Treasured By God | Hope Carpenter

I had my headspace all in the right place, and he totally messed me up. Sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down. And he's cute. Don't you say amen, man. I am just so grateful that we are not locked down as we were in 2020 to where we can have an event like this. Aren't you grateful to God? I'm so grateful to God to be here tonight. I just want to talk to you tonight about how amazing you are, how fearfully and wonderfully made you are. Those of you who know me know that I am stupid crazy about Christmas. I'm a little. I'm a little crazy person when it comes to Christmas. Everything has to blink. There's a decoration in every corner. I'm known to have 10 to 12 trees. I mean, just everywhere. I love, love, love Christmas. And Ron says, and he funds the vision. Crazy decorations, singing things, Barbie trees, patriotic trees, Sesame street trees, peacock trees, candy cane trees, snowman trees. And those who have been to my house are sitting there shaking their head yes, yes, yes, and yes. But my most treasured things at Christmas and on my trees are the ornaments that I've had from day one. And over the years, since 1990, we've been married 31 years. And he was sitting there saying, you know, in 30 years, she said. I'm like, how did he get this old? How did we get this old so fast? My goodness. So all the ornaments that were made over the years and the just married and the baby's first Christmas, y' all know what I'm talking about? Those kind of ornaments, right? And then the kids ornaments that they made in K4 and K3 and K5 with their handprint, and then at Bible school and all the little ceramic things they made where they painted and they got out of line and all that stuff, it was straight from their mind and their creativity to me to give to me, right? Even when it didn't look pretty, the paint was painted out of lines. It was still so precious to me, and I guard them with all of my heart. And last year, one of my grandbabies, who can do no wrong, got one of those ornaments and she dropped it. I'm going to say she dropped it because they don't do anything wrong, but she actually threw it. I don't know why they do stuff like that. I mean, you know, why do you throw an ornament? I'm like, just to see what's going to happen. I don't know. But the top broke, and I was devastated. I could not let her know that. Right? But I was devastated because, I mean, it was not beautiful. You would not want that ornament. There's nobody in here who would say, oh, give me that ornament. No, because it's not special to you. It's special to me. And I had 1998 written on it. That's when my son was 4. He made that one, had his name on it, 1998. And why do I love them so much? Because they're handmade. They're handmade straight from their mind. Their creativity given to me. Nobody can pry those out of my hand. You can have the other ones. You can have the ones I got over here. And over there, the beautiful, sparkly. It doesn't matter. But those are handmade. And if they get broken or damaged or dirty or missing, I'm crushed. I'm devastated. Why? Because they can't be. What? They can't be replaced. They are one of a kind. They are unique. They're not bought in a store. The time the creativity that went into it is what makes me treasure it. They were handmade. So here we are, humankind, mankind, me and you. We're the same way. We're handmade, unique, special. Maybe flawed a little bit. Maybe we think he painted outside the line a little bit, right? Maybe we think he made our you know what? Too big or our new you know what? Too little. I'm talking about your nose. Come on, girls. But Genesis 2. 7 says that God is involved in our creation from the very start. And the Lord God formed a man's body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life, and the man became a living person. So as the text tells us, God is personally involved in our formation, just like my kids and my grandkids were personally involved in those ornaments. Right? Now, we also read in verse 19, so the Lord God formed from the soil every kind of animal and every bird. Did you know that? He formed them from the soil. So both Adam and later Eve and all the animals and the birds are formed from the earth. However, I want you to know two. Two critical things. Thank you, Terrence. Two critical things in this passage. First, God is personally involved. God is personally concerned with the aloneness of Adam. So what did he have to do? He had to fashion Eve as well. He formed the birds of the air, the animals, and he formed them all from the dirt. Okay? But the second thing to notice is that the text makes clear is that God breathed the breath of life into Adam. He did not do that to a Bird, he didn't do it to your sweet puppy dog. He didn't do it to your cat who thinks they're all going to heaven. I'm sorry, but he didn't do that. He did that to man only. He breathed the breath of life into Adam. Okay, we breathe the same oxygen as the animals do. But there