Come, Lord Jesus: Ep. 1: Promises, Prophecy, and Preparation

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Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host,

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Connie Morris, and this is Faith on the Go, where you take the word with you

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on your drive to work, while you're getting ready in the morning,

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or even in those quiet moments before prayer.

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Real life, real word, and real growth, all while you are on the go.

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Before we get into today's word, let's take a moment to center ourselves with a familiar prayer.

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The prayer of Jabez.

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Oh, that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory.

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Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.

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Father God, we come before you this day asking that you would indeed bless us,

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not just with what we have, but in who we are becoming.

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Enlarge our territory, Lord. Lord, expand our capacity, our mindset,

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and our ability to receive what you have for us.

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Let your hand be upon us, guiding us, covering us, and leading us in every decision we make.

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And Father, keep us from harm, physically, emotionally, and spiritually,

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that we may walk in peace and not in pain.

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And Lord, just as you heard Jabez when he cried out to you, hear us now.

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Your word says that you granted his request, and we believe that you are the same God today.

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So we come boldly before you, knowing that you hear us, knowing that you see

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us, and knowing that you respond to the prayers of your people.

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Have your way in this moment as we sit, listen, and receive your word.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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Welcome back to Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host,

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Connie Morrison. We're continuing with our Faith on the Go series.

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Today, we begin day one of our devotional series, Come, Lord Jesus,

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as we examine the promises of His coming, the prophecies that announce His arrival,

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and the purpose for which God sent His Son into the world.

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Our foundational scripture is found in Revelation 2220, and it reads,

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He that testifies these things saith, Surely I come quickly.

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Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

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Revelations 22 is the last chapter of the Bible, and it says,

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as he ends this word, the Bible, he says, Surely I come quickly.

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Even so, come Lord Jesus. That should be our prayer. Our prayer is not,

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come Lord Jesus so we can escape.

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Come Lord Jesus so we can experience heaven on earth. Amen.

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God has sent us here.

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Be the light of the world, and we must be the light. When it gets dark,

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you think he's going to pull the light out?

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No, we're going to be here a minute. So we need to get our foundation ready

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so that we can represent Jesus Christ in the earth.

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I love when he's signed, again, when you sign a paper, when you sign a letter,

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when you sign an email, the last pretty much paragraph or the last sentence

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is really what people remember. What are you saying as you close this out?

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And Jesus said, I come quickly.

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I love that. Even though it's been a while, it's been a minute,

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he still wants us to have that in the forefront of our mind so that we can get ready.

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The coming of Jesus Christ is one of the most significant promises in scripture.

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From Genesis to Revelation, God's word reveals his plan to redeem humanity,

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defeat the works of darkness, and establish his everlasting kingdom.

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Before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, his coming had already been announced through prophecy.

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Isaiah declared that a virgin would conceive and bring forth a son called Emmanuel, meaning God with us.

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He also foretold the coming of a king whose government and peace will have no end.

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When the fullness of time arrived, God fulfilled his promise by sending his son into the world.

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Jesus came not only to fulfill prophecy, but to accomplish the work of redemption,

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reconcile humanity to God, and destroy the works of the devil.

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So Jesus is coming for us.

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Let's not get it wrong, but he also came and already has defeated the enemy.

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He came to defeat the enemy. However.

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The story of his coming did not end with his birth, his crucifixion,

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resurrection, ascension.

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The same Jesus who came the first time has promised to come again.

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His first coming fulfilled God's promise of a Savior.

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His second coming will bring the fulfillment of his promises concerning judgment,

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righteousness, and his eternal kingdom.

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So as we begin day one, come Lord Jesus, we must understand that these words

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are more than a prayer of Christ's return.

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They are a declaration of faith, an expression of expectation,

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and a reminder that the promises of God will be fulfilled.

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So as I walk you through these episodes regarding come Lord Jesus,

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it's not to set your fear.

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I don't have a date when he's coming. He said he don't even know when he's coming.

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So he's not going to tell anybody a particular date. Only thing he tells us

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to do is be ready, get ready, be prepared, because he is coming soon.

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If you wrote a letter and someone sent you a letter, maybe someone,

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a cousin, a friend, you know, long lost mom, a long lost daughter,

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whatever it is going on, they sent this letter and they said, I'm coming quickly.

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How excited would you be for just a human person to show up quickly?

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We should be even more excited when Jesus says, I come quickly.

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His last word, was, I come quickly. Come on now.

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So if he said, I come quickly, quickly to him.

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It's different quickly to us, right? We think it was yesterday. It might be tomorrow.

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We don't know, but we need to be prepared. The question before us is not simply

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whether Jesus is coming again.

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Scripture has already established that promise.

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The question is whether we are spiritually prepared for his return.

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Today, we will examine scriptures that reveal who Jesus is, why he came,

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when he came, and what his coming accomplished.

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As we study these passages, remember that God's faithfulness in fulfilling the

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promises concerning Christ's first coming give us confidence of His promised

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return. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

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Powerful. We are having expectation of His coming.

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Not for fear, just a promise fulfilled. So let's go over these scriptures.

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The coming of Jesus Christ was not an unexpected event in God's plan.

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From the Old Testament prophecies to their fulfillment in New Testament,

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scripture reveals that God had already established his plan for redemption.

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These four passages explain who Jesus is, why he came, when he came,

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and what his coming accomplished.

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So let's look at Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14. And it says, Therefore the Lord

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himself should give you a sign.

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Behold, a virgin should conceive and bear a son and should call his name Emmanuel.

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Approximately 700 years before the birth of Christ, the birth of Jesus Christ,

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the prophet Isaiah announced a sign from God.

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God says, a child will be born and call him Emmanuel, meaning God with us.

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So right away, we can see the purpose of his coming.

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Purpose of his coming was to show himself real to his people.

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So he says, God with us.

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And since Jesus' birth, he's always with us.

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The Bible tells us he will never leave us or forsake us. So we say, come Lord Jesus.

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It's not come. He's already here. Come in your presence. Come in your glory.

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Come in your majesty and take us to where you are, to the mansions that you

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promised us, to the presence of the Father, right?

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And so when we think about that, we want to think about that in the sense where

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we're not begging for his presence. He's already here. He loves us the Holy Spirit.

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We're asking him to come because he said we'll meet him in the sky.

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We meet him halfway. He's going to come.

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We'll meet him in the sky and then he'll take us on the way.

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Isn't that just powerful? A good imagery.

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So in its original historical setting, the prophecy was spoken during a time

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of political uncertainty and fear in Judas. It's the same way it is now.

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We have the same atmosphere about political uncertainty.

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We find out in Matthew 1.22. Let's go to Matthew. Matthew 1.

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I'll preach to you later, but I want to give you some foundation that you can hold on.

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In your heart. Matthew chapter 1, verse 22 to 23. If you read it from 18 to

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23, I'm going to read the whole thing because it talks about the birth of Jesus.

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This is his first coming. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.

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When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together,

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she was found with a child of the Holy Spirit.

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Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, not willing to make her a public

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example, was minded to put her away privately.

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But when he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto

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him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David.

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Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

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So, you know, Joseph, Mary said, I'm pregnant by the Holy Ghost,

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Joseph said, okay, I'm just going to put you away privately.

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And then he has a dream and he says, Mary is correct.

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She is pregnant by the Holy Ghost with the Savior.

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And she should bring forth a son and thou should call his name Jesus,

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for he should save his people from their sins.

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Now, all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord

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of the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin should be with a child,

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and should behold forth a son, and they should come, his name Emmanuel,

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which being interpreted is God with.

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We see here that Joseph is in the lineage of David, and we cover the historical,

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the ethnicity in our black history and mass.

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So we know that if Joseph is David, we know he's not a white male.

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Mary is definitely not a white male. And so when they're coming,

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Jesus is coming through.

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So what do you think his heritage will be?

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Let's continue. It's not about that, but you know, I'm going to add that to it.

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Jesus is not simply as another prophet, you know, he's not another religious leader.

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His coming represents the fulfillment of God's promise to bring salvation to

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humanity. Think about this.

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How does this relate to the coming of Jesus?

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The virgin birth identifies Jesus as a promised Messiah whose arrival was ordained by God.

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The name Emmanuel reveals the divine significance of his coming.

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John 1.14 reinforces this truth, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among

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us. So we know Jesus came in the flesh.

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We know He came to earth. We know that He was born through a virgin,

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and the Holy Ghost was the Father.

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Don't that sound really interesting? And so our key point here,

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I want you to remember, is before Jesus was born in Bethlehem,

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God had already declared the significance of His coming.

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Jesus is a fulfillment of the promise that God will dwell among his people.

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So sometimes you're thinking like, do you believe he came the first time?

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So he came the first time as a baby, you know, and they say as a lamb.

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The second time he's coming as the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

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Think about this. If he came the first time, do you believe he's going to come

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the second time? Something to think about.

