Our Living Hope - Ron Dee

1 (1s): Good morning harvest church. Let's stand and worship the Lord together. Did you feel them? Bow tins, tram. Did you hear the oceans? Well, when the people rose to seeing Jesus Christ, the , did you feel the tremble? 1 (48s): Did you hear the scene when the law speak and to see Jesus Christ, the CV, and we can see that God mighty river through the nations when young and Walgreens. Jeez, please. Why do you have Oh, dance, dance upon in justice. 1 (2m 11s): Did you feel the talk? All the seeds. all the streams as to wash away our broken and here we see that. God you have it be prepared. 1 (4m 5s): streets. Three sound with singing upon and justice. 1 (4m 48s): Did you feel, did you hear the oceans? When the people rose to seeing Jesus Christ Everyone needs compassion. 1 (6m 9s): Everyone needs for kids. The kindness, the save you Jesus conquered. 1 (7m 10s): All my fears and failures. I get in my life to fog everything. I believe now. 1 (9m 15s): Jesus . 3 (10m 44s): As we continue to worship, I was reading Romans eight, Chuck chapter 8 30, 8 39. And it says, I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love neither death, nor life, neither angels, nor demons, neither our field, our fears for today, nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the peop the powers of hell can separate us from God's love no power in the sky above or in the earth below. Indeed. Nothing in all creation will ever separate us or ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus, our Lord Jesus, as the object of our faith and worship, this is the God we worship this morning. 3 (11m 40s): We come to church on Sunday morning after being gone through a week of trials and tribulations sickness, death, uncertainty that we come here this morning to worship the God that never fails is the same yesterday, today and forever. Let's just continue in worship. As God leads. You pray out of prayer, speak a word that he lays on your heart, but let's continue to focus on the Jesus that never fails. 4 (12m 51s): we pray for our loved ones on the road. 4 (13m 4s): 1 (15m 6s): then Jesus. I do not wholly trust and G My whole then Jesus. 1 (15m 50s): I do not. With trumpets. 1 (18m 58s): 5 (19m 24s): Lord Jesus. We thank you. That because of what you did for us in the cross, our sin laid upon your death, burial, and resurrection. We can stand before you God, and we can approach your throne of grace boldly. Lord Jesus. Thank you for this time of worship, Lord God, we just gathered here to lift up your name, Lord, thank you Jesus. For this morning, Jesus name we pray and then, Well, good morning, everyone. You can take a seat. My name's Jeremy I'm the youth and family pastor here. And just want to say a welcome if you're joining us for the first time, or if you're, this is your a hundred 50th time. 5 (20m 8s): So glad you're here. It's a special place it's for me, it's always felt like family. So, so I hope you feel that way as well. Just a few announcements for you today. Fall life groups are going to kick off in September and we will have the brochures for you available next week. So next Sunday, look for the available full life groups. We'll have those back in the info center, as well as we'll be announcing those things. But we do have a brand new life group and we're starting our new college life group starting up. And there'll be September 1st. And that's, that's actually a first for harvest church. We're really excited about launching this new college group. It's going to be meeting six 30 on Thursdays from six 30 to eight 30. It's going to be at the house. 5 (20m 49s): Curtis is going to be leading that. And we're just really excited that that the, the students that have graduated high school have a place to go and to fellowship and to grow and grow in the word. So that's going to be kicking off September 1st. And lastly, you might be wondering what about Steve last week? I know he, he, he, he was a little bit off during first service. We prayed for him. He, he, he lasts the whole first service, but he ended up going to the hospital between services. He, he got checked out, end up staying up overnight there and everything checked out. Okay. It seems like there's a few dietary and liquid things that he needs just to kind of change, but he's doing really well. 5 (21m 31s): In fact, if you were here at Curtis Curtis's wedding yesterday, Kirsten Clark got married yesterday. Steve was cutting the rug out here. So he was, he was there. He was. And, and so he was back to Steve. So the whole Henry family, because their family and friends are in town. They're taking this this week off. So he's not here. If you don't see any of their Henry family, they're, they're out enjoying their family and friends. So today we're going to have Ron bringing the message and say happy birthday to Ron. It was his birthday yesterday, as well as Todd's it was Todd's birthday yesterday. You're you're, you're not, you're not happy that I'm saying happy birthday, but it was Todd's birthday as well. So we just think that God has brought you guys here and it's exciting times. 5 (22m 16s): So we're gonna take a minute to say hi to someone around you and yeah, we'll see. Do assess do that. 6 (23m 59s): Find a place to sit. Good morning. Good morning. Hey Dale. Good morning. Good morning. So great to gather together. Once again, Sunday morning, you know, we're just keeping this tradition tradition that was started on the day of Pentecost that we would gather together weekly. We gathered together more often than weekly, but you know, Sundays are day. And, and again, the reason we gather on Sunday morning is because that was the day of the resurrection. And so it's been this amazing thing that God has done that would encourage us to gather together. In fact, there's an interesting verse in Hebrews, where he talks about, you know, don't forsake the assembling the gathering of the saints together as some are, but he says, but so much the more as you see the day approaching. 6 (24m 54s): In other words, we need each other more and more as the last days come upon us. And so how wonderful it is to gather together this morning, we're going to be continuing our study in first, Peter. So if you want to turn in your Bibles, or if you want to pull up your device, that the scriptures I'm going to be using will be up on this screen. I like to teach out of the new king James version. So it might vary just a little bit from what you might be used to. Let's pray, Lord, we look to you because ultimately Lord, you are our teacher, holy spirit. You're the one that gives us understanding and clarity and revelation about the things that are declared in the, in the scriptures. And today we're going to look at the words of Peter, the apostle Peter, who was dear to your heart, who walked with you three and a half years in the flesh. 