Sunday 21 September 2025

I'm reading from the book of Hebrews chapter seven, six. Is that on? Is that on? It's, it's on, yeah. Yep. And beginning at verse 13, when God made his promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself saying, I will surely bless you and give you many descendants. And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs, to very clear to the heirs of what was promised. He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie.

We who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We hope this hope as an anchor for the soul firm and secure it enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where our forerunner Jesus has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever. In the order of Melchizadek

Good morning and happy to be in this place. Uh. For me, it's an honor to be in this place and really humble. When the pastor told me that I, I had to be, I had to be preaching here today. Uh, believe me, I'm so humble. I'm so happy every time that when kind to preaching in this church that, uh, we feel not in a strange place.

We feel that is our church too. We feel at home every, every time when we are here. So today I have, uh, the privilege to share the word of God with you. Since Pastor Jamie told me that I need to preach that word, come to my mind, that is hope. I don't know why. And then I started to pray. Pray to the Lord, saying, Lord, why do you want me to share with the church?

That message the whole week, the Lord has spoken to my life many things and trying to put all together. And then also sharing my heart, what I'm feeling about what is happening in our heart, because maybe today there is people here that they need to hear in this word. I think everyone need this, but there is some people that need to hear about that.

First, I want to, can you help me to pray for a moment, a short prayer? Dear Lord, we need your present in this place. Speak to our heart. We need to hear what you want to say. Holy Spirit, help us in this place. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen and amen.

When I leave my country, I was 25 years old. All it is very difficult when you leave your family, your culture. Everything that you laugh, but uh, when I was about 30, uh, 23, 25 years old, we were through a civil war in my country was no easy to live there. We were a young couple, just married with, uh, three kids and everything that was happening was so bad.

I start to lose all my hope about my country. I was seeing my little kid and say what future is for them in my country? So on time we decide we need to live, we need to leave our parents, we need to leave everything behind. During that time, we already have, uh, seven years of marriage. And they say, we need to leave our country.

The main reason we lost the hope of a future for my kids, so we leave. I remember when we were in the plane and I see for the last time my country, because since that, that time, I never come back. Wow. When I saw for the last time my country was crying. Believe me, living the place that you love is very painful.

Then you need to start again. You don't know the language, the culture, and then you start from nothing until you will up again your life. Why I tell you that? Because when we lost hope, we lost the. Every scene that we want to build up in our life is come up saying there's no dreams anymore. We feel that, uh, we need something else.

Um, there are some people that had to talk when they lost hope. They want to kill themself because there's nothing nothing for them. Without hope, we cannot Going forward, even if you are sick, even you have a difficult situation, you, you have hope, you can go through every situation in the life first. You know, we need to clarify in the world.

When they say I have, I have hope. It's in a way, like a wish that we have in our heart. Like, I hope that today we'll have, we'll have a, a good day of work. I hope maybe tomorrow is a, a beautiful day that today I hope that by Christmas I will traveling, but it's just a wish that we have. But when we see in the world of God, it's so something totally different because when we talk about hope.

We have a foundation to have that hope. Our foundation is in the word of God, what the promise God has given to us. It's not like a empty wish that we have in our heart. It's because what the Lord has say in the promise, even in the death of resurrection, which Jesus a Christ is our hope. You, I hope that if, uh, you will listening, the, the reading today, you say that God never lie, he always fulfill what he promised.

That is the foundation of our hope. You know, I have been during, I have been through different situations in my life. Sickness. Being a pastor for the same church for 33 years has been no easy. Many tris, many times trying to say, okay, no more. No more, no more. I want to live now, but always I have hope. No, I empty.

Wish I have the hope that the Lord is with me. That every fight, every problem, every sickness, God is with me. That is hope We have at the base in the world of God. It is so interesting. I did my research, the word that is used in the Bible for hope, there many, many words. But, uh, something that, uh, I put that as a very important, the first one in the original in the, in the Hebrew was jackal.

