Root of Hope

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Genesis 1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

  • Are you missing out on the joys of life because you are too busy?
  • Are you over-committed?
  • God never called you to be busy—He called you to be fruitful.

Remember, toil and competition are part of the curse, and is self-serving.

Don’t get activity mixed up with productivity that leads to profit.

  • Just because you are on the go and always doing things—even godly things—doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re fulfilling God’s plan for your life.
  • Activity without God’s purpose is futile.

John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing

He will teach you to profit and lead you in the way you should go – Is 48:17

  • Activity without Jesus’ purpose is futile.

Examine the different activities in your life.

  • See if you walk by faith.
  • Without faith, it is impossible to please God.
  • Ask the Lord to show you which areas need to be pruned and which areas need more focus.
  • Ask Him to show which relationships to move away from and which relationships to cultivate in your life.

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

It didn’t take long for our ancestors to make a mess of God’s perfect creation.

  • God had to inform them of the consequences of their sin.
  • But even in the middle of God’s tough words, we find these amazing roots of hope that reveal God’s solution for our deepest need.

The plan of God

  • Here we see that God was already setting in motion a plan to defeat the enemy (strike his head) even though it would involve the pain Jesus experienced on the cross (strike his heel).
  • Right from the start, God was telling us that the results of sin may be terrible, but they don’t have to be terminal.

God has a redemptive plan for us all; a relationship made possible only through the price Jesus paid on the cross.

I deal with folks who are facing their own dilemmas…

  • from unrealistic expectations, to moral failures, to mistakes in judgment, but each person must face his own issues in his own way.
  • It doesn’t matter how much of a mess your life might be right now,
  • how many bad choices you’ve made in the past, or
  • what unfair circumstances have happened to you.

God, the Creator of the universe, has a redemptive plan just for you! Let the truth of God’s grace fill your heart with hope today!

For God’s principles to work, we have to understand them.

  • We reap what we sow, more than you sow and later than you sow.
  • Yes be yes, no lies

Galatians 4:3–7 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

  • Colossians 1:27 …which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
  • John 10:10 Thief comes to steal kill and destroy.
  • Psalm 81:10 I am the LORD your God, Who rescued you; Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

We have to stop allowing lies to consume all of our time, focus, and energy.

Renew your mind in the word of God.

Invest in what brings you joy and peace.

You will see that as you make adjustments to bring balance in the sight of God, you will experience God’s abundant blessing in every area of life!

  • Walk worthy of my calling in Christ.
  • Demonstrate, Teach. Encourage.
  • Teach – Impart to disciples 2 Tim 2:2

Automatically transcribed from video by DaVinci Resolve’s Neural Engine.

One of the signs of being Christian is that you’re always bubbling with hope and joy. But I’ve noticed that some people are bubbling with emotions.

And when you talk to them, what they’re essentially saying is that the emotions are stealing their joy. Who comes to steal, kill and destroy? the devil. This ought not to be so. This is not how God has created us to be. And because we choose to be independent of God, we find ourselves in this predicament, which we were not created to be in the first place. It’s like, yes, the tire in your car will work if it’s filled with water. It’ll work. But it’s not meant to be filled with water, is it? So, we have to go back to the beginning to understand how God has created us.(…) [Music] In Genesis 1.28, it says, “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea,(…) “over the birds of the air, over every living thing that moves on the earth.” This, God is talking to Adam and Eve.

My question is, are you missing out on the joys of life because you’re too busy?

God has given you this life for your enjoyment.

But are we using that to make money for which the money is needed to supply our needs?

In other words, are you still under a curse?

You have to ask yourself and don’t ask, don’t answer me about any of these things.(…) You have to check your life. Are you over-committed?

What do I mean by that?

There are 24 hours in a day,(…) out of which you sleep 8 hours. Some people sleep 18 hours.

Depends on you, yes?(…) But there is limited time and energy given to all of us.

Every day and even if you look at our lifespan.

Are you committed to God? Are you seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, or are you seeking your agenda?(…) If you’re seeking your agenda, you will always be miserable. You will always be without hope.

And in the end,(…) you will say, “I have no hope.”

Why I’m saying that is because this is what I’m dealing with.

Not personally, but some people.

Not just one.

God has never called you to be busy.

He has called you to be fruitful.(…) He says, “Be fruitful and multiply.”

Remember,(…) toil and competition are part of the curse.

And it is self-serving.

Toil is a curse for the man.

Competition, you can understand, is a curse for the woman.

