Unshakable Hope Is Right In Front of You - Louie Giglio

0:25 Starting an Unpredictable Year with Unshakable Hope. And I don't know about you, but we're barely through January, and I would say it's been an unpredictable year already. Collectively, but I'm guessing for a lot of people in the gathering today, it's been an unpredictable year for you personally. That there are already things in your story that you hadn't calendared in your ICAL. Already things that have come into your journey that you hadn't accounted for, budgeted for, prepared for, anticipated. And to think that this subtitle could be so audacious, an unshakable hope, 100% is going to be an unpredictable year. I think everyone would agree on that. 2025 is going to be an unpredictable year. But how bold to say that in that there could be unshakable hope. And last week we were looking at a life verse for a lot of people, Jeremiah 29, 11, but we learned that when we zoomed out from, I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord.

1:27 And we saw the bigger story that hope even got more robust than it was just in 29, 11. And we ended that message last week by saying that the hope ultimately is not a place. In other words, it's not the plan and it's not the place. A lot of us will say, I would have hope if God would show me the plan, or I would have hope if God would get me back home to the place where I'm now in exile from. But what he went on to say from verse 11 in verse 12 is that the hope is not a place. There is a place. God does have a plan for our life. He has a plan for your life. He does want to bring you into that place that he has for you or bring you back to that place wherever you drifted away from. But notice what he says in verse 12. Then you will, after you know these plans I have for you, declares the Lord, you will call on me and come and pray to me. Notice how this shifts. You will call on me and you'll come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be founded by you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place. So he does want to bring you to the place. God's got a good and spacious place for you, and he wants to bring you into that place. But he wants you to understand that it's not about the place. It's about the person who is bringing you into the place. The hope isn't a destination. The hope God has for your life is a relationship with him. And that's the promise. The promise isn't just, I'll get you somewhere. The promise is me. And we see this in the larger title of this collection, Though One

3:36 thing. There are five places in scripture where we see the one thing or one thing. And one of those I want us to look at today because it helps us get into the place where we understand that it's about a relationship with God that's so substantial and real that it gives us hope, unshakable hope, when everything around us is uncertain. And that's found in Psalm 27. This is one of the one things in scripture. I wonder, David's about to tell us his one thing. I wonder what your one thing is. I always have been captivated by the verse we're about to read. I remember being a college student at Georgia State. I was having a revival with Jesus, and I'd be walking from Georgia State to my job at Phillips Arena, which is now State Farm Arena, and I'd be walking down Marietta Street thinking about this verse that we're about to read right now. It absolutely captured me in that moment. When I began preaching and teaching in my 20s and would go to youth groups and lock-ins and youth retreats and things like that, I was preaching about knowing God out of this verse right here. And I was captivated by it because David said, of all the things I need from the Lord, I'm a king, I'm a warrior, I'm a leader, and of all these things I need, there's one thing that rises above it all. And I wonder, just before we look at David's one thing, what is your one thing?

5:04 I was just thinking about it. If God let you come to him directly and literally in this moment and said, I will do one thing, whatever you ask me for 2025 for your life, I'll do it. But you only get one thing. And we'd be, oh, okay, we need some time with that. I'll get back to you. Come back around tomorrow. Or maybe you already know what the one thing is. What would be your one thing if you got one thing from God or you desired one thing of God for 2025? David tells us what his is in verse 4, Psalm 27. One thing I asked from the Lord, in this only, look how focused he is, do I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Now, I thought you said, Louis, that it's not about place.

5:58 You said it's about person, and that feels like a place right there. And it is, and we'll talk about that in a moment. But David was living in a different day. And in David's day, when he said house to the Lord, he didn't mean 515. He was talking about the temple as a spatial representation of God on earth. And he said, that's where I want to be. I want to get to the place where God meets man. That's where I want to be. and I want to dwell there all the days of my life. I love that. That challenges me today. It's not like I can make it a couple Sundays. He said, I want to dwell in that place all the days of my life, but here's what I'm aiming for. Here's my one thing. I want to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. That feels like going back to Jeremiah and then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you and you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

6:58 I will be found by you. And here's David now saying, this is my one thing. Lord, I need some help with this and I definitely am leaning on you for this and I'm definitely trusting you for this and I'm definitely gonna be in every way I can clinging to you for this, but here's my one thing. If I get one thing, I'm gonna dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, not just to be in the building. I want to gaze on the beauty of the Lord. And I want to seek him in his temple. I want to know the person who is hope when everything around me is uncertain. Like, well, what is this gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple? What does that have to do with hope?

