One Thing
MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION:
All right Eastside you may be seated. I’m so excited to be here at Eastside Community Church. I mean, God is really moving here. And in a moment or over the next few minutes, I’m just going to share with you some of the things God’s doing in Eastside. some of the things that God’s doing in my wife’s and my heart’s to take our next steps and potentially how you might take your next step. But over the course of Winter Wonderland and Christmas Eve, we’ve had over 2300 people in attendance. 2300 people. Of that, we’ve had 36 people commit their lives to Jesus. They accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. And we’ve also identified by name 110 people that are looking for a home, a church home. 2300 people, 36 people give their lives to Christ, and 110 people that are looking for a church home. Now give that up for that awesome. So God’s also been working on my wife and myself. My wife’s name is Julie will be married 29 years of February 27th, and she’s a wonderful lady. We’ve attended Eastside since 2013 when we moved here to Richmond shortly after we attended Eastside. It’s the most welcoming feel of any church I’ve ever been in. And then, the next day, I got a phone call to join a life group. And so right away, we went and joined the life group. And then, about a year later, we started our own life group. And we were in that life group since 2015. And then 2019, my wife took a job in Lexington. I used to be the principal at Central High School, and I took a new job in technology in our district office. And so we decided to move to Lexington. I had a life group at that time, and Jeremy and Lisa sat here in front. They now lead the life group. And while I was there in January 2019, I said, Jeremy is going to take over. And I was just kidding. I said, If anyone wants to buy the house, you can just have a life group right here. And the next day, the copes called and said, Hey, we like your house. So I called the realtors and said you’re not getting the commission for this one. Today, they still have that life group. And then March, we moved to Lexington. Her mom and dad were there, my oldest son, and I thought, well, I probably ought to go to church in Lexington just so that I could be a part of that community. Just due to the distance. Well, as time went on, I would was just missing the connectedness that you get here when I walk in these doors and see the smiling faces and how they help take those next steps, whether it’s time, talents, or treasures. So back in April, we decided to come back to Eastside. And it was such a joy to be back. And God just put it on our hearts to be here. And then, through the course of that, my wife and I then started talking about selling our house in Lexington and moving back to the Richmond community. And so we put our house on the market, and one day it sold, and then we closed on it in November. And while we were here, we joined the life group. And then, I am going to start a men’s group on January 12th. And since I have the microphone, if there are any men out here that want to be a part of the life group, it will be on Wednesday. Starting at six. I’ll be out in the atrium, and you can come to talk with me. Be glad to have you.
But more than that, God was pressing me to take the next step. Now I served at Eastside. I’ve been a life group leader. I’ve served as an elder. And I would give my time and talent. I would do whatever the church needed. But I was still hanging on to those finances. And so. And talking with my wife and praying. I said we need to set up a reoccurring giving so that we give weekly or give biweekly. That’s when we get paid. And also, we want to be able to give an end-of-the-year donation. And so we prayed about that and gave that, and it’s an outstanding feeling. Now, I don’t know about you all, but I’ve made purchases in my life that after I’ve made the purchase, like, why did I do that? And those payments keep coming. But one thing that I do know, any money that I’ve ever given to the Lord, I don’t worry about it. I don’t worry about it at all. It just goes. And so that’s where God is stirring in me to take that new step. It’s a new year, so I’m taking a new step, not creating a resolution. I’m creating a routine where I’m giving to God, and he’ll continue to grow in me, and I’ll continue to take those next steps. Now, we had a life group leader who told his life group, If you give into your contribution, I will match whatever the life group gives, and that’s awesome. Give it up for that life group leader. So we have three initiatives at Eastside that you possibly too can take your next steps. We have the initiative of a special needs classroom that we’re implementing at Eastside, a limited preschool. And feed my starving children. If God is working in you to take that next step, to give you your time, your talent, or your treasure, you can go to eastsideky.church/endoftheyear to be able to give whatever donation it is. If it’s recurring, if it’s adding to your donation, you can do that, so let us stand and begin in worship. Thank you.