Her desire will be to be like a husband.

I see lots of women try to take on that role and come up with all kind of syndromes, all kind of complexes.(…) And finally, you have the Operation Theatre complex.

I make joke of it.

But God has created roles for each of us.

And because we don’t fulfill that role, we suffer.

But in Christ, there is hope.(…) Because He fills in the gap. He’s a gap filler. He’s a stone calmer and a gap filler. I’ve found this true in my life.

But I’ve also found that I should not get any activity that I do mixed up with productivity

that leads to profit.

Just because you’re on the go and always doing things, even godly things, doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re fulfilling God’s plan for your life.

Activity without God’s purpose is futile.

I’m reminded of the time where I was sitting and watching a worship team. Normally, I’m part of that worship team. This time the Lord told me to sit down and watch.

And the worship was going on. There was presence of God. And suddenly in an audible voice, the Lord spoke to me and said, “This is nothing but a clanging symbol.

They’re just making noise.

This is stupidity.”

And I was shocked because I’m part of that. I felt the anointing. And the Lord told me the anointing that you feel is the presence that is there because people, the congregation are hungry.

Not because they’re doing something magical, mystical, miraculous.

Activity without God’s purpose is futile. If you go to John 15.5,(…) Jesus said, “I’m the wine.

You are the branches.

He who abides in me and I am impairs much fruit.

For without me, you can do nothing.” There’s that word fruit again.

God said, “Be fruitful and multiply.”

In Isaiah 48, 17, the Lord says what? “He will teach you to profit and lead you by the way you should go.”

Questers, are you listening?

Activity without Jesus Christ’s purpose is futile.

It’s useless.(…) So examine your life, different activities in our life. That’s why I’m telling you, don’t answer me. Doesn’t make a difference to me. It’s been you and your God.

See if you are walking by faith because without faith, it is impossible to please God.

So are you doing things because other people are doing things?(…) Are you doing things because of emotionalism?

Today, before the worship started, I asked Steve to be led by the Holy Spirit and not by anything else. You are blessed because of that decision he made, not to allow emotionalism, for example, to be his God. Instead, be God, be the true God. Amen? That is why John 17.3.

So you have to ask yourself.

You have to ask the Lord to show you the areas that needs to be pruned.(…) You might think,(…) “Ah, this is a good branch, but what is God to be pruned to?”

For those of you who have done gardening, you know what pruning means.

It adds growth.

And not only that, he tells you which areas need more focus.

He’ll tell you, “You’re weak in this area. You need to work. If you think you are strong, he’ll show you.”

Ask him to show which relationships to move away from.

The Lord had asked me to do that and it was literally painful.

And which relationship to cultivate in your life.

It can mean different things to different people.

For example, a person wanted me to be their father.

A father figure, the Lord said, “Move away from that.”

And instead of being a father, be a shepherd, be a pastor.

Because if you are a father to that person, I’m not saying I’m not a father to anybody. I’m talking about that person. If you are a father to that person, it will lead to that person depending on you emotionally.

Because that person is looking for a father figure in their life.

You don’t want to take that burden, the Lord told me.(…) I said, “Yes, Lord.”

And it was not easy.

Because everything in me wanted to be that father figure. I’m talking 10 years ago, 12 years ago.

So the Lord told me to move away from that. Instead,(…) cultivate the relationship as a pastor, as a shepherd based on the word.

Based on the plan that God has for him and the overall plan that God has for all of us, the plan of God.(…) I think I’ve written a book called the plan of God. Yes, yes. Read it once in a while. Yes.

Hallelujah.

Go to Genesis 3.15.(…) It should give us hope.

“I will put enmity between you and the woman,(…) and between your seed and her seed.(…) He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Who’s talking here? God is talking. To whom? To the serpent.(…) Yes. So, he is a Messiah. This is the first promise of redemption.

That is in Genesis 3.15.

So for those of you who do not know this story, it didn’t take long for our ancestors to make a mess of God’s perfect creation.

So God had informed them of the consequence of their sin.

But even in the middle of God’s tough words, we find these amazing words,(…) these roots of hope that reveal God’s heart,(…) that sets into motion God’s solution for our deep deepest need.

What is the deepest need? To be clothed in Christ, to have a faithful friend, to have a Lord and Savior, to have a manual God with us.

Jesus is all that.

As a Christian, is he that to you?

Or has the devil stolen that joy from you?

You don’t have to answer me.

