Viola Solid Rock Assembly
2024 Wrap
Well, let's get into the word. A couple of few weeks ago, we started talking about expectations. And I made the statement that countless times in this last few months, I've said, I expected something different or I didn't expect that. And expectations can alter our view, right? We've talked about this. Our view of the world and what is happening is based off our expectations. When we expect something good and something good happens, no big deal. When we expect something good and something bad happens, it just crushes everything, right? Our expectations are altered by the way that we see things or a mood maybe is altered by the way that we expect. Extect expectations are lack thereof will cause us to or not to try or do certain things. I think, you know, and I've said this, I think the same thing applies to us in the church and with our faith. There are times that we come in and we expect God to show up. And there are times that we come in and we just go through the motions. And as we're wrapping up 2024, I started really thinking about that. I started thinking about how my expectations this year has altered the way that I've seen certain things. I've looked at certain situations and certain circumstances and my expectations have made me go, man, that just didn't happen the way I wanted it to. It might've, God might've done something great, but because it wasn't what I was expecting, it was almost like I was let down. And as we were wrapping up this year, I started thinking all the way back to the first Sunday in January. And there was a statement that I made. And I said, bold prayers honor God and God honors bold prayers. And 2024 was full of bold prayers. I made some bold to ask. I asked, I made big ask to God. I did, I went out on a limb on some things. And the thing that I've realized is the bigger the need, the bolder our prayers should be. And so I prayed some bold prayers. I prayed bold prayers for myself. I prayed bold prayers for the church. And I'm not stopping praying those prayers just because we're coming to the end of the year. I am believing for something to happen. I am believing for some things to happen that shake us in a good way. The key to a bold prayer is not just the prayer though. It's not just the prayer that we pray. It's the specifics. I can pray big generalized prayers and God can move and we can miss it or I can pray, miss it in the sense that well, that was just a big general prayer. So, or I can pray very specific prayers. And God can move in that very specific way. And then we see it. I think a lot of times in our lives we miss what God's doing because we didn't pray specific prayers. We prayed big, broad prayers and then God meets the need. God does the thing, but we miss it because it wasn't specific what we prayed, so we're like, eh. And when we get specific, when we get real specific, Kathy, and we pray very specific prayers and God does it, something inside of us goes. He did it. And we have this testimony that we can share and that we go on to share with other people. God meets needs and God does things in our lives every day. But when he meets that specific need that we prayed for and we've asked him and we've been bold about asking, that's when we start telling everybody, right? And so, my encouragement for you is that you begin to pray bold prayers, but bold specific prayers. Revelation 1211 says, and we have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony, and they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die, but they defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. When the children visit across the Jordan River, they knew that Jericho was what was stood between them and the promised land. They identified, they identified the problem, the need, the want, the desire, they prayed, and then they were obedient to what God asked them to do. They identified the situation. They identified that Jericho is the first city. Jericho is what we're going to have to face. Jericho is what we're going to have to defeat before we can defeat anyone else. And so, they prayed bold prayers to defeat Jericho and we see God do these miraculous things. They walked over the Jordan on dry ground. It says that the water stood up and they walked across. They get it, they get, they get there and they get to the walls of Jericho and the most miraculous thing happened. They walked around it for seven days and didn't say nothing. Some of y'all can't go seven minutes without making some noise. I have one child in particular that I tell all the time. You are the loudest quiet person I've ever been around in my whole life. Just sitting, she's loud. Just being, I'm like, "What? How are you so loud?" I was going to use that someday, I know he is. But some of us need to identify your Jericho. Some of you need to identify your Jericho. You need to find the promise that God wants for you. You need to stake claim to the miracles that God wants for your life. You need to believe for, believe for and pursue the dreams that he's giving you. The problem many of us have is we never identify our Jericho. We've been circling his promises for our lives and our families or ourselves, but we've never made a list of goals that we've continued after. We've never looked at a situation and said, "This is what God wants for my life. This is what I feel that God wants me to do and we haven't just said, "This is it," and start circling it. We've not looked at situations and found the Jericho in our lives. We've found little things and little situations and little problems that we want God to do something in. But what's the big thing that's standing in our way? What's our biggest hurdle? What's the thing that's standing in our way to get to the next step with God? What's our Jericho? I had