is something clearly different in the act of breathing that God gave Adam, that he didn't give the rest of the birds and the kitty cats and the dogs. He gave Adam a soul. He gave us a soul. A mind to think, to remember, a will to make, choices to choose, and emotions to feel. We are very different than Fido, right? Can everybody say amen? Well, I've had three children. How many of you in here have children? God bless you. Let's just all put our hand toward each other and say God bless them. Father God, get us through. In the name of Jesus, get us through. Get us through. Get us through. How many of you, your children taught you how to pray? How many of you, your children taught you how to cuss? Yes, both of those things. Well, I've had three children. And I remember when they were born, and I remember looking down at them. Do you remember how you felt? Even as ugly as they were, that old yellow stuff on them, you know, I mean, just not looking very pretty at that point. But I remember looking down at them in awe and in wonder. I looked down at them and I was like my breath was taken away. I couldn't even believe that I had created a whole human. That a whole human had come out of me. Like, it was so surreal to me that that happened. But I saw no imperfections when I looked at them. I didn't see anything wrong with them. Their nose, their lips, their toes. And I thought to myself, how can this happen? You know, the intricate details, the process that went into the creation. And I'm going to leave that right there. You know, how it happened? How did that come out of that? You know, did you know the odds that you got here, that you got here? You are in the act. Let's call that the act. You have a one in a million chance, one in a million chance to be the one that makes it just that one time, and then the next time it's one in a million. And then the next two weeks and then the next month, you know, it just gets spread out. The longer you're married, you know, the one in a million. My husband said, yes, women, we just tired. Can somebody say amen? Right? The DNA, the atom splitting the organ formation, the blood vessels, the brain. Not just the brain, the inside of the brain. The components to think and to feel and to read and to write and to sing and learn a language and remember and imagine. And on and on and on and on. The creation process. God wanted you here so badly. One in a million. So when you look at somebody and say, you one in a million, they really are. So God created human beings in his own image. This is so important. We'll deal with this in a minute. In the image of God. He created them. Male and female. He created them. Genesis 1. So that's how you can say, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. Look at yourself. Say, girl, you bad. Say, you so wonderful. I mean, don't look at your neighbor. Look at yourself. Say ooh. Ow. So let's break it down. What is the meaning of fearfully and wonderfully made? Psalm 139, 14 is what it is. Psalm 149, 13 says that God made all the delicate inner parts of my body. He knit me together within my mother's womb. I was made wonderfully complex. Wonderfully complex. I'm glad the men aren't in here today because they would say, yeah, you are. God knew me as he was painstakingly designing me with such loving care. But here's the problem. We don't see ourselves the way God sees us. We don't. We don't see ourselves that way. See, we see flaws, we see issues, we see habits, we see struggles, we see failures. We see what we're good at. We see what we're not good at. We see cellulite, we see bunions, we see warts, we see big areas, we see little areas. And we think God sees that. Think about that. We see all this stuff, and we think that that's what God sees when he looks at us. See, that's what messes us up. That's why we come in here with our head bowed down. That's why we come in here carrying a weight of shame. And when they say, lift your hands and give God a praise, you're. See, God knew that you were not good enough. God knew that you would never be good enough or smart enough or worthy enough. See, in the Old Testament, they had to kill all of these goats and pigeons and rams and lambs, and it still wasn't good enough. Imagine all that blood just trying to be good enough. But it only took one, one spotless lamb to cover all, all of the sin, all of the shame, all of the not good enough, all of your failures, all of your iniquity, all the times you did not get it right. Only one perfect, constant, faithful, consistent, only one blood was needed, and that was Jesus. So now listen, we come to Jesus, we get saved, and his blood is what for us. It is payment for what are not good enough. Our sin, our failure, our iniquity, right? And you know, once the bill is paid, once you pay that mortgage, it's not done. It's not needed for you to pay it again. Once you pay that lunch bill, they're not going to come running out to your car and say, ma', am, I need you to come pay it again. Once it's paid, it's paid. It