Good morning. You guys can take a seat. Happy New Year, 2022. My name is Brandon. I’m the high school student pastor. Do you have students here at all? Make some noise. Students? Students? Man, I get No, you know, put it down. All right. I gave them a plug. Parents make some noise, and they are going to get on to them after service. But as I said, we are so excited that you guys are here starting the new year with us. Thank you. And whether you’re here on campus and we have a lot of people on campus, I’m super excited that all of you guys decide to join us or whether you’re watching online this morning. We are beyond grateful that you guys are joining us at the start of the new year. And since it is the start of the new year, I have to ask the question. It is 2022. It’s no longer 2021. How many of you can just honestly and truthfully say today you are super happy that 2021 is over? Like you’re relieved you get a fresh start. Like, raise your hand, like, are you happy? 2021 is over. Okay, There are a lot of hands. All right. But one thing I want to acknowledge before I acknowledge is that we’re all happy that it’s finally a new year. You know, when I think of 2021, I do think of all the good that God did in and through Eastside. I think of your generosity and you’re submitting your time, your talents, and your plans. And I think all the way back to the start of the year when we started the Compassion Project and all the families and all the people that we got to reach in our community and within our church and all the lives that were changed because we are able to financially meet their needs. I think about our initiative when we started for Madison County. This was not just going to be a phrase. This was going to be more than that. This was going to be action. And we saw all these life groups go out within the community doing different projects, different things, coming inside of the church, doing different things, doing presents for coddle. And, you know, I think about that, and I think about winter wonderland, the thing that drew me to share. I mean, it’s absolutely phenomenal. We have all these new families that have now entered East Side, and they know that they have a home. So when I think of 2021, I like to think of that. Right. Amen. But I want to acknowledge why I believe a lot of hands maybe went up while we’re maybe relieved that 2021 is over and it is now 2022, because not only did all that great stuff happen here at Eastside, but Eastside also experienced a lot of loss.
We lost a lot of people within our church family. We experience death within our community. And I know for many of you, many of you have been directly affected by it. Maybe this is the first time you’re experiencing loss. Maybe it’s the first time you’re experiencing what it means to grieve. And maybe this past year, you didn’t lose anybody but your friend. You’re an encourager. You’re someone in someone’s corner and you’re trying to understand what does it mean to be a good friend? Someone that can help spurs them along while they’re trying to figure out and deal with the loss that they have. And so I know that since 2021 is over, maybe for a lot of us, that’s why we’re happy that it’s 2022 now. And right now, I just want to pause before we officially go into 2022. I just want to pause. I want to take a moment because I want to pray for every family that lost someone this past year. And I want to pray for everybody. Maybe if you didn’t lose someone, maybe you’re in someone’s corner and you just need wisdom, You need understanding. What does it mean to help encourage and push this person along in the New Year? So if you just pray with me right now. So, Father, we just come to you, and we just want to lift up the families and all the souls that have been lost this past year. And although we don’t often carry the posture to understand why they are gone, Lord, we know that your timing is perfect, and it’s far greater than the time that we could have chosen for those people in our lives. So right now I just want to lift up all those that are still trying to understand your timing. I want to lift up all those who are learning to grieve. I want to lift up all those that are going through grief right now. And I just pray as a church. We can just continue to surround them and push them along in their journey of life. And I pray that we will not rush the process of grief and the process of someone being lost. But I pray that we would just be a presence with them and remind them that you love them and that you are for them. And we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. So today, as you experience the message I’m going to share with you, I want to beg you at the start of the year. The first message of the year, I want you to lean in and not only listen not only listen to what the Spirit and the Lord are going to speak to you today, but I want to actually bring some application into your life at the start of 2022. All right. I’m going to challenge you at the end. And what I’m going to challenge you is to talk it over. All right. I’m going to challenge you to actually go to someone after the service, whether it’s a family member, it’s a friend, or maybe it’s another believer in your life that you would actually go and start a conversation with what we’re going to talk about today. So if you have your Bible or a Bible app, or maybe you have a bulletin, or you’re just going to follow along with me, I want you to open up to Isaiah chapter 43. And this chapter is so beautiful. And the reason is God is speaking directly to the people of Israel like He is speaking directly to them. And he’s going through this long list of beautiful and powerful promises. And now what I believe when I’m going through this chapter, I believe that this would be the promise that God would have for many of us today. And Isaiah 43, verse 18.