some lofty goals for 2024. I had some lofty goals for myself. I had some even loftier goals for the church. Big things. I set my sights on them, and I continue to look towards them. Some of them have come to pass, and we're going to share about some of that next week because it all goes back to first fruits, and I believe that. But there are things that I've set my eyes on and lofty goals, and I serve. The thing is, is I serve a pretty big God that can do pretty big things. Right? Man. Y'all got turkey hangover, and we didn't even have Thanksgiving. James 4-2 says, "You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You're jealous of what others have, but you can't get it. So you fight in wage war and take it away from them. You don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it." You don't have it because you haven't asked God for it. Define the Jericho. Define the thing that you want, and then circle it. They want a Jericho because they knew if they got through Jericho, the rest. The rest. The rest would happen. But we got to get through the first hurdle first. What is the thing that's holding you? What is it that you're longing for? What is it that you want to see God do in your life more than anything? Are you asking Him and being specific? We have a kid that knows what they want. I don't ever ask them what do you want and they say, "I don't know." They always have something. Even if it's something that they just come up with on the spot, they always have something. They know what they want. When we go to God and we know what we want, when we go to God and we know what we want and say, "God, this is what I want. This is what I need. This is what I need you to do." And we're specific about it. We're specific about it. And then He does it, Ronnie. What do we have? A testimony. I know that some of you know this and I know, but we all need a reminder from time to time, right? We know. We know that God will answer our prayers. But how often do we pray and just be like, "Ah, maybe. Maybe God's not listening to me. Maybe God's not heard me. Maybe I need to say it a little louder." He doesn't get scared of your bold asks. Matthew 20, 29. This is talking about this is the next. This is the next. This is at Jericho. This is a miracle that happened at Jericho. And Matthew, chapter 20, verse 29, it says, "Jesus and the disciples left the town of Jericho. A large crowd followed behind them. And two blind men were sitting beside the road. And when they heard that Jesus was coming their way, they began shouting, "Lord, son of David, have mercy on us." And the crowd told them to be quiet. But that only made them shout louder. "Lord, son of David, have mercy on us." And when Jesus heard them, He stopped. He stopped and called, "What do you want me to do for you?" And they said, "We want to see." And Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes and instantly they could see. And then they followed Him. As Jesus was leaving Jericho, two blind guys, here He's coming and they start crying out to Him. They're following after Him. They're hollering. They're screaming. Everybody's telling them, "He doesn't have time for you. Be quiet. Shut your mouth. Stop asking." They just made them get louder. Unless God tells me, "No, I'm going to keep asking for the same thing." I'm going to keep asking for the same thing unless He tells me, "No." And I'm going to get louder because I see it time and time again when Jesus is ministry where people continue to ask or continue to follow or continue to holler. And the more people told them, "Be quiet. That's not for you. He doesn't have time for this." The louder He got, the louder they got. And every time He turns around and He says, "What can I do for you?" "What can I do for you?" It's so funny to me though that these guys are blind, right? It's probably pretty obvious that they're blind. And He says, "What can I do for you?" I mean, we want a brand new car even though we can't see. Right. I mean, you would think it would be obvious that they were blind. I mean, they wanted to be able to see. Have you checked out our Ray Charles glasses that Marty McFly bought us? I mean, come on. Some of y'all get that tomorrow. That's all right. That's all right. We want to see, of course. We want to see. We want to be able to see. And so Jesus, He heals them right there. He gives them sight, but He wanted them. He knew the problem, but He wanted them to verbalize what they wanted. Not because He didn't know what they wanted or needed, but because He wanted to be sure that they knew what they wanted and needed. We have not because we ask not. Jesus went on to heal these guys. And just as He's done for millions since, He's still in the healing business. But if Jesus asked you this morning, what can I do for you? Would you be able to define it? Would you be able to put it into words? Would you be able to tell Him exactly what you wanted? Would you be able to say, "This is my Jericho wall?" That I need you to knock down. I need this and this to happen in my life. Can I need this and this to happen in my family? Or would the question leave you grasping for straws? What can I do for you? What can I do for you? I don't know. How often do we say that when someone asks us? What can I do for you? I don't know. Jesus doesn't ask questions like, "What can I do for you?" And expect you to say, "I don't know." He's not asking you because he doesn't know. He's asking you because he wants you to know what you need. What can I do for you? What can I do for you? How can I help you? I don't know. Well, I don't guess I can help you then. I can stay here for a while, but I'll move on. What if he's more specific? What if it's not what can I do for you? What if he's more specific and ask you, "Do you want to be healed?" Do you want to