Advent Week 1: We Have Hope Because God Is Great
The story of Christ’s birth is a story of promise, hope, and revolutionary love. So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, shopping lists, and debt.
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, Caesar starts a special Advent Series by diving deep into the greatness of God and how believing this changes what and Who we put our hope in this holiday season, and in everyday life.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- The four eternal truths about God that change everything. (The 4 G’s)
- Why we continue trusting in “self” yet hoping for more.
- How Jesus was born to bring and fulfill hope!
- How to discern the areas of life you are still trying to control.
From this episode:
“For me the issue is escapism. I have to choose between a fantasy in which I am sovereign and the real world in which God is sovereign. I have to choose between my false sovereignty and God’s real sovereignty. And you know what? I suck at being God. I am NOT sovereign. I am NOT in actual control of anything. Where’s the hope in that?!”
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Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Coaching with Caesar and Tina in discipleship and missional living.
Transcript
And for me, I think the real issue is sort of a form of escapism.
Caesar Kalinowski:Because I have to choose between a fantasy world in which I believe I'm sovereign and everybody should sort of go along with that and I get to control everything in my life.
Caesar Kalinowski:I have to choose between that and the real world in which God is sovereign and the kingdom has come and the world in God's kingdom works a certain way.
Caesar Kalinowski:But He's in charge, He's great, and He's in control.
Caesar Kalinowski:So I have to choose between my false sovereignty and God's real sovereignty.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you know what?
Caesar Kalinowski:Here's what I've found.
Caesar Kalinowski:I suck at being God.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, I do.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, I want to act like I am sometimes.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, I don't say that to people, but you can just check my actions.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if you knew my heart
Heath Hollensbe:Welcome to the Everyday Disciple Podcast, where you'll learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.
Heath Hollensbe:In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.
Heath Hollensbe:This is the stuff your parents, pastors, and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.
Heath Hollensbe:And now, here's your host, Caesar Kalinowski.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay, here we go.
Caesar Kalinowski:Good to be back with you.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hope your week's going well.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'll tell you what, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't know, how about for you?
Caesar Kalinowski:It seems like Christmas got going even sooner, quicker than every year it already does, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:I literally, the day after, after Halloween here in our neighborhood, a whole bunch of my neighbors had the Christmas lights up.
Caesar Kalinowski:And now, you know, a couple weeks go by and it's a ton.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I don't mind it either.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, but you know, we got this internet thing, so we get to shop and go crazy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Is that what it's about?
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, we're going to talk a lot about that in this episode of the podcast, but also in the weeks ahead.
Caesar Kalinowski:Before we do, uh, let me go ahead and read a review that came in.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, this one's from Tim C.
Caesar Kalinowski:in Tennessee.
Caesar Kalinowski:I knew who this Tim C.
Caesar Kalinowski:is.
Caesar Kalinowski:This review from Tim says, Please listen.
Caesar Kalinowski:Caesar and his guests have been blessed with intensely deep and practical wisdom to share.
Caesar Kalinowski:Please listen.
Caesar Kalinowski:You'll be blessed.
Caesar Kalinowski:God is using this ministry for his kingdom purpose.
Caesar Kalinowski:It rocks.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Thanks for that, Tim.
Caesar Kalinowski:I appreciate it, brother.
Caesar Kalinowski:I appreciate you.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know who you are.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're hearing this.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so, I'm gonna get down there and do some fishing with you soon, I promise, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:Long live the Swamp Ducky!
Caesar Kalinowski:He'll be the only guy who knows what that's about.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay, anyway, I want to invite you to do the same.
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Caesar Kalinowski:And it helps others also discover the types of podcast they enjoy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Which hopefully is this one right?
Caesar Kalinowski:You can go to everydaydisciple.
Caesar Kalinowski:com forward slash subscribe.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that'll take you to a whole bunch of the different players.
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Caesar Kalinowski:thoughts or questions about gospel fluency, discipleship, and all of life, you can go to Facebook and search up the Everyday Disciple Podcast or just go to everydaydisciple.
Caesar Kalinowski:com facebook and, uh, and you'll, you'll find us, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:And we'd love to have you.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right, let's, let's dive into this topic for, for, you know, for the, for the day here.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, for many of us in the weeks ahead, we're going to be celebrating Advent.
