This sermon emphasizes the importance of God giving us a heads up about His plans, focusing on the need for practical application of spiritual principles in our daily lives. It highlights the significance of drawing closer to God and deepening our relationship with Him. The sermon delves into the power of surrender and obedience, showcasing how God can resurrect and bring greatness out of small beginnings. It also underscores the living and powerful nature of the Bible, encouraging listeners to engage with it for re-energizing and motivation. Lastly, it calls for preparation as God gives us heads up to align with His will and be ready for His plans.

This morning, God often gives a heads up. In other words, God often gives you a heads up about what He's going to do. And what I did, or I believe God hopefully directed me to do was pull in a lot of scriptures about God giving us a heads up about Jesus coming into the world and looking at those, but then just as important, what's just as important is the practical application. I believe that God's word is living. You can apply spiritual principles every day to our lives. So we're not just gonna look at prophetic fulfillment, we're also gonna look at current application. How can we apply these principles from God's word today? Because I'm pretty sure most of you came in here to know God better, to worship God, to build that relationship with Him. And I was reading a book last night, it's on famous preachers from 1700s, 1800s, and there was a question in there that stood out. I actually put the book down and I just pondered this for a while. The question was, how can I grow as close to God as possible? They were talking about that. How can I gravitate towards God and have a deep abiding relationship as much as possible? Now, isn't that an interesting question? How can I draw close? There's gotta be a way to draw close to God, closer than I am now. There has to be a way in which we can have that relationship just so much deeper and more abounding and fulfilling. And hopefully I'll share that with you when I talk about prayer and different things, but it really made me think on these scriptures where God gives us a heads up. Why does God give us a heads up? Well, there's a lot of different reasons, but primarily in the Bible, it's to prepare. It's to prepare. And when you have a, do you ever tell somebody, you come in or maybe your spouse, say, now, let me prepare you for this. I dented the vehicle, but let me tell you why. That happened to me on vacation. My wife came in, she's crying. I hit a pole. I'm like, it's okay. Just a car, everybody's fine. But there's a preparing process. And God often would give us a heads up to prepare us. He'll tell us things in his word. And I think that's one reason he talks about heaven. And he talks about rewards in heaven. I believe that there are rewards, that we are rewarded based on how we are steward, what God has given us today. He warns us about eternity separated from God. And coming up soon, probably on a Wednesday, I'm gonna give a message on eternity separated from God. That's a reality. Because you run into people, they think heaven is real and they think hell is false. Well, you gotta have both there. And usually it's from the people who are dreading the relationship. They don't know where they're at with God. And they love the idea, the concept of heaven, but they don't like the concept of being distant from God and having this eternity. Or some say, some believe in annihilation that happens right away. Some believe in there's a process of being, there's a pain of hell and then you are annihilated. And then people believe that there's eternity that's separation from God. So we're gonna try to unpack all that. I believe I'm shooting for this Wednesday. I wasn't gonna tell anybody, cause nobody might show up, but I'll let you know up front. This Wednesday, we're gonna talk about from Psalm 9. He talks about casting the enemies to hell. And what is that? Sheol, the place of the dead. There's a lot of different thoughts on that. So that's this coming Wednesday. Another, I didn't mean to promote that, but I did. So God gives a heads up and we read in Matthew 2. We talked about this last night briefly at the Christmas dinner we had. And for those of you who were not there, you missed it. I'm not gonna rub it in. But we are gonna give the date well in advance this time. So we can sign up and there's about a hundred of us there. But Matthew 2, 2, where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and we have come to worship him. Now, somehow they knew. They knew, where's the King that's been foretold? They didn't just wake up someday and see a star and go, I wonder what that means. There was a revelation. Somehow God revealed Himself to these people. And it's interesting, when they came in, they told Herod. Do you think Herod was excited? They said, where is this King who's been born, King of the Jews? We have come to worship Him. And Herod and all of Jerusalem was troubled. Isn't that interesting? That happens today. When you start saying Jesus is coming back someday, are you ready? You think people get excited if they don't know Him? They wanna persecute you. They wanna run you out of town. They do not want that contention. They want conviction. But we see that they foretold, and I believe that the Jewish people could have been prepared for their Messiah. Jesus, have you not read? Have you not said? Out of Bethlehem, out of Nazareth, out of Egypt I called my Son. And there's so many scriptural fulfillments. One of the problems is they thought He was coming as a conquering King, not a lowly