“Do not remember the past events; pay no attention to things of old. 19 Look, I am about to do something new;even now it is coming. Do you not see it?
Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:18-19
God says I am doing a new thing. I want you to bring up that word for me.
NEW THING
God says I’m doing a new thing. Can you guys see that new thing? All right. Awesome. God says I’m doing a new thing. I’m making a way in the wilderness streams in the desert. And some of you this morning, going into 2022, you’re facing something. And the very thing that you’re thinking to yourself this morning is, I don’t see how we’re going to make it through this year. I don’t know how we are going to, as a family, make it through this year. It is hard. It is bad. It’s too much to bear. And I don’t see a way out. But God says no. I see a way where no one else sees the way I’m doing a new thing. I’m going to make a way in the wilderness. I’m going to put streams in the desert. And I believe this morning is the start of 2022. God wants to do that new thing today. He doesn’t want to wait a week. He doesn’t want to give you a month. He doesn’t want to give you into the middle of the year or two. It’s too late. God wants to start a new thing today. In a moment, I think of new things at the beginning of the year. The first thing I think about is New Year’s resolutions. So I have to ask. I need you to be honest. How many of you have already, or you’re in the process of making New Year’s resolutions like you’re one of those people? You make New Year’s resolutions. Okay, We’ve got shy hands. I got people right here. So you don’t want to be honest about it. All right. That’s all right but I saw a lot of hands go up, and maybe some of you guys won’t even admit it. I’m one of those people. I like to make New Year’s resolutions, But the reality is I have bad news for everyone that raises their hand. Or maybe you were too shy to raise your hand because you already know the statistics. But the most recent statistic that I found, the most research recently done on this, it says people who make New Year’s resolutions by the end of January, 36% will have already given up on their New Year’s resolutions. Right? Now, everyone that’s smiling, I know you’re one of those people. Okay. I’m smiling, too. I’m one of those people. But not only that, it says by Valentine’s Day. So only 14 days into the next month. It says that 75% will have forgotten about their New Year’s resolution.
Now, this doesn’t mean that they remember later and they won’t come back to it. That’s not what it means. But this means that it’s not been made a priority. So maybe by February 14th, 75% of people are going to forget that they even made a New Year’s resolution. And, you know, I really don’t know why this is. I don’t understand why, when we make these goals that, we forget. But I believe it could be for this reason. I believe when we make these New Year’s resolutions. We have good intentions. But we don’t have God’s intentions. And there is a really big, big difference because many of us have some good intentions. We want to accomplish some things. And I really want to challenge you to go beyond that this morning. All right. I want you to go beyond something you would like to do, something that you want to do. And I want you to lean in and have more than good intentions. But I want you to have good intentions to listen to the Spirit of God. And I believe that he will speak directly to you and he will show you one thing that he wants you to do. And going into 2022. Instead of having good intentions that are me-centered. You can have some God intentions that are God-centered. And we know when God bursts something in us. It will be made complete because he said, I am doing a new thing. So what I want to do is today I’m going to ask you four one-thing questions. I’m going to ask you four one thing, questions. My prayer is, is that God would birth a new, God-centered thing that is going to be different this year. Just one thing, because I think about this past year for me, even before I had this idea or the sermon, you know, I set a goal for myself and something that God taught me at the start of 2021 that I hadn’t paid attention to years prior is I set one spiritual goal for myself this past year. And the old Brandon, prior to that, would make about five or ten goals. And I would say that the problem with that, the problem for many of us, I think, is two reasons. If you make a list of ten, you’re not going to go that deep because it’s a lot to do. It’s a lot to try to accomplish. And then, if you’re like me if you make the list of ten. You’re going to feel overwhelmed. You’re not going to accomplish anything. So one of the things that God taught me is I set one spiritual goal for myself. And because I set that one goal for myself this past year, I was able to grow closer and deeper with the Lord than I had in a really long time. I know if I keep this discipline, if I keep this practice in my life over the next five, ten years, that’s ten more things that I’ve done. And I’ve gone spiritually deeper with the Lord. And I believe that that would be astronomical. Different for each and every one of us. If we would just step into that, it wouldn’t be any longer. I have ten things, and I’m not completed any of them. Does it mean now that I have ten things and I’m not going that deep with them? It means now, over ten years, God is giving me wisdom. And it’s changed me forever. And so this morning, the first one thing question I want to ask if you’re taking notes is.