You have to check your life and this is not, I am not saying this to condemn you.

I am saying this so that you check your life.

You cannot be fruitful and multiply without knowing the plan of God. Like I said, I have written a book about it.

But here we see that God was already setting in motion a plan to defeat the enemy.

God said he, the Messiah, would strike his head even though it would involve the pain Jesus experienced on the cross.

He sacrificed himself for you and for me on the cross.

That is striking his heel. Actually it’s more than that, yes. But right from the start, God was telling us that the result of sin may be terrible.

But it doesn’t have to be terminal.

It doesn’t have to end there.(…) You may have done mistakes in the past. In fact, you may have a PhD in making mistakes.

Steve is shaking his head. I don’t know why but he’s taking his head. Yes, but here’s the good news.

God has a redemptive plan.

For all of us, that is why personally you accept Jesus as your savior. That’s why personally you must be full of joy and hope.

That is why you need a relationship. But that relationship is made possible only through the price Jesus paid on the cross.

Why am I saying that you seem like people who already know that?

Why I say that is that I deal with people who are facing their own dilemmas, their own problems.

Every day they come to me.

Initially,(…) I told God I don’t have compassion for this.

So Lord had come to me with this and then I’ll give you what to minister to them about.

So from unrealistic expectations,(…) because they have been taught about Christ a certain way.

I’ve taught about that during the Bible study last week.(…) Remember the WC? Yes.

To moral failures.

If you don’t have Christ, you will feel morally is guaranteed.

Even if you’re in Christ,(…) you will fail, but the righteous rise up. Get up.

Do you understand?

Being in Christ is not a license to fail morally, but or to sin. But do you understand you rise up?

There are people who have come to me who have made mistakes in judgment. They thought the Lord was speaking.(…) They said, Pastor, we are peace.

And the Lord told me to keep my mouth shut.

Why? Because each person must face his own issues his own way. Otherwise, they will never learn like the person who wanted a father figure. If I say no or yes, no, this piece is not from God. It’s actually peace. You can make it in the kitchen.

If I say that,(…) then they will start depending on me and they’ll have me on speed dial.

But you’re born again. And God is no differentiator of that person who is born again. You are a new creature, new creation in Christ Jesus.

You understand? Yes.(…) So each person must face his own issues his own way. What do I mean by that? His own way?

Are you walking with God?

Are you going to choose his way or are you going to choose your way?(…) The good news is it doesn’t matter how much of a mess your life may be right now.

It doesn’t matter how many bad choices you made in the past.

And it doesn’t really matter what unfair circumstances have happened to you.

God, the creator of this universe has a redemptive plan. What does that mean?

He wants to rescue you.

Abraham rescued Lot.

Even though Lot had nothing to do with this.(…) In fact, he didn’t even choose to come out as his father’s house. Abraham picked him up and said, “Okay, Lord, we’re going on a journey tomorrow.”

I said, “Okay.” And because Lot was with Abraham, God prospered him.

Do you understand? I spoke about this later. I mean last week.

So God has a plan to rescue you and that plan is tailor made for you.

My plan won’t work for you.

Like my fingerprint is my fingerprint.

That’s why Jeremiah 29, 11 says, “I know the plans I have for you.

Trust in him.” Yes?(…) So let God’s grace.(…) What does that mean? Grace. This should not be just Christian. Grace means, “Okay, you fall here and there. You may have made mistakes in the past, but his grace says, “Okay, I will overlook it.” Let God’s grace fill your heart with hope today.

Hope in what?

In Christ.

He has saved us. He will continue to save us. And he is the answer.

Then there is the other part.

For God’s principles to work, we have to understand them. That is why we studied the Bible.

For example,(…) we reap what we sow.

And as a preacher says it, more than what we sow and later than what we sow.

The Bible tells us, let your yes be a yes. Anything else is from whom?

From the devil.

No lies.

Do you understand? There are principles to follow if you are on God’s side.

I can’t make it any more simple. Simpler.

Go to Galatians 4, 3 to 7.

Even so,(…) when we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of the world.

But when the fullness of the time had come,(…) what does that mean to you and me? When the right time at the right time.

Jesus came at the right time that was for him. But you were not born then, were you? So he’ll come for you at the right time. Call unto him. And the fullness of time, of the time had come. God sent forth a son born of a woman born under law to redeem, to rescue those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. That means you were alienated. And because you are his sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your heart crying out, “Abba,(…) Father, therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son an heir of God through Christ.”

