We Have His Hope!!

Colossians 1

We are walking in today:  We Have His Hope!!

Witness hope throughout the Bible:  H8615 tiqvah--hope, expectation; things hoped for, outcome

Ruth 1:12 Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, H8615 if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons;

The Torah testifies...............

***

The prophets proclaim..................

Zechariah 9:12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: H8615 even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;

The writings bear witness...........................

Psalm 71:5 For thou art my hope, H8615 O Lord The Most High: thou art my trust from my youth.

Jeremiah 31:17 And there is hope H8615 in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

People generally fall into one of three groups: the few who make things happen, the many who watch things happen, and the overwhelming majority who have no notion of what happens. Every person is either a creator of fact or a creature of circumstance. He either puts color into his environment, or, like a chameleon, takes color from his environment. Or to put it another way: Some people are thermometers. They conform completely to their environment. Their behavior is definitely determined from without. Other people are thermostats. Instead of allowing their environment to control them, they determine the environment. Everyone must come to the conclusion that success is not a comparison of what we have done with what others have done. It is simply coming up to the level of our best, making the most of our abilities and possibilities.

MANY LOOK, FEW SEE…

Who you are is related to where you came from.

A Sculptor works in a very interesting way. I’m an artist of sorts, so I have a bit of an understanding how artists work. One thing I have learned is that you never argue with an artist until he finished. Don’t discuss anything with a painter or a sculptor until his work is completed. An artist can be very rude if you disturb him before he has accomplished what he intends to do, because he sees differently than those who are not artist.

An artist can walk by the stone in you front yard and see a figure in it. He may stop by your house and beg you for a stone you have walked past many times without noticing. The dogs may have been doing stuff on it. You may even have been planning to get rid of it because it is a nuisance. But the artist walks into your yard and sees something beautiful in that stone beyond what you can imagine.

Two months later when the artist invites you to his workshop he says, “Do you see that? Do you know where that came from?” “England or France?” you ask. “No,” says the artist. “It came from your yard.” “Do you mean…?” “Yes.” “Five hundred dollars, please.” You were sitting on $500. The dogs were doing stuff on $500. But you couldn’t see the potential in the rock.

YOU ARE NOT JUNK

There are many people who are being passed by because others don’t see what is in them. But The Most High has shown me what’s in me, and I know it is in you too. My job is to stop you and say: “Can you see what’s in you? Do you know your potential? Do you know that you are not just someone born in a ghetto over the hill? There’s a wealth of potential in you.”

A sculptor sees so differently. They say Michelangelo used to walk around a block of marble for days—just walking around it, talking to himself. First he would see things in the rock; then he would go and take them out.

Insight like that of a sculptor is seen in the Bible. When the world dumps and rejects you, and you land on the garbage heap of the world, The Most High walks along and picks you up. He looks deep within you and sees a person of great worth.

Don’t ever let anybody throw you away. You are not junk. When The Most High looks at you, He sees things that everybody else ignores. You are worth so much that Yeshua went to Calvary to salvage and reclaim you. The Spirit of The Most High connected to your spirit is the only true judge of your worth. Don’t accept the opinions of others because they do not see what The Most High sees.

The Most High LOOKED AND SAW

The Most High looked at Adam and saw a world. He looked at Abraham and saw nations. In Jacob, a deceiver, He saw a Messiah. In Moses the murderer, The Most High saw a deliverer. Can you imagine looking at a stammering young man and seeing the greatest leader in history?

The Most High saw a king in a shepherd boy. When the Israelites wanted a king, The Most High sent Samuel to the home of Jesse. When Jesse heard why Samuel was there, he dressed up all his sons—the handsome one, the tall one, the curly-haired one, the strong one, the muscular one. All the sons of Jesse twirled out before Samuel, from the greatest to the least. With his vase of anointing oil, Samuel watched Jesse’s show as he presented his sons: “This is my intelligent son who graduated from the University of I Don’t Know What.” After the guy gave a speech, Samuel said, “No.” The next son came out dressed like Pat Paulson and The Most High said, “No.” A third son gave a nice speech about philosophy and again The Most High said, “No.” Finally, after Jesse had paraded all of his sons before him, Samuel said, “I’m sorry. None of these is The Most High’s choice for king. Do you have any other sons?”

