God's Long Promise: Finding Home This Christmas

Because what happens is God, when you become a follower of Jesus, God calls you to do some pretty crazy stuff.He calls you into things that you would not normally do.And here is this moment.The Israelites had been in slavery for 400 years.We really can't fathom slavery.They were in physical slavery for 400 years.They were thinking a certain way.And what happens is when you think a certain way for so long, it can become the reality that you live in, even though you don't have to. [00:30:44] (32 seconds)  #ChangeYourThinking

We see this all the time with family issues.We have so many people who think because this is who my family was, this is who I am.Or you might see this in other people.People will say, like, my family is just full of addicts and addiction, and so I'm probably going to struggle with that as well.Or people who say, man, my parents got divorced, and their parents got divorced, and so I'm more likely to get divorced. [00:31:17] (26 seconds)  #BreakFamilyPatterns

And after he calls them to do this crazy thing, right, he says, you're going to leave Egypt.You're going to be led by a guy named Moses.And I know all you've been thought, all you've done is just listen to somebody tell you what to do for 400 years.Now it's going to change.And then what he does, he does this thing.He distinguishes himself.He says, I am Yahweh, the Lord God. [00:32:25] (25 seconds)  #GodMakesTheWay

Now you need to know, Yahweh is God's personal name.If there was, you go all the way back to the original Hebrew in the Old Testament, it's Y-H-W-H.And in that original Hebrew, it's, they literally say it's like the breath of God is Yahweh.And Yah, it's important that we know God's personal name because at this point, he's clarifying who he is to everybody else.That he's the creator of the universe.And so if he tells you he's going to do something, he's going to make sure it happens. [00:32:51] (37 seconds)  #GodIsPromiseKeeper

It would be the same thing as like in college, I was known, my last name was Dickison.Or my last name is Dickison.And my nickname all through college was Dick.And everybody called me, hey Dick.And I play soccer.And so many people, when I started dating Kristen, she would come up and she'd call me Brian.They're like, who's Brian?They wouldn't even know my first name was Brian.So what happens here is God is telling him his personal name.All of a sudden, it's not your nickname.It's Brian Thomas Dickison.There's something personal about a full name. [00:33:28] (32 seconds)  #ClaimYourName

And so here is Yahweh distinguishing himself, saying, I am your creator.It's significant.So then Exodus.Exodus goes on and says this.I will claim you as my own people and I will be your God.Then you will know that I'm the Lord, your God, who has freed you from the oppression in Egypt.I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.And I will give it to you as your very own possession.I am the Lord. [00:34:02] (28 seconds)  #IAmYourCreator

So again, when God calls you to do something, he promises you a new home.Christmas is about a new home.It's not just the holiday, what we've been talking about in this series.It's about this idea that a new home can be spiritual.It can be a decision.It can be a new chapter you're turning.So it's a really important promise that God actually says, you're going to get a new home. [00:34:34] (23 seconds)  #NewHomeInChrist

And what's actually happening here, he's talking about a physical home.He's saying, you're going to get a new home.And he's talking about this promise that he gave Abraham.So 400 years before this moment with Moses and Egypt, he promises Abraham that he's going to give him a new home, a new nation, and new land.And then 400 years of slavery happens, everybody forgets, and he reestablishes his promise.And he says, hey, you are going to get a new home, a new land, and a new nation.And he establishes, he says, Moses, you will lead them through it. [00:34:59] (41 seconds)  #PromisedLandFulfilled

There's something significant when you get a home.There's something significant.When I came from college and I would come back, every time I crossed that border, I'd like turn on, I'm an American.I was just like so stoked to be home, to come home and to be a part of my land.Like it was who I was.There's something significant about having a home.And I think sometimes for us, we have such an amazing church, such an amazing team of people spending like all hours building the kids hallway.Sometimes I forget that we didn't have a home. [00:35:41] (35 seconds)  #HomeMatters

You know, for so many years, we did not have a home.I love to show this picture.This is one of our first services.We had no more than 60 people in our church.And we were temporary.We were moving around all the time.We were homeless.It felt really humiliating a lot of the times because there was nobody that would show up to church sometimes.There was one service, I'll never forget, that three people came to service.And I didn't cancel service.I preached to those three people like it was a thousand people.And I'm sure it was pretty awkward for them.But it was just the moment.And to think now where God has brought our church. [00:36:17] (40 seconds)  #FromSmallBeginnings