servant. See, they were looking for the Lion of the tribe of Judah, not the Lamb. So the Lamb came, but now is coming the Lion. So those who weren't prepared for the Lamb are also not prepared for the Lion. He's coming back to judge. And that scripture in Revelation is always, I love that scripture where John said that he saw Jesus coming again and riding on a horse and on His thigh, His right thigh, meaning of strength and power. He had a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And out of His mouth goes a sword that He will strike the nations. He'll rule them with a rod of iron. He'll judge them. He'll tread the winepress and the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. Man, sometimes I feel the scripture like Elizabeth felt when the baby leaped in her womb. When Elizabeth met Mary, she could feel the baby leap. And sometimes Jesus does that to you. You might get a little carried away during a worship. You might get excited. Have you ever got excited during worship when you read the lyrics and they penetrate your heart? Here we are to worship Him and adore Him. And something leaps inside of us. That's good. That's the Holy Spirit of God crying out, Abba, Father, worship the Father. Point to the Father. So let's look at the first scripture. I think it's up on the screen. I don't know, I don't think I got these in time. To the right people, sorry. Anytime I change sermon gears, it's like I actually was working on this this morning. I got up at four in the morning and couldn't make all of morning worship because just so much is on my heart with this topic. But Genesis 2.18, I'm sorry, Genesis 22.18. Dyslexia was kicking in for a minute. Genesis 22.18, oh, we do have it. Wow, that's Christine or whoever did that. Probably Susie did that. I don't know who did, okay. Susie got on it again. Thank you so much. This is so, here's why I think this is so important. God speaks to us through His Word. God speaks to you through His Word. If you're not spending time in His Word allowing God to speak to you, you might not be going in a good direction. Because either the society's influencing us or God's Word is influencing us. So here we are told that through Abram's offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed. So even in Genesis, the beginning, that's what Genesis means. And I would love to go through the entire books of the Bible sometime and give you guys an overview. But Genesis means beginnings. We see the beginning of creation. We actually see the beginning of the fall of man. We see the beginning of the restoration process. God's not in a hurry. He said, from Abram's line, from the offspring of Abram, all the nations on the earth will be blessed. This points to the grace of the gospel, the grace of the gospel. Now, some people think, and I thought for many years too, is, wait a minute, all the nations aren't blessed. North Korea. But there's something interesting. I know many places teach, and it depends on who you listen to, what you believe about this topic, but it's a prevenient grace. And basically, the word prevenient means to come before. And whether you're Armenian or Calvinist, you'll interpret this differently, but I'm gonna try to stay in the middle. This type of grace comes before. In other words, it's God's grace prior to conversion. And all the nations are, God's grace is even on the sinner, not in salvation. But think about that. God's grace, His mercy, allowing a heartbeat, allowing your lungs to breathe. If God's grace was removed, I don't think, unbelievers could, you couldn't even stand in the weight of what the world and the sin unloads on us. So there's a grace. There's a grace that comes before a person is converted. And because of that, all the nations, and all the nations doesn't necessarily mean all the people on the face of the earth are going to be saved, but all nations on the earth, whether they're in South America, North America, the Middle East, wherever that, they will all be blessed by the work on the cross by Jesus Christ. And then we skip to Numbers 24, 17. And this is actually, well, let me just tell you who this person was. King Balak hired Balaam to curse the children of Israel. The king is looking down, he sees millions of people coming towards his land and who can stop God Almighty? We talked about that Wednesday, nobody can. So he says, okay, I'm gonna hire prophet Balaam, who was a seer. A seer means, the prophets used to be called seers before they were called prophet. It means that they would see things. So I'm gonna hire this seer to curse the children of Israel. And it's in Numbers 22, I believe. But so during this long discourse, this long discourse, Numbers 22, it starts, then 23, 24 is where we're at now. He said this, actually, he didn't end up cursing the children of Israel, he had to bless them. That's not part of the sermon, but I'll just give you a heads up there. So he's blessing the children of Israel instead of cursing them. The king's getting mad. Why did I bring you here? Curse these children of Israel. And Balaam said, I cannot curse what God has blessed. And that's a great principle for us. The devil cannot curse what God has blessed. But then he goes on to say, I see him, but not now. And that often would mean I see something, but it isn't yet happening. It's not yet revealed. I behold him, but he's not near. A star will come out of Jacob, a scepter will rise out of Israel. Now Martin Luther actually denied that this was a messianic application due to the flawed character of Balaam. But we read also in Numbers that Balaam came under the influence of the Spirit of God. It's interesting, that's how