Then Jesse said, “Yes…well no. I just remembered. I do have a little boy, my youngest son. He’s just a little runt who’s out taking care of the sheep. He’s not dressed up like my other sons, nor have his hands been manicured and his body scented with perfumes from the East. This guy’s really smelly because he’s been out with the sheep for quite some time.”

“Bring him,” Samuel replied. “Let me look at him.”

So Jesse sent for his youngest son. When Samuel saw Jesse’s youngest son walk into the house, a little boy, he began to unscrew the lid of his vase. “I think I have found the guy I’m looking for,” Samuel said. (Notice that The Most High chose the son who was out working. He was busy. The Most High chooses busy people.)

Most of us are like Jesse. We look, but we don’t see. Were you the black sheep in your family? (You know The Most High likes sheep.) Has your family told you that you are a nobody? Have you been put off and put out and told so many times that you will amount to nothing that you have begun to believe it? Do you feel like the black sheep?

You are probably the one The Most High is waiting for in the house. The Most High sees things deep within you that others can’t see. They look at you and see a nobody; The Most High looks at you and sees a worthwhile somebody. You may spend your whole life competing with others—trying to prove that you are somebody—and still feel like nobody. Be free from that today! You do not have to live with that any longer. You don’t have to try to be somebody, because you are somebody.

YOU CAME OUT OF THE MOST HIGH

When The Most High created the heavens and the earth, He first decided what He wanted to make something out of and then He spoke to that source. When The Most High wanted plants He spoke to the dirt. When The Most High wanted fish He spoke to the waters. When The Most High wanted animals He spoke to the ground. Whatever The Most High spoke to, became the source from which the created thing came.

Plants thus came from the dirt, fish from the water and animals from the ground. Furthermore, plants return to the dirt, fish return to the sea and animals return to the ground when they die.

All things have the same components and essence as their source. What The Most High created is, in essence, like the substance from which it came. That means plants are 100 percent dirt because they came from dirt. Animals are 100 percent dirt because they came from the ground. If we would take an animal apart, we would come up with genuine dirt. If we would put a plant under a microscope and decipher all the different components, we would find that everything in that plant is in dirt, because the plant is dirt. The Most High called it from the dirt.

Not only are all things composed of that from which they came, they must also remain attached to that source in order to live. All things must be maintained and sustained by where they came from. The minute a plant decides it doesn’t like the earth anymore, it dies. The minute the fish decide they are tired of water, they die. The minute animals decide, “We don’t want to eat any more dirt,” they begin to die.

Thus, whatever The Most High created came from that to which He spoke. All things were created by The Most High’s word to a source. The source of the creation also becomes, then, the essence of that creation. All things are composed of whatever they came from and hence contain the potential of that source. That means plants only have the potential of the soil. Animals only have the potential of dirt.

All things are composed of whatever they came from and hence contain the potential of that source.

When The Most High wanted fish, He spoke to the water. When He wanted animals, He spoke to the dirt. When The Most High created human beings, He spoke to Himself. Then The Most High said, “Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness…” So The Most High created man in His own image, in the image of The Most High He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:26-27). The Most High created you by speaking to Himself. You came out of The Most High and thus bear His image and likeness.

LOOK AT THE INVENTOR, NOT THE INVENTION

Never use the creation to find out who you are, because the purpose of something is only in the mind of the One who made it. That is one of the reasons why The Most High has a tremendous problem with idol worship. How can you identify your ability by worshipping a snake? How can you find out your worth by believing that you will come back as a rat or a roach? How dare you believe that your purpose for existence can be discovered in a relationship with a wooden statue? You will never know yourself by relating to the creation, only to the Creator. The key to understanding life is in the source of life, not in the life itself.