7:54 Well, David has already told us in verse one. The Lord and David went through so much, so much trial, so much up, so much down. His life was on display for all of us now in history. He had good days. He had bad days. He got it right. He got it wrong. He faced a lion. He faced the bear. He faced Goliath. He faced people within his own inner circle. He was a valiant leader. He had all kind of challenges. But here's where his hope was. The Lord is my light and my salvation. In other words, it is a person who is my light and a person who is my salvation. Therefore, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Not my relationships, not my alliances, not my finances, not my gifts, not my experiences, not my wisdom. God himself is the stronghold of my life.

8:55 of whom shall I be afraid? And then he comes down and we're like, that sounds like what I need, this whole thing about gazing on the beauty of the Lord, not sure about that yet, seeking him in his temple. But look, you only have to go one sentence. Verse five, for in the day of trouble, has anybody been in the day of trouble?

9:19 He will keep me safe in his dwelling. he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. What David is saying is it's possible for us to know Jesus in such a way, to be so connected to him in such a way that in any circumstance our hope doesn't fade. And the way that you get there is practical. And I want to talk practical for a little bit today. How do we get to this one thing? Brother Lawrence called this the practice of the presence of God. Has anybody heard of that little book, little paperback book? Anybody that's still around with anybody? A few people? It was a compilation of his meditations, his thoughts, his writings published in 1692. And what Brother Lawrence was encouraging was a constant communion with God, a gazing on the beauty of the Lord, an infatuation, if you will, not with the things of God, but with God, such that it transformed our very state of being.

10:32 And that's what God's offering today. That's why I say this message is profound today. These practical steps are pretty practical, but the outcome of them is extraordinarily profound. And I believe could change the temperature of our lives in this year. There are a few practical things I want to lead us to. Number one, if we're going to get to this life, the practice of the presence of God, if we're going to get there, we have to come to the place where we seek God's face more than we seek God's hand.

11:06 Does that make sense to anyone? If I'm not careful, God becomes utilitarian to me. You say, well, what does that mean? That sounds complicated. it means that if I can handle it, I handle it. If it escalates to something I can't handle, I get God involved. Anybody? If I know how to figure it out, I'll just figure it out. But if I don't know how to figure it out, I'll call a friend and ask them to pray for me.

11:36 If I can pay for it, I'll pay for it. But if I don't know how to pay for it, I'll call on the Lord who provides. And that's not the relationship that God was hoping for. He was hoping for, I want you, not just what you can do. I actually want you. And so for us, we've got to have a mental shift. Let's all take that right now. Let's all make a mental shift right now. In 2025, I will seek the face of God before I will seek the hand of God. Do I need the hand of God? Does anybody need the hand of God? I do. Do I need help? Do I need to be delivered? Do I need to be protected? Do I need to be provided for? Do I need to be guided? Do I need to be held? Amen to all of that. But before I put God in the role of what can you do for me, I want to put God in the role of I just want to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek you.

12:40 Seek you. not seek what you can do for me. This is what David said. It's right here in the text. It says in verse eight, a few verses down, my heart says of you, seek his face. Oh, come on, somebody. And so the response is your face, oh Lord, I will seek. I don't know who this quote is attributed to, but someone said, and I've always loved this, if you seek God's hand, if your whole thing is, I need to know what God can give me. Can he point and lead me? Can he hold and protect me? If that's all you're seeking is his hand, then you're going to miss his face. But the person went on to say, if you seek his face, you'll get his hand also. The second thing, and similar to it, is that there has to be another paradigm shift. A paradigm shift is when you take the whole way that you do whatever you do and do it a different way. And this paradigm shift, and please stay with me on this, I'm in the mystery of the word of God. And so just bear with me that the shift is from simply the word of God to the God of the word.

14:09 I wasn't expecting any response right there, and I'm two talks in, and I've got zero. So that's what I was expecting. People were like, I don't know what you're talking about right now. That sounds really like it can't be true. Stay with me. This, just to back up again, is the living word of God. And this living word of God is God breathing, and it is God. The word became flesh, John 1 says, and dwelled among us. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Jesus is the word of God. So this is our lifeline. This is everything to us. But if we're not careful, what happens is it becomes a book of truths and principles. And so our focus is on God's word, and it should be, but that should lead us beyond the word of God to the God of the word.

15:04 To put it in more New Testament terms, beyond just simply the teachings of Jesus to the Jesus of the teachings so that I don't end up having a nugget for the day and missing him. I was thinking about this point, and it was taking me all the way back to the late 80s. And I know that's terrible, and I am one of the older people here, maybe the oldest person here. But it was taking me all the way back to the late 80s. And I was just flying around places to speak, not very often. Shelly, at that point, when we were going from her family in Houston to my family in Atlanta, we were doing that drive back and forth. There was no flying back in the days. But I was flying somewhere on this occasion, probably to speak at some youth thing, and I was sitting in the gate in the airport. And I knew a little bit about NBA players because I had worked for the Hawks while I was in college, and I kept the visiting team locker room.

