Good morning, church. Good to be in God's house today. Amen. Thankful for his love and mercy and grace towards us this morning. Man, I'm scared to death as always. Amen. Thank God for his mercy, though. Amen. I'm just doing what he said to do. Amen. So it's all on him. So let's let's pray this morning and ask God to help us. I'm thankful for this time of year, amen. We choose to celebrate the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to earth. Thank God that he is, was Emmanuel, God with us, amen. Thank God for his mercy this morning. I told dad Friday night, I told him, I said, yeah, I said, I believe the Lord's just going to have me deal with some prophecy this morning. He's like, oh, I said, yeah, that's what every pastor wants to hear from a young preacher in his church, that Lord laid on his heart to deal with prophecy. we're not, I'm just kidding this morning, I'm not gonna do a prophecy, I'm gonna leave that to him, amen? All right, let's open up on a word of prayer and we'll get started. Lord, thank you for the day. God, thank you for your blessings in our lives. Lord, thank you for being better us than we ever deserve. Lord, we don't deserve anything from your hand, but you're a good God. Lord, we thank you for your blessings. Thank you for your love, mercy, and your grace towards us. Lord, I'm thankful for this time of year, Lord, where you sent your son, Lord, to this earth, Lord, to be born of a virgin. Lord, we thank you for that, Lord. Because of that, Lord, this morning we have hope. Lord, and I pray that you would, Lord, calm my nerves this morning. Lord, help me to only say what you would have me to say. And Lord, hide me behind the cross, Lord, that the church might only be able to see you this morning. Lord, bless each class this morning. Bless these young people. God, I pray that you would just have your hand on their lives, help them to submit to you. and walk, Lord, in your will. And Lord, bless our church, bless each family here. And God, again, touch us this morning. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, you can be turning to Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42. This morning, the goal of the message It was just simply to remind us who we are and who He is. Amen. I don't know about you, but I need a constant reminder to put me in my place, to remind me who I am this morning. I'm nothing without Him. Amen. We're nothing but Gentile dogs prior to the cross, prior to His birth this morning. And I want to talk a little bit about that. I want us to take our minds back prior to the cross, prior to His birth, and think about the years approximately 513 B.C., 1513 B.C., and that is dealing with the children of Israel coming out of the land of Egypt. And I want you to put your mind back there, maybe as a young man, young lady, or woman, or man this morning, and I want us to understand that as Gentiles, we don't have any full-blooded Jews in here, by the way, do we? I don't think so. But as Gentiles this morning, we were in darkness. I mean, there was no hope. Amen? Prior to the cross, prior to the Lord, being born we were without hope there was no chance there was no drawing nine to God and him drawing nine to us we were in darkness amen and if you think think back with me the children of Israel coming out of the land of Egypt maybe being a gypsum gypsum young person and you've seen the plagues you've seen God pour out his plagues on on you and you've seen the Lord's miracles Darkness over you, light over Israel, frogs with your people, no frogs with Israel. You've watched maybe the oldest of your family die from the plagues and the curse of God, and Israel walking out. with God's promise and God's protection. Pillar of fire before him and a cloud behind him. And think in your mind, put yourself there and realizing there's nothing you can do. You're without hope. I mean, you're just in darkness. And that's a serious thing. Amen. That's scary. All right. So I just want us to have that mindset this morning as we walk through the scripture. And think about it, and then in Isaiah, Isaiah busts onto the scene and he starts talking about this light to the Gentiles. Okay, so I just want to start out, I hope I'm making sense this morning. We were Gentiles, amen, that's what we were. We were without hope, we were without light. So then Isaiah busts onto the scene in Isaiah chapter 42, okay? Isaiah chapter 42 this morning. And if you look in verse six, Isaiah says, I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and keep thee, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles. All right, let's turn over to chapter 49. Chapter 49. And I believe here, if you look in verse six, he prefaced verse six with verse five to remind us of who God is and what grace he is showing to the Gentiles here. In verse five it says, and now, saith the Lord, that form me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again. I'm sorry, I'm in chapter 40. I'm in the wrong chapter, y'all. I'm sorry, chapter 42, verse five and six. I'm in the wrong, I looked at the wrong verse. Verse 5. He prefaced verse 6 here with verse 5 and he says, That walketh there in that's the god we serve. Amen. That's the god who is giving grace to gentiles That's the god that's giving hope that's giving light. Okay, and now turn to verse chapter 49, excuse me verse 6 Sorry y'all chapter 49 verse 6 He says, and he said, it is a light thing that thou shouldest be a servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. And then Paul, if you turn to Acts chapter 13, Acts chapter 13, Paul backs this up, almost quotes it word for word in Acts chapter 13. So I'm just trying to get across the point this morning that we were in darkness. I mean, we had no hope prior to the cross, prior to our Lord and Savior being born. In Acts 13, verse 47, for so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. of the earth. So