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Let's go back to Isaiah. We're going to do Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 through 7.

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Since for unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given,

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and the government should be upon his shoulder, and his name should be called

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Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

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Of the increase of his government and the peace there should be no end.

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Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it.

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It with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.

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The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

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We see here that Jesus is coming back. He's coming, and this is his title.

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Think about this baby that's being born. This king of kings is coming in a baby form.

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It says, For unto us a child is born, for unto us a son is given,

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and the government should be upon his shoulder,

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and his name should be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

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Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

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And the increase of his government and peace shall be

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No. And many times when we talk about the coming of Jesus, we're going to get

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to the real hard scriptures, but we don't hear the part of that he's already came.

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You know, and so that kind of debunks some things that he's not coming again.

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He already came. We missed him. You know, you hear those type of stories.

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When you pull out your Bible and you read it like we do on the Diary of Black

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Women podcast, we get to see some pictures, some words that if we pay attention,

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we know that Jesus is coming in this mighty splendor,

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but in the form of a baby, right?

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He did mighty things as an adult, but he's coming back as a king of kings and

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the Lord of lords, and it's going to be a whole new level, right?

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So let's see what Isaiah was saying. Isaiah, I love Isaiah because Isaiah is.

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One of the longest, he's a prophecy. Jeremiah and Isaiah, they have a lot to

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say about Jesus, about his majesty, you know?

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So let's find out what Isaiah has to say about this chapter.

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So we see that Isaiah moves beyond announcing the announcement of a miraculous

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birth and reveals the identity, the authority, and the eternal reign of the promised Messiah.

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Notice the distinction in the opening statement, For unto us a child is born,

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and unto us a son is given.

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A child will be born into the world, but the son will be given.

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Christians understand this as a pointing to both the humanity of Jesus and his divine identity.

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Isaiah then describes the character and authority of the coming Messiah through

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five significant titles.

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It says, wonderful, his works, his wisdom, and nature surpasses human understanding.

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We think of him as being wonderful.

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We think of him as being the counselor.

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He possessed divine wisdom and provide perfect guidance.

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Don't that sound like our God? The Messiah is described in terms,

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we talk about the mighty God.

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The Messiah is described in terms of divine strength and authority. Everlasting Father.

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He exercises enduring fatherly care over his people.

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His title does not mean Jesus is the same person as God the Father,

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but he has the characteristics of an everlasting father. You know,

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we're like our dad, right? We're like our family.

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And so he says, Jesus is called everlasting father.

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So he exercises fatherly care over us. That's important to know because if he

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wants you to know he's coming, he wants you to know who he's coming as.

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And a lot of times we study the end time prophecies and we forget the beginning.

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We forget the beginning of how he really wants you to see him in his glory, right?

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He is all these things. He is a wonderful, he's a counselor,

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the mighty God, the everlasting father. And then finally the Prince of Peace,

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He brings a reconciliation with God and establishes a kingdom characterized

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by righteousness and peace.

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What would it be like to have to live on an earth that God created in peace

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to get to know Jesus as wonderful,

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as counselor, as mighty God, as everlasting father, and as a prince of peace?

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The prophecy also declares his government will have no end.

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This is important because Jesus did not come merely to establish another earthly kingdom.

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His first coming brought the announcement and inauguration of God's kingdom.

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And while his promise return will bring into complete the visible fulfillment.

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Jesus came to bring down who? God's kingdom.

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As it is in heaven, let it be done in earth.

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Let's go to Luke 1, verse 32 and 33. And it says, The Messiah from the line

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of David, He should be great.

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And should be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God should give unto

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him the throne of his father David, and he should reign over Jacob forever,

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and his kingdom will be no end. How does this relate to Jesus?

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Isaiah foretold the Messiah would descend from David's royal line and establish

00:18:18.137 --> 00:18:19.651
an everlasting kingdom.

00:18:19.883 --> 00:18:22.287
Jesus fulfilled the promise of

00:18:22.287 --> 00:18:28.747
the coming Davidic king whose reign extends beyond his earthly ministry.

00:18:29.014 --> 00:18:32.079
So it's not about just having something on earth.

00:18:32.288 --> 00:18:39.660
He's creating a heaven on earth. Jesus came not only as a savior, but also as king.

00:18:39.846 --> 00:18:46.602
His birth introduces the promised Messiah whose kingdom will never end.

00:18:46.869 --> 00:18:50.654
Let's go to Galatians. I think we got one more and then we're going to get right into the preaching.

00:18:51.054 --> 00:18:56.917
Galatians 4 verses 4-5. This is the appointed time for the coming of Jesus.

00:18:57.231 --> 00:19:01.027
Let's go to verse 4. But when the fullness of time was come,

00:19:01.289 --> 00:19:08.255
God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law

00:19:08.551 --> 00:19:12.397
that we might receive the adoption of sons.

00:19:12.397 --> 00:19:17.711
Paul explains that the birth of Jesus occurred according to God's appointed time.

00:19:17.989 --> 00:19:23.577
The phrase the fullness of the time reveals that the coming of Jesus was neither

00:19:23.577 --> 00:19:25.739
accidental nor premature.

00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:31.033
God sent his son when the time established in his redemption plan had arrived.

00:19:31.312 --> 00:19:37.802
Wow. First God sent his son. Jesus was not an afterthought in God's response to human sin.

00:19:38.040 --> 00:19:42.160
His coming was part of God's purpose to redeem humanity.

00:19:42.444 --> 00:19:45.617
So we think about how Jesus, when I think when I'm reading this,

00:19:45.617 --> 00:19:50.287
as I'm studying this, reminds us Jesus coming for a church without spot or wrinkle.

00:19:50.548 --> 00:19:54.513
And we cover a lot of that through the podcast. Spot is sin, right?

00:19:55.165 --> 00:20:00.607
You know, Rinko is rebellion. You know, he wants us to be able to be able to

00:20:00.607 --> 00:20:05.117
represent. Remember, Jesus was, God sent his son to redeem the world.

00:20:05.117 --> 00:20:07.089
So this world through him might be saved.

00:20:07.362 --> 00:20:11.530
So what do you think he's expecting of us to walk in that redemption?

00:20:11.756 --> 00:20:14.624
Right. Second, it says that he was made of a woman.

00:20:14.908 --> 00:20:17.189
This established his genuine humanity.

00:20:17.509 --> 00:20:21.723
He entered the world through human birth and experienced life as a man.

00:20:21.984 --> 00:20:27.267
It also connects us to Genesis 3.15, and let's go to Genesis 3.15.

00:20:27.947 --> 00:20:33.327
Why did this connect to 3.15? It says, And I will put enmity between thee and

00:20:33.327 --> 00:20:35.812
the woman, between thy seed and her seed.

00:20:36.022 --> 00:20:40.437
It should bruise thy head, and thou should bruise his heel.

00:20:40.617 --> 00:20:45.287
So I love that, that he says, right here, it says, this is where God declared

00:20:45.287 --> 00:20:49.481
that the seed of the woman will ultimately triumph over the serpent.

00:20:49.725 --> 00:20:51.914
That's powerful, right? The seed comes from.

00:20:52.441 --> 00:20:56.382
The man. But he said the seed of the woman will triumph over the serpent.

00:20:56.533 --> 00:20:58.287
Third, Jesus was made under law.

00:20:58.530 --> 00:21:02.605
Jesus entered the world as a Jew under the Mosaic law.

00:21:02.809 --> 00:21:08.207
Unlike sinful humanity, he lived in a perfect obedience to his father.

00:21:08.312 --> 00:21:12.015
Fourth, Jesus came to redeem and to restore.

00:21:12.259 --> 00:21:16.520
Redemption means deliverance through the payment of a price.

00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:21.949
Through his sacrificial death, Jesus secured freedom from the condemnation of

00:21:21.949 --> 00:21:24.780
sin for those who belong to him.

00:21:24.972 --> 00:21:29.140
Paul also identified adoption as part of Christ's coming.

00:21:29.483 --> 00:21:35.569
Through Jesus, believers are welcome into God's family as his children and heirs.

00:21:35.569 --> 00:21:39.159
So if you believe in Jesus, you are welcome into his family.

00:21:39.159 --> 00:21:45.019
You get adopted into his kingdom. How does this relate to the coming of Jesus?

00:21:45.019 --> 00:21:49.282
Galatians explains why the Messiah came at a particular time in history.

00:21:49.549 --> 00:21:56.236
God sent Jesus to accomplish what humanity cannot accomplish through his own obedience or efforts.

00:21:56.451 --> 00:22:02.129
The coming of Jesus was God's appointed intervention into human history to bring

00:22:02.129 --> 00:22:07.614
redemption and restore the relationship between God and those who believe.