Many of the inventions man has produced would be misunderstood if only the invention were considered and not the intention of the inventor. In other words, the man who created the refrigerator had in his mind what it was supposed to be used for. He did not intend that it should be used for a trap in the backyard for a kid to be locked in and die from suffocation. Even though thousands of children have died in refrigerators, that was not the inventor’s intention.

The automobile is tearing out lampposts all over the world and destroying people’s homes and lives. But Mr. Ford, who first developed the assembly line to mass produce the automobile, never thought about it that way. He was thinking about transporting people and helping the human race to become a mobile community. He started us to thinking about trolleys and trains and buses. The many people who died through accidents and derailments were not part of his intention. They were not in his mind when he designed his famous T. Ford automobile.

YOU HAVE PART OF The Most High

You will never discover who you were meant to be if you use another person to find yourself. You will never know what you can do by using what I’ve done to measure your ability. You will never know why you exist if you use my existence to measure it. All you will see is what I’ve done or who I am. If you want to know who you are, look at The Most High. The key to understanding life is in the source of life, not in the life itself. You are who you are because The Most High took you out of Himself. If you want to know who you are, you must look at the Creator, not the creation.

There are three words we use to describe The Most High. First, The Most High is omniscient—which means He is all knowing. Second, The Most High is omnipresent— which means The Most High is present everywhere. Third, The Most High is omnipotent—which means The Most High is always potent. The Most High is always full of power—He has in Him the potential for everything. From the beginning, The Most High gave that same ability to be potent to all His creation. He planted within each person or thing He created—including you—the ability to be much more than it is at any one moment. Thus The Most High created you to be omnipotent.

That is not to say we are equal to The Most High. No. What I am saying is that the word omnipotent relates not only to The Most High, but to us as well. We are always full of potential. Our potential is the dormant ability, reserved power, untapped strength and unused success The Most High designed into each of us. What I see when I look at you is not all you are. It is only what you have become so far. Your potential is much greater than what you are right now. What you will become is much more than we could ever believe now. You are somebody because you came out of The Most High, and He leaked some of Himself into you.

The Most High PRONOUNCES WHAT HE SEES

How you feel or what others say about you is not important. You are who The Most High says you are; He sees in you more than you can possibly imagine. Your potential is limited only by The Most High, not others.

Coward or Warrior?

The Most High came to a frightened young man named Gideon. Gideon obviously thought The Most High was talking to someone else when the angel of the Lord called him a mighty warrior (Judges 6:12). The angel didn’t say, “Oh, coward. Do you know you have strength?” Nor did the angel say, “Oh black man, do you know that you can be like the white man?” The angel just came in and announced what he saw: “Oh mighty man of war power.” That means “Oh great warrior.” Think about it. Warrior? Gideon was hiding from the enemy trying to separate some wheat from the chaff so he wouldn’t starve. He was doing it underground so no one could see him. When the angel said,“You are a brave man,” Gideon started looking around to see who the angel was talking to. The Most High never tells us what others see. He never calls us what others call us. Gideon thought he was a coward. The Most High knew him to be a great warrior and pronounced what He saw.

Flaky, Flaky

The Most High also saw in Peter what others failed to see. His given name was Simon, which means meek. (Literally it means “unstable, flaky, leaf.”) When Yeshua met Simon, he was the flakiest, leafiest man you ever met. He was always going with the wind—changing his mind. But The Most High saw a stone in the leaf. The first time Yeshua met Peter, He changed Peter’s name from Simon (leaf) to Peter (stone). Although Simon was an unstable guy, Yeshua said, “I’m going to change your name. Your name is Peter.” Peter acted like a leaf throughout Yeshua’ earthly ministry. Still Yeshua called him rock every morning. Yeshua saw in Peter something his mother had not seen. He kept chipping until finally, at Pentecost, Peter’s true nature was revealed.