JAL is a word. That means to have passions, to have waiting on the Lord. You know, when we have hope, we need to have that a lot. The passion. I'm waiting, you know, I like when the Lord went like you pray, and then the next moment is the answer. Sometimes it happen to me. I'm praying and then I got the answer.

But believe me, 90% or 95%, I had to wait With passion. I have to wait until the Lord answer the prayer. Another word that is ex stigma. That literal means a rope. That is the really meaning that word, but at the same time, the things that we are hope for. You know, sometime to have hope. It's like to have a hope in the promise of God.

What did God, what God has said about my situation in my life then in the New Testament is another one. El Peace. That mean they also, the meaning is have a federal con. Confidence, confidence. We have a al this word. Maybe you in, uh, capor, you don't remember all this name, but, uh, the main thing is that, to understand what the meaning of al this word, but something that I, I need you to remember the whole time is to have, to have hope, is to grab the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The first thing that you need to remember that the, the restoration of Christ of Christ is the main anchor of our faith. Why? Because today we were, we were reading about, about the ANCA of faith. You know, for a ship to have a a a an an is very important because otherwise the ship will be drift away in the same way.

Today going to explain how can we grip that anca our faith to remain faithful in the middle of the tri trail of our life. With the saying before, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the main anchor was of or eight, like the Apostle Paul in Peter one three, he say that we, we have a living hope. Listen to that.

A living hope no is a death hope, a living hope. But how is that, that living hope through the, the restoration of Jesus Christ from the death, what really is the meaning of that? If you believe that Jesus's a Christ is alive, we need to rejoice for that. Be why? Because if, uh, we have the promise, the promise of health, the promise of provision, the promise of eternal life.

If I see Jesus is alive, I got that promise for me because sometime we believe that Jesus Christ. See from heaven and see, look, uh, I looking for someone that I want to bless. Oh no, that person doesn't go to the church too much, so I don't go to bless them. Oh, the other person that doesn't give too much, too many money to the church.

So I don't go to blessing that. We need to remember that the Lord see the person and everything that we receive, we receive by his mercy. Not because we are worthy of everything. It's because of the mercy of the Lord that will receive everything Jesus is alive. That is something important for us. Then another thing that is important to you sometimes, sometimes.

It is like hope against hope like Abraham, that we were reading about that if you read the Bible, Abraham was 75 years old when the first time, when the first time the Lord say that he need to leave this country and that he going to have a, a promise of a son. But then past one year, nothing happened.

Five years. Where is my son? Nothing happened 10 years. He is still believing that the Lord say, I going to give you a song, but nothing happened. 15 years, nothing happened. He's still believing and the Lord is repeating again. I going to give you a song. I going, you will be father of many kings, many nations.

You know, sometimes happen to us. You are praying for something. You're hearing in the, in the, in the message. If you need something, pray to the Lord. Ask and she will giving you pray. Now happen. Then you say to somebody, help me to pray. One year nothing happened. Two years, nothing happened, but we what we need to do in the middle.

Abraham was still believing something very important that the Lord has promised. That is my uncle, the promise of God. Amen. I have to wait in him. I don't know when will happen, but I know to wait with him. The the other problem is the age. The promise start when he was 75 years old, 10 years late, 10 years, years late.

That was 85. And nothing happened. Then when he was 89 years old, the Lord appeared to him, talk to him and say, Abraham, next year you're going to be a daddy.

He was 89 but was 99 years old. I correct myself, 99 years old. His wife was near 90 89 when the promise was fulfilled around, was a hundred years old, a hundred years old. He need to wait 25 years for the answer. The church. The church, sometimes, sometimes. When we see arm, you need to see more further than the logical or the thing that you are living at the moment.

Because sometime we say, okay, Lord, I'm praying for healing, but I don't feel good every time. I feel worse. But you're saying that you are my healer. I don't know how, how that works. But I decide to believe sometimes you are, you are praying, Laura, I need a new opportunity, a new career, a a new job. I need something new in my life.