Caesar Kalinowski:in our homes, in our churches.
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe you'll even be preaching through an Advent series, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Some of you will.
Caesar Kalinowski:So for the next four weeks I'll be like talking about Advent and I'll be doing it a week ahead of the official Advent Sundays so as to maybe help you all out with your own thoughts and preparations in light of the advent of Christ's birth.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we'll be taking a look into four Life changing truths about God and how they speak into our lives in this season and every day, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:Let me give you a little preview.
Caesar Kalinowski:Here's what they're gonna be.
Caesar Kalinowski:God is great So we have hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, God is great, so we can have hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:Second, next week we're going to look at God is glorious, so we can live in peace with God and others.
Caesar Kalinowski:Third then, third week of Advent, we'll talk about God and His goodness.
Caesar Kalinowski:God is good, so we find satisfaction and joy in our lives.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then we'll wrap up in the fourth week, uh, talking about God is gracious, so we can experience love.
Caesar Kalinowski:in the deepest ways.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, this sounds pretty obvious, doesn't it?
Caesar Kalinowski:All four of these.
Caesar Kalinowski:But do we really believe these things?
Caesar Kalinowski:Hmm, I wonder, you know what, and maybe these four truths, what we call the four G's, maybe they sound familiar to you.
Caesar Kalinowski:I've talked about them before on the podcast.
Caesar Kalinowski:You can go back and listen to episodes number 131, where I really unpack, like, where does sin come from?
Caesar Kalinowski:And it's, these four G's connect deeply to that.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then episode 195, where we applied the four G's to parenting.
Caesar Kalinowski:And again, I have to give credit where credit is due.
Caesar Kalinowski:I first learned this perspective on understanding our sin and freedom through the lens of these four eternal truths, um, about God.
Caesar Kalinowski:I learned this from my friend and author, Tim Chester.
Caesar Kalinowski:So once again, I gotta say thanks, Tim.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're the best.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, today, we'll talk about how and why we can have hope because God is great.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yep, because God is great.
Caesar Kalinowski:That brings us great hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:The story of Christ's birth is a story of promise and hope and It's a story of revolutionary love.
Caesar Kalinowski:So what's happened?
Caesar Kalinowski:How do we get far from that?
Caesar Kalinowski:What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a Savior has somehow for many of us and maybe primarily turned into a season of stress and traffic jams and shopping lists and all kinds of stuff That's so far from hope, and when it's all over, many of us are left with presents to return, maybe some debt that'll take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of maybe a missed opportunity or missed purpose for the season.
Caesar Kalinowski:Is this what we really want out of Christmas?
Caesar Kalinowski:But there is hope, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:I just want to tell you, there is hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus came to change all of that, because even before there was shopping malls and the internet and all that, that same sense of, are we missing something?
Caesar Kalinowski:Where's our hope?
Caesar Kalinowski:It still existed.
Caesar Kalinowski:And Jesus came to change all that.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's really never been any different.
Caesar Kalinowski:And we play it out maybe differently today than maybe in the past, um, say Israel did or whatever.
Caesar Kalinowski:The Bible and life itself is really a story of hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:It really is.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let me explain this, like hope is it's not man I really hope this turns out all right or hope I can make this traffic light before it turns red.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's just wishing.
Caesar Kalinowski:or, you know, guessing at the future or whatever.
Caesar Kalinowski:The Biblical use of the word hope speaks of the sure thing that you can place your trust and your circumstances in, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:It's that sure thing that you put your trust in.
Caesar Kalinowski:You put your heart and hope in.
Caesar Kalinowski:That, see, see the difference?
Caesar Kalinowski:Living with hope, like actually living with hope, it's kind of a new idea in history.
Caesar Kalinowski:We might take it for granted, even the way we use that word, though we don't maybe always use it Biblically, but we might take it for granted.
Caesar Kalinowski:Because many of us are heavily influenced by a biblical worldview.
Caesar Kalinowski:Probably if you're listening to this podcast, you are.
Caesar Kalinowski:But it wasn't always this way.
