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Well, what's going on Rock Point Church? Oh. That's the first Sunday of the New Year. That was like such the weakest clap, but I'm gonna let you I'm gonna give you an opportunity to make up for it. I'll know whether or not y'all are my kind of people based on the way you respond to the question I'm about to ask you.
How many people came excited about Jesus today? There we go. There we go.
Let's go. Well, hey. My name is Brent. I get to serve as a local church pastor up in the North Scottsdale area. So grateful, so thankful to be here with you this weekend. Made a shout out to pastor Bill, the entire team. If you have your bibles, go ahead and get ready to open it up. We're gonna dive deep into Ephesians
chapter number one. Ephesians chapter number one. Over the next five or six weeks, you guys are going to be in a series on the book of Ephesians, and let me just say, it is one of my favorite books in all of the Bible. It's, of course, written by the Apostle Paul. And in the first three chapters in the book of Ephesians,
Paul gives you and I just such rich theology. It's in chapter one where we learn that we have been chosen by him. It's in chapter two where we discover that we've been made alive in Christ. He goes on in chapter three and continues to talk about
how he has torn down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, and we are now one. But then in the second three chapters, Paul then takes all of that theology we have learned, and then he says, alright, now here's how you apply it to your life. He talks about relationships
between husbands and wives and children. One of my favorite parts of Ephesians is when Paul dives deep into putting on the whole armor of God. Some of the most quoted passages in all of scripture are found in the book of Ephesians.
One of my favorite commentators as of late is a gentleman by the name of Kent Hughes. And Kent Hughes says that the book of Ephesians seeks to ask and answer this question, what does it mean to be in Christ, and what is the demand of me?
If you're taking notes, I would encourage you to write it down. Here's the question again. What does it mean to be in Christ? That's the question that Ephesians asked and it answers, and then it is, what does it demand of us? As I look and narrow down just Ephesians chapter one,
I've kind of landed the plane that I think the big idea in Ephesians chapter one is simply this, God has a plan, and that plan includes you. Say it again. God has a plan, and that plan includes you. Here's what I want to do next. I've had the opportunity to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ for some time now.
And while I'm not a veteran, I am experienced. Here's one of the things that I've learned. No matter how gifted of a communicator I think I am, no matter how awesome of an illustration I come up with, no matter how smooth
of a transitional phrase I present in between thoughts, no matter how wonderful of a sermon I think I preach, Here's the truth of the matter. Nothing that ever comes out of my mouth will ever compare and be as powerful as what he has already written in his word. So, with that being said, brace yourselves.
To start things off this morning, I want us to read the entire chapter of Ephesians chapter number one.
Some of y'all are saying, Well, man, that's a whole lot of scripture. You're right. Here's what I'm trying to do. I'm just trying to help you complete your Bible in a year plan, okay? That's
all I'm trying to do. And I know it's a lot of you who are gonna go strong in January and you're gonna finish Genesis. Don't you quit when you get to February and you see Leviticus. All right? This is the year I believe that you are gonna finish that Bible in a year plan. So
we're gonna jump ahead and we're gonna glorify God with the reading of his word. Then I'm gonna pray, and then we're gonna see what it is that the Holy Spirit has to say to us this morning. Ephesians chapter one, beginning at verse number one, it says this. This letter is from Paul
chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am running to God's holy people in Ephesus who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
All praise to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear son. He is so rich in kindness and grace
that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ, which is to fulfill his own good plan, and this is the plan.
At the right time, he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ, everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
God's purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God, and now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the good news that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.
The spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised, and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. Verse 15, Ever since I first heard
of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God's people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.
I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power
that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else, not only in this world, but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has
made him head over all things for the benefit of the church, and the church is his body. It is made fully complete by Christ who fills all things everywhere with himself. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be unto God. Would you join me in a word of prayer? Holy Spirit, thank you, thank you, thank you
for being our advocate, for being our helper, for being our guide, for being the one who has guaranteed our salvation. And in this moment, Holy Spirit, I decrease and ask that you would increase. Hide me behind the cross. Let them not see and hear from me, but let them only see and hear from you.
Would you do open heart surgery on every single one of us, beginning with the man on the platform? Because Holy Spirit, we don't just wanna be hearers of the word, but we wanna be doers of the word. Cause transformation in our lives, And at the end of this message, may you be the only one that is glorified.