was payment for your sin once and for all. And Scripture tells us now, see, we think Jesus sees all of our issues, right? That's why we're shameful. That's why we come into his presence with our head down. See? But now that you are saved, the Bible says, now you are hidden. You are hidden in Christ. So God, when he looks at me, he does not see my issues, my warts, my cellulites, my failures, my divorce, my abortion. God does not see those things. When he looks at me, he sees Jesus. All he sees is the blood. When he looks at me and you, all he sees is the blood. See, we see inconsistency. He sees the blood. We see habits. He sees the blood. We see failures. He sees the blood. We see sin. He sees the blood. He sees the blood. Somebody needs to thank God for the blood right now. We don't sing enough about the blood. We don't talk enough about the blood. Oh, the blood of Jesus, it washes white as snow. So when God looks at you, he don't see you, he sees Jesus. And Jeremiah 29:11 says. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. Let me read it again. God said, I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans to prosper you. They are plans not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. Let's break that down. That word no is the Greek word yara. And that word is a very intimate word for sexual relationships. It's the same Hebrew word as ginosko when it talks about Adam knew Eve and conceived Seth. Adam knew Eve. You know what that means? And it's the same word that God says Over your life. I know the plans that I have for you. He is so intimately acquainted with the plans that he has for you. He knows them in detail. He is in love with the plans he has for your life. You remember when you first fell in love and those butterflies and you couldn't wait to see Him? That's the way God feels about the plans that he has for your life. And you think God's forgotten you. You think God's just wrote you off and you've done too much? He says, no, no, no, no, no. I am intimately acquainted with the details of your life and I love them so much that they're good plans and they're going to give you a hope. They're going a hope for a future. Plans to prosper you and add to you, not to harm you. God does not have one bad day planned for you. You need to look at your neighbor and say, God does not have one bad day planned for you. And listen, this is how we can trust God. When doors are open and when doors are closed on good days and bad days, when you got money in the bank and when you can't rub two nickels together. When everything's going good and when everything's going wrong. When your husband walks in and when he walks out. This is how you can trust God in the ups and the downs of your life. Knowing that God does not have have one bad day planned for you. Hallelujah. See, we gotta look at our life the way God looks at our life. Not just today or this season that we're in, but he looks at it panoramically. He looks at it from beginning to end. He looks at your life as an already finished painted canvas. He looks at your life as a you were born and Z you going to see Jesus. But we get tripped up in the lmnop. But that L, M N O P gets you every time. When life happens, when life happens. Has life ever happened to anybody? I can't get them all up. And if I kicked my leg like that girl kicked her leg earlier, I'd be in the er, you hear me? And life is going to happen. But you don't have to be confused and tormented and bail out on God because you know the plans that he has for you. If you in the middle of hell, that means you're not through. Because he promised good plans. He promised a future and a hope. So if you in the middle of chaos, that means God ain't done. Stay firmly planted. Knowing Jeremiah 29:11, Jesus, James 1:9 says a double minded man, you say? Oh, here she goes. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. And he ought not think he should ask anything from the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. You know that friend of yours that you don't know which one you're going to run into the next time you see her? I know she's not in here. Don't look to the left or right. Just keep looking straight ahead. That friend, you know, that person that you don't know which one you're gonna meet that she's up one day and then the next day she crying, right? That person that's just so happy and then they don't call you for six months. Unstable, you know, happy praising the Lord one day and then out in the club the next day, turn up drunk, can't even come to church the next day because they was crying a tear in their beard, things were so bad. Double minded statements like this. I don't know if I'll ever come out of this. I don't believe God will ever bring me the man of my dreams. I'm in weight and I'm 40. God must not want me healed. Why do bad things always happen to me? Go to church a while, somebody hurts you. We ain't seen you in six months. Tithe two weeks expecting your house to be paid off. Mad old pastor preached