But, and then to say nothing is happening around us, nothing. I don't see the help, you know, like, uh, say in Roman four 18, even when there was no reason to hope. Abraham continued to have hope because he had believed that he had will, will become the father of the many nations. For God has said to him, you see that what the Bible is saying, that was not reason to hope.

Maybe this morning you're saying, I have no reason to hope everything is not going well. But today, today I going to tell something. Wait on the Lord, wait. With passion in the war of God, the time will come when you see like around 25 years later, he saw. He saw the fulfillment of the promise. If you are still believing everyth sin that the Lord has promised in your life, I know that the Lord has promised many sins in your life, are you still believing in that?

Are you still waiting on that? Don't quit. Don't say so many people. I say to me, the Lord doesn't love me anymore. Another people say maybe because I have some kind of sin in my life. That is the main reason because the Lord doesn't answer my, my question, my, my, my prayer. You know, the Lord say that he answer prayer for his holy name, not because we, we are so sanctified that the Lord say, oh, that my son need answer to the prayer.

Is because what the Lord is studied amazing or reality, or reality is that all we be going to have sickness, we, we going to have problems. Many bad things going to happen in our life. We, we cannot avoid that. It's going to happen one day. But how, how, how, the, the main thing, how we going through all the promise of life.

Because that is, I remember one, one man that come to me and, uh, we were talking, he start to come into the church and then one day doesn't come to the church anymore. So I call him and say, why you didn't come to the church anymore? And he say, pastor, the reason that I was coming to the church because I wanted that the Lord help me with my son.

I want to reconnect with my son again. I have been in the church for near six months. I lord the prayer and you pray for me. Everyone is praying for me, but nothing change for the reason I live in the church Sometimes I know that we feel in that way. The Lord is not helping anymore. The Lord is no answer my prayer anymore.

But we need to have hope. Dear Church. Don't lose your hope in, in the situation that you are living right now. What, what, what? We need hope in our lives. Why we need hope in our life First, when you have, when you have hope in your life to bring the joy of the Lord to your life. When the, we talk about the joy of the Lord.

It is not have a holy laugh or something like that. It is to have the, the right, the right condition in the middle of the trials. When I say condition is you, you, you crack What you feeling? What you talking, how you living through the trials of your life when the we. Living that life, the word of God, say in Roman five, three and four, that we rejoice in tribulations knowing.

Remember that knowing. Knowing that the tribulation produce passions and the passion attest and the real hope you see when you go into the trails of life. Something is happening in your life. Sometimes we see the like, oh, the Lord doesn't love me anymore. No, the Lord is doing something in your life. You need to have passion and then you want to have something.

It's a, it's like a process that they're living in in your life. And secondly, hope, nourish the perseverance when the, we are looking through different situation in, in the life. Sometime we see like, um, I remember that's a story that, uh, one man come to the pastor say, pastor, I need you to pray for me. What do you need?

I need a lot of passion. Okay. Okay. Uh, do you want me to pray for you? Yes. Yes, yes. Because you know I lost my passion. So easy. Okay. And the Lord start to pray. Dear Lord, I pray for this young man. Giving them a lot. The tris, another tri, when they finish another trial, giving them, giving him a lot, the troubles.

And these young man say, Hey, wait, wait, wait Pastor, I don't, I don't like that. How you reading the Bible? Say the pastor, that the trails, the problems produce the passions. I don't have the passions in my hands like a holy anointing. It is still the problems that you get the passion. So what the, what the word of God?

Say a Isaiah 4 31, but those who wait for the Lord will have a new strengths. They will rise wings like equals when, when you are passionate, then we have that. Something that we read today, the, the verse that we read today were from verse 18. When we start to thinking about the hope in our life, there is a something natural or biblical of the hope, hope is a sure expectation.

The expectation, the two things. That is something why I believe in the promise of God, the first God has promised, and the second the ought of the Lord. Because God doesn't lie when he say it is going to do it. If the Lord say, I going to bless you, the Lord says no. Saying, okay, maybe, oh no, maybe not anymore.