the Spirit of God would come upon somebody in the Old Testament. The Spirit of God would come upon certain workmen and they would be craftsmen in their field. The Spirit of God would come upon Saul and he would prophesy, he'd be anointed to be king. The Spirit of God would come upon David and the Spirit of God could be withdrawn. Today it can't be withdrawn in the life of a New Testament believer. It's not giving us and then taking and giving us and taking it. That's why Jesus said, when I leave, I'm going to send the Comforter, an ever-present help. I'm going to send somebody who can abide with you forever and lead you into all truth. So we see here God is giving his people a heads up even through the story of Balaam. Now how would they know the story of Balaam? Well, they read the Old Testament. They knew Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. They knew the whole Old Testament. They had that written. And the star has often served as a symbol of splendor. And what was a scepter? You know, you'd see those kings, the old pictures and they even had them, I think, up until, I don't want to, I better not say, I don't like going, but you know, you see the monarchs in the 1300s, the 1400s, and they would hold this scepter. That was an indication of power. So he said here, a star will come. In other words, the splendor of Jacob will come out of Jacob. And we know that he was a lion of the tribe of Judah. So out of the lineage of Jacob, a splendor will come out in the star and he will rise up out of Israel and the scepter will be in his hand. This position of power and authority that you don't just give an earthly king. This is a messianic promise of who Jesus is going to be in fulfilling this prophecy. And then Isaiah 11, one, a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. He's predicting it right here. A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots, a branch will bear fruit and the spirit of the Lord will rest upon him. Now, does anyone, do you know what a stump is? That's usually dead. Have you seen too many trees you cut down and you have the stump in your front yard? Do they grow back into nice big oak trees? Often not. The stump is often a symbol of things that are dead or no longer useful, but something will come up out of the stump of Jesse. There's a deadness, there's a barrenness. The Israels have been led captive. The Israelites are now under Roman authority, but out of this stump, out of the darkness, out of the ashes, something will arise. And from his roots, a branch will bear fruit. The spirit of the Lord will rest upon him. And the Jews knew of this. They knew of Isaiah's words. They had to learn Isaiah and Jeremiah at a young age. They had to memorize the prophets. So now Jesus walks in to the temple when he's of age, 30 I believe or so, opens the scroll of Isaiah and he says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. To do what? To elevate himself? No, to cast out demons, to open blind eyes, to restore health to those who are sick. The spirit of the living God is upon me. I will preach the gospel to the poor. I will overcome hell, death, and the grave. That spirit is upon me that Isaiah prophesied from. Not only that, Jesus is from the root of Jesse. From Jesse came David. From David came Jesus Christ. And all the connecting, that's why no man can write the Bible without the spirit of God. That's how people, they've never even studied who say, well, it's just a book written by men. When I write a book, I can't even agree on the content with my editor. My mom usually does it sometimes. You should say this, no, no, no, disagree, disagree, but you have this book written over 1,500 years. 40 different authors, three different continents saying the same thing, the same general message. And then Jeremiah 23, five through six, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. This is the name by which he shall be called. This is why we know it's not Solomon or we know it's not an earthly person. The Lord, our righteous Savior. The Lord, our righteous Savior. See, the Jews knew that the Savior would come from David's line. So God is giving you a heads up. Hey, I'm giving you a heads up. It's coming out of the root of Jesse. This position of power and authority. And then Micah 5, two, but you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will rule over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times. Again, talking about the lion of the tribe of Judah. And I believe all these verses are a handout we gave you. So if you want to get those, you can grab them on your way out. But you see this theme he's building up. Genesis and Numbers and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Micah talking about Jesus coming. And Isaiah 7, 14. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin shall be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him, Emanuel. And what does that mean? God with us. See, anytime a Jehovah Witness comes to your door, show them this verse. God is with us. He is God. He's not a good teacher. He's not an angel. He's not a creative being. He is God with us. God revealed himself through his son. You will call his name Emanuel. And that's why we celebrate Christmas this month. That's why we celebrate the baby born in a manger. And that's why it's so important to get our hearts right. And I love dressing. I love the decor. I mean, it just brings in good memories. And I look at people sometimes, I've gotten mean emails about Christmas trees and different things. Haven't you read the book of Jeremiah? Yeah, but we're not bowing down to it and it's not our idol and we're not worshiping it. I