Caesar Kalinowski:The ancient Greeks, they had sort of two perspectives on life, two stories that were running in their minds and hearts.
Caesar Kalinowski:Comedies and tragedies.
Caesar Kalinowski:A comedy was fun, but it wasn't real.
Caesar Kalinowski:It wasn't real life.
Caesar Kalinowski:A tragedy was real, but it wasn't that fun.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if you took a hard look at life, it was sad.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, that was sort of the dominant view.
Caesar Kalinowski:It just kind of life sucks and then you die.
Caesar Kalinowski:If you ignored life though, then maybe it was funny.
Caesar Kalinowski:You could have some fun.
Caesar Kalinowski:with it.
Caesar Kalinowski:And their philosophy in life sort of mirrored their plays, these comedies and tragedies.
Caesar Kalinowski:And these sort of stoic philosophers sought to be moral in a meaningless world, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Life was a tragedy so they just toughed it out.
Caesar Kalinowski:But other philosophers, or the more epicurean ones, they just had fun.
Caesar Kalinowski:They just thought, you know what, who knows, so life's a comedy, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:And they, they're, they're the ones who coined the phrase, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:You see those two perspectives?
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe those sort of twin poles, opposite poles, are playing out in your life and heart too.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, but see, the Bible teaches us that life, true life, is different.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's filled full of hope, of good news.
Caesar Kalinowski:That life is really a story filled with both tragedy and comedy, loss and hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Let's, let's, let me just, for a second, let me just jump back in the story of God and we'll look at a little bit of Israel's story and their exile and their loss and kind of how they process that, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:So, um, taking you back, after Moses had died, Joshua became the new leader of Israel.
Caesar Kalinowski:And he, and he led Israel to recapture their promised land, the land of Canaan, from their enemies.
Caesar Kalinowski:And as then, as Israel entered the land, God told them to drive out all the people who had lived there because they were full of evil.
Caesar Kalinowski:The Israelites didn't listen, and eventually they started worshipping the false gods of the people who, that, they, that remained behind there in Canaan.
Caesar Kalinowski:And this led them into kind of new ways of sinning that they learned from those people.
Caesar Kalinowski:And because of their disobedience, God removed his protection, and he allowed other nations to be saved.
Caesar Kalinowski:to come into Canaan and overpower Israel.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, as they were defeated, the people of Israel began to suffer.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so they would beg God for help, for his help and forgiveness.
Caesar Kalinowski:And God would forgive them.
Caesar Kalinowski:And at one point he sent them leaders called judges, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:To lead them in defeating their enemies.
Caesar Kalinowski:And just a side note, these are not judges like we have in court today, but more like generals.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so battle after battle.
Caesar Kalinowski:Israel conquered their enemies at every border, and so in victory, the people would worship God.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hooray, things are going pretty good again.
Caesar Kalinowski:But soon after that, the people turned away from God again, and they started living in their own ways, and unfortunately, that became a pattern from generation to generation.
Caesar Kalinowski:The people of Israel would come to God and worship him when they needed his help, Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe that sounds familiar.
Caesar Kalinowski:But when things were going well, they returned to worshipping other things in life.
Caesar Kalinowski:And the Bible says something so profound here.
Caesar Kalinowski:It says, This was a time where everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
Caesar Kalinowski:Say that again.
Caesar Kalinowski:This was a time when everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
Caesar Kalinowski:See, they were trusting in self, but always hoping for more.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:They were trusting in self, but hoping for more.
Caesar Kalinowski:They wanted to control everything.
Caesar Kalinowski:But life felt more like a tragedy to them than a comedy or, you know, or victory, but here's the truth Okay, here's the truth I want us all to grasp in a really deep way this season and really throughout our lives God is great.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we don't have to be in control Let me say that again, God is great, that's the first of these four G's, so we don't have to be in control, and you're going to see how this leads to great hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, in my own life, and maybe you've heard me say this before, I find that I really only get upset at people or things or circumstances when they don't go my way, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:When everything's kind of going according to my, you know, false sovereignty, my hope, my false hopes or whatever, I'm in a pretty good mood.
Caesar Kalinowski:right?