00:22:07.852 --> 00:22:12.501
Are you starting to see the bigger picture? Let's get to our last scripture,

00:22:12.501 --> 00:22:18.063
1 John 3.8, it says, For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested.

00:22:18.446 --> 00:22:22.005
That he might destroy the works of the devil.

00:22:23.346 --> 00:22:27.869
It says might. I want to look at it again through my scriptures,

00:22:27.869 --> 00:22:30.202
because it's not that he might do anything.

00:22:30.376 --> 00:22:33.469
He's going to do it. That's why you got to watch your translations.

00:22:33.469 --> 00:22:38.119
They always want to downplay the power of God. And if you let that happen,

00:22:38.119 --> 00:22:43.307
then we'll think God might do something. God, when he says it, it is good as done.

00:22:43.511 --> 00:22:46.768
He is the God. Let's see if it says it in this Bible.

00:22:47.262 --> 00:22:53.344
It says, 1 John 3, verse 8, He that cometh, he that cometh, sin is of the devil.

00:22:53.344 --> 00:22:57.954
For the devil sinneth, that's 1 John 3, verse 8, sin is from the beginning.

00:22:57.954 --> 00:23:04.525
For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.

00:23:04.997 --> 00:23:10.254
I don't know why it says might, but hey, this passage takes us beyond the circumstance

00:23:10.254 --> 00:23:15.874
of surrounding Christ's birth and reveals one of the central purposes of his coming.

00:23:15.874 --> 00:23:21.181
His spiritual purpose of Jesus' coming was to confront and defeat the work of Satan.

00:23:21.512 --> 00:23:26.394
To understand this path, we must turn back to Genesis 3, where sin entered into

00:23:26.394 --> 00:23:28.384
the human experience through disobedience.

00:23:28.668 --> 00:23:34.594
Satan's deception contributes to humanity's fall, bringing separation from God

00:23:34.809 --> 00:23:36.550
and the consequences of sin.

00:23:36.846 --> 00:23:43.110
Yet in Genesis 3.15, God announced that the offspring of the woman will ultimately defeat the serpent.

00:23:43.267 --> 00:23:47.487
The purpose, it was a male. The male is going to be the seed. He was born a male.

00:23:47.841 --> 00:23:53.350
That promise that he said the female seed, the female seed came from Jesus, which is the male.

00:23:53.541 --> 00:23:58.784
I like that. His promise begins a biblical story of redemption that reaches

00:23:58.784 --> 00:24:01.419
its decisive fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

00:24:01.814 --> 00:24:06.887
The word manifested means that the son of God was revealed or made known.

00:24:07.177 --> 00:24:12.233
Jesus entered human history to accomplish a purpose that extends beyond teaching,

00:24:12.524 --> 00:24:14.817
healing, and performing miracles.

00:24:15.136 --> 00:24:20.604
His mission included breaking the power of sin and defeating the devil's works.

00:24:20.604 --> 00:24:24.250
And we know, as we read the New Testament, even in the Old Testament,

00:24:24.528 --> 00:24:26.572
that Satan was defeated, period.

00:24:27.158 --> 00:24:29.004
So let's look at Hebrews 2.14.

00:24:34.574 --> 00:24:40.317
It says, same, that through death he might destroy him.

00:24:40.968 --> 00:24:44.149
That had the power of death, that is, the devil.

00:24:44.555 --> 00:24:48.983
So before Jesus defeated, before, remember, Jesus was winning.

00:24:48.983 --> 00:24:52.404
Adam and Eve, they sinned. They opened up the door to the devil.

00:24:52.717 --> 00:24:55.794
And Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit decided to say,

00:24:56.061 --> 00:24:57.303
we're going to take it all back.

00:24:57.582 --> 00:25:00.833
And so he says, how are we going to take it back? Well, it was defeated,

00:25:01.100 --> 00:25:03.213
what? In the flesh and the blood.

00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:09.093
So Jesus had to become flesh and blood and fight the enemy on his territory.

00:25:09.215 --> 00:25:13.621
You know, we read that through the book, The Passion of Christ was a very good movie.

00:25:13.847 --> 00:25:19.316
But as we watch and we read in the New Testament, we see that Jesus destroyed the word devil.

00:25:19.543 --> 00:25:21.720
It wasn't really any competition.

00:25:22.265 --> 00:25:25.986
You notice that the victory was accomplished through his death.

00:25:26.300 --> 00:25:30.953
He took the keys of death, snatched it back. Jesus did not defeat Satan through

00:25:30.953 --> 00:25:33.387
political power or military strength.

00:25:33.665 --> 00:25:38.303
His victory came through obedience, sacrifice, death, and resurrection.

00:25:38.599 --> 00:25:44.439
You see that connection? We have the power in the name of Jesus because of what Jesus did.

00:25:44.683 --> 00:25:49.437
Come Lord Jesus. Come Lord Jesus. His victory came through obedience to God.

00:25:49.693 --> 00:25:54.933
That's the example how we should live. Sacrifice. He died on the cross. The death.

00:25:55.253 --> 00:26:00.275
And then he rose again. This is, I mean, Satan activity has already ceased.

00:26:00.467 --> 00:26:07.990
Scripture teaches that the final judgment and complete removal of evil remains a future event.

00:26:08.257 --> 00:26:10.086
Revelation 20.20.

00:26:10.376 --> 00:26:14.033
Let's look at Revelation 20.20. I'm sorry, Revelation 20.10.

00:26:14.618 --> 00:26:19.355
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,

00:26:19.645 --> 00:26:26.408
where the beast and the false prophets are, and should be tormented day and night forever and ever.

00:26:26.652 --> 00:26:30.204
The final victory happens when Jesus returns again.

00:26:30.430 --> 00:26:35.230
So how do we manage until he comes? Listen, through obedience.

00:26:35.463 --> 00:26:40.124
Sacrifice, what's that sacrifice look like to you? What do you need to give

00:26:40.124 --> 00:26:42.683
up to prepare for the coming of Jesus?

00:26:42.969 --> 00:26:47.560
What needs to die in your life so that you can prepare for Jesus?

00:26:47.803 --> 00:26:52.308
And what does Jesus need to resurrect to represent himself in you,

00:26:52.511 --> 00:26:55.844
in your life? He's coming back to do that, but he's already here.

00:26:56.954 --> 00:27:01.804
You need to get into that flow with him now. So when the real fight happens,

00:27:01.804 --> 00:27:04.714
you already know that you are a winner.

00:27:05.010 --> 00:27:10.833
And not just in him coming, that is like, you know, that's a done deal.

00:27:11.058 --> 00:27:13.108
But what are you doing now? to prepare?

00:27:13.386 --> 00:27:16.614
What are some things you need to get rid of now? How do you need to prepare

00:27:16.614 --> 00:27:19.110
your heart for now? Let's continue.

00:27:19.383 --> 00:27:23.374
So when we think about this, that we know that Christ's victory was already

00:27:23.374 --> 00:27:26.585
been decisively secured.

00:27:26.870 --> 00:27:32.106
So Jesus already defeated the devil. It's done. It's not like he defeated the devil.

00:27:32.513 --> 00:27:36.896
There's a final fight that's going to happen, but he's going to lock them up for a while.

00:27:37.122 --> 00:27:42.016
So he's already won. He gets around here as a roaring lion, you know,

00:27:42.202 --> 00:27:45.418
but in the end, he's already been defeated.

00:27:45.708 --> 00:27:48.351
And you need to know that so you can walk in victory.

00:27:48.671 --> 00:27:51.601
You know, how does this relate to the coming of Jesus? He's saying like,

00:27:51.601 --> 00:27:52.999
what does this got to do with Jesus?

00:27:53.243 --> 00:27:56.238
This is a whole different avenue. I told you on this podcast,

00:27:56.546 --> 00:28:01.041
we don't just jump to the, this is what, you know, go through the seven churches.

00:28:01.041 --> 00:28:04.597
You read, you heard all about the seven churches. You probably read revelations

00:28:04.922 --> 00:28:07.633
more than me, but how do we get there?

00:28:07.842 --> 00:28:13.311
How do we get to that space where when Jesus comes, we're not crying and hiding

00:28:13.311 --> 00:28:18.094
under, under our beds that we're ready. We've already defeated the enemy in our life.

00:28:18.343 --> 00:28:21.521
We're standing strong and victorious. We start now. We're so bad.

00:28:21.521 --> 00:28:26.191
We're defeating the enemy and our children lives and our family lives and our friends life.

00:28:26.463 --> 00:28:29.639
That's when you know, you're ready. That's when you know, you're ready.

00:28:29.888 --> 00:28:32.843
So how does this help us understand the coming of Jesus?

00:28:33.110 --> 00:28:38.259
We understand the coming of Jesus because he was born for this. And guess what?

00:28:38.433 --> 00:28:44.571
When we accept him into our heart, we are born to do this. And I have a section

00:28:44.571 --> 00:28:49.225
when I close out the podcast where you can accept Jesus into your heart.