look at the evergreen as everlasting life. You look at the lights, the light of the gospel shining into darkness. See, it's all perception. Christians, you can redeem the theme. You can redeem the theme of pagan holidays. It's what you do with it. I believe God has called us to redeem. We don't have to walk around being scared of all these things. Actually, the letter kills you. It's a spirit that gives life. And if we're not careful, we can be very rigid and hard on certain things. We have the letter, but not the spirit of Christ. Hosea 11, one. And out of Egypt, I called my son. Out of Egypt, I called my son. What happened in Egypt? They fled from Herod. Joseph had a dream. They went to Egypt. And Jesus, with his mom and Mary and Joseph, they came back out of Egypt and back into where eventually Jesus was groomed and where he worked as a carpenter. So out of Egypt, he called his son. He called Jesus out of that. And then Psalm 72, nine through 10. May the desert tribes bow before him. Now, does this remind you of the wise men that came? May the desert tribes bow down before him because that's where they came and his enemies licked the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores bring tribute to him. May the kings of Sheba and Sheba present him gifts. May all the kings bow down to him and all the nations serve him. See, it's showing, and that's why we celebrate. That's why actually people give gifts, at Christmas. It's gift giving. It's remembering the gift that was given to us. I just read, I hope this is not true, but the average money spent on one person is $900. I think our whole family budget's way below that. Like, are we off? Are we missing something here? But see, that's what happens. We get carried away. This is a time to put things on charge card. And you have to have your kids appreciate what they're given and not giving too much in abundance and remember why we're here. And even the kings from all over, they don't know if it was three wise men. They think it was because of frankincense, myrrh, and gold and the three gifts, but we don't know that these great men came from the east and came in and worshiped the true and living king. Can you imagine if we could get our kings today and our presidents today and our rulers today to bow down to the one true and living king instead of stop trying to be themselves governor of the world and ruler of the world? See, at some point, we need to stop talking about great men of God and start talking about a great God who overrules the affairs of men. And lift Him and lift Him up. And that's what we read often. Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him. I'm gonna go off of this a little bit in the next Sunday and then the final Sunday as well, building up on this theme of coming to worship Him. And then Jeremiah 31, 15. A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more. Now some of you, if you're not real familiar with the Bible, you might wonder what this is talking about. Well, it's what I talked about earlier. When Jesus was born and the wise men came and they told the king, he was not very happy. And he wanted to go find Jesus and actually kill Jesus. The wise men were warned in a dream to leave and go a different route and not bring back news of the birth or where he was located. So Herod said, and this is why we know some time has passed, Herod told them to kill all the male children under two. Can you just imagine that? Back then they had the authority to do that. And you should be very thankful because they can do that in other countries. That can happen in North Korea. That can happen under Iranian type leadership in Middle East. They can do whatever. China can regulate how many kids you have. See, we remember how thankful we should be. And so what was happening? The Jewish children two and under were being slaughtered. And so, can you imagine the cry of the parents that would go out? So now you can understand better. A voice is heard in Ramah. In other words, all the way to Ramah, mourning and great weeping. Rachel is reaping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more. And they would even quote this back then. And remember, this is what's going on. The prophets foretold of this. So we see so many fulfilled prophecies. I wish I even had time. Maybe that's something we'll do in resurrection time is how many fulfilled prophecies about Jesus going to the cross. No bone being broken and casting lots for His garments. And there's so much where God gives us a heads up. So I'm wondering, is God giving you a heads up this morning at all? Is there something He's been showing you? And that's why I want to get into the practical application of this and go back and revisit some of these. Number one, we learn this. When God gives us a heads up, all these prophecies, and I talked about this Wednesday so I won't stay here a long time, but I want to remind you, I want to encourage you, who can stop the Lord Almighty? Who can stop the Lord Almighty? What He says will come to pass will come to pass. Has He said something about you and your life? Has He said something? Has He given you a deep promise about your children? What God says will come to pass. He's not wringing His hands and He's not worried. Who can stop the Lord Almighty? No one, nothing can thwart His plans. But I don't know what His plans are. Then you better get in His Word. You better line up your life with Him. Who can stop God? So when you go into prayer, that's what I prayed this morning with the people next door for prayer. We do that every Sunday at 7.30. We'd love to have you join us. If we need a bigger room, that's a good problem