May you give you glory, honor, and praise. And it's in Jesus' name we pray and give thanks, and everyone said, 01/07/1987, I was born into this world as Brent Anthony Davis
Jr. Somewhere in 1999, my name was legally changed to Brent Anthony Hatchett. Unfortunately, I was not raised by my biological father. He was not present for the majority of my adolescent life. However, I was raised by a remarkable man who is my stepdad.
One of the best parts about my stepdad is he never ever made me feel as if I was a stepson. And I remember I was getting ready to propose to my then girlfriend at the time, and the first time I laid my eyes on her, I was at church, and y'all, I was in sin, because I was saying, oh, she fine, fine.
Eighteen months later, I put a ring on him. And now, thirteen years later, we have been married with two wonderful kids, and I'm so grateful and thankful for that, and I cannot wait till Monday to send them back to school.
But I remember going to my dad's office, and I was going show him the ring. Just kind of wanted to get some advice from him, and it's a little weird because the kind of advice I wanted to get from my dad wasn't necessarily advice on what to do in marriage, but it was actually on what not to do in marriage.
The reason why is because even though he was a wonderful, wonderful dad, he missed the mark in a lot of ways as a husband. My parents ended up getting a divorce when I was in middle school, but even though the two of them divorced, he never divorced me.
He still took me to every game. He still signed me up for every lesson. He was still present at every major event. He still flew me out to college and made sure I got moved in at my dorm, and I realized as I got older that a lot of the things he was doing, he didn't necessarily have to do.
So I'm sitting in his office. I'm having this conversation with him, and I just say, Dad, I just want to take a moment, and I want to thank you. Thank you for every single thing you have done for me because I realize that you did not have to do it. And I told him straight up, I said, out of all of these years, not one time
have you ever made me feel as if I was a stepson, and I just gotta ask you the question, why? Why did you care for me the way that you did? My dad looked at me in the eyes and he said, son, when I married your mother, I wasn't just choosing to marry her. I was also choosing to be your father,
and it was one of the best parts of the deal. And immediately, just started getting the little ugly snotty nose crying like, oh, okay. And he's passing me tissue. The reason why I'm sharing this story with you though is because before time was time. Before creation was creation, God chose you.
You see, he had you on his mind, and he could have left you as an orphan. He could have left you to yourself. He could have left you and me alone, but he didn't. And here's the thing, I think there's two reasons why God chose me and knew. Reason number one, he did not choose you because you were so cute.
He didn't choose you because you were so smart. He didn't choose you because you were so talented. He didn't choose you because you were so creative. He didn't choose you because you were so gifted. As a matter of fact, he didn't even choose you because you were good.
Here's the reason why I believe that God chose me and you. God did not choose you because of your goodness. God chose you because of his goodness, because it's in his character and it's in his nature. He looked at you with all of your flaws,
all of your faults, all of your issues, knew your past, present, and future sins, and yet He still chose you. But then I think the second reason why God decided to choose us is because he wanted to make sure, as Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter one, that our identity would be established in Christ.
What does it mean to be in Christ, and what does that demand
of me?
Ephesians chapter one gives us some of those answers. Here it is, the first three verses. This letter is from Paul chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing to God's holy people in Ephesus who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. There are two words
that jump off the page at me in these first three verses. Those two words are holy and faithful. Now, that first word, holy, if you're not careful, it can be a little bit intimidating,
especially to a new believer. And since we are bringing up the topic of new believers, I just wanna celebrate y'all really quickly. I heard that for Christmas services, 1,400 people gave their life to Jesus this year, y'all. Come on. Let's give it up.
And if you're here in this room today and you're brand new to Jesus, welcome to the family. I want you to know that the Lord had you on his mind when he wrote this message. So then what does it mean to be holy? To be holy doesn't mean that you have dotted every I.
To be holy doesn't mean that you have crossed every t. To be holy doesn't mean that you live a life without sin, because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So then, what does it actually mean to be holy? You see, that word holy just simply means to be set apart.
The word holy means to be set apart for a specific person and a specific purpose. To give you one more illustration, I'll use my dad again, and then it'll be the last time I mention them. But growing up, my dad's favorite drink was IBC root beer.