STOP BELIEVING WHAT OTHERS SAY

Too often we believe the lies we are told. We believe that we are “no good” and worthless. Yeshua says, “Not so. I came to show you that you are more than you think you are.” You are the image of The Most High.

The Most High always sees what men and women only look at. In a manger, The Most High saw a King…in a servant, a Savior…in a sacrifice, salvation…in a crucifixion, a resurrection. In death, The Most High was working at life; in defeat, He was looking at victory. What you or I, or your country or my country, looks like is not what The Most High sees. The Most High looks beyond the surface to the potential deep within. That is The Most High’s way of thinking about everything. Beyond the immediate troubles The Most High sees success, and He continues to call it forth until what He sees becomes reality.

Remember that the seed of every tree is in the fruit of the tree. That means the blessings of the Third World nations are in the Third World nations, and the prosperity of America is in America. When we become concerned about our individual lives or the corporate life of our countries, we come up with all kinds of schemes and plans to solve the problem. But the answer is not in a multitude of systems and programs. The answer is right inside of us. It’s our attitudes that make the difference. No one can make you rowdy or careless or thoughtless. You are rowdy and careless and thoughtless because you choose to be. So stop it! Stop being rowdy…stop being careless…stop being thoughtless. Only you can control how you act. You’ve got the potential to be considerate and sensitive.

The Most High saw in Peter something that Peter had never seen in himself. Peter was so busy agreeing with what others called him that he missed his true potential. When we start believing what others call us, we are in big trouble. Then we throw our hands up in despair and refuse to try. People call us lazy, so we become lazy. People call us careless or stupid or clumsy, so we become careless or stupid or clumsy. Watch it! What others look at is not important. Who we are depends on what we see.

Do you believe you could walk into a prison and meet some of the greatest men and women in the world? Can you think that way? They made a mistake. They made a misjudgment. They made poor decisions. But that doesn’t invalidate their potential. It doesn’t destroy who they can be. In that jail there may be a murderer on death row. But when The Most High looks at that person, He doesn’t see a murderer; He sees an author or a leader or a great world changer.

Many times The Most High is in disagreement with the people closest to you. He may even be in disagreement with you, because the only person The Most High agrees with is Himself—only He knows your true potential. Have you failed? Go to The Most High. He’ll call you “success” and keep calling you “success” until you feel it. That’s what Yeshua did for Peter.

WHAT DOES The Most High SEE IN YOU?

I wonder what The Most High sees as He walks around you. I’m sure He sees beautiful things in you, but you are believing what other people are saying. People say: “You are no good. You’ll never be somebody.” But The Most High is saying: “I see a jewel.” We are diamonds in the rough. Just keep on believing that. Keep on moving forward to your goal. Remember that there is something in you more precious than what others have said about you. The sculptor never gives up until he gets out of the rock what he sees.

There is something in you more precious than what others have said about you.

I have a piece of wooden sculpture in my home that I did about 15 years ago. The sculpture isn’t what I intended it to be because as I was chiseling out the image that I had seen in the tree, part of it was knocked off by too much pressure. Because that part dropped off, I could no longer create the image that I had intended. So I looked at the piece of wood again. I walked around it thinking, “I’ve gotta change my concept a little.” I had to rethink how to retain the beauty of the sculpture though I had lost an important part of the wood.

Eventually, I modified my design. But I am the only person who knows that piece of sculpture was made from a modified design. The modification is not evident in the finished form. If I showed you the piece, you wouldn’t even notice what I’m talking about. People have admired that piece of wood for many years. They look at it and say, “Wow! This is beautiful.” And I never tell them that what they see is not what they were originally supposed to see.