to have, right? But anyway, we realize the privilege, the privilege, you can go before God. God of the universe, God Almighty, and He hears the prayers of His people. That's a promise He has given. If two or three are gathered, there I am in their midst. If you ask anything according to my will, I will answer, I will hear. So there's a God listening to the prayers of His people. It might not happen in our time. It might not happen the way we think, but God is hearing, God is listening. What greater privilege? Let me ask you that. What greater privilege? That God has given us, that He will hear the heart cries of His people. It's just amazing. So we see that from these prophetic verses. Nothing can stop God's plans. The enemy thought he could stop God's plans. Others have tried to stop God's plans. Dictators have tried to stop God's plan. The Egyptians said, we have messed up. We're changing our mind. We are going to bring back the children of Israel. God says, nothing can thwart my plans. I'll just move the sea. The baby's starting to leap again. That's the God, right? That's the God who you serve. He'll just part the sea. He'll bring food out from nowhere. He'll open a rock for water. I love that song. When all hope is gone and your word is all I've got, I'll still remember that you're the God who brings water from the rock and you begin to bring your mind back to the Jesus who brings provision back to the God who will always answer. It might be no or yes or maybe, but He will always listen. He will always answer. He's a present help in every time of need. That's the God we have to remind ourselves of often. That nothing can stop His plans. You think that we have to remind ourselves a lot of this, especially in America. Do you think this agenda that's out there is going to silence God's Word? Do you think this darkness is coming in that our nation is going to silence God? Do you think God's going, what is going to happen in 2020? Oh, I'm just gonna cover my eyes. Jesus, tell me when it's over. He rules on the throne. He has all final authority. He pulls one king up. He'll set another king down. He'll give someone a heart attack or He'll raise somebody up. He will push His plans. He will get people in positions of leadership who might bring the Word of God back into our schools and back into our government offices. His plans will not be thwarted. And I'm not, well, Shane, you're a good actor. Look around. Yeah, things are getting difficult. Things are getting dark. But I know the God who raises up light out of darkness, who speaks light into the darkness, who creates a universe out of nothing. Do you know that still baffles the mind of scientists? Where did all this come from? And now I say, it could have came from explosion the size of your pinky. Oh, Neptune and Saturn and the sun, it all just comes from this little explosion. I mean, I think it came from explosion. Don't worry. I'm going somewhere. God said, let there be. And there was. His created order went out. Yeah, there was a big, that's a big bang. Boom. When His voice goes out, when He had to, can you imagine speaking? See, the baby's leaping. I can't stop it. But because we get so defeated, we have this defeated mentality. Just look at Facebook. Just look at the posters. Look at the news. Christians get into fear factor mode and they feel defeated when God says, I will raise you up for such a time as this. Mordecai and Haman, he was gonna build the gallows to hang a man. And God actually hung him on the same gallows he built. He will bring, he will reverse decisions. He will bring up miracles out of nothing. You're saying my prodigal son, my prodigal daughter, Shane, they're so lost. God will give them a dream of the depths of hell and they're falling in the abyss and they wake up, mom, dad, I need Christ. That's the God we serve. We need to get back to a praying church, a church that will wake people up. The baby's leaping. I can't stop the leaping of the child. Man. Do we forget who God is? I think we do. I think we forget the power of God. We have to get that joy back into our lives. Can you imagine people going out, filled with the spirit of God, expecting God to do great exploits? God put something in your heart, Shane, pray for that person, I'm gonna heal them. Oh, that can't be God. That would never happen. I'm too nervous. That God can speak life into that person and use you. Who can stop the Lord Almighty? But I do think there's a healthy tension. We need to be very concerned with what's happening in our nation and in the world. There has to be a healthy tension. Very concerned. Not liking where the direction is going. And every time this happens, I notice that we get serious about prayer. We want Lord, just give us peace and freedom and tranquility. Let the Bible be in all the schools. Have the Ten Commandments. Can you imagine walking in and seeing the Ten Commandments in your school? Can you imagine seeing those again in courthouses? They used to be there. If you study how far we've declined morally, it lines up with how far we've declined getting away from God's word. There used to be penalties. You did this, there was a death penalty. It's outlined in God's word. Because you start to deter evil. You can't change a person's heart, but you can deter evil. Now they've minimized it to where you can go into a grocery store, I've told you, I saw it in Quartz Hill. They just go in and they just grab whatever they want and they leave and they can't do anything. The police say it's just a misdemeanor. Don't call us for that. Can you imagine if, hey, you're going to jail for a year? They might rethink. You sell drugs