00:28:49.590 --> 00:28:52.911
It's always about you deciding to choose Jesus.

00:28:53.271 --> 00:29:00.097
You decide that I am going to choose Jesus. Jesus gave us the spiritual victory

00:29:00.394 --> 00:29:02.872
that humanity could never secure for itself.

00:29:03.070 --> 00:29:08.641
His fulfillment, his coming fulfilled God's ancient promise that the serpent

00:29:08.641 --> 00:29:10.378
would ultimately be defeated.

00:29:10.651 --> 00:29:13.728
He is defeated. Remember, he's a created being, right?

00:29:14.243 --> 00:29:19.155
Jesus did not come merely to improve human behavior. He came to deliver humanity

00:29:19.155 --> 00:29:21.540
from sin and destroy the works of the devil.

00:29:21.742 --> 00:29:25.165
What's the main thing? It's kind of like when you think about sin.

00:29:25.545 --> 00:29:29.255
Kind of like it's, if you, I'm thinking of a way that I can say it without sounding

00:29:29.255 --> 00:29:32.859
gross, but it's kind of like flies on dog poop, right?

00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:37.915
You know, when you have sin in your life, it seems like you got flies everywhere.

00:29:38.193 --> 00:29:41.787
Things ain't going right for you. You know, and flies can be irritating.

00:29:42.059 --> 00:29:47.175
They can be dirty. They can be nasty. right? But when we say we accept Jesus

00:29:47.175 --> 00:29:50.935
to our heart, the flies don't go away. We just start to defeat them.

00:29:51.197 --> 00:29:56.601
There's a fly in my house right now. And I'm like, no fly, you need to die in the name of Jesus.

00:29:56.874 --> 00:30:00.395
And when I go downstairs, I'm not going to go chase after this fly.

00:30:00.395 --> 00:30:04.786
I'll come down to go downstairs and the fly is dead. And I didn't do anything

00:30:05.018 --> 00:30:11.166
because this area in my life, there's a no fly zone. My pastor spoke on this, no fly zone.

00:30:11.305 --> 00:30:14.271
If you read the book of Israel, one of the flags was flies.

00:30:14.486 --> 00:30:19.258
But the Israelites lived in Goshen. They didn't have to suffer through flies.

00:30:19.473 --> 00:30:24.673
That's a very physical example of how God protects us from the devil.

00:30:24.911 --> 00:30:29.095
When we don't have any sin in our lives, flies can't stick to us.

00:30:29.230 --> 00:30:33.194
Flies can't fly around, right? I got one fly, and I'm like, okay,

00:30:33.421 --> 00:30:35.749
I'm going to go downstairs, and this fly is going to be dead,

00:30:36.074 --> 00:30:38.105
period. This is a no-fly zone.

00:30:38.256 --> 00:30:41.588
The Spirit of God lives in here, not the spirit of the enemy.

00:30:41.855 --> 00:30:45.391
So that's one way you can check your heart if you're prepared.

00:30:45.652 --> 00:30:50.355
You know, how much power do you have over a fly? He came to destroy the works

00:30:50.355 --> 00:30:53.651
of the enemy. Is a fly an enemy? It's an irritant.

00:30:54.023 --> 00:30:55.967
But flies can come in other ways too.

00:30:56.472 --> 00:31:00.591
And we'll go over that later. So how do we connect this to the coming of Jesus?

00:31:00.591 --> 00:31:04.195
We're going to talk about the scripture, what it reveals in connection to Christ.

00:31:04.195 --> 00:31:08.211
We see here that Isaiah 7, 14 is a promise birth.

00:31:08.500 --> 00:31:13.115
Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. So right away, we know that we'll never be alone

00:31:13.115 --> 00:31:17.109
without Jesus. He came the first time and when he left to go back to heaven,

00:31:17.336 --> 00:31:20.480
he left his spirit here. So we're protected, God with us.

00:31:20.881 --> 00:31:24.886
Isaiah 9, 6-7 says, identity and authority of the Messiah.

00:31:25.269 --> 00:31:29.043
Jesus came with authority and power to destroy the works of the devil.

00:31:29.449 --> 00:31:33.257
But we also, in the name of Jesus, have that same authority.

00:31:33.820 --> 00:31:39.335
Jesus is the promised king whose kingdom will never end. Galatians 4 talks about

00:31:39.677 --> 00:31:41.239
the appointed time and purpose.

00:31:41.523 --> 00:31:45.495
You know, we like to rush things, but God is very patient. He has appointed

00:31:45.495 --> 00:31:48.547
time and a purpose for Jesus to come.

00:31:48.716 --> 00:31:53.336
He came in the first as a baby, and he's coming again as a king of kings.

00:31:53.563 --> 00:31:57.731
That Jesus came to redeem humanity and bring believers into God's family.

00:31:58.126 --> 00:32:02.245
I get this feeling that Jesus, you know, you ever been to like,

00:32:02.245 --> 00:32:04.064
everybody like the clean house, period.

00:32:04.424 --> 00:32:07.727
Especially if you go to a nice hotel and it's just clean. You just, you love that.

00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:12.505
I think Jesus is coming back to clean up all the mess. Get rid of all the dog poop.

00:32:13.108 --> 00:32:17.621
Causing all these flies. Show his love and his example of who he is.

00:32:17.621 --> 00:32:21.641
You can get that now so that you don't have to live in a room of flies or even

00:32:21.641 --> 00:32:26.081
a room of dog poop, right? That you can live in victory with Jesus.

00:32:26.191 --> 00:32:30.191
And then finally in 1 John 3a, it says his spiritual mission,

00:32:30.534 --> 00:32:35.764
his spiritual mission that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.

00:32:35.990 --> 00:32:40.391
If you have someone who may be suffering from anything, you know,

00:32:40.391 --> 00:32:44.661
and they don't believe that Jesus came, let them read the New Testament and

00:32:44.661 --> 00:32:47.879
begin to document all the miracles of Jesus.

00:32:48.111 --> 00:32:51.130
And authors say that that's not even half the miracles.

00:32:51.397 --> 00:32:53.237
If it was, the book would be too big.

00:32:53.562 --> 00:33:00.226
But he shows specific miracles to demonstrate his power over the devil. Amen.

00:33:00.638 --> 00:33:03.732
So when we bring these four scriptures together, we discover that the coming

00:33:04.023 --> 00:33:07.639
of Jesus was much more than the birth of a child in Bethlehem.

00:33:07.999 --> 00:33:12.277
Isaiah announced his coming. Paul explained his timing and redemption purpose.

00:33:12.463 --> 00:33:16.757
John revealed the spiritual victory he came to accomplish.

00:33:17.088 --> 00:33:21.313
Before the manger, there was a promise. Before Bethlehem, there was prophecy.

00:33:21.313 --> 00:33:24.234
Before the crucifixion, there was a divine purpose.

00:33:24.472 --> 00:33:31.850
And before Satan deceived humanity in the Garden of Eden, God was not unaware of what would happen.

00:33:32.129 --> 00:33:37.113
The coming of Jesus demonstrates God's faithfulness to his word and his determination

00:33:37.113 --> 00:33:39.588
to accomplish his redemption purposes.

00:33:39.879 --> 00:33:46.258
The manger reveals his entrance into the world. The cross reveals the sacrifice he made for sin.

00:33:46.537 --> 00:33:50.032
The resurrection declares his victory over death.

00:33:50.415 --> 00:33:56.713
His promised return assures believers that God's eternal kingdom will be fully established.

00:33:56.951 --> 00:34:00.903
Jesus came for the first time to accomplish redemption.

00:34:01.943 --> 00:34:08.677
He will come again to complete the fulfilled work of God's kingdom promise.

00:34:09.014 --> 00:34:13.349
I love that. But wherever God starts, he finishes it. He's not done.

00:34:13.668 --> 00:34:16.343
He's not done with you. He's not done with me. And this is why the coming of

00:34:16.343 --> 00:34:19.810
Jesus must be understood through the whole counsel of scripture.

00:34:20.164 --> 00:34:23.061
Beginning in Genesis and continuing through Revelation.

00:34:24.216 --> 00:34:27.548
The birth of Christ was not the beginning of God's plan.

00:34:27.653 --> 00:34:34.114
It was the fulfillment of the promise of God had revealed throughout generations.

00:34:34.703 --> 00:34:38.563
So before Bethlehem, there was a promise. To understand Jesus' turn,

00:34:38.563 --> 00:34:42.283
we must go back before his birth, before Bethlehem, before Mary,

00:34:42.283 --> 00:34:47.488
before David, before Israel became a nation, before Moses received the law.

00:34:47.773 --> 00:34:49.566
The promise begins in a garden.

00:34:49.874 --> 00:34:52.724
Jesus opens with the creation.