He would go to the grocery store, and he would stock up the refrigerator, and raising two boys, you know we ate him out of house and home. And he would always come into our room any time he put the IBC root beer in the refrigerator, and without fail, he would look at me and my brother and he'd say, Boys,
the refrigerator is full. You can have whatever you want, but don't you touch my IBC root beer. Don't even look at it. Don't even ask me to have a taste. True to fashion, we never well, I did one time and I regretted it. But after that, I never touched his IBC root beer. Here's the point. You see, my dad's IBC root beer,
it was holy. It was set apart for a specific person, which was him, and a specific purpose, which is when he was thirsty, and it gave him great pleasure. Now watch this. If that's how a man feels about root beer, how much more do you think God feels about you? You see, outside of time, before time was time, before creation was
created, he looked at you with all your faults, faults, and issues and said, holy, set apart. Set apart for me and set apart for my pleasure. First part of the question, what does it mean to be in Christ? It means that I have been called to be holy. Now what does that demand of me? Second part, second word. If
God has considered me holy, this means that I must be faithful. Faithful how? I must be a faithful follower of Christ. Now, I don't want us to leave any room to question what does it mean to be a faithful follower, because the truth of the matter is there are people who think they are followers, but they're really fans.
And they are very fickle and unsettled in their relationship with Jesus. So let me be very clear. What does it mean to be a faithful follower of Christ? To be a faithful follower of Christ goes back to Matthew sixteen twenty four. It's where I believe the passage is. It means, I pick up my cross, I deny myself,
and I follow him. A faithful follower of Christ is one who picks up their cross, denies themselves, and follows him. Now, what is the cross that God has asked you and I to pick up and to carry? I'll never forget, I preached a sermon on carrying a cross one time.
And at the end of the sermon, a young man comes down front and he says to our prayer team, he says, I just need prayer. And we got some pastors down front. They said, sir, how can we pray for you? He says, man, I'm
I'm dating this girl, and I really don't like her, but I just feel like she's the cross that I'm supposed to carry. True story. And the pastoral team said, hey, fam. She ain't the cross you're supposed to carry. So then the question becomes, what is the cross that you and I are supposed to carry?
God's called you and I to carry a cross called obedience. See, because it's obedience that's better than sacrifice. What does it look like for you to not give some of yourself to the Lord? What does it look like for you to give all of yourself to him?
What does it look like for you in 2025 to say, you know what? I'm no longer gonna pick and choose when I wanna follow him, but in 2025, I'm gonna be completely and totally surrendered to him.
What does it look like in 2025 to say, hey. You know what? No longer for the rest of this year am I gonna allow him into this area of my life, but not let him into that area of my life? What does it look like for you to give Jesus total access to your life?
Because again, what does it mean to be in Christ? It means that I've been holy and I've been set apart. But what does that demand of me? It demands that I give him all of me. That I don't just give him some of me, I just don't give him parts of me, but I give him all of me. I love the old hymn where it says, I surrender
all to him I owe. So now what does Paul go on to say? Paul goes on to say this in verse number three. He says, All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms
because we are united with Christ. Y'all, I absolutely love this. As believers in Jesus, we have something that the world doesn't have, and it's this thing called dual citizenship. You see, while we are here on earth, we are 100% citizens on earth, but because we're believers in Jesus, we are also citizens of heaven.
And as citizens of heaven, we have access to certain spiritual things or spiritual blessings, as the Bible says, that the world doesn't have access to unless they put their faith in Jesus.
So what are those spiritual blessings that we have access to? Well, one of them is the blessing of eternal life. I don't know about you, but there are days where I can't stand it down here on earth.
If I'm gonna be honest, I was listening to a podcast yesterday. I'm gonna use this word. I hope it don't offend nobody, but y'all, earth is ghetto. Okay? It just is. It's hotmess.com
because people don't care about people. People backstab people. People talk about people. We don't do right by one another, and it's because we're born in sin and shaped in iniquity, we have this sinful nature. Sometimes even the church believers don't do one another right.
And as a result, here's what we have to experience. We end up experiencing heartache. We end up experiencing pain. We end up experiencing pain. We end up experiencing suffering. We end up experiencing sickness. We're experiencing all the things that we really don't wanna have to experience. But here's a spiritual blessing. When I get to heaven, I see Jesus face to face, there will be no more heartache. There will be no more pain. There will be no more suffering. There will be no more sickness. There will be no more disease. As a matter of fact, it will be endless love, endless peace, endless joy, and endless time with my Savior for all of eternity.