about the blessing and I tithed and I ain't got check in the mail yet. That was a week ago. When you plant corn, does it come up next week? I didn't think so. That's unstable. Double minded life is going to happen. He promised it. He said in this world you gonna go through some stuff. That's Hope's version. All hell's gonna hit your house sometime. Another. Yeah, he said it. But we are heirs and joint heirs with God. Wait, you don't, you don't. That sounds so pretty. But listen. We are heirs and joint heirs with God. Heirs is a real estate term. How many do we have any realtors in here? Anybody who works in real estate? Some of y'. All. Real heirs is a real estate term. And what that means when you say I am an heir and a joint heir with God. What that means is whatever's coming to Jesus is coming to me. Somebody needs to say it. Whatever's coming to Jesus is coming to me. You didn't have to save for it. You didn't have to plan for it. You didn't have to pay for it. He already paid the price. Paid in full. Because he loves you so much. And I am an heir and a joint heir with God. And whatever's coming to Jesus is coming to me. Somebody needs to declare over your life. Whatever's coming to Jesus is coming to me. Power, victory, ability, authority, joy, peace, health, wealth, all of it. Whatever's coming to Jesus, coming to me, it's all mine. Jeremiah 1, 5 and 8 says, before you were formed, he knew you. That is the same word. For I know the plans I have for you. Before you were formed, he was intimately acquainted with your life. What you would do, what you wouldn't do, who you would marry, who you would divorce, who would divorce you. All of the pain that you would walk through before you were formed, he knew you. You are a product of God. You are not a product of your mother and father. You are not a one night stand. You are not a product of a rape. Long before your mama and daddy ever met, you were created in the mind of God. He knew you. You're not only made by God. Scripture says you are made in his likeness, the likeness of God. God has no deficiencies. He lacks nothing. And you were made in that image. God has no limitations. And you were made in his likeness. You have no limitations, you say. Well, Pastor Hope, I got a lot of limitations. There's things I want to do that I can't do. And my job holds me back and he holds me back and all these things hold me back. Come on. Sometimes you got to call things that are not as though they are. And you got to look at nothing and call it something. That is what faith is. It's when you look into every obstacle and say what God says about you, not what your bank account says about you. Not what your mama says about you or that man says about you. You gotta say what God says about you. Do you know how much God wants to prosper you and you to have an amazing life? Psalm 68:19 says this. Listen, you ain't ready for this. You ain't ready. You better go underline it, circle it, highlight it, put it in your locker, at your refrigerator, all that stuff. Stuff. God is looking for ways daily. Say daily. You ready? To load you up with benefits. God is just looking for ways to load you up with benefits. It's better than any 401k. It's better than a savings account. It's better than a Roth account. It's better than a stock, a mutual fund, and even Bitcoin. Psalm 139, 14. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Ephesians 2 and 20 says, you are the workmanship of God, you are his creation. Philippians 1:6 says, you are established to the very end. What he started in you, he finish in you. What has God started in your life? He's already finished it. If God started it, he's already finished it. Look at your neighbor and say, God ain't done with you yet. God ain't done with you yet. Say, well, why am I not in it? Because the battle is designed to keep you out. The defeat, the disappointments, the pain that hits your life, those are designed to keep you out, to keep you from occupying, to keep you from walking out. This victory that is already yours and we got to see stop letting the battle that God promised us would come keep us from going through it. When you Scripture says when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, but you got to walk through it. You got to walk through it. When you pass through the river, it will not overtake you. So see, so many Christians get so bumfuzzled at when trials come. They think just because you said yes to Jesus that you're going to tiptoe through the tulips and everything's going to be easy now. Oh hell to the no, it is not going to be easy. It's going to be harder. Say harder. Why? Because now you have an advoc the devil who hates you. The thief comes John 10:10 to steal, kill and destroy. But I have come that you're gonna have life. No, that's not what he said. He said, I have come that you might have life. Have it abundantly. I have come that you might. So that tells me that you may, you may not. It's there, it's available. He's already done the work, paid the bill