00:34:53.102 --> 00:34:56.881
God created the heaven and the earth. He created light.

00:34:57.200 --> 00:35:02.819
He creates light, land, seas, plant animals, and he created humanity.

00:35:03.301 --> 00:35:07.846
Adam and Eve lived in the presence of God without shame, separation,

00:35:07.991 --> 00:35:11.088
sickness, suffering, or death. How would that be?

00:35:11.568 --> 00:35:15.088
You can live in the presence of God without shame, separation,

00:35:15.088 --> 00:35:16.441
sickness, suffering, or death.

00:35:17.368 --> 00:35:21.948
Genesis 1 repeatedly tells us that what God created was good.

00:35:21.948 --> 00:35:23.989
Then Genesis 3 changes everything.

00:35:24.354 --> 00:35:28.075
The serpent entered the story. Eve is deceived. Adam disobeys.

00:35:28.481 --> 00:35:33.155
Sin enters human experience. and immediately things begin to break.

00:35:33.369 --> 00:35:37.786
Fear appears, shame appears, blame appears, separation appears.

00:35:38.031 --> 00:35:42.718
Human beings hide from God, from the presence they once enjoyed.

00:35:42.718 --> 00:35:45.699
This is the beginning of the broken world we recognize today.

00:35:45.994 --> 00:35:50.418
But something remarkable happened. God did not wait until Revelation to announce

00:35:50.418 --> 00:35:52.693
that the evil will eventually be defeated.

00:35:52.950 --> 00:35:58.388
He speaks while humanity is still standing in the wreckage of the fall. I love that.

00:35:58.679 --> 00:36:01.929
God is an on-time God. People always say God is late.

00:36:02.168 --> 00:36:06.892
No, he's an on-time God. He comes exactly when you need him.

00:36:07.142 --> 00:36:10.018
At the time, we didn't know we needed him, and he was there.

00:36:10.018 --> 00:36:14.338
And we read in Genesis 3.15 that God speaks directly to the serpent.

00:36:14.338 --> 00:36:19.928
He says, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and behold,

00:36:19.928 --> 00:36:22.919
I seed and her seed. And then comes a promise.

00:36:23.238 --> 00:36:26.483
I should bruise thy head, and thou should bruise his heel.

00:36:26.611 --> 00:36:32.567
The serpent would be wounded, but the coming seed would be crushed.

00:36:32.880 --> 00:36:37.385
This verse is traditionally being called the first announcement of the gospel,

00:36:37.640 --> 00:36:43.312
the first glimpse in scripture that a deliverer will one day come and defeat the enemy.

00:36:43.463 --> 00:36:48.757
Humanity had barely fallen before God began speaking about redemption.

00:36:49.018 --> 00:36:55.903
Before Adam and Eve left Eden, God had already declared, someone is coming.

00:36:56.088 --> 00:36:58.614
Come on now. He's already there.

00:36:59.130 --> 00:37:02.602
Before they left the garden, he didn't have to figure it out.

00:37:02.793 --> 00:37:04.535
He didn't catch them by surprise.

00:37:04.784 --> 00:37:07.337
He had already planned our redemption.

00:37:07.604 --> 00:37:10.571
At the moment of the fall, redemption was planned.

00:37:10.896 --> 00:37:14.771
The woman and the promise. Something especially beautiful about the language

00:37:14.771 --> 00:37:16.904
God uses. He says, her seed.

00:37:17.223 --> 00:37:20.782
A woman stands near the beginning of the biblical promise of redemption.

00:37:21.113 --> 00:37:25.021
The enemy had approached the woman in the garden, but God announced that through

00:37:25.021 --> 00:37:30.377
the offspring of a woman should eventually come the one who will crush the serpent.

00:37:30.685 --> 00:37:34.331
Thousands of years later, Paul writes in Galatians 4.4,

00:37:34.725 --> 00:37:41.221
but when the fullness of time has come, God sent forth his son made of a woman,

00:37:41.500 --> 00:37:43.231
and then Mary comes on the scene,

00:37:43.531 --> 00:37:48.911
a young woman, not a queen, not a military commander, but someone the world

00:37:49.231 --> 00:37:50.962
would have considered powerful.

00:37:51.293 --> 00:37:54.393
Yet God chose her to carry Jesus.

00:37:54.752 --> 00:38:02.276
The promise spoken in Genesis begins to move towards fulfillment in the womb of a woman.

00:38:02.821 --> 00:38:06.477
God spoke the promise before they could see the answer.

00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:11.261
Imagine Adam and Eve standing there. They have never experienced death before.

00:38:11.574 --> 00:38:15.382
They have never experienced grief. They have never experienced disease.

00:38:15.678 --> 00:38:19.074
They have never experienced fear, but everything has changed.

00:38:19.376 --> 00:38:23.801
They could not possibly understand all the consequences of what had happened.

00:38:23.801 --> 00:38:28.661
But before they could fully comprehend what had been lost, God began speaking

00:38:28.661 --> 00:38:31.305
about what he would eventually restore.

00:38:31.717 --> 00:38:33.517
That tells us something important about God.

00:38:34.057 --> 00:38:38.788
God can speak hope while we are standing in the middle of brokenness.

00:38:39.305 --> 00:38:45.353
God can speak hope to us while we're standing in the middle of brokenness and not knowing what to do.

00:38:45.603 --> 00:38:51.100
What do we need to do? Sometimes we believe God will speak after everything has been repaired.

00:38:51.367 --> 00:38:55.396
Come on now. After the marriage change, after the doctor gives better news,

00:38:55.657 --> 00:39:00.603
after the money comes, after the child comes home, after grief lifts,

00:39:00.882 --> 00:39:02.867
after he understands what happened.

00:39:03.860 --> 00:39:05.884
But Genesis shows us something different.

00:39:06.250 --> 00:39:12.038
God spoke redemption while the consequences were still unfolding.

00:39:12.485 --> 00:39:18.590
And Adam and Eve had not yet left the garden. Humanity has not yet experienced

00:39:18.590 --> 00:39:20.095
generations of suffering.

00:39:20.542 --> 00:39:25.888
And God was already talking about victory. That's the nature of biblical hope.

00:39:26.138 --> 00:39:30.490
Hope does not pretend that nothing is wrong. Hope looks directly at what is

00:39:30.490 --> 00:39:34.892
broken and still believe that God will have the final word.

00:39:35.130 --> 00:39:39.420
I hope that filled you with faith, that God doesn't wait until the good news

00:39:39.420 --> 00:39:41.231
comes. He is the good news.

00:39:41.463 --> 00:39:45.160
He's speaking through you, through your brokenness, through your heart pain,

00:39:45.160 --> 00:39:47.071
through your grief, through your loss.

00:39:47.297 --> 00:39:52.806
He is speaking to you about a victory if you trust in him, if your eyes are on him.

00:39:53.218 --> 00:39:57.061
I said, keep your eyes on the sky because Jesus is coming back through the clouds.

00:39:57.334 --> 00:40:02.470
But what about now? Are you keeping your eyes on the prize that he says,

00:40:02.470 --> 00:40:05.557
I'm here in the middle of your mess?

00:40:05.721 --> 00:40:10.330
Come on now. I'm in the middle of your mess. Many times as I think about things

00:40:10.330 --> 00:40:15.110
that I've got involved in and how God was in the middle, right there at the

00:40:15.110 --> 00:40:17.661
point of breaking, breaking down.

00:40:17.864 --> 00:40:21.509
He says, no, lift your head up. This is what it's going to look like.

00:40:21.881 --> 00:40:27.947
And when he says that it didn't happen the next day, it took like three or four years. And then I saw it.

00:40:28.735 --> 00:40:34.285
And then it happened. Genesis 3.15 also begins one of the longest waits in biblical history.

00:40:34.581 --> 00:40:38.720
God says something was coming, but Jesus did not appear the next morning.

00:40:38.981 --> 00:40:40.583
Generations would come and go.

00:40:40.978 --> 00:40:44.212
Adam would die. Eve would die. Their children would have children.

00:40:44.513 --> 00:40:48.797
Nations will rise. Empires will fall. Centuries will pass.

00:40:49.117 --> 00:40:52.234
Yet the promise remained. Someone is coming.

00:40:52.368 --> 00:40:56.710
Then God spoke to Abraham, the promise became clearer, then Judah,

00:40:56.964 --> 00:40:58.724
then David, then the prophets.

00:40:58.950 --> 00:41:04.376
Isaiah would speak of a child who would be born. Micah would identify Bethlehem.

00:41:04.678 --> 00:41:09.449
Daniel would see an everlasting kingdom. Generations after generation received

00:41:09.449 --> 00:41:12.869
another piece of the story, but they were still waiting.

00:41:13.209 --> 00:41:17.479
What does God teach us about waiting? This is one of the first truths we must

00:41:17.479 --> 00:41:19.498
learn before studying the return of Jesus.