to little kids? Oh, what about for the five year sentence? Shane, where's your grace? I have tons of grace, but you also have to restrain evil. There has to be a consequence for the action. And then number two, we can learn from the Scriptures we just read. This will really help. God's clock is always on time. He's rarely on time with my schedule. We should have been in this building 10 years ago. Or we should have, and He's rarely on my time clock. Why? Because we want to hurry things up. Let me just give you a good example. Singles, you're praying for Mr. Right, Mrs. Right, whoever it is, oh Lord, and you're like, God is not on my time clock. My biological clock is speeding up and God's not on my time clock. And so we think He's running late and we do things for Him. Well, I'm going to meet such and such. I'm going to make this happen. And we often force things. So if you can just trust in that God's clock is always on time, and I love that story. I read it this week. I love how God does that. I'm thinking of a story and then I just read it and it just reinforces again. But Jairus' daughter, remember that story? They said, hey, Jairus, your daughter is, or Jairus went to Jesus and said, hey, my daughter's dying. And they went and they got Jesus. They said, okay, come on. I can imagine Jairus, can't you? Pushing, come on, let's go. Let's go, she's sick, she's dying. Let's get going. Let's get going. Jesus is just kind of strolling through the crowd and people are touching him all over. And the woman with the issue of blood touched him. And Jesus said, who touched me? And the disciple said, everybody's touching you. He said, oh no, I felt power go out. And the woman confessed. He said, oh woman, great is your power. Great is your faith, I should say. Great is your faith, trusting in me. I can still picture Jairus, come on. Let's go, my daughter's sick. My daughter, you're talking to all these people. You're ministering. See, God's not on our time clock because what? Jairus is focused about his daughter and rightly so. I would be, come on, let's go, Jesus. Get there quick. I don't know about Lazarus yet. I haven't heard that story. So let's get there. And we're pushing God. Let's go, let's go. And he's ministering to people on his schedule. And okay, now I'm ready to go. My ministry's been completed. And then what happens? The servant runs up and says, don't trouble the teacher. The child is dead. What does Jesus do? Oh, darn it. Guess I shouldn't say that word either, right? Shoot. I get emails weekly of people critiquing everything I say. When I say, oh my Lord, they say, you're using God's name in vain. No, I'm just excited. The baby's leaping. That's not taking the Lord's name in vain. You'll know if I ever take the Lord's name in vain because I'll be striked down with lightning. I haven't done that in many years. But of course we have to learn from it and watch certain things. But I'm getting off track. So Jerry says, daughter dies. I don't have the story in front of me. And Jesus goes into the house and he tells the people. What's he say? She's not dead. She's just sleeping. They ridiculed him. And he told the little girl, I believe it was Talitha Kumai, to get up out of that bed, to get up and eat. Isn't that interesting? I mean, to me, with studying health and fitness, I have a feeling she was sick for quite a while. Because usually when you're sick for quite a while, you don't eat. And what you need quickly is that nourishment. Okay, hurry, let's feed her. She's doing good spiritually now, let's feed her physically. But see, it wasn't on Jerry's time clock. Probably wasn't on his daughter's time clock. It wasn't on the servant's time clock. Because we are self-focused and self-centered. And sometimes that's good. Parents, please put your kids first before other things. Don't leave the baby in the car seat when you go into the store. You have to be concerned about these things. But to remember that God's clock is always on time. So there might be something you're waiting on. And I don't like those guys on TV that just say the whole audience, you're waiting for something, God's gonna do it this week to make everybody happy. I don't know. Some things could be delayed because of disobedience. Some things could be delayed because of God's timing on certain things. Some things could be delayed because God's waiting for the other person more than He's waiting on you. And there's so many things that come into play, but we do know that God is always on time. So no matter what you're going through, so no matter what you're struggling with, so no matter what you're wondering, why, Lord, why? Just trust that He knows best. Trust that it's His time. And do you ever look back and say, thank God for that unanswered prayer? Before Garth Brooks was singing it, I was singing it. Thank God for unanswered prayers. In that other song, God Bless a Broken Road, that led me straight to you. Through that brokenness and God not answering prayers, but knowing what's best for His Son, for His daughter, leads us in that right course. And then verse three, a wonderful, I'm sorry, not verse three, point three. A wonderful principle. Though you are small, out of you will come greatness. He said, out of Bethlehem. There was one of the writers quoted a man saying, does anything good come out of Nazareth? Right, was it Nazareth? Okay, good, thank you. So I'm like, I should've wrote all these down. The spirit starts leaping, the baby starts leaping. I don't know where they come from sometimes, but does anything good come out of that? So though you are small, Jesus, it's interesting. A lowly major, you know, we