so that you can. But it is your choice if you will obtain these precious promises that he's already given you. Will you walk through the fire and come out on the other side? Will you pass through the river and not let it overtake you? You got to go through it. Say you got to go through it. You got to go through it. Listen, God thinks you are all that and a family size bag of chips. He dies. He really really, really really does. I asked you earlier, how many of you have kids? Listen, you ain't seen nobody go ham like you see some me go ham. You talk about my kids. It is not pretty. I have had to repent. I've had to send flowers for things I have done and said when somebody came against my kids, even when they wrong, I'LL still hurt you. I will. Just warning. Fair warning. Say I've been warned. You say they ain't pretty. You say they ain't the brightest star in the sky. Mm. I might know they're not. And they might have an ugly set of feet, but they still mine. They are still mine. And I overlook it. Why? Because I love them. Because they're mine. Because I made them a whole human. We made a whole human. Three of them. Intricately made. I love them so much. They're mine. That is the same way God views you. That's why there's scripture after scripture after scripture in the Bible about not coming against God's anointed. Don't touch them. Don't touch them. Don't talk about them. Don't do prophets harm. And what? Let God be your Vindicator and your judge? Because, listen, I know some things I could do to people, but God could do it so much better. We just need to let God handle it, right? We just need. I'm preaching my own self right there. Y' all got a picture up there of me that I asked you to put up? Okay, hold up. Wait a minute. Da na na na na na na na. Which one's really me? Left. Wait a minute. Don't say it. Shh. Raise your hand if you think left is just plain old hope. What about right? Y' all all didn't vote. Y' all ain't playing. Right? Okay, left, y'. All, Skirt right. The one on the left has no filter whatsoever. Okay, you can take it down because I don't like to look at that anymore. Because the right to me looked really pretty. But, you know, most of us hate something about us. Man, if I could just change, you know, the stupidest things will say. But if I just could just go like this just a little bit. Or if I could, you know, just. Just a little tweak. Just a little, little tweak. You know, most of us hate something about ourselves. And do I believe there's something wrong with trying to be the best version of you? Absolutely not. I thank God for Botox. I really thank him for that. Don't talk about me about it, because God will get you. Because he loves me like that. But these are not the things that God sees when he looks at us. It falls, y'. All. I'm 52. It really falls. It don't stay high and lifted up. It gets fat. It bulges. I mean, you know, some of us are C's in the front and B's in the back. They need to start making two sided bras. They just do for after 40. But what does God Listen? What does God think is costing? Costly and valuable. What does he think is costly and valuable? First Peter 3 says what's valuable and costly to God is a gentle and a quiet spirit, void of outrages and pride and jealousy and anger and double mindedness and cruelty. See, when you really, really get a hold of what God says about you, you don't have to put a filter on pictures because you really don't care what they think. You really don't care what those strangers that you will never ever meet and that will never pay your mortgage think about you. What God thinks is costly and valuable is so different than what we think is costly and valuable. When all hell is breaking out in your life, you can stay cool, calm and collected, knowing the good plans that he has for you. That eyelashes and fake nails will never get you. They'll never get you. That in my younger days, I did a lot of beauty patches. My parents. I was tall. I was this height, 5 8. When I was 13 years old, I was tall and I looked like olive oil. I was skinty. I was this height and 65 pounds less. Yes, anorexia nervosa almost. But I ate. It wasn't a disorder. I was so little. People called me olive oil. They would make fun of me because I was so little, but for some reason up on stage it looked good. And you could win beauty pageants like that. And I was in beauty pageants most of my life and I won most of them that I was in. Listen, I modeled for agencies and I was still broken, had no clue. There was not enough crowns, there was not enough trophies that ever made me know that I was pretty, that I was valuable, I was cute, that I was good enough. I was told I was pretty, but I didn't feel it and I didn't believe it. So it took more and more shoes and more and more purses and more and more trips. Come on y'. All. Do you know when I really started to believe it? When every. Everything was stripped from me. Everything but seven pair of pants, ten shirts, one purse. Nothing matched. I had to color my own