From Promise to Presence // Hope // Keenen Worrell

Abraham waited 25 years for Isaac The children of Israel waited 400 years to get out of Egypt Please hear me and hear me very well God delays are not God denials Again his timing is perfect even when it feels painfully slow Painfully slow Because I know for some of us we've been given promises and we're like why God When God How long God Will I see it God Delays are not God denials [00:12:45] (51 seconds)  #GodDelaysNotDenials

What we have to realize is waiting isn't always a bad thing Understand that if you have made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life and God has you waiting oftentimes it is not punishment but it is preparation We think of waiting as punishment It is not punishment It is preparation And most times that preparation is in us [00:08:25] (32 seconds)  #PreparationNotPunishment

Emmanuel God with us it's not just like this thing that we say during the holiday time No that is a promise That is the thunder of heaven crashing into this broken world God did not come as a king on a distant throne He came as a baby in a manger vulnerable accessible right here with us [00:19:46] (31 seconds)  #EmmanuelGodWithUs

Promise is available to you His presence is available to you The veil was torn What does that mean Why does that matter to me The veil was torn That means we no longer have to go through anybody We no longer have to sacrifice goats and sheep He says we have this opportunity for him to come for us to go directly to him for us to close our eyes and say God I need you We have this opportunity to enter into the presence of the living God [00:22:47] (45 seconds)  #DirectAccessToGod

This is the promise that was fulfilled by the birth the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ This is why we have hope This is why we celebrate his birth because we understand that the Christmas story isn't just a historical event The manger wasn't just a cradle It was God's reset button for humanity And the same God who made those promises brought us his presence through Jesus [00:16:41] (35 seconds)  #PromiseFulfilledInChrist

Yet that is exactly what the children of Israel had to do They had to wait They were in a waiting season and that season was hard That season was difficult That season was brutal A season came with a lot of pain and a lot of why gods and a lot of when gods But God was up to something because the promise had been given and God is not a man that he should lie [00:07:48] (37 seconds)  #GodFaithfulInHardWaiting

I want to invite you to call on him Surrender the burden that you have been carrying Call on Jesus He is not just a promise from the past He is alive and he is here and he is ready to reset your story If you are alive and breathing it is not too late If you woke up this morning you have a chance and an opportunity [00:20:55] (32 seconds)  #ResetYourStory

I know for some of us it feels like forever Like those 700 years that the prophets spoke of or the 25 years that Abraham paced in the desert But if that is you please hear me God has not forgotten you God has not forgotten you No In fact he is preparing you He is shaping you He is aligning every star He is aligning every step every heartbeat for the moment that his presence breaks through in your life [00:19:01] (45 seconds)  #GodHasNotForgotten

See Jesus' birth not only symbolized the presence of the promise and not only symbolized the end of the waiting but it represented a new beginning It marked the beginning of a new covenant or a new agreement between God and his people where they could enter a personal relationship with the father It was a new beginning where the revelation of God's love was about to be poured out on the world like never before And the thing that made this so significant is it wasn't just a new beginning for those in the Jewish bloodline [00:15:13] (44 seconds)  #NewCovenantBegins

Emmanuel right here with us literally in the mess of it all And because he came you and I have an opportunity to have a new beginning You and I have an opportunity to have a personal relationship with he who makes promises that always come to pass So if you are tired of waiting or you need a reset button in your life then I want to invite you to step into his presence today [00:20:17] (38 seconds)  #EmmanuelInTheMess

Because if you give up on the promise you will never see the fulfillment If you give up on the promise you will never see the fulfillment and the enemy is banking on that If I could just overwhelm them enough they'll give up If I could just keep putting stuff on them they'll give up If I could make them think that it depends on them instead of it depends on God then they will give up [00:24:33] (29 seconds)  #DependsOnGodNotYou

Because for most of us we are holding on to a promise And I don't know what promise you came in waiting for today Maybe it's peace and unity in your house Maybe it's the restoration of a marriage Maybe it's a lost child finally coming home I don't know what it is that you're waiting for but what I am sure of is that if you are a follower of Jesus and you have given this thing to the Lord and you are still waiting then you are in good company [00:12:02] (43 seconds)  #InGoodCompanyInWaiting

See Jesus' birth was the manifestation of a promise That waiting from promise to presence But it also signified a new beginning Emmanuel God with us marked the beginning of a new covenant agreement between God and his people So would it mark that new beginning where the revelation of God's love could be poured out onto this world A new beginning [00:10:37] (38 seconds)  #PromiseToPresence

And in those moments where I feel weak in those moments where we feel like I can't go on any further how long God How much farther God He says I'm here I got you I won't let you fail I am not a man that I would lie I haven't forgotten what I told you You may have forgotten You may be impatient but I promise you I have not I'm here [00:25:19] (31 seconds)  #GodSaysImHere

And yet he still says come Yeah I know you're broken come I know you're hurting come I know you're struggling come He says I'm not asking you to be perfect You won't see perfection until heaven but come and allow me to work in you Come and allow me to work with you Come and give me your burdens give me your cares give me your worries He says come to me [00:21:46] (31 seconds)  #ComeAsYouAre

This book filled with promises filled cover to cover with promises that are available to us Don't let the enemy tell you it's not for you Don't let the enemy tell you that that's somebody else's life and that you can't get that and you don't have access to that The devil this is full of promises that are available to you And they are found in his presence They're not found in relationships They're not found in striving They're not found in a bank account They're not found in other people They're found in him and him alone [00:26:02] (49 seconds)  #PromisesInHisPresence

The promises that he's given is for us All we have to do is walk in them His presence is available to us In the midst of everything that is going on we have an opportunity to say God I need your presence And he's right there I can't tell you how many times that I've cried that I've been on my knees I've called my parents I don't know I I I I I I I And in my prayer he's like hey I got you [00:23:32] (38 seconds)  #WalkInHisPromises

That preparation that he's doing is in us There's things that he's doing in us There's things that he's building in us There's things that he's creating in us And sometimes there are things that he is only privy to that are vital to our promise There are things that only he knows There are things that only he knows that are vital to our promise [00:09:00] (27 seconds)  #GodIsPreparingYouWithin

Like the amount of time it would take a husband and a pregnant wife to get from their town to Bethlehem by horse Or the time it would take a shepherd to get from their pasture to an inn simply by following a star in the night sky Or the time it would take Joseph to go from building to building to building to finally get to the manger where Jesus would be born Timing Timing Perfect timing His timing is perfect Perfect And that timing sometimes requires patience [00:09:28] (46 seconds)  #HisTimingIsPerfect