16:03 So I actually set up and kept a locker room for guys like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and, I mean, the golden age, if you will, before Michael Jordan, if there was such a thing before Michael Jordan in the NBA. And I knew players and I knew the Hawks, but I knew all the players. And I look across the gate and there is a little clump of players sitting there whose team has just won the NBA championship. The Detroit Pistons, they were called the bad boys, if anybody is an NBA person from way back. Anybody even remotely know what I'm talking about right now? A little clump of them were sitting there. And this was before celebrity culture had really taken off. And they're just sitting there. And I recognize them immediately. One of them is a hall of famer, one of the nicest guys that I ever had the chance to be around in that job of working around NBA players, just a class guy and a phenomenal player.

17:03 And he's just sitting like right where you're sitting, closer than you, right where you're sitting. And I'm like, all right. Wouldn't remember me because I'm just the guy on the fly on the wall who's doing the towels and the chairs and the, you know, the heat packs and all that kind of stuff. But I remember you. The weirdest thing was, I don't, sorry, hang on. There's a guy sitting on the road right in front of me in the gate reading the newspaper. Now I brought a newspaper because I was going to tell this story. And I know a lot of you've never seen a newspaper. So I brought this. especially for the YA crowd that's up close up here. This is actually printed on paper. I'll leave it down here. You can come feel it and touch it afterwards. There's a guy, this is the USA Today, by the way. This is where the newspaper got in real life. This is the weekend edition. So this is three days worth. And here's the sports section back here. That's what you get.

18:00 that's it anybody used to read the Atlanta journal constitution it was about 12 pages every single day they printed it every day amazing the guy is reading the paper he's holding it up like this I'm sitting about right here dude is sitting about right there and I'm not kidding you on this page right here all across the top half is an article about them just winning the NBA championship. I learned from some eavesdropping, which I'm fairly adept at, that they were on their way to one of their friend's private event in his hometown. And they were flying to a small town in Louisiana where I was going. Guy's reading the paper. And the photo is that guy holding the NBA championship trophy. This big.

18:55 headline. He's just reading away. And I didn't want to be that guy to go up and be like, hey, man. So I didn't say anything. But I always thought to myself, because I'm going everywhere. The Lord will lead me preaching one thing I ask of the Lord, and that will I seek.

19:22 And from that moment on, I must have shared in 500 sermons about the dude with the newspaper. And I said, what if the guy had just put the paper down? The guy you're reading about, he's sitting right in front of you. and I just, you know, obviously, it's an illustration. You don't want to push illustrations, but I wonder if things would be different in our hope quotient if we weren't just looking for a verse on hope, but at some point, God help me, we put the paper down and realize that the person who's speaking the verse on hope is actually in the room with us while we're reading the verse on hope that the person spoke about themselves on hope.

20:26 And when he said, I am the God of all hope, we could put the paper down and go, I just heard you say that you're the God of all hope and you are in this place with me right now. Are you kidding me? The God of all hope is in this place with me? Is that really true? Can I really count on that today? Because I need you. and then my message the rest of the day isn't wow I got an incredible insight in my bible study today praise God for that study the bible but what if the message is I had the most phenomenal time with Jesus today through his word I wasn't getting some random intercepts now I was in his word but I knew that if I put the paper down that the God of the word of God was actually in the room in the hospital room in the I can't get out of bed today room.

21:29 in the delivery room. And we just closed the biggest deal on our company's history conference room. and they said if we didn't come up with it today that we were gonna have to forfeit everything room, that God is in the place. It's a paradigm shift. Number three, to get to this practical place where knowing him is our one thing, and that impacts everything about our ability to hope, is this reality that we have to embrace the greatest promise of God. Number one, we have to know what the greatest promise of God is, but then we have to embrace, oh, I've got a great promise from God. What if I ask you today, what do you think God's greatest promise to you is? And this is just me. This isn't like written down somewhere that this is the greatest promise of God. This is, I can't think of anything when I go through scripture more powerful than this. And I believe the most landscape changing promise from God for you in 2025 is this promise right here. I am with you.

22:58 You're like, that sounds nice, but I was kind of hoping for a little more detailed folio that had some information in it. Of course, we all are. That's nice, but I was hoping that maybe a diagram or two would be cool. Here's how you're going to get from here to here.