hair from cvs. There was no gel on my nails. They grew out to nothing. And for the first time in my life, when I had nothing, when everything was stripped from me, I finally knew, I finally believed. And I finally received the real love of God. That was nine years ago. Nine years ago. Been in ministry 30 years. It's when my husband and I Separated when our marriage was almost over, our ministry was almost over. I pulled out of my house, 7,000 square foot home at the time in a Range Rover in Louis Vuitton luggage, but nobody to call all these things. Revelation 3 says the Gentiles do seek, but you are naked, you are poor and you are miserable and blind. And you are in need of isab. You need to see. You need to see. See. God wants you to receive this love tonight, just like you are. He wants to release you from man's expectations, from the world standard of not being pretty enough, famous enough, or enough followers. Enough money in your bank account. Drive the right car. Know what I drive now? A Doodle Bug. A Volkswagen. And I love it. I love it. Not trying to. To impress anybody. I don't care what you think. I don't care what a pastor's supposed to wear or dry. Just like you are. This is really who hope is. This. This is really. Remember, I'm a Southern girl, South Carolina born and bred. This is who hope is. It's time for you to embrace who you are and do it on purpose. Why do we do what we think everybody else wants? Why do we think we have to have eyelashes to get pictures made? Why do we think we have to have a filter to get pictures made? It's not perfect. I got big pores. I got discoloration from years of laying in the sun. And God wants you to come tonight and just let him pour his lips love on you. How many moments have we missed in church because we were afraid to cry that our mascara would run and somebody would see us with our mascara running? We'd mess up our makeup and wipe off our eyebrows. He loves you. My praise team would come. He loves you so much. Just like you are. Flaws and all. Big booty, flat booty, big nose, crooked nose, can't sing. Feel like I don't have anything to give. I'm not talented. I'm not valuable. You have something. Jesus says, what? What do you have in your hand? What do you have? What can you do? He just wants that. You know what he really wants? He just wants your heart. He just wants you to love him like he loves you. He just wants, if he puts his finger on it and asks for it, that you'll give it. I've given away so much jewelry. I've given away so much clothes. I've given away so much money. I've paid people's conference registrations just because. I'm just trying to say God, if you touch it, it. I'll give it to you, God, if you ask for it, because it's not mine anyway. Anything that I have in this earth is because he gave it to me, because he graced me. He just said, here, listen. He wants to give you good things. If we, being who we are, so flawed and messed up love to give good gifts to our children, how much more? What? How much more does he want to give you good things? God's for you. He is for you. He's not against you. He's got good plans for you, to give you a future and a hope. He wants you excited about your life. You say, well, how can I be excited when I'm going through it right now, knowing that there are better days coming? It don't last always. Trouble don't last always. There's a time for everything, right? And if you are not experiencing this exceedingly, abundantly, this life that he already paid the price for, it's coming. Be faithful. Be faithful. Be faithful. Don't bail on God. Be faithful. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming. So tonight, I just believe that God wants to lavish Jazlyn, I believe God wants to lavish his love on you tonight. Some of you have never had a revelation of the love of God. Some of you maybe have never even heard that you are all that, that he took that much time to make you inform you and. And get you here. God did whatever it took to get you here. He used whatever vessel your mother and father were to get you here. Because he had a plan and he had a purpose for your life. You say, hope. I've struggled. I've struggled for years with value. I've struggled for years for self esteem. Why? Because you are looking at yourself the way somebody else else looks at you. Nod at how God looks at you. Nod at how what God says about you. And if that is you, I want you just to come down here and I want you to stand I want you to come down here and stand right here or just stand up if you can't get down here. And I just want you to stretch your hands up and say, God, I surrender my life to the one who made me. To the one who made me. I'm gonna stop trying to please, man. I'm gonna stop trying to please the Internet. I'm gonna stop trying to get followers and clicks. God, I'm going to stop doing all this work that's in vain, God, but I'm gonna please you. I'm gonna give you everything tonight. Everything tonight. Come on, just let the Lord Minister to you right now.