Beyond Hope

Praise the Lord everyone. Amen. Y'all are stuck with me tonight so we'll see what happens. Amen. If you want to turn your Bibles, my goodness, we don't have a screen, so you got to turn your Bibles if you want to know what I'm saying. Amen. Turn your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 4. Amen. Romans chapter 4. We'll be reading from verses 18- 20. I want to say thank you uh Pastor Britt for allowing me the opportunity to once again stand behind this sacred desk and deliver the word of the Lord to this wonderful church family. Amen. I honor you for being here in the house of the Lord on a Wednesday night. I know many of you have worked. You spent all day laboring and then you were faithful and you came to church. So I honor you tonight for being here and I honor God for being here tonight. Amen. Don't you feel him so strong in this place tonight? Romans chapter 4 18-20 talking about Abraham who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken. So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. Verse 20 will be the last verse I read in the opening text. The Bible says he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory. Everybody say glory to God. So tonight with the help of God I want to speak on this thought beyond hope. Beyond hope. Amen. If you're going to help me tonight, you can be seated. Amen. If you're not, just stay standing. That way, at least you'll stay awake, maybe. Amen. Praise the Lord, everyone. All right, let's jump in. There's a heaviness on people right now. And and before I really get into this, it was so wild, but uh she's not in here, so I'll go ahead and talk about this. Tuesday morning, I was on my way to work, and I felt a call to intercession, a call to deep prayer, and I began to pray. And later that morning, I'd been at work for a little while. Adeline text me. She said, "Daddy, I don't understand it. there's a heaviness right now. I just I feel like something's wrong or and I said, "Baby," I said, "what you're feeling is a call to intercession. You're you're feeling a call to prayer." Because she said, "I don't understand it, Daddy. I I just feel like I got to prayer. Something something's wrong." And and I was already beginning to think about this message. And there's a heaviness. There's something in the atmosphere, a spiritual weight that's pressing down on homes. It's pressing downs on on minds. It's pressing down on marriages and even on churches. It's not just coming from one direction. It's financial. It's emotional. It's physical. It's spiritual. And if we're not careful, that weight will start whispering lies in the ears of faithful people. But here is the truth. We are not without hope. Not because of what we see, but because of what we know. Not because of how we feel. Amen. But because of whom we serve. That's why we have hope today. Amen. Because we're anchored in something deeper than what's going on at the surface. Amen. Abraham faced the facts. He was old. Lord help us when we have to realize that Abraham faced the facts he was old. Sarah's womb was barren. Time had moved forward and nothing had changed. But the word, everybody say, but the word. The word said that when he was beyond hope, he still believed in hope. He did not pretend that things were not bad. He did not live in a state of denial. He just refused to believe that God's word could be broken. And that's where we stand tonight. Not in denial. We're not here tonight in a place of wishful think thinking, but we're standing firm in the kind of hope that holds you when everything else feels like it's slipping. When nothing around you makes sense. When the world is completely upside down and they're losing their mind, if you will. When everything in the world feels chaotic, amen, and slipping away from you. Can I tell you tonight that there's still a hope and a very sure hope and that is found in Jesus Christ. Amen. Why? Because hope is not a feeling. How many of you ever heard the saying that feelings are not facts? Amen. Hope is not a feeling. Hope is an anchor. And when Abraham reached the end of what was possible, his faith did not fall apart. It only got stronger. Amen. And that's exactly why we find him written in the pages of the book of the Bible. Because he is to be an example to you and I to stand through as a testimony to every age, to every situation, to every generation. Abraham is an example before us that it doesn't matter what it may look like. It may not matter. It doesn't matter what the situation may be dictating to you. But can I tell you when you live a life dedicated unto Jesus Christ that we still have hope when there's a world filled with hopelessness. We still got a sure anchor when the world seems to be scattered. Can I tell you we in the church of the living God, we have a sure hope. Amen. Amen. Abraham's story is not just about waiting. It's about what happens while you wait. And nobody likes to wait. Drive down 565 one time and you'll find out people don't like to wait. Drive through