23:25 And he says, here's the promise. I am with you. Isaiah says it this way in Isaiah 41. So do not fear. Say it with me if you can see it. Do not fear why. Say it with me. For I am with you. not do not fear because A, B, and C. No, do not fear. I am with you. Do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And then Jesus, at the last of Matthew 28, he's given the greatest mission in the world. This is the mission.

24:08 This is it. He said, to the ends of the age, and to see lives changed and empty graves.

24:45 That sounds hopeful. How are we gonna do that? What's the plan? He says, oh, by the way, and the last thing, the very last thing, say it with me, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. this is what he was trying to say to Moses and we talk about this all the time around passion seeing the plight of his people he says I've indeed seen the misery of my people I've heard them crying I'm concerned about their suffering so I've come down to rescue them and not only am I going to rescue them I'm going to lead them into a good and spacious land the cry of the Israelites has reached me I've seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them so now go that's where it all changed for Moses I love the fact that you've heard your the cry has reached you that you're concerned that you're coming down that you're going to rescue that you're going to lead us to a great land but then it all shifts that all sounds very hopeful this is like Pastor Grant in the back of my mind saying you should get your hopes up I've heard I'm concerned I'm on it.

26:00 I'm coming. I'm moving. I'm going to deliver. I'm going to lead. I'm involved. Get your hopes up. And so the hopes are like way up here. And then in one second, he says, now go. I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites out. And as soon as he says that, all the hope that we had, somebody stuck a pin in that. And it just started going. Just like that.

26:35 It's like when God comes to us and he says, I promise you. And then all of a sudden, in one little turn, we're like, oh, wait a minute. I'm not sure if I can do that. Oh, wait a minute. I'm not sure if I'm able. I'm not sure if I'm the right person. I don't have the confidence to do that. And then all the hope dissipates, just like that. So how do you get the hope back? where you find out what the hope was rooted in to start with. And God said, probably one of my top 10 favorite verses in scripture. And God said, Moses, bro. or bruh you can do it.

27:18 I believe in you. and God said, say it with me, I will be with you. The end. I'm sorry, Moses. You're the agent. the deliverance in the promised land is the result. But the promise was, I'll be with you. And that's what he's promising you right now. The situation might not change today, man. but he's saying I'm here. No one else may be here, he's telling you today, but I am here. I woke up this morning thinking about a friend of mine and someone that's known to our church that's just been through a hard few days, week.

28:17 And they were on my heart when I, first thing when I woke up today, and I just texted him, and this is all, you know, like when you're, some of you've preached before, but, you know, preaching is just sleeping through this all night, you know, all jumbled up and coming at different angles and different ways, and so when you wake up, you're like, first thing I thought when I wake up is, you're here. And then all of a sudden, this person was on my heart, and I texted him and just said, hey, I just wanted you to know, and I woke up today, I was thinking about you. And I know a lot of people are thinking about you. I know more people than you could ever imagine are probably thinking about you today and praying for you today. And I said, I just need you to know today that God is saying to you again today, I am here.

29:03 His situation is exactly the same today as yesterday. so I can't offer any, hey, everything's going to change. His situation is irreversible. but there's a promise still. In the irreversible situation that you are in today, I am here.

29:30 Things might not get better. In fact, they might get worse, but I am here. Yes, there are challenges ahead, but I am here. I know you feel abandoned, and maybe it's not that you feel abandoned. Maybe you are abandoned, but I need you to know today, I am still here. I know your loved one is gone, but I'm here. I know you can't see the way out, but I am here, and day and night, they are the same to me. I know you feel like you are too far gone to ever get back, but I just need you to know that as far gone as you are, I am here. You did not outrun God. You did not outrun me. I am still with you. I am here. That's God speaking today. I know that you feel like you can't go one more step, but I'm here.

30:24 I know that you feel like you can't carry it, but I'm here and I can carry it and carry you. I am here. It's the greatest promise that God has given you. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. In the brightest day, in the darkest night, in the greatest joy, in the greatest pain, I am with you. The hope, friends, is not in a plan. The hope is in the reality that God is here. Just quickly as we close, number four, I just want to encourage you to constantly acknowledge him.

31:09 Brother Lawrence, in that little book, The Practice of the Presence of God, said we should fix ourselves firmly in the presence of God by conversing all the time with him. We should feed our soul with a lofty conception of God. And from that derive great joy in being his. By conversing all the time with God. This is the goal. Not just in the majestic moments, but in the mundane moments, that I'm always striving to be in an unbroken conversation with the Almighty. and the things that you would think matter to him and the things that you wouldn't.