And I began to talk about this dream to Pastor Dan at the time.And think about how crazy it would be.And how probably off the table it would be because it's too expensive.But how perfect it would be because it would be on a highway.And now, seven years later, a lot of heartache, a lot of stress, a lot of people sacrificing.We have a home.It's significant.I never neglect the fact of how important a home is.It's a promise that God gave. [00:37:29] (31 seconds)  #DreamBuiltByFaith

And so, I got to ask you the question, what is the new thing that God is promising you?What new chapter is God leading you to this year or in this season?I think God, when he calls us to do things, he calls us to do biblical things.He calls us closer to him.You know, when he's calling, he's calling us to be like, hey, Christmas can be different this year.It can be focused on different things this year.The priority can be different.It can be on Jesus this year instead of what culture might be telling us to do. [00:38:00] (34 seconds)  #ChristmasFocusedOnJesus

When God calls you to do something new.When God calls you to follow him.When God calls you to turn a page in your life.What happens?You will always be discouraged.Something that will happen that will come up.That will try and distract you or discourage you.Because that's what Satan loves to do.So, in this season, you need to know.Maybe you've made a huge first step to follow Christ.Maybe you've, all of a sudden for the first time, you're saying, you know what?This Christmas season is going to be different from all the other ones.I'm choosing health.I'm not going to do what my family's done in the past. [00:39:16] (32 seconds)  #NewSeasonNewYou

And I thought, man, what a great picture for us.How many of us write ourselves off of a job we're going to have?How many people write themselves out of a new beginning because of what I did in the past?We write ourselves out so much of the time because we're distracted or we're discouraged.We got to be so careful not to do that. [00:40:22] (21 seconds)  #PastDoesntDefineYou

I don't know if you guys have realized, in the midst of all the cool stuff going on, we still have this portable in the back.Maybe some of you people are like, what the heck are they doing?Why don't they just finish it?I would love to finish it.But this has been a point of agonizing, slow distraction for me.For us, we raised money.We're still putting money into it.We're doing it.And it's become a snail's pace of working with the county and working with structural engineers and all this details that I want to explain. [00:40:44] (34 seconds)  #TrustTheProcess

But I want you to know there can be seasons for me where I can get really discouraged if I think about my timeline of trying to be in it in September.And here we are going into a new year and almost still not being in it.And what happens is when there's good things happening, Satan tries to distract you from God's promises.You see, I want to tell you what this building is going to do for us.First and foremost, we have no place for our middle schoolers.So on a Sunday morning, our middle schoolers are going to be able to actually have a place to go. [00:41:18] (30 seconds)  #PromisesOverDistractions

They're not going to be in the lobby, completely distracted.It's also going to be a place for recovery programs that will be able to be in there middle of the week.We also have a big, huge group of moms called MomCo that meet here during the week.They're desperate for space.We don't even have space here midweek.And here's what I know.Here's what I know.The promises of God are so damaging to the enemy's plans.And so what happens in these moments, we have to stay focused on the promise of God. [00:41:48] (31 seconds)  #SpaceForCommunity

That building will be done.We are going to celebrate that building.That thing will be full all the time like the rest of our church.But we got to remember, we will be distracted and we will be discouraged in the moment.But we got to remember what the promises of God say.So here's what this means for you.Are you stuck in a rut?Are you trying to turn a new page in your life?Do you need to renew your marriage?Do you need to have a family culture dynamic change?Do you need to break an addiction?Do you need to know to remember who God said he was? [00:42:21] (36 seconds)  #TurnThePage

And here's what it says.Joshua said to the people, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says.Long ago, your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nora, lived beyond the Euphrates River.And they worshiped other gods.So what he's saying is, hey, I don't know if you remember, but over 500 years ago, God promised our great, great, great, great grandfather, Abraham, something significant.And we're living this promise today because now they're in their new land. [00:43:41] (35 seconds)  #PromisesAcrossGenerations

``Well, Christmas is the fulfillment of a long promise.This promise that God had thousands of years before.And Christmas is that it's Emmanuel.It's God with us.This promise that we couldn't do it ourselves.And what happens is Jesus was born, and he came to this earth to give us the home that we really need.You see, we are all temporary citizens.At some point, we will go home.And that home was defined and built by Jesus.In fact, the scriptures say he's the cornerstone.And so as we go into this Christmas season, I can't help but think, what is God calling you to do in this new season? [00:47:12] (54 seconds)  #ChristmasIsHome