What is one thing you DESIRE from God?
What is one thing you desire from God? Like above all else, if God was to say directly to you, I would do one thing you ask. What will be the driving force of your prayer this year? Psalms 27 for David. He asks for many different things. But he was described after he was described as a man after God’s own heart. And I believe the reason he is described as a man after God’s own heart because if we were to ask the one thing that David desired, we could look at this verse, and we would know exactly what he wants he says.
“I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…”
Psalm 27:4
David asked that I wanted to dwell in your presence. I want to be with you, God. I want your presence. I need your goodness. I need to know that you’re always with me. If there’s one thing I need in the good times, it’s you. God, if there’s one thing I need in the bad times, God, it is you. God. The only thing I desire for the rest of my life is to dwell in your presence. And many of you, you may be in a place. And the one thing you desire that you’ve desired for a while is that someone close to you is not a believer. And you desire for them to be in a relationship with Christ because, you know, it is life-changing. So now the driving force of your prayer for 2022 may sound like, Lord, please love this person into a relationship with you and allow me to be a light in their life. Maybe some of you, you’ve walked in here, and you have an addiction or stronghold in your life, and your desire is more than a desire. It’s more than a New Year’s resolution. It’s a God’s burden that you have on your heart, the stronghold, this addiction, and maybe your desire that you’re going to bring to the Lord. The driving force of your prayer this year is that you are going to break this stronghold and you’re going to break this addiction. You’re going to make it all the way through 2022 with the Holy Spirit and be completely free of that one thing that has a grip on you. Some of you, maybe you’re here and the one thing you desire is a healthy marriage. You know, if God was to look at your marriage, it wouldn’t be what he would want for you right now. And the one thing you desire is a healthy marriage. And the temptation for a lot of marriages is you’re going to desire for God to fix the other person in the relationship. But if you were to just step back and listen to the Holy Spirit, well. He would say, I actually desire to change your heart, to bring healing to marriage. Maybe this is your prayer this year. Some of you have been promising for a long time that you’re going to slow down. This is one I hear all the time. You’re going to finally slow down. And here’s your catchphrase. One day. One day. One day I will slow down. And maybe your prayer for 2022 is going to sound like this. God, I need you to help me enjoy you, your presence, and those around me. Please help me operate to the rhythms of your grace and not to the patterns of this world. Maybe some of you desire a relationship. You desire to be with someone and you’re struggling with singleness. Maybe your prayer this year is going to sound like this. God, I need you to be enough. I need to be satisfied with you this year.
See, this past year, the one spiritual discipline I made for myself was actually a desire that I had. The one thing I desired was to be able to listen better. And if you know me well, like my wife or my friend Micah and his wife, the list goes on and on. If you know me well, I enjoy being right. And, honey, you don’t have to aim for that. Everyone knows I’m omitting it from the stage. I enjoy being right. And because I live in a space where I like to know things, I like to give answers that lead me away from a space of being able to listen well. Because every time I’ve been in a conversation in the past, my mind always worked like this. You would be talking, and I would be preparing an answer. I would not be listening. I would not leave room for the Spirit or for God to speak into my wisdom of whether I even needed to speak or not. And maybe I said the right thing to that person. But maybe I did. And the one thing I desire, the one driving force of my prayer this past year, is for God to give me ears to hear and let me be slow to speak. That was the verse that dwelled in my heart that came out of James. And I prayed that this entire year. And I heard God’s voice entirely differently because I actually left room for it. I was able to answer people a lot differently. I was able to actually leave space for silence and not actually give answers. This is the one thing I desire. So you need to ask yourself, maybe this is your one thing for 2022. What is one thing you desire from God? The second question I want to ask this morning.
