The WAVE: Faith Beyond the Present

• Church History and Growth 00:35:45 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts the church's 47-year history, moving from a small building to its current location, highlighting God's provision and the church's debt-free status.
• Unity and Prayer 00:36:49 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor emphasizes that the church was founded on love and prayer, citing specific examples of the congregation standing together during hardships and seeing God deliver them.
• Legacy and Future Preparation 00:43:05 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor urges the congregation to be serious about inviting people and building the church, noting that Jesus could return soon, so they must prepare for the next 47 years.
• Biblical Exegesis of [Hebrews 11](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+11&version=KJV) 00:43:49 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor reads and explains Hebrews 11, focusing on Abraham and Sarah's faith, the concept of being 'strangers and pilgrims,' and the historical context of persecution faced by early Christians.
• Modern Application of Biblical Exile 00:48:23 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor draws a parallel between the biblical experience of exile and modern Christians who are wandering or seeking a church family, urging the current congregation to welcome them.
• Abraham's Journey and Faith 00:49:22 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor details Abraham's life from Ur to Haran to the wilderness, highlighting his nomadic existence, the promise of descendants, and his death in the promised land without possessing it fully.
• Eternal Perspective vs. Earthly Struggles 00:51:33 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts Abraham's earthly conflicts with his heavenly hope, urging the congregation to look towards Jesus Christ and the 'city not built by human hands' rather than dwelling on past comforts or current hardships.
• Church Ministry and Future Commitment 00:56:42 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor applies the lesson of Abraham to the church's future, challenging the congregation to step up in attendance, teaching, and prayer for the coming year, emphasizing that God's promises endure despite unseen results.
• Urgency of Service 01:01:40 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor urges the congregation to consider what they will do for the Lord today, emphasizing that it is about giving back rather than getting.
• Uncertainty of Time 01:01:53 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor highlights the brevity of life and the unpredictability of when one's time or Christ's return will occur, urging immediate action.
• Ministry Commitment 01:02:19 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor calls for a specific commitment from the congregation to support the ministry, reach out to others, and 'buy into' the church's success.
• Divine Favor 01:03:01 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor connects the church's continued existence and expansion (opening a school) to God's favor, which extends to the individual believer.

• Sermon Illustration 00:35:45 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares the history of the church's physical locations, noting they spent 26 years in a small building on Old Mountain Road before moving to their current location 21 years ago, where they added Johnson Hall and established a Christian school.
• Sermon Illustration 00:40:28 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts a specific instance of divine provision where two air conditioners broke within two weeks, yet God provided the means for repairs, demonstrating His favor on the church.
• Sermon Illustration 00:46:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the historical context of the original hearers of Hebrews, who were Christians being martyred, taken to lion's dens and coliseums, and removed from their homes and hometowns due to their faith.
• Sermon Illustration 00:48:06 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses an analogy of modern-day exile, asking the congregation to imagine if they were cast out of their country and told they could not return, to help them understand the trauma experienced by early Christians.
• Sermon Illustration 00:48:06 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of being cast out of one's country to illustrate the feeling of exile experienced by early Christians and modern believers seeking a church family.
• Sermon Illustration 00:49:56 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts the historical anecdote of Abraham leaving Ur for Haran, then wandering as a nomad in the wilderness, facing famine and conflict, yet maintaining faith in God's promise of a greater city.
• Sermon Illustration 00:58:43 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares the story of the church ministry starting in 1979, where founders did not see the school built in 2025, illustrating how current efforts lay the foundation for future blessings that may not be seen immediately.