Atlanta one time, drive through New York one, you'll find out. Drive in the Middle East one time. They don't want to wait. But scripture says he was not weak in faith. But when you trace the timeline of his life, you see tension. There were moments where fear crept in in his life. There were moments where logic took over. There were moments that really when you look at and you examine and you look at Abraham's life, you're like, "Why is he an example in the Bible?" Some people would look at his life and his testimony and say, "Look at those failures. He lied to protect himself. He tried to produce the promise through Hagar. He laughed and Sarah laughed when God told him Sarah would conceive. These are not the actions of a perfect man. And even though his resume had all these things on them, Paul calls him faithful. Not because Abraham never struggled, church, but because he never walked away from what God had said. His life did have setbacks. His life did have moments of failure. Amen. His life did have things that may not look very good as far as his resume is concerned. But can I tell you one thing with most assurity tonight and we can read it on the white and the black pages here. Amen. That his faith did not falter. Amen. His faith did not fail. Amen. He stayed anchored in his faith in spite everything and every failure. He didn't get it always right. Amen. But he always found his way back to the altar. Amen. He may not have gotten it right. He may have messed up on the way. Amen. He may have stumbled and he may have fell at times. But can I tell you, Abraham never forgot where his anchor was. He never forgot the word of promise. And he never forgot where to find an altar. Amen. That's right. Hebrews 11 says and declares, "Abraham obeyed even when he did not know where he was going." And that is what real faith does. It moves without a map. It walks without explanation. It trusts the voice more than it does the outcome. And Romans 4 says, "He considered not the deadness of his body or the barrenness of Sarah's womb." He did not ignore reality. You know, some pe some people just ignore things thinking if I cover my eyes, it's just going to go away. That that's not what we're seeing here. He didn't ignore reality. Amen. It means he did not let the facts dictate his future. I'm going to say that one more time. It means he did not let the facts dictate his future. Amen. Well, that's what the doctor said. Well, everybody told me I'm going to end up just like my grandfather and my father. Amen. No. Everybody told me this is how it's going to be. and the doctor's report said this and this one said this and that one said, "No, they'll never come back in church. You they're gone too far. They'll never come." No, that's not exactly right. Why? Because you did not factor God into the equation like Abraham did. Uh yeah, the facts may say one thing uh but can I tell you with most assurityity that when God steps on the scene, it does not matter what has been stated or spoken over your life with one touch of his mighty hand, he can turn any situation and any life around. Amen. Amen. He made a choice not to fix his eyes on what was broken. He fixed his heart on what God had said. I could stay there for a little while, but I don't have enough time tonight. That kind of hope does not develop by accident. It grows when you stop staring at what is against you and you start standing on what is inside of you. That may need to be repeated. That kind of hope does not develop by accident. It grows when you stop staring at what is against you and you start standing on what is inside of you. Faith is not measured by how clean your story looks. Faith is not measured by how clean your story looks. And God and I'm thankful unto God that we can't pull back the blood. Brother Chris, I'm thankful that the blood's covered a multitude of sins and mistakes in my life. Amen. I'm so thankful that I can't pull back that blood. Amen. But if you were to look at my story and all the times that the blood covered my life and and all the mistakes, they'd be like, I don't even understand why he's standing up there. If you were to see the road and the steps and the obstacles and the things that it took to get me to the church and the things that I've had to endure and the things that I've had to repent of since I've been in the church. Amen. You'd be like, "Why is he even up there?" But my faith is not measured by how clean my story looks. Amen. And I'm able to stand before you tonight. Amen. and hold this microphone and preach under the auction of the Holy Ghost because that crimson flood still flows from Calvar's hill and his blood has covered a multitude of sins. Amen. And the same thing is for you and I tonight because my faith and my testimony is not measured by how clean or how dirty my story looks. Amen. Amen. Because faith is measured by whether or not you stayed anchored when it made no sense to believe. That you stayed steady when it didn't make sense. That you kept coming to church when you barely