this morning, there was darkness. The Lord wasn't speaking to the Gentiles. There was no drawing nine to God. Him drawing nine to us. Listen, that's who we were. That's what our blood was. And then it was based on what race you were, what blood you had in you. Therefore, I mean, you think about this. We say all the time, I'm thankful I don't have to burn sacrifices anymore. I don't have to be back there and burn those sacrifices when the reality is me and you would have never been burning those sacrifices. Me and you were in darkness. Me and you did not have hope, okay? It's all His grace this morning, y'all. That's what I'm trying to get across to us. It's nothing that we are or we could have done, okay? It is all God's grace this morning that me and you Gentile dogs this morning haven't made joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We're sitting in church this morning Alright, so we were not in the light. We were in darkness. We had no hope but even in this darkness this morning I want us to notice God's grace even in that I want to think about think about Rahab Rahab the harlot Gentile dog nothing is in darkness, and the children of Israel are going to march around Jericho. And what does God do? He extends grace even to Rahab, all right? I mean, in the lineage of Jesus Christ, okay? She was confronted with a decision, okay? She could have turned the men in, the spies, but you know what she did? She said, no, something, I need to take care of these guys. You know what? Because she did that, God extended grace. Okay, so even in this darkness, you still see God's grace to the Gentiles. I'm thinking about Ruth, a Moabite woman, should have had no business whatsoever marrying Boaz, but God once again extends grace to her. Okay, so this morning, even in the darkness, even with no hope, you still see God extending grace to the Gentiles. I mean, that's grace. I mean, nothing. Dogs this morning, he was still extending grace. Okay, and then I want us to turn, let's look, you can turn to Turn to Luke 2. Turn to Luke 2. This morning, so this darkness, no light, no hope. So this light Isaiah was talking about, what is this light to the Gentiles? That same God Isaiah 42 5 the one that spread out the heavens remember what that verse we read spread out the heavens a man with his hands That same God is now in Luke 2. He's born of a virgin God with us Emmanuel I mean think about that that the Creator is the one that knows the hairs in your head, came and was born of a virgin, lived among us, God in his creation, Emmanuel. That is amazing, that is grace. Thank God for this time of year, however you feel about Christmas, whatever it is, but listen, you need to set aside time, some time, to celebrate the biggest thing ever happened to man. Biggest thing ever happened in history was Jesus Christ coming to earth to be born of a virgin. You need to celebrate that at some point, whether it's December 25th or whenever it is, that is something worth celebrating, amen? Thank God for his son coming to earth, amen? So that God became flesh and dwelt among us, Immanuel, God with us, that is grace, that is hope, okay? Hope was born in Jesus Christ, okay? We are without hope, hope was born in Jesus Christ. And let's look at Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, we're gonna look in verse 8, okay? And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over the flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel of the Lord said, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. And I'm interested in this phrase right here. What does it say? Which shall be to who? people. He didn't say to the Israelites. He didn't say, okay, to this certain age group or to people with blue eyes or brown hair, amen, or lots of hair. I wouldn't be in that category, okay. Thank God it's not a white man's gospel, a black man's gospel. It was to all people. It wasn't to a certain age group. Amen. It was to the world. What does John 3 16 say? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Thank God this morning. That isn't somebody with a high IQ or how smart you are because the Williamson's wouldn't have made it in that either. I promise you. Okay. So thank God for his grace this morning. Okay. That was not towards my father. That was directed to me. As soon as I said that I saw everybody go. No, that is not what I meant by that, okay? That was directed to myself alone, okay? So this morning, thank God it is a gospel to all people, amen? Thank God for His grace in that. It says, for unto you is born, verse 11, this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Thank God He's our Savior this morning, amen? Thank God He's our Savior. I don't ever want to get over that, okay? And I think sometimes we hear it all the time and it just becomes mundane words to us. I'm taking to this study the Lord just rekindled in my heart just the simplicity of the gospel but man the power of the gospel that our Creator came to earth born of a virgin and gave his life that mean you could have salvation praise the Lord this morning amen so the greatest miracle that God was born of a virgin and then salute to and then let's look let's look at verse 32 of the same chapter verse 32 Never again without hope this morning. Man, it's grace. Never again without hope. Luke chapter two, verse 32. Well, verse 25 is talking about Simon here. If you look at verse 25, and behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simon. This is when the Lord told him he wouldn't die until he'd seen the Messiah, until he'd seen the Christ. So he's in the temple. And then in verse 32, let's look at verse 31, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people. And what's verse 32? It's talking about the Lord here. It says, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. So that light Isaiah was talking about, was proven and was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It