• Pastoral Charge 00:59:20 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor challenges the congregation to evaluate their personal growth and contribution to the kingdom in the upcoming year.
• Pastoral Charge 00:59:32 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor issues specific requests for increased attendance, teaching, prayer participation, and general involvement in the church ministry.
• Pastoral Charge 01:00:34 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor instructs the congregation to actively evangelize by inviting others to worship and sharing the church's story on social media.
• Pastoral Charge 01:02:30 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asks the congregation to verbally testify to the quality and supportiveness of the church community to outsiders.
• Pastoral Charge 01:02:19 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor calls for a renewed personal commitment from the congregation to participate in the church's ongoing work.
• Pastoral Charge 01:02:19 ▶️ 📄
  > Commit to participating in the church's ministry.
• Pastoral Charge 01:02:30 ▶️ 📄
  > Share positive testimonies about the church with others.
• Pastoral Charge 01:03:15 ▶️ 📄
  > Increase personal investment and active participation in the church ministry.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:00:00] The incalculable cost of his life in exchange for our imperfection, the beauty of his resurrection, giving us life in exchange for his death when we call upon his name, Jesus, giver of grace, purveyor of peace, master of mercy, the word, the one who bore the scars that we deserve.
[00:00:21] Have you heard the gospel? The good news. Not what you can do for God, but what he has done for you.
[00:00:29] It is finished. God's plan since before the beginning. The greatest story ever written.
[00:00:38] Broken by sin, but restored when we surrender to the word. This is the gospel. Have you heard?
[00:00:46] Before the dawn of creation, there was the Word.
[00:01:02] Before the beginning had begun, before the planet spun and the sun hung in the sky, there was the Word.
[00:01:10] He was the light, and the light was alive, giving life to all things, everything.
[00:01:15] No thing was created except through Him.
[00:01:19] And in His image, He created them, us, in His likeness, to reflect the light and be just like Him.
[00:01:27] But sin came on the scene, and everything went dark.
[00:01:33] Not even a spark left.
[00:01:35] We were hard-pressed for a Savior.
[00:01:37] He had offered us His love in exchange for our trust, but we could not live up to His standard of perfection.
[00:01:45] We were dejected, broken, hostile, hopeless.
[00:01:50] But this is the gospel we put our hope in.
[00:01:54] That God, in his endless wisdom, fashioned the word into flesh.
[00:01:59] And he pitched his tent in the midst of our mess and the rest is history.
[00:02:05] The mystery of the cross.
[00:02:07] The incalculable cost of his life in exchange for our imperfection.
[00:02:11] the beauty of his resurrection, giving us life in exchange for his death when we call upon his name.
[00:02:19] Jesus, giver of grace, purveyor of peace, master of mercy, the word, the one who bore the scars that we deserve. Have you heard the gospel, the good news, not what you can do for God,
[00:02:34] but what he has done for you. It is finished. God's plan since before the beginning, The greatest story ever written, broken by sin but restored when we surrendered to the word.
[00:02:50] This is the gospel. Have you heard?
[00:03:04] Before the dawn of creation, there was the word.
[00:03:09] Before the beginning had begun, before the planet spun and the sun hung in the sky, there was the word.
[00:03:17] He was the light, and the light was alive, giving life to all things, everything.
[00:03:22] No thing was created except through Him.
[00:03:26] And in His image, He created them, us, in His likeness, to reflect the light and be just like Him.
[00:03:34] But sin came on the scene, and everything went dark.
[00:03:40] Not even a spark left.
[00:03:42] We were hard-pressed for a Savior.
[00:03:45] He had offered us His love in exchange for our trust.
[00:03:49] But we could not live up to His standard of perfection.
[00:03:52] We were dejected, broken, hostile, hopeless.
[00:03:57] But this is the gospel we put our hope in.
[00:04:01] That God, in his endless wisdom, fashioned the word into flesh.
[00:04:06] And he pitched his tent in the midst of our mess and the rest is history.
[00:04:12] The mystery of the cross.
[00:04:14] The incalculable cost of his life in exchange for our imperfection.
[00:04:18] the beauty of his resurrection, giving us life in exchange for his death when we call upon his name.
[00:04:26] Jesus, giver of grace, purveyor of peace, master of mercy, the word, the one who bore the scars that we deserve. Have you heard the gospel, the good news, not what you can do for God,
[00:04:41] but what he has done for you. It is finished. I've planned since before the beginning, The greatest story ever written, broken by sin but restored when we surrendered to the word.
[00:04:57] This is the gospel. Have you heard?
[00:05:11] Before the dawn of creation, there was the word.
[00:05:16] Before the beginning had begun, before the planet spun and the sun hung in the sky, there was the word.
[00:05:24] He was the light, and the light was alive, giving life to all things, everything.
[00:05:29] No thing was created except through him.
[00:05:33] And in his image, he created them, us, in his likeness, to reflect the light and be just like him.
[00:05:41] But sin came on the scene and everything went dark.
[00:05:47] Not even a spark left.
[00:05:49] We were hard pressed for a savior.
[00:05:52] He had offered us his love in exchange for our trust, but we could not live up to his standard of perfection.
[00:05:59] We were dejected, broken, hostile, hopeless.
[00:06:04] But this is the gospel we put our hope in.
[00:06:08] That God, in his endless wisdom, fashioned the word into flesh.
[00:06:13] And he pitched his tent in the midst of our mess and the rest is history.
[00:06:18] The mystery of the cross, the incalculable cost of his life in exchange for our imperfection.
[00:06:25] the beauty of his resurrection, giving us life in exchange for his death when we call upon his name.
[00:06:33] Jesus, giver of grace, purveyor of peace, master of mercy, the word, the one who bore the scars that we deserve. Have you heard the gospel, the good news, not what you can do for God,
[00:06:47] But what He has done for you, it is finished.
[00:06:54] God's plan since before the beginning, the greatest story ever written, broken by sin but restored when we surrender to the Word.
[00:07:04] This is the Gospel. Have you heard?
[00:07:18] Before the dawn of creation, there was the Word.
[00:07:22] Before the beginning had begun, before the planet spun and the sun hung in the sky, there was the Word.
[00:07:31] He was the light, and the light was alive, giving life to all things, everything.
[00:07:37] No thing was created except through him.
[00:07:40] And in his image, he created them, us, in his likeness, to reflect the light and be just like him.
[00:07:48] But sin came on the scene, and everything went dark.
[00:07:54] Not even a spark left.
[00:07:56] We were hard-pressed for a savior.
[00:07:58] he had offered us his love in exchange for our trust but we could not live up to his standard of perfection we were dejected broken hostile hopeless but this is the gospel we put our hope in
[00:08:14] that God in his endless wisdom fashioned the word into flesh and he pitched his tent in the midst of our mess and the rest is history. The mystery of the cross, the incalculable cost of his life
[00:08:30] in exchange for our imperfection, the beauty of his resurrection, giving us life in exchange for his death when we call upon his name. Jesus, giver of grace, purveyor of peace, master of mercy, the word, the one who bore the scars that we deserve. Have you heard the gospel, the good news,
[00:08:53] not what you can do for God, but what he has done for you. It is finished. I've planned since before the beginning, the greatest story ever written, broken by sin, but restored when we surrender to
[00:09:09] the word this is the gospel have you heard before the dawn of creation there was the word before the beginning had begun before the planet spun and the sun hung in the sky there was the word he was the
[00:09:38] light and the light was alive giving life to all things everything no thing was created except through him and in his image he created them us in his likeness to reflect the light and be just
[00:09:55] like him but sin came on the scene and everything went dark not even a spark left we were hard pressed for a savior he had offered us his love in exchange for our trust but we could not live
[00:10:11] up to his standard of perfection. We were dejected, broken, hostile, hopeless. But this is the gospel we put our hope in. That God, in his endless wisdom, fashioned the word into flesh and he pitched his tent in the midst of our mess and the rest is history. The mystery of the cross,
[00:10:34] the incalculable cost of his life in exchange for our imperfection, the beauty of his resurrection, Giving us life in exchange for his death when we call upon his name Jesus, giver of grace, purveyor of peace, master of mercy
[00:10:52] The word, the one who bore the scars that we deserve Have you heard the gospel, the good news Not what you can do for God, but what he has done for you It is finished
[00:11:06] I've planned since before the beginning The greatest story ever written broken by sin but restored when we surrender to the word this is the gospel have you heard before the dawn of creation there was the word before the beginning had begun before the planet
[00:11:40] spun and the sun hung in the sky there was the word he was the light and the light was alive giving life to all things everything no thing was created except through him and in his image he
[00:11:56] created them us in his likeness to reflect the light and be just like him but sin all right we