talk about, you see this up here, that's not for, King Jesus, that was His bed, something like that. Out of the tribe of Jesse was not a well, I mean, a very highly favored tribe. Not only, not he was a big, bold son who looked like the rock. You know who the rock is, right? Okay. The other day, my little daughter said, dad, you look a little like the rock, but he's a lot bigger and stronger, huh? I said, yeah, he probably beat me in arm wrestling. But he didn't come like any of that. He didn't come as a king, he came as a lowly servant. He was born in a manger. He came from a tribe of the Jesse. He came from the smallest. David, he's out in the field, and when Samuel poured the oil, the oil fell. The oil flowed over David. And God often takes the small things, and He elevates those things. Why? Because He gets the credit. He gets the glory. So though you are small, out of you will come greatness. And what I've, I've heard this. I heard this right when I became a Christian. And I hear it sometimes now and then, and I stop and I say, that is absolutely right. At first, I didn't believe it, until you experience it. But they would often tell you, when I was a young Christian, or actually coming back to the Lord, I had a season of being a prodigal, they would say, shame, when you pray for things, when you expect things, if you can do it, it's not God. Right? Lord, please fix this so I can go do that. It's, God does things that are so big, so, that I can't, I can't do that. It has to be God. For example, this church building, the radio stations, the ministry, writing, everything. I mean, everything, I look back over my life, and that was impossible. I could never do that, had it not been for the working of God's Spirit. And I know some of you, I've told this before, but that's why I think God uses those who are least likely. Because they are more apt to give Him the credit, Him the glory. Because you realize, through your brokenness, and through who you really are, no, you're a nobody among tons of people, and that when God begins to use you, He uses those who are least likely. I know many of you are thinking the vessel, that, or the verse, that He will use those who are least likely. He doesn't elevate dignitaries, and He doesn't elevate those who are already kings, and He won't necessarily, even though there are PhD preachers, He often wants the person to get a master's degree from the master. Not necessarily rest on their degree. Listen, I know so many people that go to seminary, and I won't pick it, be mean about seminary, because I think people should go if you can go, if you can get an education, if you can educate yourself. I'm all for education. But so many people come out and they think, I've got my master's in divinity, now I can preach. You haven't went through life yet. You're 26, and you're gonna tell people, you're gonna comfort somebody who lost their child? You're gonna comfort somebody who's been through an addiction and their marriage is on their, they don't teach you that. That's where that phrase comes from. I went through the school of hard knocks. That's where it comes from, is life experience. But when you take the education of God's Word and life experience, you marry those two, that's where ministry comes from. God often takes, so if you're thinking, well, I don't have an education. I don't know the Bible really well. I haven't read through it all the way through. I mean, look, I stutter like Moses. God's often looking for those type of people. Though you are small, out of you will come greatness. He uses the foolish things, ah, now it's coming back, to confound the wise. I think that's what gets people so mad at me. I shared a Facebook page with some of you. I'm not gonna share it with everyone because I don't want people commenting. But the whole Facebook page is just to slam me. Look at this uneducated, buffoon. You know, ah, and they just like to slam me. They see it, they can't, who is this guy? Who is this guy that God is using that has no degree, no pedigree, no pastoral background, no father in the ministry, nothing. And when you start to do that, people can't, he confounds the wise. And then number 4.4, God can resurrect your life. God can resurrect your life. Where am I drawing that from? It's that verse we read. A stump, out of a stump, a dead, barren tree, God brings life. I like, I love what Job said. He said, there is hope for a tree if it is cut down. It will sprout again at just the scent of water. Isn't that interesting? If I, and that's what people really need today. They need, if I can just smell the hope. If I can just sense the direction. If I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, Shane, I just need a little hope. I just need a little encouragement. I need to see that God is still going to move. And God often will do that. He can resurrect a life that is dead and decaying. And usually, usually, the deader the life, the more bold and humble the person will be. When he brings somebody up out of utter darkness and despair, you think they're a little excited during worship? You think they might want to just do things for God because look at what he brought me through. And the song we sing sometimes, out of the ashes, I will arise again. And that's what the Christian has to always remember. God, who began a good work in you, will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. I don't care if you're on your fifth recovery home. I don't care if you're on your third marriage. I don't care if everything is falling apart. I don't care if you're addicted to something again that you broke free of many years ago. God says, I can bring