So you are no longer abandoned. You have a father, the creator God in heaven.

Once in a while, say hello to him.

He’s waiting for that phone call.

Talking about phone calls.

I received a phone call last week.

I said, “Pastor, will you pray for me?” I said, “Yes.” And I prayed.

And they said, I said to them, “You should call me more often.”

“Oh, I don’t want to trouble you.”

Like, everybody says that they don’t want to trouble me. But then I felt this person had more to say. And this person said, “I prayed to this God.(…) That is another God. Yes, that is not in the Bible. If he doesn’t answer the phone, these are my words, then I’ll pray to Jesus.

And if Jesus doesn’t answer the phone, then I’ll call you.”

You seem to answer the phone more than them.

I said, “The difference is that Jesus is God and the other things are created.”

And I said, “I’ll pray to the other person that this person is referring about. It’s human.”

I get a lot of calls like that. Question is, where are you?(…) What do you believe?(…) You say, “Okay, I don’t pray to that person or this person, but is Jesus just a grocery store for you, a convenience store to go only when you need Him, or do you fellowship with Him at all times?”

So that one way that I know is that everything that is of God that other people have told me is a confirmation of what He has already told me. Is there something new? I checked with God. Why didn’t you tell me about this?

I’m not saying I hear everything from God. Do you understand? But I checked. Why didn’t you tell me about this? Then God will tell me, “Because you were listening.”(…) Or, “Because that is not for me.”

One of the two. Do you understand? Yes?(…) Is it clear? Yes? So here God encourages us to call Him “Abba Father.”

Abba Father.

Something is in Psalm 40,(…) I said last week, I cried out to the Lord.

In the Old Testament, that’s what they could do.

In the New Testament, we can reach out to our Father,(…) who is a creator of heaven and earth, and change things on earth.

This is the authority and the power we have.

Why are we walking around as if this is strange to us?

In Colossians 1, 27, it says, “Christ in us is the hope of glory.”

If you don’t have that hope,(…) Christ is obviously not in you.

Why? Because John 10, 10 says, “A thief comes to steal, kill and destroy.”

So once they may have been some inkling of hope or something, but don’t let that get stolen from you. Even if you do, just cry out to God and He will restore.

In Psalm 81, 10, it says, “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.”(…) That is in the Old Testament.

Who says that? God says that. The Lord your God in the Old Testament, your Father is saying that. What do you need?(…) Open your mouth wide, humble yourself and you will get it. I will fill it. This is not the prosperity gospel.

The Lord will supply all your needs. What does it say in the Philippines for 18 and 19?

What does it say in 18 as you give?

Verse 19 says, “The Lord will supply.”

Do you understand? Yes?

So we have to stop a loving lies of Satan, lies of the world, lies that have been told to us apart from the Word of God.

Everything apart from the Word of God are lies.(…) We have to stop these lies from consuming all our time,(…) all our focus and all our energy.

We have to renew our mind.

We have to invest. That means what? Invest means you have certain money you invest in this talk. But what you have, your life, you have to invest your life into what brings you joy and peace.

It will make a difference. You will see that making these adjustments will bring balance in the sight of God.

Because God knows you will mess up, but then get right with him so that you don’t mess up again in the same place.

Because God told the Israelites, the Egyptians, you see now after the Red Sea, you will not see anymore.

Hallelujah!

You will experience God’s abundant blessing every day, every area of your life.

Cry out to him.

As for me,(…) I walk worthy of my calling in Christ.

Or at least I attempt to do that.(…) I know that I am human.

I can fail, but there is a calling in Christ that is worthy of my walk.

And for me personally,(…) it has been to demonstrate who Jesus is. And I’ve done that.

And people think I have some power. I don’t have any power. All the miracles are because of God. I spoke about that.

And I teach the precepts, the principles of God.

And like this message, I encourage you.

No matter where you are, what you are, just cry out to him. He will save you. He will rescue you. He is that good.

Now in 2 Timothy 2, there is something more than teaching.

There is an impartation.

That is not taught but caught.

And that impartation of doing miracles, when to do them.

That impartation of teaching, of cleaning from the Word of God, understanding the treasures that are hidden in that as you spend time with them and encouraging others.

That is important. I didn’t want to encourage anybody because I myself was not encouraged. I called it like a compassion.

But hallelujah.(…) I strive to walk worthy of my calling.

Hallelujah.

So bring a balance to your life.

There is hope. His name is Jesus.

Walk worthy of your calling in Jesus.

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