could put your clothes on and get out the door. when it made more sense to lay in bed because you were losing your mind because everything that you thought was secure and everything that you thought was stable and everything you had put security in all the sudden one day vanished and you didn't even know how you were going to roll out of bed to make it to work or to make it a church. But in spite of everything the devil tried to bring against you, something rose up on the inside of you and said, "I've just got to make it to the house of the Lord and I know everything's going to be all right cuz it didn't make sense, but I'm going to keep on believing anyway." Paul's not offering just some kind of empty commentary here, but he's teaching us what anchored faith looks like. And Romans, going back to our text 4 and 18 says, "Who against hope believed in hope." And Abraham believed when every natural reason to believe had vanished. When time had run out and strength had faded and every possible option was gone, but Abraham still lived with expectation. Why? Because he trusted the one who had spoken. A woman with the issue of blood for 12 long years, who had been tried by many physicians and tried everything. Uh but she heard about a savior whose healing was in his wings. Uh and she she crawled through the crowd. That's the kind of faith that's anchored in something that is not common to man or humanity. But is faith that's anchored in a God who's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think. And he's able to do the unimaginable in our lives. And her faith reached out to the hymn of his garment as she was made whole. But Abraham still lived just as she did with expectation because he trusted the one who had spoken. He believed according to that which was spoken. Not what he saw, not what he felt, but what was spoken. Church, we are triumphant. We are more than conquerors. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church. Amen. And Genesis 15 records that moment. God brought Abraham outside and said, "Look at the stars. So shall thy seed be. Abraham had no evidence, no child. There was no movement in a womb, but he had a word, a word from God, and he believed that word. Verse 19 says, "And being not weak in faith, he consider not his own body now dead, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb." Abraham knew his body was finished. He knew Sarah could not conceive, but he refused to feed what was broken. He refused to let the limitations override the promise. I wonder how many times that we miss out on the promises of God because we're feeding the broken thing. the obvious thing in our lives, the thing that is standing out and staring right at us right in our face and saying, "No, that'll never happen." He refused to let his limitations though override the promise that God had spoken. Amen. The word considered here means to give careful attention to. He studied it. He focused on it. He kept his attention on it. Amen. And Abraham chose not to give all his attention to what would not change. My goodness. He fixed his heart on the God who never changes. It's so easy in this life to give the attention to the things that don't seem to be changing, doesn't it? It's so easy to look at it because it bombards our emotions. It bombards our minds. Amen. It bombards every part of our life. the reality that this isn't changing. Nothing's getting better or I don't ever see them walking through the door. I don't ever see this changing. I don't ever see it happening. Amen. But Abraham, in spite of the daily testimony that this isn't changing, Abraham said, in spite of the facts, I'm not going to let it override the promise and the word that I got from God. And the word consider means to give that special attention to. We've got to make sure that our attention is set on the right thing. And that is where a lot of people miss it. They're trying to have faith while staring at the facts. Abraham did not deny reality, but he gave the weight of his attention to the word instead of the wound. How many of you ever had a really bad cut or maybe even a paper cut? I mean, sometimes them paper cuts will get more attention than a really deep cut. What is it about that? I need somebody medically to explain that after church. I don't understand that. But then paper cuts get real. But it's so easy. Have you ever had something happen? Like I I'll never forget I think I was about 23 or 24 years old. I'm trying to be cognizant actually of the guy running the camera, whoever it is back there. I don't need to move too much. But I'll never forget, I was about 24 years old, maybe maybe 25, and I got my first kidney stone. Praise God. How many of you ever have one? Love them. Oh Lord, no. But I'll never forget, I was at work and my boss looked at me and he said, "You're great. Something ain't right with you." And I said, "I'm not feeling too good." And all of a sudden, the worst pain I've ever felt in my entire life came all over my entire body. And I did not act like I normally