Churches in Montclair

“And yet what we do is a lot of times when when we're in that situation, some of you guys are in that situation right now, you feel alone. You feel like no one else gets it. People get it. We've all been there. It's not easy, and it tests your trust. When you don't know how to how how the bills are gonna get paid, you discover what you truly trust. When you don't know where where your next paycheck is gonna come from, you start to discover what am I putting my trust in. And we can trust in god and we can face this with Christ. That's what Paul says. I I I've learned how to do it. I've learned how to be content in humble means when I don't know what's coming next. But prosperity also tests us in contentment. Prosperity tests your dependence on god.”

“``Everyone wants a secret. Right? Here's the secret that Paul has that he's sitting in prison. He says, but I'm content. I don't have freedom, but I'm content. Until I received your gift, I was really lacking financially, but I was content. And Paul's like, you wanna know my secret? My secret is Philippians four thirteen. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. It wasn't natural. Didn't this is not something that came natural to Paul. It's like, well, Paul, you're an apostle. That's why it's easy for you. But Paul said, I had to learn it. I learned this secret. I had to be trained to become less dependent on the world and the things of this world and become more dependent on Christ.”

“I mean, have you ever texted somebody and you saw that they they read it, then you start building a whole store in your head, like, they like, because they're not responding. They must not care. They're ignoring me. They don't love me. And meanwhile, they're maybe driving or they're they're working. They or maybe they have a problem of their own. Maybe they're overwhelmed. They're dealing with something, a struggle that they're that they've got going on. And but we're like, they don't care. It's like, maybe they don't have opportunity. And so Paul, in his maturity, he doesn't assume the worst about them. He goes, I I know you care. He goes, I'm not gonna go there. And he gives grace instead of suspicion. And I I think we that's a great lesson for us to to learn too when we're going through struggles.”

“I mean, have you ever texted somebody and you saw that they they read it, then you start building a whole store in your head, like, they like, because they're not responding. They must not care. They're ignoring me. They don't love me. And meanwhile, they're maybe driving or they're they're working. They or maybe they have a problem of their own. Maybe they're overwhelmed. They're dealing with something, a struggle that they're that they've got going on. And but we're like, they don't care. It's like, maybe they don't have opportunity. And so Paul, in his maturity, he doesn't assume the worst about them. He goes, I I know you care. He goes, I'm not gonna go there. And he gives grace instead of suspicion. And I I think we that's a great lesson for us to to learn too when we're going through struggles.”

“He was struggling hard. I mean, to lose a a son, and and I don't know which son it was, but he was really, really struggling. He was grief stricken. And he saw he turned to the lord and he sought the lord, and the lord gave him this verse, Philippians four thirteen. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. And so he began to meditate on this verse. And he learned that through Christ, I can endure even this. Through Christ, I can even get through this horrible grief and loss and tragedy. Abundance can be a temptation to stop thinking that all we need is Christ and start thinking all I need is this. And we must learn to overcome covetousness that says, what I need is something other than the lord.”

“"a branch coming out a shoot coming out of the of the stump of David he said to them Jesus then how does David in the spirit call him Lord saying the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet if David then calls him Lord how is he his son he's going here and quoting the psalm of David that where David is is calling the Messiah who is to come because and they all the Jews knew that this quote here was about the Messiah who would come after David he says well then how could David be saying calling the Messiah his Lord if he's a descendant of his because he's greater than David because he's greater than he is God and so what do we have here the hope that Jesus both of shoot and the root of Jesse we have a hope here in Jesus because Because God came to earth, took on human flesh to come into our brokenness, to set us free, to be our Messiah, to be our ruler, to rule now in our hearts, and one day to rule the earth." (”

“"Jesus is talking here at the end of Revelation. In the last chapter of the Bible, Jesus says, I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet. Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet. He's saying I'm the first and the last, the beginning and the end. I'm both of these things. And then in verse 16, he says, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. I am both the root, the source of David that you've been hoping for, this future kingdom. I am both the root, the source, and the descendant of David." (”

“"As I titled this message, Jesus is both the shoot and the root. Look at verse 10. It says, then in that day, the nations will resort to the root of Jesse. We have been talking about the shoot that comes out of this stump. But here it says, the nations are going to come to the root of Jesse. Where is the root? Does it come out of the stump? No, it's below the stump. The root is the source of the stump." (”

“"you thanks for meeting with me and all that I appreciate it and then he felt God was telling him give him the $1 ,700 so he says you know what God's telling me to do God's telling me to give you the $1 ,700 so he gives him the $1 ,700 and the man starts to cry and he says I was burned by a pastor who took me for $1 ,700 now put all those things together you know people being obedient to what God was telling them one of the guys could have given him $5 ,000 and that would have been generous but he felt God was telling him to give $17 ,000 his wife called him out on it what if he hadn't done that what if the other guy hadn't given his car in the first place I mean all these things come together this guy meets and he listens and he gives okay God I'm giving you $1 ,700 and it was exactly what that guy needed to restore his faith in the Lord and in God's church God just when God is working and God is always working when we're listening and being obedient we see God doing amazing things like he's doing in this story of bringing this Messiah into this world here you , here was a people that Isaiah is prophesying to them look there's going to be a stump it's going to be a difficult time and it seems like when there is a stump when a tree is cut cut down that is finality that is hopelessness there's nothing left we've cut down the tree and all of its fruit bearing but God says no no I'm going to bring a shoot I'm going to bring a shoot out of this 700 plus years later a shoot is going to come he's going to be the hope of the world and maybe you have a stump in your life right now where you're going to have this hopelessness and despair where Jesus is present where God is working there is hope when we have a stump but I want to close with this part in verse 10 because there's the hope of the the shoot but" (”

“"I was talking with someone, just an incredible story, and don't expect this to be like an everyday kind of occurrence. It's not an everyday occurrence for me, and I don't think it was an everyday occurrence for this person, but I'm not gonna share any names because you guys might know some of these people, but these two guys, one is a former pastor, the other one, a comedian. Both Christians became friends, and as they became friends, they decided to kind of hold each other accountable. One of the things they wanted to hold each other accountable to was they read a book about generosity, and so they said, hey, let's try to live generously, and so they're like, okay, and we're gonna hold each other accountable, so if you go and live generously, you do something to be generous, like then, like share it with me. Let's hold each other, hold each other accountable to this commitment to live generously." (”