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:12:04] welcome you to the wave church this morning let's go ahead and stand to our feet we are so thankful for those that listen on 92.9 whammy radio station and for those that join in on facebook live today
[00:12:17] is our homecoming and we're celebrating 47 wonderful god-given years amen let's give the lord a shout of praise for that lord we thank you god that you have kept us lord that we have walked
[00:12:29] in your truth for 47 years hallelujah we're going to go to the lord in prayer and then we'll take up our tithes and offering and just give a time of worship to god this morning hallelujah lord we
[00:12:40] just thank you today god lord we thank you for your presence that's already in this place lord that we can feel this morning, God.
[00:12:46] Lord, as we come to celebrate, Lord, our homecoming, 47 years, God, Lord, was a vision.
[00:12:53] 47 years ago, you gave a vision to some people that they wanted to be a light in Statesville.
[00:12:59] God, for your people to come and have a place to come and worship you and learn more about you.
[00:13:04] And Lord, we thank you, Lord, that we are walking that out 47 years later, God.
[00:13:10] And we thank you, Lord, until your return, God, we will continue to walk it out in the truth, God. Lord, we magnify you this morning. We've come to worship you, to glorify you, Lord, King of kings and Lord of lords. God, we thank you,
[00:13:23] Lord. You see those, the requests that were made mentioned, those that are out sick or traveling this morning, God, we ask that you would be with them. God, those that are still on their way to
[00:13:31] the house of God, we ask that you would keep them, Lord. God, and as they come in the doors this morning, Lord, we thank you that your presence will fill this place, God. Lord, touch the hearts,
[00:13:40] change the lives, Lord. And we thank you and we praise you for that, Lord. God, we thank you for all the blessings that you've given. Lord, we thank you, God, that we can see that we are walking in
[00:13:50] your favor in the year 2026, God. Again, we thank you for all that you've done, all that you've given, God. We thank you for your work on Calvary, God. Lord, you shed your blood for our sins, Lord.
[00:14:02] And God, we thank you, Lord, that you died, but God, you rose again and you're coming back in all your glory and all your splendor god for a church that's spotless lord god help us to be that
[00:14:13] spotless bride for you when you come lord and we thank you and praise you in jesus name let the church say amen hallelujah thank you lord jesus thank you lord and if you will let's just declare