00:41:20.044 --> 00:41:26.963
God's promise, his promises can be certain even when their fulfillment is not immediate.

00:41:27.248 --> 00:41:31.663
You know, we have planted these seeds and the Lord is talking to me about seeds

00:41:31.663 --> 00:41:35.903
and I have a devotional on the garden of our heart, but I'm not going to preach it here.

00:41:35.903 --> 00:41:40.471
I just want to share with you that even though we're waiting on God to come,

00:41:40.814 --> 00:41:43.182
we still plant those seeds of hope.

00:41:43.473 --> 00:41:47.483
You know, when you have a garden and you start from a seed, you know that seed

00:41:47.483 --> 00:41:51.553
takes about 40 to 60, sometimes 90 days to germinate.

00:41:51.814 --> 00:41:56.303
And that one seed can produce a huge plant. That one collard green seed can

00:41:56.303 --> 00:41:59.793
plant you a whole lot of collard greens, a whole lot of corn,

00:41:59.793 --> 00:42:04.735
a whole lot of beans, a whole lot of vegetables just from one seed.

00:42:05.083 --> 00:42:08.873
And so what God is sharing with me, they keep your seed in the ground.

00:42:08.873 --> 00:42:14.267
We always talk about our seed of our tithes and offering, but the seed of hope

00:42:14.441 --> 00:42:16.008
needs to stay in the ground.

00:42:16.316 --> 00:42:20.073
Don't pull it up too early because you know it's going to die, but let it sit.

00:42:20.902 --> 00:42:27.044
Let it germinate under the ground. Let your faith be germinated under the soil of life.

00:42:27.264 --> 00:42:32.767
So when it comes time, when that sprout pops up, it's ready to produce life

00:42:33.028 --> 00:42:39.633
enough to feed you, your family, and your generation. So don't get stuck when you don't see anything.

00:42:40.033 --> 00:42:44.933
You keep your eyes on the prize. And you know, if you watch it, you ever planted,

00:42:45.561 --> 00:42:50.083
like a little garden and not, I love using seeds because you can plant one seed

00:42:50.083 --> 00:42:55.058
in each little space and that seed is going to produce a lot of food.

00:42:55.296 --> 00:42:59.273
So people put two or three seeds and you got to replant it. One seed is enough.

00:42:59.573 --> 00:43:05.263
One little bag of seed is worth so much when you take your time and you let

00:43:05.263 --> 00:43:08.234
it just germinate as it goes.

00:43:09.157 --> 00:43:15.282
Let it germinate because God promises can be certain even when the fulfillment is not immediate.

00:43:15.560 --> 00:43:20.003
We are in this fast food society where we finding out that fast food is poison

00:43:20.003 --> 00:43:22.085
to our body. Can I get an amen to that?

00:43:22.602 --> 00:43:26.903
Somehow somebody thought it was a great idea to have a drive-thru, go get your food.

00:43:27.112 --> 00:43:31.872
I don't know about you, but after COVID, the food has went down a long way.

00:43:32.087 --> 00:43:36.560
And so I've learned to take my little seed money, go get some food from the

00:43:36.560 --> 00:43:41.470
grocery store, sometimes the farms, a meat market, and I can take that $40 that

00:43:41.470 --> 00:43:42.919
I'm going to pay through that drive-thru,

00:43:43.233 --> 00:43:47.981
have enough food to last at least for a week or two because it's just me, right?

00:43:48.219 --> 00:43:52.759
And so even though, come on now, that God promises can be certain,

00:43:53.061 --> 00:43:55.190
even when their fulfillment is not immediate.

00:43:55.405 --> 00:43:59.033
We often measure God's faithfulness by our calendars.

00:43:59.259 --> 00:44:02.295
If God promised it, we expect it soon.

00:44:02.498 --> 00:44:08.982
If it does not happen soon, we begin to question whether we heard him correctly.

00:44:09.104 --> 00:44:13.023
One thing God shared with me too, he says, Connie, I've not forgotten you.

00:44:13.226 --> 00:44:19.140
It's a seed. It needs time to germinate. And so that was just a joy in my heart.

00:44:19.140 --> 00:44:24.133
And I told you the journal, the garden of your heart is going to be so good when we get there.

00:44:24.406 --> 00:44:30.258
But it's like allowing that seed to germinate, allowing God's word to say, Jesus is coming soon.

00:44:30.455 --> 00:44:33.503
And if you don't come by the mile, then you back to the street life.

00:44:33.834 --> 00:44:38.810
That's not what he wants. He wants that seed to grow and be rooted inside of

00:44:38.810 --> 00:44:44.027
you so big that even the devil can't shake you. You know, God is coming.

00:44:44.225 --> 00:44:45.658
His promises are coming.

00:44:45.908 --> 00:44:48.822
All you got to say is yes and amen. Come Lord Jesus, come.

00:44:49.107 --> 00:44:53.633
You know, but scripture teaches us that God can make a promise in one generation

00:44:53.854 --> 00:44:56.153
and fulfill it many generations later.

00:44:56.420 --> 00:44:59.380
So that prayer you have for your children, your grandchildren,

00:44:59.380 --> 00:45:02.555
your future grandchildren, don't stop praying. Why?

00:45:02.770 --> 00:45:08.488
Because you will see that fruit in your children if you just be what? Patient.

00:45:08.790 --> 00:45:13.660
Let that seed germinate. That was a good word for me when he shared that with me.

00:45:14.032 --> 00:45:18.130
And he was just so much more. I don't want to share it now. But how that seed

00:45:18.130 --> 00:45:20.139
will grow if you leave it alone.

00:45:20.296 --> 00:45:22.223
Stop pulling it up, looking at it.

00:45:22.496 --> 00:45:26.745
You know, let the seed grow in Jesus' name.

00:45:27.256 --> 00:45:33.281
Time does not make God less faithful. Jesus eventually came exactly as God promised.

00:45:33.554 --> 00:45:38.337
And that mattered tremendously for this time and for this devotional.

00:45:38.645 --> 00:45:44.044
Because Jesus, come on now, came. The same Jesus who fulfilled the promise of

00:45:44.044 --> 00:45:46.708
his coming had promised a second coming.

00:45:47.149 --> 00:45:55.495
If God kept his first promise, amen, we can be sure without a doubt that he will keep his second.

00:45:55.762 --> 00:45:58.502
You got a woman in the word. Think about the story here.

00:45:59.001 --> 00:46:04.244
Eve, a woman standing between a loss and a promise. Now, Eve business,

00:46:04.244 --> 00:46:07.584
you know, we read it in the Bible. It's just straight, you know.

00:46:08.579 --> 00:46:11.232
Sometimes things that we do don't make the front page news.

00:46:11.569 --> 00:46:15.626
But whatever Eve did made the front page biblical news.

00:46:15.957 --> 00:46:22.024
Not to embarrass her, but to show us what can happen when your news is front page.

00:46:22.244 --> 00:46:28.473
You know, God right away was right there in the middle of rescuing her, but she did not see it.

00:46:28.699 --> 00:46:33.047
She did not see it. It happened in her sons, right? Even...

00:46:33.657 --> 00:46:38.452
It says, Eve is often remembered primarily for the fall. She ate the forbidden fruit.

00:46:38.713 --> 00:46:43.142
She gave it to Adam, sent entered into the human story.

00:46:43.328 --> 00:46:46.898
But if we stop there, we miss another part of her story.

00:46:47.339 --> 00:46:50.345
Eve also stood there when God announced redemption.

00:46:50.827 --> 00:46:54.195
She heard these words. She said, her seed. Think about that.

00:46:54.195 --> 00:46:58.735
You've just did something so traumatic. You made front page news and God begins

00:46:58.735 --> 00:47:03.069
to talk to you about redemption. He begins to talk to you about restoration.

00:47:03.261 --> 00:47:07.645
He begins talking about you gonna be a part of the story even though you messed

00:47:07.645 --> 00:47:10.279
up, you know? So imagine what that meant to her.

00:47:10.459 --> 00:47:13.838
She had participated in an action that changed everything.

00:47:14.238 --> 00:47:18.963
Yet God spoke of her future, then still held out hope. Remember,

00:47:19.294 --> 00:47:23.921
don't let your seed, don't dig up your seeds of hope. Plant those seeds of hope.

00:47:24.420 --> 00:47:28.275
Water those seeds of hope with prayer. Let that seed germinate in the ground.

00:47:28.275 --> 00:47:33.265
Eve didn't get to see it, but we get to see it Because her seed originated again

00:47:33.265 --> 00:47:34.927
in most all the women in the Bible.

00:47:35.154 --> 00:47:37.525
Why? Because we're from one blood.