But he's saying, I going to do it. Trust the Lord is going to do it. It's something always we need to believe in, in, in, in, in our life. There is a purpose and hope to, in verse 18, say that we might have a strong consolation

when Chia was leaving this world. He's saying that he's living without the comforta, the original word. That is parato mean parato. Somebody calling call to be to your side the whole life. So Lord Jesus is saying the Holy Spirit will be your best friend. The whole life will be with you always. So in he is saying, when he's saying a strong consulation, he's using the same words, parato, but how can apply that to our life?

The write out the book, how Evil is saying Hope will be to your side the whole time. Even when you have a lot of problems, a lot of issues that you say, I don't know what I need to do. Remember the Holy Spirit is with you. The hope of God is with you always. You never, you will be alone. You never, you need to feel defeated.

Sometime we feel defeated because we feel so alone, so lonely. But when you see here, they say that we may have a strong consolation. It's an active compassion. The hope, hope will be with you always. Number three, the fun, the function of hope it say is the anchor of the soul firm and secure the meaning of that.

In the old times. In the old times, all the people that, uh, working with, uh, with the ships, they put a an as a tattoo because for them, the meanings security. The meaning that everything was secured. Even, even, you know, for, for the church, they, they put the same too. They, they, they have a figure so anca because they, they will say even in the midst of the tribulation, they say, we, we were, we never nothing going to separate the love for, for Christ.

They use that symbol in many ways for us. What the meaning of anchoring your life. Trying to see that figure, that figure, that image of the, the sheep and the, and the anchor, that vessel doesn't going to move because have a big anchor and so secure the storm will become the storm, the wings, everything.

Trying to move it that vessel. But because of the anca will be all the time in the same place. So what did the anchor for us? Normally in, in the vessel, they put deep on, on the bottom of the sea. But for us, for us, like Paul is saying, or the right of Hebrew is saying here that is going through the be to this holies or hols.

What you saying? Oh, Anka is no. Uh, under the sea is going directly to the present of God, in other words, or a hope has a connection, or that connection is going to all life, to God is connecting to God. So what the, the meaning for, for me, the meaning for me is that I have the security that I going to have problems in my life.

I going to have seen this in my life, but my connection is so, so important. Don't lose the connection. Don't lose the connection, because if something happened to the anca, that vessel is going be Arif in the sea. So this morning, this morning, try to remember that we need to have hope. We need to have our anchor in the promise of God.

Don't lose the faith in the sin that is happening in your life, but you say, how? How can apply this message to my, my life because church is finish this morning and then tomorrow. Work school. How? How can I live this world in my life? Okay. First, always remember Ian in times of storms, but remember

when you face a situation ti of you feel so sad in your life, try to repeat. Try to repeat in your life. Versus like, uh, Romans 8 28, and we know that all things work together for good. Do those who love God. When you repeat something's going to happen in your life. When something is going wrong. Don't put your eyes on the problem.

Put your eyes. In God, in the promise of God. You need to remember that. Oh, Jeremiah 29 11. You know that verse. So simple. Write down in some place and repeat the see it, leave it in your life. Secondly, drop your anchor in the present of God. Go inside of the bell to the holy, holy. But pastor, how can go there?

Easy. Every morning we have a routine in our life. Some people wake up, put the hot water and coffee, open Facebook, see the news. Why don't, why don't shake that routine in our life? Instead of that, the first thing is going to the present of God. Open your Bible. Thank you. Oh, well, yes, you care about coffee too.

Reading your Bible, being the President of God. Talk to God as a friend.

Don't say, oh holy hope that you are heaven. Praise your name. Haha.

No. Talk like a friend. Like a friend. Every day, every morning. He's your friend during the day. When you start like that, you feel very strong. Every problem that will come to you, you will see that the eyes of the God through the eyes of God, then you will be more strong every day.