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:14:31] how good our god is and how great he is we just uh we're amazed at his goodness and his blessings Happy anniversary church 47 years of God's goodness to this church And his foundation Oh my how great is our God
[00:14:49] Hallelujah

[00:14:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:14:49] The splendor of the King He's clothed in majesty Let all the earth rejoice All the earth rejoices And trembles at his voice Each he stands Beginning at three Lion and the Lamb Is our God
[00:16:41] Can we do that just one more time?

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:18:16] Let's just reach our hands up to him and sing to him and say, Lord, I just want to tell you how great and how mighty you are and how we see your greatness in every day of our lives, Lord.
[00:18:28] You've been good and you've been faithful.

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:18:30] Oh, how great is our God.
[00:19:00] His son is our God.
[00:19:20] Our God, I love you.
[00:19:44] Oh, you've blessed me all my days.
[00:19:49] I've been here from the moment that I wake up Until I lay my hand in the goodness of God Oh, come on, let's praise Him

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:20:10] Of the goodness of God

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:20:37] Of your love You have led to the fire

[00:20:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:20:46] You have the fun Born you have And I have in the goodness Sing it, church Cause of my

[00:21:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:21:10] Of the goodness Oh, I Of the goodness

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:22:43] Your goodness that is running after me today, God.
[00:22:57] Hallelujah, Lord.
[00:22:57] We thank you in this place, Lord.
[00:23:00] God, we can see your goodness.
[00:23:03] It says his goodness is running after me.
[00:23:06] Yes, it is, Lord.
[00:23:07] His goodness is chasing after you this morning.
[00:23:09] Yes, it is.
[00:23:10] Hallelujah, Lord.
[00:23:11] We thank you because all my life he's been faithful.
[00:23:15] Even when I wasn't faithful, he was still faithful.
[00:23:19] Amen.
[00:23:20] All my life you have been.

[00:23:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:23:25] And all my life, you have been so, so good.
[00:23:30] Not just good, but so, so good.
[00:23:40] Oh, I love the goodness.
[00:23:45] Chorus one more time.

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:23:48] Oh, goodness is running at, running at.
[00:24:04] With my life, I surrender.
[00:24:26] Oh, you've been so, so good.
[00:24:37] With every breath, I will sing of the goodness.
[00:24:46] Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God We thirst for your presence I'm so right His heart is shut He's up He's precious It's not That's seen So important I thank God

[00:31:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:31:17] His friendship Is precious Love you this morning

[00:31:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:31:29] Is so precious Jesus is precious, when Jesus is precious.
[00:32:16] Lord, happy homecoming.