Caesar Kalinowski:I like, I like things, but it's when people disagree, or I miss the light, or I don't get a good parking spot, or I'm, you know, I don't get the last toilet paper off the shelf, or whatever, um, that's when I get stressed or upset.
Caesar Kalinowski:Can you relate to that?
Caesar Kalinowski:Have you ever noticed that in your own life?
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, remember that guy I mentioned, Tim Chester, who sort of taught me these 4 G's?
Caesar Kalinowski:Here's something he says in his awesome book called You Can Change.
Caesar Kalinowski:He says, If you don't trust God's sovereign control, then you might try to take control yourself.
Caesar Kalinowski:in harmful ways through manipulation or domination.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if, if you find yourself worn out with busyness and stress, it may well be because you don't trust God's control.
Caesar Kalinowski:God's rule is not good enough or great enough, so you're pushing him to one side and taking control yourself.
Caesar Kalinowski:Wow, that's heavy, Tim.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's heavy.
Caesar Kalinowski:See, and for me, I think the real issue is sort of a form of escapism.
Caesar Kalinowski:Because I have to choose between a fantasy world, in which, like, I believe I'm sovereign, and everybody should sort of go along with that, and I get to control everything in my life.
Caesar Kalinowski:I have to choose between that, and the real world in which God is sovereign and the kingdom has come and the world in God's kingdom works a certain way but he's in charge, he's great, and he's in control.
Caesar Kalinowski:So I have to choose between my false sovereignty and God's real sovereignty.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you know what?
Caesar Kalinowski:Here's what I've found.
Caesar Kalinowski:I suck at being God.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, I do.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, I, I want to act like I am sometimes.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, I don't say that to people, but you can just check my actions, and if you knew my heart, you'd know, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:But I suck at being God.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you know what?
Caesar Kalinowski:I am not sovereign.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that, that is shown to me and proven to me over and over and over again.
Caesar Kalinowski:Daily.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm not actually in control of anything.
Caesar Kalinowski:But, instead of trying to control a situation, which is ultimately futile, I get to, we get to, look to our great and powerful creator of the universe, God.
Caesar Kalinowski:who is completely in control.
Caesar Kalinowski:We get to, we get to submit to that reality and we get to look to him to be in control.
Caesar Kalinowski:Will we believe that?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, do you believe that?
Caesar Kalinowski:Do you believe that God's in control?
Caesar Kalinowski:Or, or will we continue to act and feel as if things depend on us?
Caesar Kalinowski:See, the reality is like worry and overwork and frustration and stress, they're all signs that we may not be trusting God.
Caesar Kalinowski:great and he's in control.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're not trusting his sovereignty.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now Jesus himself says this in Luke 12, who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Caesar Kalinowski:And since you can't do this very little thing, that's how Jesus equates adding like length to your life, even an hour.
Caesar Kalinowski:If you can't do that little thing then why do you worry about the rest?
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh you of little faith.
Caesar Kalinowski:Another word for faith is trust.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what he says.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, you of little faith.
Caesar Kalinowski:So don't set your heart on what you're going to eat or drink.
Caesar Kalinowski:Don't worry about it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Wow.
Caesar Kalinowski:Wow.
Caesar Kalinowski:See, the reason we worry and freak out on people and freak out on ourselves is we don't believe our Father is that great.
Caesar Kalinowski:And we don't believe He knows our needs.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you know what else?
Caesar Kalinowski:We doubt his ability to provide.
Caesar Kalinowski:We, we don't, we're not sure he knows our needs, mmmm, Bible tells us so.
Caesar Kalinowski:But then even if he does, we doubt his ability to provide.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's because it's not lining up with our sense of sovereignty.
Caesar Kalinowski:Remember, this is a time when everyone does what is right in their own eyes.
Caesar Kalinowski:See, and Jesus goes right to the straight of the, right to the heart of the problem, doesn't he?
Caesar Kalinowski:He goes straight to it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Our little faith, our unbelief, our lack of trust.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:So, how does this begin to work itself out in our hearts, in our lives?
Caesar Kalinowski:Around Christmas and really throughout the rest of the year.
Caesar Kalinowski:What are some of the things that we're all trying to control in our life?
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, how about for you?
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe it's different than me, but I bet we're not that different.