act at work. I had a job to do that day. I had responsibilities and plans that I had already made that I needed to attend to after work. But brother Jones, can I tell you when that wound when that pain started happening, I couldn't focus on anything else. The only thing on my mind was that kidney stone and the excruciating pain. Can I tell you there's a lot of things that will bring pain to your life. And it's a way for the enemy to start working on your mind. Amen. And try he just tries to put that in front of your mind and your focus. That's never going to happen. You're never going to get over that. You're never going to overcome that. You're never going to see that one saved. You're never going to be healed of that. And it's so easy. Amen. And that's why the story of Abraham and Joseph and other stories like these are in the Bible to give us hope. Yeah. Life will bring you wounds and life will bring you scars, but you don't have to sit there and live with the torment of that wound. Amen. But you can instead focus on the word of God and the change that he's bringing. Amen. Amen. Verse 20 says, "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief." And that word stagger means to waver, to stand in doubt. And Abraham did not hesitate. He did not treat the word like it was one option among many, but he stood on it as the only thing that he had. He did not flinch when time passed. He did not fall when the situation worsened. Amen. He was not perfect, but he was planted. And Paul said he was strong in faith. And that strength did not come from emotion. Amen. Your emotions will rob you. That's why it's so important to have a relationship with God. Because if it's derived on emotion, Amen. you'll come in and you'll worship and you'll love God. And whenever that wound begins to show itself once you walk out the door and you're by yourself and you're alone in your room at night, amen, that's when that wound wants to show up and you're like, I don't know. Well, I had faith around the altar and I had faith at the SEC today, but whenever I got out on the job site on Tuesday, everything started creeping back in. No, God is declaring and showing to us, you can still have faith when everything else doesn't make sense. Amen. You can still be planted and still stand tall and strong. Amen. When everything else seems like calamity. Amen. Paul says he was strong in faith. It didn't come from emotion. As I said, it came from trust. The longer he waited, the stronger he became because his strength was not rooted in seeing results. It was rooted in giving God glory. I just had a funniest thought. Y'all have to bear with me. Y'all not had me really on a Wednesday night. How many times have people given up on their January 1 gym commitments because them results didn't come fast enough? But that apple pie sure did look a lot better. You see Abraham though he kept I wonder how many times he went up to Sarah. I wonder if he stick his ear. You hear a heartbeat? Another year passed. You feeling it kicking in your stomach? Oh, you're pregnant with promise, but the promise hasn't come yet. Abraham, do you still believe? Yeah, I sure do. Because if God gave me a word, and he gave me a promise, I'll wait as long as I have to. But he promised me that this would come to pass. And I may keep checking year after year, but Sarah, you're pregnant with promise. And I promise you, it will come to pass. Why? Because he gave glory to God before the answer ever arrived. And he worshiped while that womb was still barren. And he lifted his hands in the middle of the silence and he said, "God, you may be quiet and there may not be the sound of pitterpatter on the floor. I may not be warming up bottles at midnight, but I can tell you in the middle of Silus, uh, there should be baby screams in this househ. But I'm still going to lift my hands and I'm still going to worship anyhow, and I'm going to praise him like the miracles here today. And that's what real faith does. It gives God glory in advance because God can make those things. You got to speak those things that be not though as they were. You got to speak and believe your promise. Amen. And by the time we reach Genesis 22, we're no longer watching Abraham wait. Amen. We're watching him release. God gave him his Isaac. Then God told Abraham, "I want you to take that promise. I want you to take Isaac up the mountain, lay him on an altar. And here's something so beautiful. Abraham obeyed. It never was about Isaac. This was about obedience. God was not checking sacrifice. God was checking surrender. He was asking, "Will you obey me with what I gave you? Oh Lord, I wonder how many people, not in this church, I wonder how many people sitting in the church tonight are sitting on a talent that God gave them. How many are sitting there and not obeying him with a talent and they've buried their talent? Amen. And God said, "I've entrusted you with this promise. What are you going to do with it? are you going to obey me with it even in the things that don't make