[00:33:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:33:15] Happy anniversary.
[00:33:17] Amen.
[00:33:19] 47 years, isn't that amazing?
[00:33:23] 47 years.
[00:33:26] The Lord has been good to us and he has blessed us and he has done more than I could even imagine.
[00:33:35] I'm still amazed at what we were even asking the Lord for.
[00:33:41] And it just seems like he came on the scene and people say, well, that ain't nothing.
[00:33:46] Yeah, that's something big that God can take just in asking, Lord, this is what we need to be finished with this to get this done.
[00:33:54] and God provides for us and I'm just telling you God is so good and He is so precious to me in a time in which we are living today we need to understand that God is precious
[00:34:09] the Lord Jesus Christ should be precious to us He should be important to us He should be all that we need but first of all I just want to thank you all for being part of the Statesville Full Gospel Tabernacle
[00:34:23] The way where we are victorious every day.
[00:34:31] Amen.
[00:34:32] And I thank you for standing with this ministry, not only in your prayers, but your attendance, your finances, but also in your love and your encouragement and all that you do to share in this ministry.
[00:34:45] And honestly, I have to say, I think we've got the best group around.
[00:34:50] Amen.
[00:34:51] You've proven that.
[00:34:52] You've stood with us, and I truly appreciate every one of you, and I pray for you daily, and I hope that you're praying for each other as well.
[00:35:02] And today we celebrate 47 years of ministry.
[00:35:06] If I stood here and said, oh, it's all been wonderful, happy times for the last 47 years, I'd have to say I would be lying because we have had some hard times, but we've had more good times than we've had hard times.
[00:35:24] Amen?
[00:35:25] But what God ordains, He sustains.
[00:35:30] And that is evidence for 47 years.
[00:35:33] You know, there's a lot of churches that begin about the same time that we did and they're no longer even established today but yet God has blessed this ministry and we continue on by the grace of God.
[00:35:45] And we came from, we came from 26 years in a small building on Old Mountain Road.
[00:35:52] And many of us got to visit it last year.
[00:35:55] And then the last 21 years we've been at this location.
[00:36:01] And over the last 21 years we've added to the Johnson Hall.
[00:36:05] And now we have a Christian school.
[00:36:07] And we've been able to update the building and make repairs.
[00:36:11] And there's never a day in all these years that I doubted the blessings of God.
[00:36:19] He's always provided for us.
[00:36:22] There have been people saved, there's been people delivered, and there's been people encouraged through this ministry.
[00:36:29] There have been many prayers that's been prayed.
[00:36:32] And there's been many prayers that God has answered from this church.
[00:36:36] I have to say that this church was founded on love and it was founded on praying and for those who show up to pray before services to those that pray during the week thank you
[00:36:49] because we believe in the power of prayer we've seen the hand of God move over this congregation time and time again when problems came we stood with each other and we prayed with each other
[00:37:03] and we fasted with each other And together and with God, He's always made a way for us.
[00:37:11] When our brothers or sisters was going through hardships or hard times, you know what?
[00:37:16] Your church, this church body came together.
[00:37:19] We prayed and we believed and we seen God deliver and set free.
[00:37:24] I've seen His hand move and things happen that only can be described as being the favor of God over us.
[00:37:34] But it took us being together as one.
[00:37:37] It took us together as being together in one faith, in believing in one Savior, Jesus Christ, and having the desire to continue on that got us through.
[00:37:50] We stand knowing that God has put us together to carry on, to encourage one another, and to be a witness in this lost world.
[00:38:00] Hand in hand, we've traveled this road.
[00:38:02] Hand in hand we've traveled this journey Hand in hand we'll carry on tomorrow If the Lord allows Homecoming is a day in which we look back to our past We like to sing songs like precious memories
[00:38:17] In the sweet by and by In which we return to remember the scenes of our earlier life And it is okay It is okay to reflect and remember the good old days We find comfort in our past
[00:38:32] especially when we're facing challenges of the present.
[00:38:37] Life seemed so much simpler in the earlier days prior to 2020.
[00:38:42] Do you agree?
[00:38:43] In everything around us, it seemed life was a lot easier.
[00:38:47] But time indeed has healed many wounds.
[00:38:51] And the good memories linger on.
[00:38:54] And so it's okay to remember what we had from the original church.
[00:38:59] We only have three in attendance now that remembers the old church.
[00:39:04] And there's three families, two that live out of town, another one that is homebound that still supports this ministry even though they are not here weekly.
[00:39:13] That says a lot about this ministry, that people care enough that they want to see it continued.
[00:39:20] We remember the old church and under the leadership of Robert and Arlene Johnson, our founders.
[00:39:26] But someday we'll be gone too.
[00:39:29] But for us, it's been a change.
[00:39:32] And if I could count all the people that's come through this ministry since 1979, if I could count all those that are now in the presence of God, I believe I could easily say it's been over a thousand people that has been through this ministry
[00:39:47] in some time or another, touched by it since 1979.
[00:39:53] Our founders were faithful to the call of God, And God called people together to help them establish and to grow this church.
[00:40:02] And they worked hard for everything that's built.
[00:40:05] It was built for God's blessing and with His blessing.
[00:40:09] There's not many churches that can tell you that they are debt free.
[00:40:13] And that God has blessed their finances where they are debt free.
[00:40:17] But this church is.
[00:40:19] We moved in this building debt free.
[00:40:22] And every time we've had a need, every time we wanted to upgrade or do something, God provided.