What is one thing that you LACK in your relationship with God?
What is one thing that you are lacking in your relationship with God? I instantly go to Mark chapter ten, and I think of the story of the young, rich guy who encounters Jesus, and he says.
“Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Mark 10:21
Jesus, what do I need to do to inherit eternal life? And then Jesus responds and says, Well, you need to obey the commands. And the guy very proudly said, Well, I’ve checked this box, I checked this box, I checked this box. I’ve got all the boxes marked. That’s what he says to Jesus. I’ve done all that. And Jesus looked through his outer obedience and looked straight into his heart. And he saw the problem that the guy himself didn’t even see. And then Jesus said something that he had said to no one else. And Mark, chapter ten, verse 21. He says. Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, That’s really important. Jesus loved him first. We say this a lot around here, right? We say peace and love. It means we’re about to say something hard. That’s what Jesus is saying. Jesus said Jesus loved him and said to him, You lack one thing. Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven. Then come and follow me. Jesus said, If there’s one thing that stands in the way of you completely following me in for this guy, it was material possessions and being financially stable, knowing that he had security from all the material things that he had. He said If there’s one thing, and the Bible goes on to say verse 22.
“At this, the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.”
Mark 10:22
See, God specifically showed him. The one thing that he lacked. God came to him through Jesus, and he said the one thing that you lack, and he walked away. And may I say that there are probably many of us here? We already know the one thing that we lack God. It showed us a long time ago, and we’ve not given it up. We’ve not done the very thing that Jesus called us to do. And I believe today is the start of 2022. God wants you to have a clean slate. He wants you to step in and grow closer. And it’s because of the one thing you’re lacking. Maybe the one thing that you’re lacking. It is generosity. You know you hear us talk about generosity all the time. And you’ve heard in your Spirit nonstop. Lord, I trust you with all that I have. I believe that you will bless me. And maybe the one thing that you need to pray for this year is God will actually trust you. God, can I fully trust you? The only thing that I’m lacking, the only thing that is standing in my way from fully surrendering to you, is my generosity. Maybe you need someone to hold you accountable. Maybe you’re someone who falls in and out of sin nonstop, and you don’t have anyone around you and say, Hey, stupid, don’t do that. Right. But I have those people in my life. They call me out when I’m about to run into something that’s harmful to me, hurtful to me. I get called stupid. I get called an idiot. And you know what? I love those people. Not in the moment. But I love those people because they’ve kept me on the straight and narrow. They’ve held my hand. They’ve helped guide me along. And maybe something that you’re lacking today, something that’s keeping you from going a step closer with God this morning, is you need some accountability in your life.
Before I started at Eastside, the one thing I lacked was community. I didn’t have a community. I didn’t have people to lift me up, or that cared about my relationship with Christ. And when I started at this factory prior to working here at East Side. You know, I was attacked, and I told you guys this before I was attacked for what I believed. I was questioned all the time. And this was a month. And I was getting, I mean, just left and right, getting accused that that’s a stupid idea. I don’t understand why you follow Jesus. And I just prayed nonstop for that month and a half I’m like, Lord. I’m not looking for the right answer to give back to these people. I’m not looking for the most eloquent response for them. I’m not looking for that. I just need people that I can lean on, and I can ask questions too, and that will be willing to pray for me a month and a half into working at the warehouse that I was, that God sent me two men and the two men. They cared enough to ask me about my story. They cared enough to get to know me, and most importantly, they cared about my relationship with God and where I was with him. And this morning, if you don’t have someone in your corner that walks alongside you. That you can lean on, that can pray for you, that can rejoice with you, that can cry with you, that will walk with you in the good and walk with you in the bed that will pull you out of the ditch and also get down in the ditch with you. I would say that you lack community. You need to step into a life group. And maybe that’s been the thing that God has been pressing on your heart. This is the thing that you’re lacking that’s keeping you from getting that much closer to me as you need to step into a life group. When it comes to your relationship with God. Is there something you desire? Is there one thing that you desire? If God said I would give you this one thing, what would be the driving force of your prayer? What are you lacking? What is the thing that’s keeping you from going that much further in your relationship? That’s a barrier in front of you. That you need. To step into. The third thing I want to ask you, and I believe that maybe a lot of people have walked in with this, is.