resurrection back to that life if you surrender your heart to me again and begin to let me rebuild it. How many people are stuck? Stuck because they're not giving over the reins of their life to God. And that leads me right to the next point of application. The power of obedience and surrender. It's interesting, this all started with Abram. He said, because you have obeyed my voice, Abram. Remember what we read in Genesis 22? You don't have to turn there. I'm just gonna look at it real quick. We are told that through Abram's offspring, all nations on the earth will be blessed. But let's remember the context. He was going to sacrifice Isaac. He was going to sacrifice Isaac. And Matthew Henry, commentator from the 1600s, said, admiring and adoring his grace, let us devote all of our service to the one who laid down his life for our salvation. Here's the key. Whatever is dearest to us upon this earth becomes our Isaac. Some of you have gotta put Isaac on the altar this morning. You've gotta put a relationship possibly on the altar. You've gotta put your dreams, your goals. You can say, Lord, I give this to you. I've done that many times. There's dreams, there's prayers I've been praying I won't share right now unless they ever get answered that I've taken to God. And I said, Lord, I'm putting this on the altar. If you do no more than what you've done so far, I will die a very happy man. And you give that to him. You give that relationship, a job. Do you know how many jobs are derailing men today? Or even women, many cases? Because that corporate structure, and I can't do that. I've gotta make this money. And we have to lay that down as an Isaac as well. So the power of obedience and surrender, we see that throughout Scripture. If you want God to really move in your life, this will apply to some people, you've got to obey him and surrender everything. Just think about this. Partial obedience, partial surrender. Where's that gonna get you? Many people won't come to church because of root of bitterness or they're upset or there's unforgiveness. And then you surrender those things and be obedient. And then number six, the Bible is not just a good book, it's living and powerful. We've been learning that the last 40 minutes or so. It's not just a good book. Do you realize if you thought of it the way many people do, and a good way I'm talking about now, that it is actually living and vibrant and it speaks to us daily, gives us practical application, you would live in the Word of God a lot more than you do Netflix. You would look to that, okay, what's my proverb for today? What are the Psalms saying to me this morning? Where are the Gospels taking me? What can I learn from the life of Jesus? And because it's living, it begins to encourage you, it begins to build you up in your faith. The word living means energized and full of energy. Do you ever lack that in your Christian faith? Just me? Not this morning, praise God. But sometimes, so the Bible is energized, it's full of energy. When you read it, you get re-energized. You get refocused, you get re-motivated. You say, that's right, God said it, and I believe it, that settles it. And you begin to live that life of fulfillment. And then it means powerful. What does that mean? Strong, potent, mighty, influential, forceful, and intense. The Bible says that it is powerful. It means it's strong, it's mighty, it's influential, it's forceful, it's very intense. And then the final point, God gives us a heads up so we can prepare. God gives us a heads up so we can prepare. So when we read that earlier Scripture, the Lord, our righteous Savior, the Lord, our righteous Savior, see, that's when the baby began to leap in me. Metaphorically speaking, of course, right? The Lord, our righteous Savior, something happens inside of us. They wanted a conquering king, not a lowly servant. They wanted a warrior, fearsome battle, not someone who lays down their life. They wanted Him to strike Rome, not humble themselves. And I actually told you at the beginning, I wasn't gonna tell you at the end, but they were looking for the lion. And they forgot about the lamb. And so this morning, as we go into what we're celebrating this month, God often gives us a heads up. Is He giving you a heads up in any area of your life? And there's people listening later, I know maybe even people now, that God has given you a heads up many times. What's coming if you continually reject His grace and His mercy and His forgiveness? He told us that if you deny me before men, I will deny you before the Father in heaven. That's pretty serious. What's a denial? I don't know Him. I don't wanna follow Him. He might be a good teacher. He might be a good guy, but I deny Him in front of men. I don't live my life according to the Scripture. I don't have obedience to Him. He's not my Lord. He's definitely not my Savior. That's the view that many people have. And so, but God tells us in advance, bow your knee to Jesus Christ. Confess that He is Lord. He is Savior. So I wanna ask you this morning, if that's a decision you need to make, we would love to pray with you next door in the prayer room. Or if you're a believer and you've drifted off course, some of these points apply. You can feel that you've drifted. Let us know. We'd love to pray with you next door as well. And those maybe who are searching, I mean, you know who Jesus is. You were raised in a Christian home. You're a good person, but you haven't repented of your sin. We would love to pray with you and talk to you about that. Listen, there has to be a point where you get up from your seat and acknowledge and say, God, I need you. I need to get.