That's the spiritual blessing that we get as it relates to being men and women who have dual citizenship. But while I am here on earth, there's another spiritual blessing that you and I get, and that is the blessing of being in relationship with Jesus.
You see, oftentimes I think as believers in the West, we honestly take advantage of having a relationship with Jesus. We think it's just normal and natural, but do you realize that there are people all over the world who live in countries where they cannot openly worship like you and I are openly worshiping today,
to where they are persecuted for their faith. And you and I can have endless amounts of time with him, but yet we think we're faithful followers because we spend five minutes a day in prayer. And I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but this man died for you. He gave his life for you. And to get back to the big idea, he chose
you. What does it look like for you to intentionally choose him, to spend time with him, to wanna be with him, to grow in him? And then here's what Paul goes on to say next in verses four and five. He says, Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. I love verses five and six, and here's the reason why I love verses five and six, because within these two verses,
while it is without question, there's beauty found in the fact that he chose us. There's beauty in the fact that he adopted us. There's beauty in the fact that he loved us. I think what's even more beautiful is the reason why.
What's the reason why he didn't do it, as I said earlier, because of your goodness? It's because of his goodness. To give you a better picture, one of the things that I cannot stand about things here on earth is you and I live in this society where we believe, unfortunately, of this thing called cancel culture.
To where you are canceled the moment you say something that people don't agree with. You are canceled the moment you think a certain way. You are canceled the moment you vote a certain way. You are canceled the way you believe a certain way. And I'm so grateful that the God of the universe doesn't prescribe
to cancel culture. Because if the God of the universe prescribed to cancel culture, do you not realize that there's a whole lot of people in this book we would have to cancel? Give you an example. I love David, but if it were left up to our own devices, we would have canceled David a long time ago.
This man committed adultery, had a man killed, had a child out of wedlock. If anybody should have been canceled, it should have been him, but because of God's grace and mercy, in our hardest times, we can look at Psalms 23 and say, The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want. And he makes me to lie down in green
pastures. I'm so grateful that God doesn't live according to cancel culture. As a matter of fact, I don't even have to go to David. What if I just simply use the man who gave us these words today, the Apostle Paul? If anybody should have been on the cancellation list, it should have been Paul.
You see, in my estimation, I'll just be honest with you, y'all, Paul is 100% what I would consider an OG. Some of you are like, what's an OG? Just in case you don't know y'all, Paul is an old gangster. And I'm not saying this as hyperbole, I'm saying this as a fact.
You see, before Paul was Paul, he was born into this world as a man by the name of Saul. Just in case you're brand new to Jesus, I need you to know that Saul was a modern day terrorist of his time. He harshly persecuted the church. He would take believers and he would put them on stakes, hang them upside down, and burn them
alive. He made what you see in movies like The Godfather and The Sopranos and all those other films that you know you ain't supposed to be watching. He makes it look like child's play.
If anyone should have been canceled, if anyone should not have been chosen, if anyone should have been skipped over, if anyone should not have been loved, it should have been Paul. But before time was time, before creation was creation, God looked at Saul. He looked at his issues. He looked at his past, present,
and future sins. And he said, I still choose him. I'm gonna choose him to plant more churches than anybody. I'm gonna choose him to give us two thirds of the New Testament. I'm gonna choose him to raise up Timothy's and Silas's. I'm gonna choose him to be one of the greatest apostles of all time.
You see, Paul wasn't selected because he was a good guy. Paul was selected because God is a good God. Here's the reality. You've been chosen too, not just because you're so good. I'm sure you have amazing qualities. But you've been chosen to be in relationship with God because God is good. If we're honest with ourselves,
if we were to peek into your closet, and we were to see some of the skeletons in your past, you would probably even agree, Yeah, I probably should have been canceled. But I'm so grateful that we don't serve a God who cancels us, we serve a God who calls us. He calls us into intimate relationship with him.
So as a result, look at what Paul says next. He says, as a result of this in verse number six, so we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear son. Verse seven, he is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom
with the blood of his son and forgave our sin. That word grace simply means when God gives you something that you don't deserve. I don't mean to be mean, and I don't mean to be rude, but let me just be honest. You know what every single one of us deserve? We deserve to be on that cross, because the wages of sin is death.