[00:40:28] When we had an air conditioner go out and two weeks later, the other one went out.
[00:40:33] God has provided the means for us.
[00:40:37] That means God's favor is upon our little church.
[00:40:41] As we remember the blessings of God in our past, we also have to reflect on the times of difficulty.
[00:40:48] we have faced and sometimes things has been hard and sometimes we've had questions about the future but as we prepare for the next day as we continue on this journey it's okay to know that we've had struggles because that's life even in our homes we have struggles but yet it has been
[00:41:14] god that has brought us through everyone and when you can stand back and see the goodness of god when you know that he's been operating when he's been pouring out his blessing on you then you can
[00:41:28] stand and say i know this ministry is in the favor of god so how did we come to this place of oneness of heart that brings us together as the wave church first of all it's love
[00:41:41] it's more than just a social gathering it's more than a place you're supposed to go because you have to go no, it's a place where we come together in one mind, in one agreement to meet God in this place
[00:41:57] because we want to a place where we are loved and we love others church, we must be serious about the place in which we worship I read and I hear about churches every day that's closing
[00:42:14] because they don't have enough people to support it.
[00:42:18] We have a wonderful church family who have met the needs, but we also, we need to grow.
[00:42:25] Our church needs people who wants to work for God and wants to be faithful and wants to be involved in the ministry.
[00:42:33] We need commitment to see the years continue.
[00:42:36] That is where you come in too.
[00:42:38] We need to be serious about inviting people to church.
[00:42:42] We need to be serious about helping build it up, being involved in activities.
[00:42:47] We need to get involved with our church family like never before.
[00:42:52] You know, there are some churches that are supposed to be smaller.
[00:42:56] And not every congregation is supposed to be a mega church.
[00:42:59] And that's okay.
[00:43:01] But in order to continue, we need to build our church.
[00:43:05] And it starts with you and me.
[00:43:07] not just for the now but for the future see jesus christ could come any day and i don't know about you but the there is prophets all over the world that's saying that we have started into the seven
[00:43:20] year tribulation and i don't know but i'm following the scripture and seeing what the lord says but if that's the case guys we don't have long till we're going to be out of here but yet we
[00:43:32] need to make sure that if it's not God's timing, if it's just a time that we're to get closer to Him that we make sure we prepare for the next years ahead, the next 47 years
[00:43:44] that will be our legacy.
[00:43:47] Think about it.
[00:43:49] In Hebrews 11 starting with verse 8.
[00:43:56] Now bear with me just a minute because this is a lot of scripture.
[00:44:00] By faith, Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should, after receiving for an inheritance, obeyed.
[00:44:10] And he went out, not knowing whether he went.
[00:44:16] By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
[00:44:30] For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
[00:44:43] For he looked for a city, I'm sorry, through faith.
[00:44:47] Also Sarah herself received strength to conceive a seed and was delivered a child when she was past age.
[00:44:57] Because she judged him faithful who had promised.
[00:45:01] Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the skies in the multitude, and as the sands which the sea shore innumerable.
[00:45:18] These all died in faith, not having received the promise, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
[00:45:36] For they that say such things declare plainly they seek a country.
[00:45:44] And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had the opportunity to return.
[00:45:55] By now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a sitting by faith Abraham when he was tired
[00:46:11] offered up, tried, offered up Isaac and he that had received the promise offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thou see be called accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead
[00:46:36] from whence also he received him in a figure.
[00:46:41] The scripture tells us that the original hearers of this word were living in some difficult times.
[00:46:52] It was hard for them to be a Christian.
[00:46:55] You've got to remember the time that Hebrews was written and spoken to these people what was going on.
[00:47:01] Christians were being martyred.
[00:47:03] Christians were taken to the lion's den.
[00:47:06] They were taken to the Colosseums.
[00:47:08] They were being killed.
[00:47:10] All these bad things were happening to them.
[00:47:12] But here's what else was happening to them.
[00:47:14] Some of them were being removed from their homes and their hometowns just because they confessed their faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:47:24] This must have been a traumatic experience for them.
[00:47:26] They had to wander from city to city looking for a place of someone that would help them, someone that would keep them, someone that would give them help.
[00:47:39] And when they came to the doors of other Christians, they're being encouraged to receive those Christians into their home and to help them.
[00:47:50] But not only that, when they was persecuted and had to leave their country, their cities, their towns, their identity was taken from them.
[00:48:00] Just think about what it would be like if they came in today and said, hey, you're not an American anymore.
[00:48:06] We're taking your papers, we're putting you out of this country, and you can't go back.
[00:48:11] Think about how we would feel if we was cast out of our country, the land that we love, the land that we know.
[00:48:20] And that's exactly what was happening to them.
[00:48:23] many Christians even to this day are experiencing exile and wander about wondering and looking for someone to receive them there are many people looking for a church family who will love them and help them on their journey