sense to you? You know what? It was easy for him because all those years of barrenness didn't make sense. And I trusted him and he did come through. This is just one more time for God to show himself mighty that God, you're still going to come through today. Amen. And Abraham was willing to give the promise back to the one who gave it to him. And that is where faith fully matures because he told the servants, "The lad and I will go yonder in worship and without doubt, I don't think there was a hesitation in his voice and we will come again." He said, "We're going up just to worship. We'll be right back. Keep the supper going." Amen. That's trust. That is hope beyond hope. And Hebrews 11 says, Abraham believed God could raise Isaac from the dead. That is the kind of faith that walks the mountain without explanation. It gives God glory before the miracle. It obeys before the provision. It said, "God, you haven't provided it yet, but I'm still going to keep praying. I'm still going to stay in the word every day. I'm going to keep fasting like I need to. I'm going to keep showing up, amen, to church on Sunday morning. And I'm going to keep showing up to church on Wednesday. And I'm going to show up to prayer meeting. I'm going to have prayer in my home. And I don't have the answer yet. And the promise hasn't showed up yet. But God, I'm still going to hold on. Amen. before the provision and the promise arrive because 1st Samuel 15:22 says to be to obey is better than sacrifice and Abraham obeyed because real faith does not just hold the promise real faith lays it down and still believes God will be faithful I'll read this and I'm Getting close to closing the book of Hebrews chapter 6. We find this in the amplified version. I didn't give this to you, Sister Payton, and I don't think they can see it anyway. But this is how it says this in the amplified. It says, "This hope, this confident assurance we have as an anchor of the soul." I love this. It cannot slip and it cannot break down under whatever pressure bears upon it. A safe and a steadfast hope that enters within the veil of the heavenly temple, that most holy place in which the very presence of God dwells. That anchor draws me closer to him. And I love that part. It cannot slip and it cannot break down under whatever pressure that hope that we have in Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter what pressure is in this world. It doesn't matter what pressure is going on in your life. As long as you're anchored in Jesus Christ, I can tell you with most assurity, my friend, it will not break. Amen. The anchor is sure and it is constant. Amen. I know what it feels like. I know what it feels like to believe God for something and still wondering, "Is anything changing?" God, it feels like you got real quiet, God. I've been praying for a real long time, and it don't seem to be changing. I know what it's like to have a word from God and still carry the silence of delay. Abraham is not in the Bible though to make us feel unqualified. He's there to remind us that real faith is not always clean. It's not always pretty. It's not built on perfect conditions, but it stands. It believes when time says quit. It obeys when logic says stop and it worships when there's nothing left but the promise. Having done all, sometimes you just got to stand. And that is where some of us are tonight. But maybe you know somebody that's in that place tonight. They're standing or you're standing in a place that feels like contradiction. They know or you know what God said, but everything in front of them or you looks dead. You're trying to hold on to the word, but the facts just aren't matching up. And the enemy would love to convince you that your story is over. But can I tell you something tonight? The word has not expired. It's not changed. And he's still holding the pen. Amen. If God gave you a promise, it still holds. If God spoke it, he will complete it. He's not asking you to figure it all out. He's just asking you to obey through the waiting. It's time to lay it back on the altar again if you must. If the thing he gave you is costing you more than expected, bring it back and lay it down to him again. If the calling feels like it's slipping through your hands, trust the God who brings life out of dead places. Because this is not about perfect people. It's about surrendered people. This is about people who say, "I may be beyond hope, but I still believe. I may not understand the process or the waiting, but I'm still going to trust him. I may be laying it down, but I know God is still faithful." Amen. If we stand all across this place, I just ask us to join across the front of this church. Come towards the altar if you will. I don't know where any of you are tonight. I pray everything in your life is exactly as it should be, but maybe you need to stand in thestead of someone who needs that boost in faith tonight. Amen. Or maybe you're facing a mountain and or you've got a prayer and this is just a good reminder. Just keep petitioning