Caesar Kalinowski:I bet we're not.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:Here, here, here's some of the areas that we may be believing a lie about God's greatness, not believing he's quite great enough and probably still needs my help here.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:How about the economy?
Caesar Kalinowski:You think like God's not in control of our economy or what flows towards us, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Do you think he doesn't know the future and where this is all heading?
Caesar Kalinowski:The Dow or your stocks or your bank account or the COVID thing, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:How about the election?
Caesar Kalinowski:Is God not sovereign?
Caesar Kalinowski:We talked about this a couple episodes back.
Caesar Kalinowski:Is God not sovereign over all the rulers of the, of the world, and who ultimately has authority or control or, you know, shared from Him?
Caesar Kalinowski:How about our time?
Caesar Kalinowski:Do you think, like, we have to control our time?
Caesar Kalinowski:And it's our time to be controlled?
Caesar Kalinowski:God, we can't give it to Him?
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, if you want to know if you believe that God is great And so we don't have to control things.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let's look at your calendar and see how much of it you filled up without talking to God about it.
Caesar Kalinowski:How about your job, your paycheck?
Caesar Kalinowski:Do you think God needs your help there?
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, yeah, sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, I gotta go to work or I don't get paid, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Bible even teaches, like, if we don't work, we don't eat.
Caesar Kalinowski:But who's ultimately in control of that?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, that you have a job, that you have skills to do that, that you have health to do it.
Caesar Kalinowski:How about your family?
Caesar Kalinowski:Are you trying to control that?
Caesar Kalinowski:Are you trying to control others, your kids, how they'll turn out, what other people think of those kids, or think of you?
Caesar Kalinowski:How about your circumstances?
Caesar Kalinowski:The way things are just going in life, where you live, maybe your health.
Caesar Kalinowski:How about everything?
Caesar Kalinowski:See, I'll be honest with you, I think in reality, I have so often a great lack of belief that God is great, and so I don't have to be in control.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I keep putting my hope in my own false sovereignty, and all these things, and then I just long for more.
Caesar Kalinowski:There's some good news for us.
Caesar Kalinowski:There really, really is.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus came, He was born to bring hope, and to fulfill hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hope in a God that keeps His promises.
Caesar Kalinowski:All of them.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hope that us humans could once again walk close with God and be reconciled to Him.
Caesar Kalinowski:No more shame or fear.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hope of forgiveness for our sins and our rebellion.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus came to bring us that hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hope that God would walk with us and He'd be close to us.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's not distant and ticked off and aloof, but He's here.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus came to bring us hope that mankind could have new hearts and a new spirit and that God would put his own spirit of wisdom and truth Inside of us that he would himself dwell in us and Jesus came to bring us Hope that we like Christ would be raised from the dead and live eternally.
Caesar Kalinowski:Wow, that is good news I I know I can't manage that for myself.
Caesar Kalinowski:In fact that whole list I can't and there again, it would be Ridiculous and just crazy to think that I could Jesus was born to bring and fulfill hope, and when we celebrate Christmas, we get to celebrate this hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:We really do.
Caesar Kalinowski:And sure, lots of fun, lots of gifts, all that stuff.
Caesar Kalinowski:But we get to celebrate that God is great so we can have hope in all these big ways and all the small ones.
Caesar Kalinowski:So, so this Christmas, what will you put your hope in?
Caesar Kalinowski:Will, will you trust in self and then continue to hope for more?
Caesar Kalinowski:Many will.
Caesar Kalinowski:Will you trust in gifts and gift giving?
Caesar Kalinowski:And hope for more, like just more stuff, and oh man, I really wanted that and didn't get it, you know.
Caesar Kalinowski:Will we trust in our own control, and then keep doing that, and yet hope for a different outcome?
Caesar Kalinowski:Or, will we trust in the Great One, who put His trust In the Father's will, and he lived out his loss with hope, he lived out his life with hope, all so that we could put our hope in him, a sure hope, a strong and lasting foundation.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's our hope in Jesus.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's why he came.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you know what?
Caesar Kalinowski:It's our choice this Christmas, as it always is.
Caesar Kalinowski:And every day after, it really, really is.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's our, it's our choice.