You see, it should have never been Jesus. It should have been you. It should have been you and me that was beaten. It should have been me and you that was spit on. It should have been me and you that was mocked. But because of his grace and because he's so rich in kindness, he took your place. He took my place,
and he paid a penalty that you and I would never be able to afford. This is the heart of the gospel message. Paul says he has showered his kindness on us along with all wisdom and understanding. Verse number nine, God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ, which is to fulfill his own good plan.
He just sang a song about he has good plans. Paul, what is the plan? And this is the plan.
At the right time, he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ, everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he shows us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
If you don't get anything else from this message, this is the one thing I most certainly need you to get, and I pray it lights a fire up under you like it lit a fire up under me because we have to start moving
in our walk with Jesus with a sense of urgency. And these two verses, here's basically what Paul is trying to remind me and you, and we don't talk about this often in church, because sometimes I think we've just gotten a little bit lazy. But here's what Paul is saying in these two verses. Be reminded that one day Jesus Christ
is coming back again.
And here's the best part, when Jesus Christ comes back again. God right now in heaven knows that things are a mess. God in heaven knows that things right now are not in order. And here's what's going to happen at the right time when Jesus Christ comes back again. I thank God for democracy, but Jesus is going to get rid of democracy, and we will live in a theocracy.
And what will happen in this theocracy, y'all? It will be the best day ever because it will be like the days of old. We will have not a president, not a prime minister, not a priest, but we will have the king of all kings, the lord of all lords,
the one who is alpha and omega beginning and the end, the first and the last, the one who was, the one who is, the one who is to come, will see Isaiah nine fulfilled, and the government will rest upon his shoulders. And he shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace, and he will sit on his throne. And here's what will happen. I don't care what your political affiliation is, whether you're Republican, whether you're Democrat, whether you're independent. I don't care whether you're rich, whether you're poor, whether you're black, whether you're white, whether you're purple, whether you're blue. I don't care what your gender is. What will happen is every knee will bow and every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, and everything will come up under his authority.
When he comes back, everything that has been torn apart, everything that has been broken, everything that has been hurting, everything that has been frustrated, everything will work according to his plan, and it will all be done away with. We will have that peace. We will have that joy.
We will have that love. We'll have all those things, and here's what's so special. In this plan, again, before creation was creation, before time was time, He had you on his mind because a part of this plan means that you get an inheritance as a believer in Jesus. That inheritance is the gift of eternal life.
That inheritance is the opportunity to walk on streets paved with gold. That inheritance is the opportunity for you to receive a crown of righteousness, which just like the angels, we will also lay down at his feet. That's what you've got coming. And then look at what Paul goes on to say. He says this
in verse number 12, God's purpose was that we Jews, who were the first to trust in Christ, would bring praise and glory to God. We know that Jesus himself says, I came for the Jew first, then for the Gentile. The Gentile is you and I. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the good news, that God saves you.
And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you who? The Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago. Verse 14, The Spirit is God's guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised, and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
Now one of the greatest gifts outside of salvation that God has given me and you is the gift of the Holy Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit lives in you. He lives in you to lead you and to guide you, to encourage you, to comfort you, to correct you when you step out of line. It is the secret weapon of every believer.
And one of the questions I wanna ask you is what does it look like for you in 2025 to lean into your relationship with the Holy Spirit like you've never leaned in before. I'm running short on time. I went a little too long,
so let me keep rolling through this really quickly. Verse number 15, ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God's people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. Paul has his pastor hat on, and he says this, I pray for you constantly. Verse 17,
asking God, the glorious father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. Here's what Paul is saying. The one thing that I'm praying for you is that you would grow in your knowledge of God. I'm
pretty sure that most of us in this room, as we wrapped up 2024, we were already writing down the goals that we wanted to achieve in 2025. I'm pretty sure that there are some of us in this room, y'all, we even had a vision board party.
And on that board, we put down all the things that we want to accomplish and all the places we wanna go and all the things that we wanna do in 2025. And let me be the first person to say that I am your advocate.
There's nothing wrong with you having goals. There's nothing wrong with you having a vision board party for all the things you wanna say, do, go, and experience. But let me also say, if on that vision board and in the goals that you wrote down did not include you growing closer to Jesus, you might as well throw them all away.
Because every place you want to go, everything you want to accomplish, everything you want to do is temporary, but the God that we serve is eternal.
And what I don't want to see happen is you go into 2025 and you didn't get any closer to Jesus than you were in 2024, I could make an argument that that would be a wasted year. So here's what Paul goes on to say. He says this.