00:47:37.865 --> 00:47:42.005
Her failure did not prevent God from carrying out his plan. Your failure does

00:47:42.005 --> 00:47:44.633
not prevent God from carrying out his plan.

00:47:44.749 --> 00:47:50.942
He does not remove responsibility from what happened, but it demonstrates the depth of God's grace.

00:47:51.081 --> 00:47:55.575
Sometimes women carry a painful belief that I ruined everything.

00:47:55.575 --> 00:47:56.474
Come on, we've been there.

00:47:56.660 --> 00:47:58.796
I made the wrong decision. I've been there.

00:47:59.127 --> 00:48:05.094
I chose the wrong relationship. Oh, yes. I've been there. I ignored the warning. Hey me. I've been there.

00:48:05.536 --> 00:48:11.590
I wasted years. Yes. I should have known better. Yes. I should have done something different. Yes.

00:48:11.863 --> 00:48:17.000
But each story reminds us of that human failure does not have the authority.

00:48:17.250 --> 00:48:23.862
Come on, listen. Your human failure does not cancel God's redemption plan for your life.

00:48:24.170 --> 00:48:29.139
God can meet us in yesterday's consequences and still speak about tomorrow.

00:48:29.353 --> 00:48:32.842
I remember it was a drastic time in my life, very drastic time in my life.

00:48:32.842 --> 00:48:34.433
And I'm still going to church.

00:48:34.619 --> 00:48:39.982
And then it was a female prophet and she began to speak Jeremiah 29,

00:48:40.203 --> 00:48:45.422
11 over my life. It was verse, yeah, Jeremiah 29, 11. He spoke that scripture

00:48:45.422 --> 00:48:47.847
over my life. At the time, it meant something.

00:48:48.044 --> 00:48:50.726
But every time I read it, it means something else.

00:48:51.040 --> 00:48:56.270
In the middle of my destruction that I thought was over, God was speaking restoration to me.

00:48:56.595 --> 00:49:01.112
He was speaking, come on, redemption to me. So don't allow the devil to allow

00:49:01.112 --> 00:49:03.190
him to beat you up because you did something wrong.

00:49:03.480 --> 00:49:08.862
Allow the God of the Bible, the faithful God, the God who sent Jesus the first

00:49:08.862 --> 00:49:14.792
time, who's going to send Jesus the second time, speaking to your heart about your tomorrow.

00:49:14.792 --> 00:49:18.851
And I read that scripture and I kept reading it. I'm reading it.

00:49:19.182 --> 00:49:23.772
Life is getting better, but slow, slow process, right? But at the end,

00:49:23.772 --> 00:49:25.318
there was a restoration.

00:49:25.672 --> 00:49:29.155
There was a redemption. There was something that God was working.

00:49:29.358 --> 00:49:34.452
And he wanted me to keep my eyes on him and not on what just happened or occurred

00:49:34.452 --> 00:49:37.044
in my life. So what does that look like today?

00:49:37.550 --> 00:49:41.861
Maybe you are standing in a season that does not look like the life you imagined.

00:49:41.861 --> 00:49:44.410
You thought you'd be further along by now.

00:49:44.753 --> 00:49:49.159
You expected a relationship to last. You expected your children to make different choices.

00:49:49.490 --> 00:49:55.108
You expected your finances to be stronger. You expected the healing to happen sooner.

00:49:55.485 --> 00:50:00.461
You expected a career to look different. You expected the prayer to have been answered.

00:50:00.629 --> 00:50:06.632
And somewhere along the way, life changed. Sometimes because of circumstance beyond our control.

00:50:07.195 --> 00:50:10.545
And sometimes because decision we made ourselves.

00:50:10.678 --> 00:50:14.684
Now you're looking at the pieces and wondering what happens from here.

00:50:14.916 --> 00:50:16.739
Genesis 3 gives us an answer.

00:50:17.093 --> 00:50:23.577
God can begin speaking about redemption before you have figured out how everything went wrong.

00:50:23.849 --> 00:50:27.141
God will speak to you in your dreams. He will speak to you as you wake up in

00:50:27.141 --> 00:50:29.573
the morning. He will speak to you through your workday.

00:50:30.113 --> 00:50:36.574
He will give you hope for your future. Jeremiah 29, you have a hope and expect it in for your future.

00:50:36.864 --> 00:50:41.744
So don't allow what has happened in the past to prevent you from connecting with Jesus.

00:50:41.976 --> 00:50:46.713
I think that's kind of the story of today is like he's coming. This is the promise.

00:50:46.928 --> 00:50:51.055
The promise, do you believe that you are worthy? Come on now,

00:50:51.282 --> 00:50:53.900
to be delivered, to be restored.

00:50:54.539 --> 00:50:58.683
Do you think that you're worthy? You know, God is always speaking about our redemption.

00:50:59.188 --> 00:51:02.543
Your story does not have to end at the place where something broke.

00:51:02.857 --> 00:51:06.595
You can still have another chapter. You can still be the purpose.

00:51:07.135 --> 00:51:10.578
You can still be the restoration. There still can be a promise.

00:51:10.850 --> 00:51:16.801
Genesis 3.15 points us towards Jesus. Jesus came. The serpent wounded his heel.

00:51:17.056 --> 00:51:20.458
Christ suffered. He was betrayed, beaten, crucified, buried.

00:51:20.864 --> 00:51:24.481
For a moment, it looked like the evil has won. But Jesus rose.

00:51:24.684 --> 00:51:26.239
The grave could not hold him.

00:51:26.535 --> 00:51:30.399
The resurrection declared that death does not have the final word.

00:51:31.208 --> 00:51:35.929
Yet even the resurrection is not the end of the story. Jesus ascended into heaven,

00:51:35.929 --> 00:51:38.732
and before he left, he gave another promise.

00:51:38.894 --> 00:51:42.068
He said in John 14, 3, I will come again.

00:51:42.179 --> 00:51:47.322
So once again, humanity finds itself waiting on the fulfillment of a promise.

00:51:47.589 --> 00:51:52.219
The first believers waited, their children waited, generation after generation

00:51:52.219 --> 00:51:54.114
has waited, and now it's our turn.

00:51:54.398 --> 00:51:59.832
But Genesis gives us a reason to believe because we can look backwards and see

00:52:00.099 --> 00:52:02.990
God promised the Messiah, the Messiah came.

00:52:03.222 --> 00:52:05.671
Therefore, Jesus says, I will come again.

00:52:05.973 --> 00:52:09.787
We are not waiting for the word of someone who has not proven himself.

00:52:09.921 --> 00:52:14.189
We are waiting for the one who has already fulfilled the promises.

00:52:14.189 --> 00:52:16.782
As we close out, I just want to do a quick heart check.

00:52:17.136 --> 00:52:21.969
Where in my life, this is a question for you, Am I standing between something

00:52:21.969 --> 00:52:25.025
broken and something God may still redeem?

00:52:25.536 --> 00:52:29.484
Has the length of my waiting caused me to question God's faithfulness?

00:52:29.693 --> 00:52:34.436
If God kept his promise concerning Jesus coming, what would change if I truly

00:52:34.436 --> 00:52:39.486
trusted his promise concerning his return? Here go an encouraging word from my ladies.

00:52:39.826 --> 00:52:43.960
Women of God does not confuse waiting with abandonment.

00:52:44.337 --> 00:52:49.916
Jesus teaches us that God can announce victory while the battle is still appearing

00:52:49.916 --> 00:52:51.007
unfinished. I love that.

00:52:51.396 --> 00:52:55.007
He can say you're winning, even though it don't look like you're winning,

00:52:55.222 --> 00:52:57.532
you're winning. I remember I had to read scripture.

00:52:57.869 --> 00:53:02.236
I was fasting. I was praying because I believe that this was the issue I had

00:53:02.236 --> 00:53:04.092
was going to be redeemed, restored.

00:53:04.394 --> 00:53:09.676
It didn't happen in a minute. It took about a couple of years and then God showed

00:53:09.676 --> 00:53:11.923
up and then he called me to the ministry.

00:53:12.207 --> 00:53:15.586
What happened? I would have said, forget this. I'm going to just continue to.

00:53:16.246 --> 00:53:18.871
Do evil, right? Or continue to not trust God.

00:53:18.999 --> 00:53:23.806
That's the main scripture that I pray on the prayer when you listen to it,

00:53:23.806 --> 00:53:28.107
but I want to read it to you now as we close this out, Jeremiah 29, 11.

00:53:28.362 --> 00:53:31.066
This is going to be in the King James Bible. Let me find it.

00:53:31.066 --> 00:53:35.421
For I know the thoughts I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace,

00:53:35.543 --> 00:53:39.350
not of evil, to give you an expected end.

00:53:39.588 --> 00:53:43.268
Take that as your own because you may not see the full complete picture yet.

00:53:43.559 --> 00:53:47.877
You may not know the story, the whole story, how that story will turn.