Caesar Kalinowski:Do you believe that God is great, and so therefore we can have hope?
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, if you're interested in learning more about how to apply the gospel to all of life, and maybe, maybe learning to live this out with your family and kids and in community, or even leading others in your church to live this way.
Caesar Kalinowski:And maybe you have some interest in being coached and mentored into this way of life.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, Tina and I, that's what we do.
Caesar Kalinowski:We, we coach people and we'd love to help you learn a lifestyle of discipleship and mission.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so, um, you can start to experience greater hope and spiritual freedom and relational peace today.
Caesar Kalinowski:Check it out.
Caesar Kalinowski:If you're interested at all, go to everydaydisciple.
Caesar Kalinowski:com forward slash coaching.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you can get some more information on that, and we can even schedule a time to hop on a phone call or a Zoom call and tell you a little bit more about that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Alright, well, as always, I want to leave you with the Big Three takeaways from today's topic.
Caesar Kalinowski:If nothing else, you don't want to miss these, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:And, uh, as always, as well, you can get a printable PDF of the Big Three as a free download just by going to everydaydisciple.
Caesar Kalinowski:com forward slash big three.
Caesar Kalinowski:There you go, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:So here's the big three for this week.
Caesar Kalinowski:First, the coming of Jesus reminds us of the hope we can live with and the hope that's already been fulfilled by God himself.
Caesar Kalinowski:What are you hoping for in your life in the year ahead?
Caesar Kalinowski:What are you hoping for in your career, your family, relationships, maybe your marriage?
Caesar Kalinowski:Right now, are you trusting in self and hoping for more?
Caesar Kalinowski:Or are you placing your hope in the completed work of Christ?
Caesar Kalinowski:Let me remind you, Jesus name means the Lord of Salvation.
Caesar Kalinowski:He came that we might have freedom and peace and he's also called Emmanuel, which means God with us He's not distant and aloof.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's a God that's right here right now with us and that gives us great hope It really does Second God is great.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we don't have to be in control just Keep telling yourself that, and that gives us great hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:All of our worry, stress, and relational strife comes from not believing that God is great, so we try to take control of circumstances, people, and things.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yet, we intrinsically know that we're not God, and that tears away our hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:We've put our hope in self, and we consistently find it lacking, but we now have a true and lasting hope because God is great, and he proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt when he sent Jesus to take our places on a cross and exchange his perfect righteousness for our lack and sinfulness.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's such good news, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:And then third, as you look toward the new year, I want to encourage you, like, you know, stop for a moment.
Caesar Kalinowski:Pull out a piece of paper.
Caesar Kalinowski:Take an inventory of the things that you're still believing that you have to be in control of in your life and in the lives of others.
Caesar Kalinowski:Are you still thinking that you have to be in control of your provision or your health and wellness?
Caesar Kalinowski:Or, are you still trying to control your time, like this is your life, and your calendar?
Caesar Kalinowski:Are you trying to control others behaviors, and it's not working out so well?
Caesar Kalinowski:What is it that you think God still needs your help managing?
Caesar Kalinowski:So, after you've done that, ask the Spirit of Jesus to replace your false sense of control with faith and hope in His great sovereignty.
Caesar Kalinowski:Love and care.
Caesar Kalinowski:That'll change a lot.
Caesar Kalinowski:That'll change a lot.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, that's it for today.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right Thanks for being here with me.
Caesar Kalinowski:Thanks for joining me again as always Please share this episode if you found hope in this, would you please share this?
Caesar Kalinowski:Would you tell some friends about it?
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe get on your Facebook page Surf over to our site and you know, just share the episode.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay, and I hope you'll join me next week We're gonna continue on in this special Advent series and we'll talk about how because God is the most glorious one And he loves us completely.
Caesar Kalinowski:We can now live in peace with God and others.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that's some really good news too.
Caesar Kalinowski:So don't miss that.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'll talk to you soon.
Heath Hollensbe:Thanks for joining us today.
Heath Hollensbe:For more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit everydaydisciple.
Heath Hollensbe:com.
Heath Hollensbe:And remember, you really can live with the spiritual freedom and relational peace that Jesus promised every day.