be free? Do you want me to show up? John 5'6" tells the story of the man at the pool of Bethesda, and it's one of those stories. I've preached it a lot. I like it because it disappoints so much to who we are as people. He's looking at this guy and he says, "Do you want to be healed?" In verse 6, he says, "When Jesus saw him, he knew that he had been ill for a long time, and he asked him, "Would you like to get well?" And the guy didn't say no, but the guy said no. Because he said, "I can't. Yeah, I want to be healed, but I can't. I can't get there. I can't get to the water. I can't do this. I can't get to where I need to be. I've got no one to help me. No one is there." What if he came to you this morning and he asked you, "Do you want to be well? Do you want to be free?" See, there's no doubt in my mind that there are people in this room that are battling with the same sickness that you've been battling for years. That you're battling with the same mental and emotional issues that you've been battling for years. There's no doubt in my mind that some of you are battling with the same addiction that you've been battling for years. And some of you, at different points in your life, have even prayed that God would set you free or heal you or deliver you and then you circled it one time and then it didn't happen right then and you put it away. Or maybe God began to work, but then something else compounded it. Something else happened. It got worse. You were like, "Well, it's not for me." This guy gives Jesus a list of excuses of why he can't be healed. Do you want to get met well? The doctor said there's nothing more they can do. I'll be on this medication for the rest of my life. Listen to me right now. I'm not telling you to stop taking medication. But if God tells you to stop, stop. Stop. Because if he's told you to do it, there's a reason. It's just in my genetics. It's just my family is this way. I'm just going to have to be this way. I'm just going to have to live with it. I'm destined to be this way. I have no one to help me. No one will understand. No one cares. I don't want people to know that I'm struggling with this. All excuses. All excuses that we've used. God healed me of that, but he doesn't want to heal me of this. Last time I checked that every person that came to Jesus that needed healed, he didn't just say, "Oh, let me just heal that part of it, but not the rest." The blind mute, he didn't say, "Here, let me heal your tongue, but not your eyes." That doesn't even make sense. But we make all these excuses of why we can't or God can't. I think some people have the excuse, "Well, if God heals me, what will I have to complain about?" Because they complain to everyone about how they're sick, but they never come to the altar. Just don't want it out there. Y'all can get mad at it already. I might be talking about you. I might not be. We complain about all these problems that we have, but we never come to the altar with them. So in my mind, do you really want God to do something or do you just want to complain about it? I mean, you're going to find something else to complain about. We all know that. Some of us is because of our past experiences have led to our expectations or lack thereof when it comes to asking God for specifics or when it comes to answering his questions. And so we're sometimes so guarded even when it comes to him that we don't let him move in our lives. We don't want to get our expectations too high because what if? What if he doesn't heal me the way that I want to be healed? What if he doesn't meet the need the way I want it to be met? What if he does something awesome but it wasn't what the way I wanted it to be done? What if he doesn't answer? What if I leave here unchanged? What if next week I met with the same problem? We could what if all day but what if he does? What if you leave here changed? What if you throw the beggars cloak off never to pick it up again? Because the affliction in your body is gone. See I'm going to bet on Jesus every time. Every time. I'm going to depend on him. I'm going to believe the word. When it says we have not because we ask not I'm going to believe it. And I'm going to believe when it says it shall be given knocking the door shall be opened. I made a choice that when I have a need I'm going to present it to him. When I have a desire I'm going to lay it at his feet. When I need a healing I'm going to turn to him. I'm not going to let negative connotations of 2024 and things that have happened negatively to me affect my 2025. I'm going to face it head on with expectations of him doing more next year than he did this year. And the things that he didn't answer this year I'm expecting him to answer in 2025. The expectation factor is can can you expect him to do it when he asks? Or the negative connotations of your expectation is going to get in the way? Get around the way to stand your feet. [ Pause ] Can you answer if he asks can you answer what you want? Can you answer that? Do you want to be free? Do you want to be healed? Do you want something to change in your life? Can you answer that? When he says what do you want? Can you answer it? Do you want to be well today? Do you want to be well today? Do you want to be free? Do you want to live life differently? [ Pause ] I'm not going to give a specific call, but I want you to ponder those questions. Can you answer what you want? Can you answer the fact that you want to be well? And if you want to be well, if you want God to do something in your life, I want you to come. You can't answer the question, I want you to ponder that. What I just pray that you move in this house today. What I pray for freedom in this house. I pray for healing in this house. What I pray for lives to be changed in this house. We're believing God. [ Pause ]