker 2: Today is born to you in the city of David,
Speaker 2: a savior, which is Christ, the Lord.
Speaker 1: He is the Prince. This is the hope. Now is
Speaker 1: the time, This is the hope.
Speaker 2: He is the Prince, and now is the top.
Speaker 1: This day.
Speaker 2: I want to ask you to stand at all of
Speaker 2: our locations. I'm praying for people right now who need
Speaker 2: to take hold of hope. I had a special sense
Speaker 2: of what God wanted to do in this worship experience.
Speaker 2: This will be the greatest response of people giving their
Speaker 2: lives to Christ that we will see all Christmas in
Speaker 2: this worship periods right now. There are many of you
Speaker 2: who have never truly placed your hope in Christ. The
Speaker 2: story is familiar to you, but you are not rooted
Speaker 2: in it. And you know, if we were just talking,
Speaker 2: I wish we could just talk. I wish we didn't
Speaker 2: have to be in this crowd like this where you
Speaker 2: want to act like you got your fake fruit on
Speaker 2: your tree and acting like you're But if we could
Speaker 2: just talk, you would say.
Speaker 1: Man, I'm far away from God.
Speaker 2: And you may feel like the shepherds who were the
Speaker 2: last ones who ever thought that God would appear to them,
Speaker 2: but they got the first noel.
Speaker 1: And maybe that's you. Maybe maybe you've become disconnected.
Speaker 2: Maybe you had a connection with God at one point
Speaker 2: in your life, but.
Speaker 1: You've been cut down to a stump.
Speaker 2: The good news is that from that stump, a shoot,
Speaker 2: a small thing that seems so insignificant, so little, that
Speaker 2: you'll miss it if you walk by it.
Speaker 1: I think these are the moments that God speaks to us.
Speaker 2: At and if you're not careful, you'll walk right by
Speaker 2: it and go right back into your next year, disconnected
Speaker 2: from hope, putting your hope in people, putting your hope
Speaker 2: in achievements.
Speaker 1: But in this moment, if you'll reach out to God,
Speaker 1: he has already come near to you. We live on
Speaker 1: this side of hope. Our hope has come.
Speaker 2: And today, if you are far away from God and
Speaker 2: you know it in your heart, I want to pray
Speaker 2: for you. Would you buy your head and close your eyes.
Speaker 2: We do this as a church family, is something that
Speaker 2: we do every time we gather, but this Christmas it
Speaker 2: has special significance. What a perfect time to have your
Speaker 2: slate white clean, your sins washed away, your heart made new,
Speaker 2: and your new life began.
Speaker 1: In this moment.
Speaker 2: If you say that's me, you're preaching to Pastor Stephen,
Speaker 2: And right now I want to pray with you, and
Speaker 2: I want you to pray for me, and I want
Speaker 2: to call on God. The Bible says that if anyone
Speaker 2: calls on the name of.
Speaker 1: The Lord, he will be saved, She will be saved.
Speaker 1: All you have to do is.
Speaker 2: Reach, and a shoot will come forth from the stump
Speaker 2: of Jesse, and from its roots a branch will bear fruit.
Speaker 2: He is the branch. Take hold of him in this moment,
Speaker 2: and I want you to pray out loud with me.
Speaker 2: We'll pray all together now as a church family, for
Speaker 2: the benefit of those who are coming to God or
Speaker 2: back to God. Would you repeat this prayer, the simple
Speaker 2: prayer after me, Heavenly Father. Today is my day of
Speaker 2: new beginnings. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
Speaker 2: of God and the Savior of the world, and right
Speaker 2: now I give him my life. From this stay forward,
Speaker 2: I will follow you. I receive your love, and this
Speaker 2: is my new beginning. I turn from my sin. I
Speaker 2: trust in you. Make me a new creation. Head still bowed,
Speaker 2: eyes still closed. If you just prayed that on the
Speaker 2: count of three, shoot your hand up in the air
Speaker 2: and make it official.
Speaker 1: One, two, three, This is the day. Now is the time.
Speaker 1: This is the day. Now is the time. This is
Speaker 1: the day. Keep your hand up for a moment.
Speaker 3: We have a gift.
Speaker 1: We want to give you. God, bless you, God, bless you.
Speaker 2: God bless you, God bless you.
Speaker 1: Hands shot up everywhere. I wish you could have seen it.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a party going on in heaven. I
Speaker 1: think we ought to join in. On the earth.
Speaker 2: People say, and this is the time, this is the time,
Speaker 2: this is the time, and a.
Speaker 1: Shoot, we'll come up from the stuff.
Speaker 2: I've seen you coming up all around you.
Speaker 1: I've seen new.
Speaker 2: Beginnings in your family, in your.
Speaker 1: Heart, in your situation. Come on, let's look our hands
Speaker 1: to heaven.
Speaker 2: Right now, let's join the.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give now,
Speaker 2: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information
Speaker 2: and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
Speaker 2: share it on your social stories and tag us at
Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.