What is one thing you need to LET GO of?
What is one thing you need to let go of? And I instantly think about the Apostle Paul and the New Testament. He writes a very powerful chapter in the book of Philippians Chapter three, and he talks about how he wanted to know Christ and not just know about Christ-like he really wanted to know him, and he wanted to know about the power and the suffering that Christ had been through. Like he wanted to experience that, he wanted to walk that close to Christ. And he writes in Philippians 3:13, this is what he says. He says.
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead…”
Philippians 3:13
The one thing I’m going to do, you can almost see it’s like one action that Paul is talking about. I’m going to forget what is behind me, and I’m going to strain on towards what is ahead. I’m pressing on. It is a one decision fluid action that I must move forward with. And now we don’t know exactly what Paul was letting go if it doesn’t. Right. What he’s letting go of. But we can maybe think of what he was talking about because when we think of Paul, we know Paul was the guy who said the Stones. Stephen. So Paul was the first Christian martyr, so maybe he needed to let go of the guilt that he did, that he was the guy who persecuted the church for a very long time. Maybe he needed to let go of that. This is also a guy who was whipped five times with 40 lashes. He was shipwrecked three times. He was beaten with the rod three other times and left for dead. And this is what he goes on to write in Romans. He says, Because of my present suffering, I do not compare it to the glory that Christ will reveal to us. Maybe that’s what he had to get in his head, is that I have to let go of all the physical pain that I have, I have to let go and have to press on to what’s ahead because it does not compare to the glory that Christ has for me. And there are some of you that are here. And you’ve got a huge barrier in front of you. You’ve walked in here, and there’s something that you’re holding on to from your past, and it’s time to let go. It is time to let go. But they hurt you so bad, and boy. You are hanging on for dear life. You’ve got unforgiveness in your heart, and you’ve got bitterness. And God would say, I want to do something new. But you have to forget the former things, not dwell on the past, not look behind you, but press on and strain on to what’s in front of you.
Some of you this morning, maybe. You felt something. You feel something in your life, and you keep falling at it time and time and time again, and you don’t think that you are worthy. You think because you’re a failure and you messed up that, that is it. And God would say He is calling you to lean in and to trust and to let go, to keep pressing on and to forget the former thing that you just did and then you failed to try again. Paul also writes, Romans And I love this verse. He says I don’t understand why I keep doing the things that I don’t want to do. I don’t understand why I don’t do the very thing I know I should do. Even Paul understood even when he was saying that very thing, and he was living for Christ. He struggled with the same thing, but he knew that he had to look for it and not hang on. He had to let go. What was behind him and pressed forward. Some of you, like a friend that I had, I would say five, maybe six, maybe even longer than that. But he always made the statement to me that if I was to walk into the church, the walls would catch fire. Like you guys have heard that saying, right? Like, if I was to walk into the church, the walls would catch fire. Right? But I told him. The same guy that we’ve just talked about. Paul. He had a different life. He did things that he wasn’t proud of. He fell short. He wasn’t perfect. We aren’t perfect. But Paul said I must press on. Because of these things right now, they don’t matter. God got so much more for me. God’s got so much more for me. He’s got so much more for you. And so you got to ask, what is the one thing that you desire from God this morning? What is one thing that you’re lacking? It is just in the way you need to step forward. And you know it’s the thing in your way. What’s the thing that you need to let go of? No longer let your neck and your head be turned around. Dwelling on it, thinking about it, looking back at it. But you need to let go, and you need to press on because this is the barrier in front of you. This is the thing keeping you from walking that much closer. It’s a relationship with God. The last one thing question I want to ask you.
What one PROMISE from God do you need to claim?