00:53:48.179 --> 00:53:51.417
You may still be standing in circumstances you never wanted,

00:53:51.726 --> 00:53:56.364
but God who spoke hope in Eden still speaks hope today.

00:53:56.678 --> 00:54:01.686
The enemy may wound, life may hurt, waiting may seem long, but none of those

00:54:01.686 --> 00:54:03.406
things get the final word.

00:54:03.661 --> 00:54:07.318
God does. The final promise was fulfilled. Jesus came.

00:54:07.446 --> 00:54:14.128
Because he came once, we can trust his words when he says, I will come again. Let's pray. Father.

00:54:14.661 --> 00:54:20.123
In the name of Jesus, thank you that you did not abandon humanity when sin entered into the world.

00:54:20.442 --> 00:54:24.621
Thank you that even in the garden, when everything seemed broken,

00:54:24.621 --> 00:54:26.857
you were already speaking about redemption.

00:54:27.078 --> 00:54:32.308
Help me remember that what I see today is not necessarily the end of my story.

00:54:32.436 --> 00:54:37.971
When I become discouraged by waiting, remember me, remind me of every promise

00:54:37.971 --> 00:54:39.209
you have already fulfill.

00:54:39.533 --> 00:54:44.271
When I begin to believe that God has forgotten me, remind me that your timing

00:54:44.271 --> 00:54:46.133
is not evidence of your absence.

00:54:46.359 --> 00:54:50.649
Teach me to trust you in a space between the promise and the fulfillment.

00:54:50.917 --> 00:54:54.469
Help me to believe that you can redeem what has been broken,

00:54:54.719 --> 00:54:58.904
restore what has been lost, and bring purpose upon the painful places.

00:54:59.119 --> 00:55:03.949
Most of all, help me to live with confidence in Jesus' promises.

00:55:04.059 --> 00:55:06.928
You sent him once exactly as you said you would.

00:55:07.666 --> 00:55:11.498
And he has promised to come again. Until that day, give me faith to wait.

00:55:11.788 --> 00:55:16.850
Give me encouragement to live. Give me hope that when life becomes difficult,

00:55:17.117 --> 00:55:20.966
and keep my heart ready for the return of the soon-and-coming King.

00:55:21.140 --> 00:55:24.385
In Jesus' name, amen. Come, Jesus, come.

00:55:24.629 --> 00:55:28.274
You fulfill your first promise of Jesus' coming, Lord.

00:55:28.634 --> 00:55:31.241
Help me to trust the promise that you will come again.

00:55:31.885 --> 00:55:36.667
Until then, teach us how to wait with hope. Plant seeds of hope and let those

00:55:36.667 --> 00:55:38.809
germinate. Come, Jesus, come.

00:55:39.082 --> 00:55:43.302
This has been your host, Connie Morris. This is the Diary of a Black Woman podcast,

00:55:43.494 --> 00:55:46.501
and I'll see you on the next episode.

00:55:46.745 --> 00:55:50.506
Before we close today, I don't want to take for granted that everyone listening

00:55:50.773 --> 00:55:52.196
knows Jesus personally.

00:55:52.584 --> 00:55:57.007
If you have listened to this episode or any other episodes and felt something

00:55:57.007 --> 00:56:02.116
stirring in your heart, maybe you know about God, but you're not sure you truly know Him.

00:56:02.302 --> 00:56:06.493
Maybe you grew up in church, walked away, got hurt, became tired,

00:56:06.876 --> 00:56:09.217
and never fully surrendered your life to Jesus.

00:56:09.597 --> 00:56:14.027
I want you to know this, God loves you. He has not forgotten you.

00:56:14.027 --> 00:56:15.979
He is not waiting to shame you.

00:56:16.147 --> 00:56:19.113
He is calling you home.

00:56:19.287 --> 00:56:23.293
The Bible says in Romans 10, 9, if you declare with your mouth,

00:56:23.508 --> 00:56:30.768
Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

00:56:30.972 --> 00:56:33.404
Salvation is not about being perfect.

00:56:33.613 --> 00:56:36.521
It's about surrendering to the one who is perfect.

00:56:36.840 --> 00:56:44.253
Jesus died for your sins, rose again, and made a way for you to be forgiven, restored, and made new.

00:56:44.370 --> 00:56:47.887
So right where you are, you can pray this prayer with me.

00:56:48.038 --> 00:56:53.205
Lord Jesus, I come to you today with an open heart. I believe you are the Son of God.

00:56:53.593 --> 00:57:00.054
I believe you died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that God raised you from the dead.

00:57:00.216 --> 00:57:04.375
Today, I confess that I need you. I repent of my sins.

00:57:04.675 --> 00:57:11.141
I ask you to forgive me, cleanse me, and make me brand new. Jesus, come into my heart.

00:57:11.460 --> 00:57:15.255
Be my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer, and my King.

00:57:15.635 --> 00:57:20.597
I surrender my life to you. I give you my past, my present, and my future.

00:57:20.882 --> 00:57:24.806
Teach me how to walk with you. Fill me with your Holy Spirit.

00:57:25.073 --> 00:57:29.035
Lead me in truth, healing, obedience, and love.

00:57:29.355 --> 00:57:31.895
From this day forward, I belong to you.

00:57:32.275 --> 00:57:36.287
In Jesus' name, amen. If you pray that prayer from your heart,

00:57:36.450 --> 00:57:40.769
I want you to know that heaven has heard you. This is not the end.

00:57:41.099 --> 00:57:45.981
This is only the beginning of your walk with Jesus. Find a Bible-believing church.

00:57:46.156 --> 00:57:47.996
Begin reading the Word of God.

00:57:48.269 --> 00:57:51.339
Pray daily and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow.

00:57:51.618 --> 00:57:56.378
God is not looking for perfection from you. He is inviting you into relationship,

00:57:56.686 --> 00:58:00.239
transformation, and eternal life through Jesus Christ.

00:58:00.349 --> 00:58:02.346
And remember, you are loved.

00:58:02.590 --> 00:58:06.508
You are not forgotten. And God still has a purpose for your life.

00:58:06.769 --> 00:58:09.730
Thank you for listening to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

00:58:09.927 --> 00:58:14.391
Until next time, keep walking in truth, faith, and freedom.

00:58:25.347 --> 00:58:28.528
Family, thank you for spending time with me today.

00:58:28.801 --> 00:58:32.467
To every woman listening who has ever felt hidden, overlooked,

00:58:32.467 --> 00:58:34.925
or pushed aside, hear me clearly.

00:58:35.192 --> 00:58:39.737
God has not forgotten you, and neither have I.

00:58:40.126 --> 00:58:44.898
Now let's go before the Lord and close this out with a word from God,

00:58:45.310 --> 00:58:49.739
because someone out there needs this reminder today.

00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:53.994
Jeremiah 29, 11, verses 11 through 14.

00:58:54.424 --> 00:58:59.277
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you

00:58:59.277 --> 00:59:03.178
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

00:59:03.474 --> 00:59:08.222
Then when you call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you,

00:59:08.484 --> 00:59:13.797
you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

00:59:13.797 --> 00:59:19.861
I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and bring you back from captivity.

00:59:20.291 --> 00:59:26.192
Father God, we thank you for your word, that it is true, that it is living, that it is for us.

00:59:26.343 --> 00:59:31.387
You said you know the plans you have for us, plans to prosper us and not to

00:59:31.387 --> 00:59:34.296
harm us, plans to give us hope and a future.

00:59:34.586 --> 00:59:38.895
So today we receive that, not just in our minds, but in our hearts.

00:59:39.120 --> 00:59:42.829
When we feel overlooked, remind us you still see us.

00:59:43.114 --> 00:59:48.350
When we feel forgotten, remind us you still have a plan. And when we feel hidden,

00:59:48.664 --> 00:59:50.881
remind us you are still working.

00:59:51.165 --> 00:59:54.329
Your word says that when we call on you, you will listen.

00:59:54.660 --> 00:59:57.853
So we call on you now. Hear us. Strengthen us.

00:59:58.103 --> 01:00:02.433
Guide us. Help us to seek you with our whole heart, not halfway,

01:00:02.636 --> 01:00:04.598
not sometimes, but fully.

01:00:04.895 --> 01:00:09.265
And as we seek you, let us find you in every season, in every place.

01:00:09.782 --> 01:00:15.001
Even the hidden one. Restore what was lost, renew what feels broken,

01:00:15.320 --> 01:00:19.738
and remind us that nothing in our lives is wasted in your hand.

01:00:20.132 --> 01:00:26.325
Lord, we trust you, we believe you, and we stand on your word. In Jesus' name, amen.

01:00:26.644 --> 01:00:30.719
This is Diary of a Black Woman podcast, and I'm your host, Connie Morris,

01:00:30.986 --> 01:00:33.726
and I'll see you on the next episode.