He says, I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called, his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. Again, Paul takes the time to remind us that we have been set apart. And one of the words
that stands out to me that I think is special for those who are set apart is this word, hope. You see, we live in a world to where people are constantly trying to find hope. But the difference between the body of Christ and the world, is the world tries to find their hope in things. The world tries to find their hope
in circumstances. The world tries to find their hope in opportunities. The world tries to find their hope in public and political figures. But let me tell you right now,
as believers in Jesus, our hope should never be found in people. Our hope should never be found in places. Our hope should never be found in things, but our hope should always be found in Jesus. And the reason why our hope should be found in Jesus is because He's the same today, yesterday, and forevermore. He never
changes. And I don't know about you, but in my almost twenty years of walking with the Lord, I have come to land the plane on this thought that Jesus truly never fails. Jesus truly is faithful.
Faithful to keep his word. Faithful to never leave me. Faithful to never forsake me. Even when I think about all the times where I messed up, where he should have left me to my own devices, where he should have left me all by myself, he still remained with me.
So here's how Paul lands it in verse 19. He says, I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who
believe him. Now watch this. He says, this is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Here's the thing that I need you to know as you go into 2025, I wish I could tell you that 2025 was gonna be a year of abundant blessing.
I wish I could tell you that in 2025, you're not gonna face any problem or any issues or any circumstances, But unfortunately, I cannot tell you that. But here's what I can tell you. Whether it be 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, you serve a God who is mighty in power. And you serve a God who is for you and not against you.
And you serve a God who can open up doors, who can heal sick bodies, who can do the impossible. So in 2025, here's one of the things that I wanna encourage you to do. I wanna encourage you to stand on Christ That Solid Rock.
I remember in the church that I grew up in, we used to always sing that hymn that said, On Christ, the solid rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Why do I stand on him? Because he is the God that is mighty. He is the God that is strong. He is the God that is a
strong tower. Paul goes on to say this in verse 21, Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else, not only in this world,
but also in the world to come. Verse number 22, God has put all things under the authority of Christ, the one who died for you, the one who loves you, the one who sacrificially gave his life for you and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church, which is you. And the church is his body.
It is made full and complete by Christ who fills all things everywhere with Himself. What does it mean to be in Christ? What does this demand of me? To be in Christ means that in God's plan, I have been chosen. I have been adopted,
and he deems me to be holy, which means I have been set apart for a specific purpose and a specific person, and the purpose is to give the person glory, which is him. And what does that demand of me? It demands that I pick up my cross and follow Him, that I become a faithful follower of Jesus,
That I don't give him some of me, that I don't give him parts of me, but I give him complete and total access to me. I can sit here, and I can look at some of your eyes, and I can see how you have been processing, the Lord has been calling you into a more intimate relationship with him.
I want to challenge, let today be the day to where you surrender all,
to where you give him every hurt, you give him every pain, you give him everything that you've been thinking about, the things that have kept you worried up at night. And you say, Lord, I surrender completely and totally to you. Right where you are, could you just stand so I can pray for you, and then we'll be dismissed.
Holy Spirit, I wanna take the moment. I wanna thank you so much for every single person who was represented in this room.
And I wanna thank you that before time began, before creation was created, that you had them on your mind.
And there are some, God, who are standing here today broken, hurt, tired?
Holy Spirit, would you be the advocate? Would you give them comfort? Would you give them peace?
I pray that in 2025, every tear that they sowed in sorrow in 'twenty four, would you allow them to reap in joy in 'twenty five? And I pray that we would grow in our knowledge and understanding of not only who you are, but I pray that you would take each one of us and grow us into a more intimate relationship with you.
Let our hearts be burdened with the things that burden you. Let our desire to be pleasing to you. Would you implant in us the desires of our heart, so the things that you want, we would also want. Now, I pray for those who may be in this room or may be dealing with sickness. God, would you heal? I
pray for those who are in stand and need of a miracle. God, would you give it to them? And Holy Spirit, whatever I failed in asking, I pray that you don't fail in granting. As Paul acknowledges your grace and your mercy, God, we thank you for those two things.
I give you glory. I give you honor. I give you praise. And it's in Jesus' name we pray and give thanks. And everyone said, amen.
Hey. Thanks for joining us for service online this weekend. Be sure to follow us on social media and connect with us on the Rock Point Church app for prayer and everything happening here at Rock Point.