Even when you come to a church, you will. So, you know, I really true. I really say something. Sometime the people come to the church expecting that, uh. The music, the preacher, gimme some vitamins to become strong again. We need to change that. If we have time to God every day. If we live connected with God 24 hours a day, when we come to a church, we become full of God.

I'm finished with that. Yesterday I was talking with, uh, with the brother of the church and, uh, he went through a very difficult situation. The wife was pregnant. They have a, a lot of dreams about that kid. They have only just one girl. Now. The new kid will be a boy. We pray for them here at the church. We went discharged and uh, they come here at the front, we pray, and then I received that calling that the pastor doesn't want to receive.

They call me from the hospital. Ali baby was born but is going to die in the next eight hours. So I went to the hospital. I saw the little baby, I saw the parents. They come to me, they hug, we, we cried a lot. And then they say, pastor, can you pray for my kid? I want to him to be to live and I don't want to see him deaf.

We pray. And then the doctor come and says, and they say again, that baby doesn't going to leave. So take your time wisely. So then they say to me, pastor, can you dedicate to the Lord my baby? I say, yes, yes. And then the baby die.

The next two years for this couple was so difficult. Yesterday I was praying, I was talking with him and say, how you feel? How you feel about your baby? Many people say that, that that pain is all we will be in your heart forever. And he say to me, pastor, that pain is going forever. Before when I talk about my baby, I cry a lot.

But now I tell you, after two years, one day I was praying, I was crying. I was asking, Lord, why happened that to my life. And then I started to feel the some kind of refresh inside me that the Lord was getting out something of my life. Then I start to bless the Lord saying, thank you Lord for my kid. Since that day with my wife, we were reusing in our life because after I think one year or two year, they have a, she become pregnant again and was a boy.

So the Lord restore everything. And now he say, pastor, I can talk to any person and saying that all my pain is gone because I believe in the promise of, of, of the God. I have hope in the, in the middle of the bad situation in my life. I going to pray now, but I have, I have to pray for somebody. I don't ask you to, to come to the front.

No where you are. Maybe this morning you feel in that way saying, I, I going to quit. I going to quit. It's too much stress for me. I tell you something, the Lord brings you to, to, to this church this morning because you want to heal your heart. The Lord is saying, don't quit. Try again. Do it again because I am.

I am with you. As always, I have been. Maybe the pain that you, you got in this moment, you, you feel so sick and the doctor say There is, there is no hope for you today. I'm going to tell you this hope for you. The Lord is going to do something in the middle of your trial trials. You become more strong in the Lord.

Not because I'm saying so. It's because the Bible says so. Can we pray together? Dear Lord, thank you for this morning. Thank you for this word, because I know it's coming from you. Lord, I like to pray for somebody, someone in this place that is in a, in a moment of quitting, in a moment of saying, I don't want to do anymore.

Or maybe somebody saying, I, I, I don't want to live anymore, Lord, I ask you that you Holy Spirit, come and point this person. I show him, or hey, how you love him. Okay, show showing. That is a hope. A hope that is anchor in you, my Lord, because you die, rise. And now you are in heaven. You went to the holies of Holies.

We want to anchor our hope in you, Lord. We don't put our an in our church, in our pastor, in our religion, we put our an in you. We wait in you. We want to be like the Eagles. We want to, so about our problem above our situation, Lord, I know that is a. Pain in my heart. I have been so difficult. I have been some problematic all this week, but Lord, I going to change all, everything because today I know that all the promise that are in the Bible are for me.

I know forsaking, I not forgotten. I believe that the promise of God is for me. I believe that the Lord, he going to change the situation. Lord, I not. Present saying, do it now or do it tomorrow, Lord, that you will be with done. It is something that I ask you, but gimme the strength to go through this storm of my life because you are my stone.

You are my foundation. You are. Everything that I need in my life, Lord, release release to people and then come up the, the hope or the the glory that you have for our life. Thank you mad dear Lord in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. And I. Amen. Thank you so much. I have been a delight to eat this morning with you.

And the Lord bless you and keep you. God bless you.