was in the birth of that baby, that little baby boy, man, our creator, was fulfilled, that light to us was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In verse 33, and Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken. Can you imagine being Jews and hearing this man saying, man, this baby right here, I'm telling you, he's gonna bring the Gentiles to Christ. Amen, they're gonna be just like us. And they're thinking, what in the world is this guy talking about? He's lost it. But amen, the Lord fulfilled it in Jesus Christ. Let's look at John chapter 10. John chapter 10. Sorry, I know we're flipping a lot this morning, but just looking at verses, backing up this morning. Just a reminder of what we were, amen, what we are, and it's just God's grace. And I hope it turns your heart toward Him this morning, just how good He's been to us. So, let's look at John chapter 10. Let's look at verse 16. Verse 16. The Bible says, the Lord's talking here, and in verse 9 he says, I am the door. This is when he's given that parable. And then in verse 16, let's look at verse 15. As a father knoweth me, even so I know the Father, and lay down my life for the sheep. And here he is, he's talking in his ministry and he says, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man take it from me, but I lay down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father. Man, I'm thankful that I'm the other fold this morning, amen. Amen. Thank the Lord. I'm that other fold. Man, we serve a God of power. Nothing is impossible for him. The fact that he can lay down his life, bring it up again is the power that he has used in us as we are dead in sin. And man, he's lifted us up to heavenly places, amen, through salvation. So thank God for his power this morning. And we're that other fold that he has, through salvation, brought us into the family of God. So I want to talk about that for the next few minutes. So then the Lord the creator of heaven and earth He walked up Calvary's mountain and took the sin of the world and through his death burial and resurrection We can have eternal life and then that's grace. We are nothing this morning Gentile dogs, but through Calvary and through his grace and then we can have what we have this morning So let's look at Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians chapter 2 this is good y'all and this was encouragement to me Ephesians chapter 2 let's look at verse 11 and it talks about verse 8 verse 9 for by grace you say through faith Paul talking here and then he says in verse 11 wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands and that at the time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Amen. For he is our peace who hath made both one and have broken down the middle wall of partition between us having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to make in himself of twain one new man so making peace hallelujah thank god this morning through his blood amen he is broken down that middle wall partition there's no longer Jew nor Gentile, bond or free, we're all one in Jesus Christ, hallelujah. So, verse 16, and that he might reconcile both unto God and one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you, which were far off to them that were nigh, for through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers, foreigners but fellow citizens with the Saints and of the household of God and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and the prophets of Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. May in verse 19 I mean think about that think about God's grace made fellow citizens hallelujah that means what they got we got in Christ, amen? Thank the Lord this morning, man, that got big to me. Man, and just all the promises through the Word of God that we now have through salvation, man, we could just talk about that the rest of the day, amen? So verse 20, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth. unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are built together for habitation of God through the Spirit. Amen. That's grace. Hallelujah. Now to bring the application this morning, I'll give you some information. We were once Gentiles, but through salvation, through God being born in the cross, the gospel, we now have light and we have hope. My question to us this morning is why so often do we live like we don't have hope? Constantly, we're worried about the day-to-day things. We live as if we don't have hope. Why? Why? Why do we live like we don't have hope? And I don't know about y'all, but I often, so often I do, I live like I don't have that hope. I'm worried about minor details, worrying about, man, what's gonna happen five years from now when God's, you ain't gotta worry about five years from now. You shouldn't be worried at all. I mean, we have hope in Christ this morning. We have salvation, all right? We have heaven as our home. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We got heaven, y'all. Heaven to look forward to. You know, I don't know about y'all, but me and my wife, we talk about it all the time. It's a scary time to live, man, thinking about what could just be on the horizon for our country, man, and maybe having kids one day and all the fears and frustration and anxiety that goes with that. Man, we have hope, though. We shouldn't be worried about those things. We're just pilgrims passing through. This ain't our home. Man, so we need constant, I need constant reminder of that. I don't know if y'all do, but I do. I need a constant reminder that this is not my home. I have hope in Jesus Christ. Look at 1 Thessalonians 4, I'm sorry, chapter 4, verse 13. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain in the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. So, this morning... We have heaven as a home. We have the Holy Ghost, the comforter God has left with us to be with us, lives inside of us. I mean, we have that every day and we don't take advantage of it. God's given us prayer. He's given us his word. And we wonder why we're maybe struggling with anxiety or fear or depression. God has given us the key this morning. God has given us the the answer to that this morning and that is the hope in Jesus Christ What is what does David say while the spirit it is quieted within me was you say hope thou in God? Amen. That's where our hope needs a lot of this morning in the Lord Jesus Christ and Just remember we were without hope and now what God's done for us. We got hope. I mean, that's something we're shouting about. Amen the first Peter chapter 3 Let's turn their first Peter chapter 3 Thank God we got the family of God, too. That's something else, man. God's given us. Thank God for the family of God. I don't know about you, but I look forward to coming to this place and hearing preaching, worshiping the Lord, but I look forward to this place just to see you guys, amen? Thank God for the family of God. Everything I have, everything good in my life is directly from the house of God and the family of God. Chapter three, 1 Peter chapter three, let's look at verse 15. So it says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you of the reason of the... What does it say? Hope. Hope that is in you with meekness and fear, having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you as evildoers, they may be ashamed, that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. So what does it say that people should ask you about? What does it say there? What is the word it said? Hope. Are you living? Are you living in that hope? Are you functioning in that hope? Because if you are, there should be somebody asking you about it. I mean, there should be somebody saying, man, there's something different. They got hope. They got something different about them. They live different. They ain't depressed all the time. I mean, they seem to walk through this world and not have Now, I'm not saying you're not gonna have burdens, but they seem not to be cumbered down with the weight of this world. And if we're functioning in this hope this morning, we can walk like that. Okay, but keeping our mindset, man, what I was, what I was, I was nothing. I was a Gentile dog. I was lost in sin. And now because Jesus Christ died on the cross in the gospel, I'm saved this morning, walking on my way to heaven. This ain't my home. Amen. I can lay these burdens down, give them to Christ, and I can walk on for His glory. And then do something and get crowns to cast at His feet one day. Amen. You're talking about good. God is good. Amen. So thank God for that this morning. So thank God we can live with hope. If we do that, you know, it's going to cause other people to want what we have. So often we don't live that way. I've been in my job four years. And this is me, this is me, I'm telling on myself, but I really got to have the first conversation with somebody in four years, probably about three or four weeks ago. I was finally able to have like a good gospel conversation with him. And that's on me. I'm probably gonna stand before God one day and He's gonna say, man, you missed opportunity after opportunity after opportunity, maybe pure pressure or fear or that fear of being different, okay? That's what I struggle with, that might not be what you struggle with. But if we're doing what we're supposed to, guess what's gonna happen? You're gonna be able to have those conversations. You're gonna draw people to Christ through your life, through your conversation. Okay, that's what we need to be doing this morning. God's given us hope, now we need to turn around, give that hope to the world, amen? That's our reason for being here, to bring all our glory to the Lord. Okay, so are we living lives of hope? Are we drawing people in? Are we drawing people to Christ? Let's look at verse 16 in the same chapter. Verse 16, the same chapter, in closing this morning. 1 Peter 3, verse 16. I'm looking at the wrong chapter. There we go. Okay, let's look at it. Ephesians 3, verse 16. I'm telling you, I'll get it straight in a minute. Ephesians 3, verse 16, back to the book of Ephesians. Verse 15 says, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, and he's talking to the Gentiles, to be strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints, All right, not just not just select group people with all saints. We may that we may be able to comprehend with all saints. That is the breadth and length and depth and height. What does the next verse say? And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all fullness of God. Amen. So this morning, this hope, what is it? What is he saying? He says this hope that you're living in, it's maybe able to comprehend with all saints as a breadth, length, depth and height to know the love of God. God wants us to know his love this morning. Amen. If we know it, maybe we can share it with somebody else. Amen. Verse 19, to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you might be filled with all fullness of God. Now to him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Thank the Lord this morning. We got hope, y'all. We have hope. We're no longer without hope. Thank the Lord we're saved. And then I wanted to, I just saw this in verse 20. Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think according to the power of God. I mean, that's God's power working in us. Listen, y'all, God's given us His power. Talk about grace, Gentile dogs, nothing, without hope, amen, through His birth, through His dying on the cross, through the gospel, now the Lord allows His power to work through us. That's grace, y'all. That is God's goodness to us. I hope that was a good reminder this morning. Man, we were without hope, but thank God this morning we have hope. Thank God this morning we have hope. Let's pray.