[00:48:40] but there are also people that's never received Jesus Christ as their savior looking for a place to belong to looking for a place that will stand on the truth and tell them what God really does say Jesus stands waiting for those same people to come to his family. We stand here
[00:49:01] waiting for those to come to our family too. The wave. So how does Paul address these poor Christians that's wandering from here and there? He goes by the memories of what had happened in the past. Those cloud of witnesses that he speaks of in chapter 11 and you can continue reading on.
[00:49:22] the one he gave the most attention to was father abraham he once lived in a modern city of his day he lived in the city of ur which today is the modern day iraq and only in egypt was as beautiful
[00:49:41] as that country was and the indications are that abram and abraham and his first name was abram lived a pretty comfortable life.
[00:49:53] He had it pretty well made.
[00:49:56] But one day the call came to his father and his father picked up the family, moved them out of the city of Ur and to move them to Haram which is the edge of the desert.
[00:50:08] Now the Bible really doesn't tell us all about their circumstances other than it was a call of God to get up and move.
[00:50:16] But in Haran, after the death of Abraham's father, the call of God came to Abraham and God changed his name to Abram not knowing where God was directing him he followed God's lead and in doing so God promised to him and his descendants
[00:50:36] that their name would always be remembered and that his descendants would be so many that they could not even count them so if we follow the life of Abraham we know that Abraham spent much
[00:50:49] of his life in the wilderness he was a nomad he went from village to village country to country he was always on the go and it always seemed at the very fringe of canaan land where he could see
[00:51:04] the milk of a land of milk and honey even as moses did he could see it afar off he knew it was coming But yet he did not get to possess it.
[00:51:16] The only possessions that he had was he and Sarah was buried in the promised land.
[00:51:23] Abraham and Sarah's life was filled with conflict.
[00:51:26] We go back and study it.
[00:51:27] Just like ours, we have issues every day.
[00:51:31] But our eyes stay on the prize.
[00:51:33] Our eyes look towards heaven.
[00:51:35] Our eyes look upon Jesus Christ, our hope for tomorrow.
[00:51:39] perhaps at times they look back and they remember the good old days too we didn't have these issues when we was back at the other country we didn't have these other issues when we was at that other place
[00:51:53] perhaps it was during a great famine that Abraham sat back and said you know what we had a lot of food we had a good life back there I don't understand why we've been moved here
[00:52:07] but instead of returning there he went and advanced he decided that he was going to go to a place called Egypt but Egypt whose name in Hebrew means graveyard turned out to be a bad place too
[00:52:22] and soon the Lord intervened and made it possible for him to return to the deserts of Canaan land to continue his wanderings in the constant issues of petty wars and boring days and finding pastures for the sheep
[00:52:39] Abraham may have wondered about the land when is it my turn when am I going to get to the promised land then the Lord told him and said not in your lifetime but if 400 years later
[00:52:54] his descendants would occupy it how could this be do you think that it broke Abraham's heart to think I've worked so hard all my life I've done this Lord I've done that Lord and I'm not going to make it to the promised land
[00:53:09] think about this Jesus tells us that Abraham saw beyond the current Canaan land he saw beyond that there was a greater place called Beulah land he rejoiced because he knew that greater was his life
[00:53:26] after this life on earth than it was at that time he rejoiced and saw that day and was glad he saw a city that was not built by human hands but built by God The cities of Canaan and Abraham's day was nothing compared to the city of God.
[00:53:46] There are even crumbles in comparison to either Ur or Egypt of Abraham's day.
[00:53:52] But he learned to be content in the promise of God, a promise that death could not end.
[00:53:58] Not only this, but death became the means of entering the greater city.
[00:54:04] This is not the city of the dead Egyptian, but the city of those foundations that was laid upon in the city built by God himself.
[00:54:15] This is the city that was made for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the God of the living, not the God of the dead.
[00:54:24] But yet in his struggle, Abraham's best memories laid in the future, not the past.
[00:54:31] He could remember what was good in the past, But his life, his future was laying in his future.
[00:54:39] Listen, so many times we get hung up on the things of the past and we can't move forward.
[00:54:45] But I'm telling you today, we must move forward to have a brighter tomorrow.
[00:54:51] Abraham didn't even get to enjoy the promised land.
[00:54:56] But he got to enjoy one greater than he could have ever expected.
[00:55:00] The true pilgrim is the one who has the same faith as Abraham.
[00:55:04] and the others that Hebrews lays out in the roll call of faith.
[00:55:09] We may get our reward by the way of death or the Lord may return while yet we live.
[00:55:15] But we have the sure hope that Jesus died, He rose again and ascended to the right hand of the Father as our high priest to comfort us, to guide us through the wilderness of this life
[00:55:28] during good things or hard things in this earth.
[00:55:34] that we may face that lies before us we have a promise just like abraham abraham received many blessings in this life as well as trials but his best life lay in the future our best
[00:55:51] life lies in the future abraham received the blessings but he also had trials we all are going to have trials but this should serve to us our comfort in life to know that our best days
[00:56:07] and months are ahead of us that's why more than ever we need to make god first priority in our lives we need to make him first in all that we do and where we go and what we say everything in our
[00:56:21] life is having a desire more to serve him than to serve this fleshly body think about abraham you know he struggled but yet the Bible recognizes him as having great faith he didn't see the final end he didn't see what had been promised to him but see