And I believe this might be a question for a lot of us. You know, instantly. When I think about promises, I think about the story of Abraham. That’s the story that always comes to my mind. God makes a promise to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son and that through the son, Abraham would have so many descendants that he would be the father of many nations. And God makes this promise in their old age at a time. It doesn’t even seem possible that they could bear a child. And they get distracted from God’s promise. They get distracted from the very thing that God said he would do. And because they do that, Abraham sleeps with another woman. Sarah even said that she thought that this was a good idea. I’m going to go sleep with another woman. We’re going to have a kid. That’s what God would want us to do. And they made a bigger mess of the promise that God gave them. But can I tell you the beautiful thing about that entire story? That God is That God is still faithful to his promises. Abraham and Sarah still brought forth a son. Still became the father of many nations. And just because we get distracted by God’s promises. God is still faithful. And maybe some of you today. This is the very thing you’re dealing with. Are you already know the promise that God gave you a long time ago? You know that promise. But you’re like. It needs to be in my time. It needs to be on my agenda around my plans. God, if you would just hurry up just a little bit faster. I can hang on just a little bit longer. God, if you would just do things my way. I can hang on to that promise.
But I believe this year, in 2022, I believe God actually wants you to cling on to that promise. And I fully believe that this year will be your year, and this promise will sustain you. Like food nourishes your body, that’s how much I believe in this promise that God is giving to you. I mean, you strayed away from it. You’ve gotten distracted. You’ve messed up. But I believe in 2022. You can step into this promise. Maybe some of you you’re here, and you’re like, I don’t even know what promise God would have for me. I don’t know what God would say to me. I want to tell you because I wrote down a couple of promises that God has in his word. And I believe maybe one of these promises are for you. You know, God says in his word that he will meet every need of his glorious riches. So if you are hurting financially, God has a promise for you. He promises you that you will not be tempted beyond what you can bear. So if you do have a stronghold, if you do have an addiction, if you do have a thing that you’re struggling with, God says it’s okay. There is a way out. There is a way out. God promises to forgive all sins. And if you’re hurting today from the weight of your past. Guess what? God will cast your sins into the sea for forgiveness and forgive you today. God promises to make everything, even the bad things. Most importantly, the bad things work together for the good of those who love them. God promises to be ever-present and help in times of trouble. God promises to give strength to the weary. His strength is the joy of the Lord. He promises to guide and give direction. And many of you, you don’t know where you’re going next. 2021 has attacked you. Losing someone has attacked you. It’s hurt you, and you don’t know where you’re going next. But God promised you that he would give you direction. That his word would be a lamp to your feet. And it would be obvious the direction we need to go. What promise do you need to claim from the Lord this morning?
Right now, I want to invite you to pull out your bulletin or maybe pull out your phone. You’re going to see it at the very bottom. It’s going to be a challenge. My challenge today for you is that you would pick one thing. Is there something that you desire from God? Is there something you desire from God? Is there something that you’re lacking that’s keeping you from going that much further in your relationship? Did you walk in here with the weight of the world on your back with different things that you just need to let go of and hand over to the Lord this morning? Was there a promise that you forgot? Or maybe you just were able to hear the promise that you need that you just need to claim that this is going to be mine in 2022. So right now, I want you to write that down. What is that one thing? Who’s that one person you’re going to have a conversation with? I want you to actually do that right now. I want you to get on your phone. I want you to get it on your bulletin. I want you to write that down. And after you do that, I want to invite you to pray over that. And once you get done praying, I’m going to encourage you to stand and declare and worship as we close out. God, this is yours. God, what I desire. I know you would give me God what I lack. I know you will add to me, God, what I need to let go, you will free me from. God, what you promise me, I’m going to hang on to. So go ahead. Do that right now. Pray.
We’re going to go into another form of worship which is offering. And in Eastside, we make it really simple for you to do. You can give your offering your gift in the buckets as you exit, or you can go to eastsideky.church/give. I also would like to remind you guys that next Sunday is the start of a brand new Sermon series that is going to start back on the ninth. So I’m going to pray for the offering, and you guys will be dismissed. Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for your day. We are thankful that we get to be together and worship together. I pray for a blessing over this offering and that it is used to show your goodness and to show your love. I pray this all in your name. Amen.