That piece of sculpture sitting in my home reminds me of your life and mine. Parts of our lives have been knocked off by our past. We’ve done some dumb things that have messed up the beauty The Most High intended. But look what The Most High has done. He’s saved us. Instead of discarding us because we have not turned out like He intended us to be, He has taken us—including our marred and chipped and rusted and knocked off past—and formed us into something beautiful. When people see us now, they won’t believe what we used to be. And The Most High will never tell them. Hallelujah! When people look at you and think you are the best thing that ever came down the pike, don’t tell them what you used to be. Just say, “Thank you very much. The Chief Sculptor had His hands on me.” The Most High can bring beauty out of your mistakes. He can take what you have messed up and bless it up. He can take the thing that seemed impossible to you and form it into something beautiful.

In every piece of stone a sculptor sees a figure. But we never see it until he takes it out. Whereas we may see only an old stump of a tree on the side of the road, a wood sculptor sees a beautiful piece that we would pay thousands of dollars to own. What looks like garbage to the non artistic person is a treasure to the artist.

CHRIST IS IN YOU

I wonder what The Most High sees when He looks at you. I believe He sees Christ. When The Most High looks at you, He does not see you. He sees Christ. Paul, when writing to the Colossian church, proclaimed that The Most High had chosen to make known a mystery.

To them The Most High has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

The mystery is that Christ is in you. That is your hope of glory. This suggests, then, that our task is not to get Christ into us, but out of us. Please get this into your minds. What The Most High sees when He looks at you is Christ.

Our task is not to get Christ into us, but out of us.

Most of us want to be like Yeshua. That’s not what The Most High wants. The Most High wants us to be like Christ. Yeshua came to show us what Christ looks like when He takes on human form. But it is Christ that The Most High’s looking at.

The Most High sees Christ in you. That’s the hope of glory—Christ in you. Let me explain.

Christ is the image of The Most High. The word image does not mean “a statue of something.” It means “the essence of the being.” Christ is the image of The Most High. That means when The Most High created you, He created you in His image, and His image is Christ. That’s why the Bible never calls us the Body of Yeshua. Yeshua was the human manifestation of the heavenly Christ. We humans on earth, with all our fallibilities and weaknesses—The Most High pronounces on us: “You are the body of Christ.”

In other words, Christ is in us somewhere. Christ is in me. Christ is in you. The Most High knows He is there. His image is there. So The Most High called us Christ.

If we go to The Most High and say, “The Most High, please introduce me to your people,” The Most High will say, “Sure. Here is Christ.” But we’ll say, “No. No. No. I want to meet Christ,” to which The Most High will reply, “Sure. Here’s Christ” as He shows us the Church. When we want to meet Christ, The Most High will show us the Church. But we can’t accept this because we think Christ is in heaven. No, He isn’t. Yeshua is in heaven. Christ is sitting in your clothes, living in the body of the believer. Christ is the essence of The Most High—He’s The Most High Himself.

The Most High intended for you to be created in His image. Although you may say, “I want to be like Yeshua,” The Most High says, “There’s something deeper.” You were lost and Yeshua came to bring you back. The Most High sent Yeshua so you could see yourself.

The Most High already knows who He is—He doesn’t need your praise to make Him feel like The Most High. The Most High doesn’t need you to tell Him how great He is—He knew it before you ever thought of praising Him. The Most High wants you to know who you are—who you were supposed to look like. He’s after the real person buried under the cap of your sin. Your IQ doesn’t measure who you are, The Most High does. Your true IQ is spelled H-O-L-Y S-P-I-R-I-T, because you have what The Most High is. Christ is in you. That’s who you are.

PRINCIPLES

All things have the same components and essence as their source.

When The Most High created human beings, He spoke to Himself.

You will never know yourself by relating to the creation, only to the Creator.

Your potential is much greater than what you are right now.

Your potential is limited only by The Most High, not others.

The Most High sees Christ in you.

Shema Selah, do you know Who you have inside of you?!? His Hope, Yeshua HaMachiach!!!

https://www.facebook.com/fiveam.prayer/videos/2005538782857561/?l=8093006065847616488