[00:56:42] this is what we need to do we need to continue working in this ministry we need to put everything we can into it we put God first and then our church family we work together to have a desire more than ever to serve him not for the past
[00:56:59] but for the future of what God has in store.
[00:57:03] By knowing Jesus Christ as our Savior and living for Him, we should make it all we want to do is to work for Him and continue in the faith.
[00:57:13] Then everything else is added to us.
[00:57:16] Whether we can see the end results in our lifetime or not.
[00:57:21] We don't know all the details of this ministry or what lies ahead of us.
[00:57:26] But like Abraham and Moses and the other faithful saints of all, we can get a glimpse of it.
[00:57:32] Words cannot describe what God has for those who love Him and serves Him.
[00:57:39] There's an old song that says, and the half has never been told.
[00:57:44] Whether we see a glimpse, whether we see in a glimpse, will nothing be in comparison to the day we walk into the heaven and the Lord says, good and faithful servant, well done see whatever we
[00:58:01] get a glimpse of we can't hold on to the past we got to look to the future in the meantime we look and understand that God will give us what we need to continue on
[00:58:15] as we wander about in this life because life is hard and we need a savior we need a church family we can count on I don't know about you but I want to know who's praying for me nowadays
[00:58:26] I don't want just anybody praying over me.
[00:58:29] I want somebody that I know can get a hold of the Lord.
[00:58:33] While we may not see the end result on this side, the glory of God and one day we will see the final reward.
[00:58:43] The glimpse that we get is in the ministry started in 1979.
[00:58:49] And guess what?
[00:58:50] They never saw a school, But they gave us the foundation in which we opened up a Christian school in 2025.
[00:58:58] They didn't see the school, but yet we see what they worked for all those years.
[00:59:05] Abraham didn't get the final reward of his work on earth, but he got a glimpse of it.
[00:59:10] But God's promises can never fade.
[00:59:13] Next year, if the Lord tarries, we'll return here again, celebrating another year of service to the Lord Jesus.
[00:59:20] will you be able to say that you did more for him in this coming year than you did last year can you say that you've worked in the kingdom to grow it to prosper it more than you have this year
[00:59:32] i'm asking you today what difference can you make in this ministry next year will you step out and be more dedicated to attendance will you step out and come to sunday school or even teach your class
[00:59:46] Will you work your schedule out so you can come on Wednesday night to help us pray and learn more about God?
[00:59:54] Can you or will you get more involved in this ministry so that you can get a glimpse of what is yet to come?
[01:00:03] I want to say we have, and I'll repeat this, we have seen God's favor year after year, thing after thing, situation after situation.
[01:00:13] But you know what it took?
[01:00:15] It took a group of people loving God and coming together and working to make it happen.
[01:00:22] You know, I want to know this morning, can God count on you to make it another year?
[01:00:28] Can we do what God has called this ministry to do another year?
[01:00:32] Well, how can I do that, Pastor?
[01:00:34] Invite people to come and worship with you.
[01:00:37] Share our Facebook page.
[01:00:39] It talks about our ministry.
[01:00:40] Let people know that you love your church.
[01:00:43] and that you know that the people here love you and that together we will make a difference.
[01:00:50] Being a part of this ministry is a commitment.
[01:00:54] As we begin another year, I pray that we all can get a vision like Abraham.
[01:01:00] Abraham had the vision and he didn't see the greatness that was to come, but yet you and I are seeing the evidence of his hard work and his faithfulness.
[01:01:11] The same way with this ministry.
[01:01:13] I'm sure that brother and sister Johnson when they started it they didn't see what God was going to do in 2026 yet here we stand getting a glimpse of the reward God knows the future
[01:01:27] God knows what's going to happen tomorrow but what will you do for the Lord for Him today you know it's not all about what we can get for God it's about what we can give back to Him
[01:01:40] God knows our future He knows your future He knows when you're going to take your last breath When I'm going to take my last breath Our time is short And maybe we don't have 47 more years
[01:01:53] Maybe the Lord will return As some are saying Maybe His time is coming Or you know what Maybe we're going to make it to heaven Pretty soon But whatever it is Today's got to count
[01:02:06] Today's got to make a difference Our time is short Believe me when I say that God has got a work for you he's got a promise for you but I need you to join in with
[01:02:19] me in this commitment that you can have your part in this ministry well Pastor Tammy I've been here that's right I want you to continue but I want you to reach out and tell others this is a good
[01:02:30] church we love each other we're a praying church and we believe and we can help you through again I want to say I appreciate everyone I appreciate you all i love you even those that have come and gone we still love them and i want you to know
[01:02:48] something that we couldn't be a ministry without you so many have already closed their doors but yet we still stand not only do we still stand we've opened up a christian school so that tells
[01:03:01] me that god's favor is upon this church and when god's favor is upon this church guess what it's upon you too so i encourage you this upcoming year put more into it put more into this ministry
[01:03:15] buy into it if that's the word you want me to use buy into it be part of it and say i'm going to do whatever i can do to make it successful and in doing so you will see god's blessings not only
[01:03:28] on our church of 47 years but on your life as well i love you all i appreciate you and only god knows what the future holds but i'm glad he holds our future let's stand happy anniversary 47 years to
[01:03:48] the states for full gospel tabernacle the wave where we are victorious every day heavenly father