31:56 I shared in this revival time of mine, coming out of high school and into college, when I still had dreams of tennis for my life, I would be hours a day with a ball machine or with a coach or with another player or with a wall. Anybody in tennis world just ever out there with the wall for a while? I spent more time with the ball machine and the wall and a friend than anything else I did in the day. But I had learned that Jesus didn't despise the wall, that he liked the wall. You know the wall where you hit the ball for hours and hours and muscle memory your strokes. I learned that when I said to him, I'm so excited to go to the wall with you today, he didn't go, what are you kidding me?

32:49 I'm the king of kings. I don't do walls. And if you want to do like an intercessory prayer thing, I'll come for that. Or if you're doing like a major like inductive Bible study, I'll come for that. But are you kidding me? You're walking your dog? You can walk the dog. That's awesome. You're folding the laundry. You're doing a spreadsheet. You're what? You going to redo the shingles in your house today?

33:17 I'll send Peter. No. He wants you. And he wants to be in whatever it is. I think I'm going to go to the Sonic drive-thru. Would you like anything? Just a joke. Just a joke. I know. No. It'd be weird. So I'll have one and Jesus will have one also.

33:48 But if you don't know he's in there when you went through the drive-thru, you are missing it. And when the wind blows, your hope is going to evaporate. David said, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? For you, you are with me. Not for he is with me. You are with me. He made the shift. He matured. He grew up from God reminding him, I am with you. I am with you. I am with you. I am with you. I am with you. I'm with you. I'm with you. He grew up to you. You are with me. Oh, fear no evil. who's your first call good or bad, who's your first call? Oh my word, I got a call. I want so bad to get to the place in life where my first call is Jesus.

34:44 I can't believe this just happened. Jesus, thank you that you are with me. I'm about to call so-and-so, but I need you. That's a shift, and you've got to make it. number five give your cares and dreams to him one by one I did an interview with Max Lucado a few months ago that we released as we're dropping a new podcast this week, season. And I asked him, Max Lucado, if you don't know, is maybe the most prolific Christian author of our lifetime or a lot of lifetimes. I said, what rhythms do you have that keep you connected with God? He said, well, Louis, this morning, I went downstairs and sat on my couch where I meet with the Lord and open his word.

35:38 And in that time, sitting on my couch today, I gave everything I'm doing today individually to Jesus, including this conversation that I'm having with you, my friend, Louie. that's what it looks like when the one thing is moving into your heart i would encourage you to get to the end of the day and do the same thing and just tell them again i can't fix any of this stuff or or change anything in my life while i'm asleep but you can so i give you this and i need to give you her and i need to give you them and i need to give you all of it. Name it. Start the day, give it to him. End the day, give it to him. And then lastly, affirm his character by faith in every moment. That's the gaze. That's what the gaze is all about. This word gaze, it actually is a word in Hebrew that means to behold. In fact, your Bible you're holding in your lap or on your phone may say behold, to behold the beauty of the Lord. And I love that because, you know, we got all off on this a while back, but God's name is I am.

36:58 That's the verb to be. It really is just be because the present tense form of the verb to be, just going really fast through some grammar. It's be, it's his name. So when we behold, we hold be. We take hold of be. We're gazing at the beauty of the Lord. We're just saying, And I want to be hold.

37:22 And so as I'm going through the day, I'm remembering his characteristics. And I'm just praising no matter what the circumstance, because we're connected in this conversation. And I say, God, I want to thank you right now and praise you right now that you're strong. I want to praise you right now that you already know how this is going to end up. You already know the outcome. I praise you right now that you love me. The circumstance doesn't look super loving, but I know that you love me, and I praise you that you love me right now. I praise you that you're trustworthy. I want to praise you right now that you're not afraid because I'm tipping towards afraid right now, but I praise you that you're with me, and you've never been afraid. You don't even know what it feels like to remotely be afraid, and you are with me right now. The unafraid God is with me in this moment, and I praise you, God, that you are working because you're always working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working it. I praise you that you have a plan.

38:15 Even though I don't know what it is, you have a plan. That's what it means to behold the beauty of the Lord. You're looking at his facets. You're looking at his facets. You're looking at his vast character. And as you see his character, you're calling it out. You're praising him. You're lifting it up. And as you do that, your hope is stabilizing in the character of God. one thing I've asked of the Lord and that's what I'm going to seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze Lord give us grace to gaze on the beauty and to seek him in his temple. Tim Keller, and I'll just close with this. He said, you should never go to God because he is useful.

39:10 Just stay with him. Go because he's beautiful. And yet there's nothing more useful than finding God beautiful.