because the judge will respond. Amen. Abraham walked up that mountain, brother Koohorn. He walked up that mountain and he called it worship. And you can too tonight. It may look like that immovable mountain. Amen. But he said, "If you'll have faith like the grain of mustard seed." Amen. You know what that means? It wasn't about the fact that it was small. Because you've got to understand, they all had faith. This isn't in my notes and I'm trying to close, but we're nine minutes early, so we're good. That mustard seed faith. How many of you have ever planted mustard seed? Guess what's unique about mustard seed? And this is why he used that example. Mustard seed will grow and it will overtake everything that it's planted around. So it's not so much about just having a little bit of faith because we're all given a measure of faith. So says the word of God. So we all have a measure of faith. Amen. But that mustard seed when it grows, it overtakes and it consumes everything. So is a faith that will begin to overshadow and overtake and grow over everything. Everything that doesn't make sense and everything that shouldn't be growing there. And all of the sudden that mustard seed grows into something of faith that no longer makes sense. And it grows and it goes beyond anything that anybody expected. And that's why Abraham could walk up that mountain and call it worship. And that's why he said you could speak to a mountain with that kind of faith and say this mountain be removed. So if you're here tonight, you're holding on to something that feels too far gone. Bring it back to the altar. You say, "Cast your cares on me, for I care for you. Lay it down. Give it back to the one who gave it. He's still faithful and he's not finished. I just ask us across this place just in your all way. If you want to pray for someone that is on your mind, if you've got something you need to pray for, just lift your hands all across this place as we get ready to leave tonight. And God, I I pray God that you would begin to move and work. God, you know every situation, every situation being prayed for, things that are beyond hope, oh God, in the natural, God, things that are beyond hope, oh God, to science, beyond hope according to the doctor's orders, God, beyond hope to the natural world, God. And we ask you right now, God, to begin to intervene and to move on behalf, God. prayers that have been prayed for far too long, God, and they continue to pray, God, and they're faithfully praying, God. We pray that you would begin to move and intervene, God, that those back doors, oh God, would open and that prodal would walk through those doors, oh God. those that are lost and those that are without and those that have been promised, oh God, that would those that were told they would never come back, they're on their way back, God, and we're claiming and we're going to see it, God. And all those prayers and all those things, God, tonight we can leave from this place knowing that we can have hope beyond hope, God. In a world that doesn't make sense, in a world that is full of hopelessness, God, we as the church of the living God, we can still have hope tonight, God. In you, God, for we're anchored in you, God. God, we give you honor. We give you glory. We give you praise and thanks, God. I pray, God, that you be with this church as they leave tonight on their way back home. God, be with them, God, and let this word nourish them this week, God. and we give you praise, honor, and thanks for it all in Jesus name we pray. Amen. I want to I want to say this while I have your attention. I know I'm about to dismiss you and I I'm not trying to hold you any longer. I just got in church. I'd been in church for about a year or two. Some of you have heard this. God gave me a vision that I'd baptized my dad in Jesus name. I said there's no way. because whenever I got into the church, he said he'd never have anything to do with because if he came, he would be condemning his family who was of another denomination to hell. He said, "I never want any part of it." God gave me that. And I held on to that promise, Brother Cordova, every day. I'd get down on my bed and I would cry and I'd pray and I said, "God save my daddy." Melanie is probably what a year or two later. Some events unfolded in his life that he didn't want and he didn't invite and it was God's way of maneuvering things in his life. And he said, "I'll come to church with you, Sister Cordova." It was almost two years later he came and he repented of his sins in Jesus name. And I took him down in the water and I baptized him just as God gave it in my mind in a vision. And I baptized him in Jesus name. And God filled him with the Holy Ghost. And today he pastors a whole missions church in Alabama. Why? Because I believed in hope. If God can do that for me, God can save a there's nothing impossible for God. Amen. Let's give God praise. Amen. And let's give him thanks one more time. God is faithful. Amen. And we have hope in him. You're dismissed in Jesus name.