6 (25m 44s): And who now is an older man. He's, he's talking to those Christians in the world that were being persecuted and had been driven out from Jerusalem into all other cities because of their faith. And so Lord, we inherit that mantle. The holy spirit now is upon us. And so Lord, we want to carry and be faithful to what you call these believers to know and to do and where we want to be faithful to know and do those things, same things by the work of your spirit in us. So Lori commit this time to you in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. All right. So both Steve and Jeremy touched on the first opening verses a first Peter, but in order to get the full context, I'm going to go back and look at them. 6 (26m 30s): And then we're going to look at a lot of things. So as we look at the book of first Peter, again, written by Peter, and there's just so much there. So bear with me again. We, we expect the Lord to be the one that's going to be teaching us. So first Peter chapter one, beginning with verse one, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Mathenia elect according to the foreknowledge of God, the father in sanctification of the spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace be multiplied blessed, be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has gotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 6 (27m 19s): There's again, a lot going on there is Peter opens up this letter and the main point, I think the main theme that he's trying to get across here, it's it's Peter's intention is to call our attention to something that is so profound. So, so wonderful. So exceedingly glorious, he calls it a living hope. In fact, I want to read it again. First Peter one verse three, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has gotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 6 (27m 59s): So what is a living hope? The simple, simple definition is this. It is the joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation. A living hope is the joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation. So what I want to do this morning, I'm going to use five W's and one H to try to open this up so that we can get a good handle on it. So I'm going to use who, what, when, where, why, and, and how so I'm told that, you know, researchers and those who are trying to determine what is being looked at or talked about or research that these are the questions they commonly ask. 6 (28m 42s): So that's what I want to use today. So in proper context though, Peter's actually, he's talking about future events. So the, the event that he's talking about has not happened yet, not fully and yet. So therefore we are still waiting for the fulfillment of the living, hope that he's talking about here. So let's begin with who. So when I go through the who, what, when, where, why and how I'm going to change the order. So it kinda makes sense. I'll hopefully. So who is qualified, first of all, who is qualified to receive the living hope that Peter's talking about? So in verse one, backing up a little in the new living translation. 6 (29m 22s): This letter is from Peter and apostle of Jesus Christ. He says, I am writing to God's chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bethenny up. So who is qualified? So that's the question. So according to Peter here, he says, God's chosen. People are qualified. And then he, he mentions five provinces. And he says that these are the provinces where Christians have been dispersed abroad because of persecution that began in Jerusalem and was occurring all over the Roman empire. So I want to make this as personal as I can. 6 (30m 5s): I'm going to rewrite Peter's words just a little bit. I'm writing to God's chosen people who are living in the five cities he's writing to us. This is a future event hasn't happened yet. So I have a trivia question for you to kind of make it more personal. Here's here's a trivia question. Can you name the five cities that make up the five cities? Sometimes that question comes up. Yeah. I live in the five cities. Okay. Well, what are the five cities? Hmm, let me think about this. Okay. So I did a little Google search historically. So that term five city has been around for quite a while. 6 (30m 47s): So historically that term five cities represents a row, Grandy Grover city. You know the name change Wabag Halcyon fair Oaks. And if Houma, yeah. See, you're walking away with something this morning that you didn't know before. So I always get what'd you learn at church today. I learned some history about the five cities, but those cities have kind of grown into each other. So currently the five cities are a row grand, a Grover beach, Pismo beach, Oceana, and Nipomo. All right, there you go. 6 (31m 27s): Trivia for the week. All right. So back to the who Peter is saying, I'm right into, God's chosen people and who are God's chosen people. God's chosen. People are those who have chosen him. God's chosen. People are those who have chosen to believe the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God's chosen. People are those who have been born. Again, those who have experienced his new birth, those who have been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ, those who have received Jesus as their Lord and savior. Those are the chosen ones that he's talking about. 6 (32m 8s): So my question to all of us this morning is have you chosen him? That's where it begins. Have you chosen him? You're going to have opportunity today to choose, to believe and follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior. So we see the who now, why, why, why is God doing this for us? The things that Peter's talking about, why is God doing this for us? Why are we receiving the living hope that he's talking about here? So again, back to first, Peter verses two and three, he says grace to you and peace be multiplied. Blessed would be the God and father of our Lord. Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has gotten us again to a living hope. 6 (32m 50s): So we mentioned three things there, and this is the why, why is God doing this for us? And the three words he mentioned, our grace peace and mercy. Now you probably know this already. So might be a little bit redundant, but grace, what is grace? Grace is God's unmerited. Undeserved favor. God has chosen to give us something that we don't deserve. And it is his favor. And others were accepted by him and is something he has just chosen to give us as a free gift. Secondly, we also receive, and this is why I got us doing this for us. It's because of the peace that he's given us peace with God, another way of putting it. We have been again, accepted by God. 6 (33m 32s): And therefore we have peace with him. Romans five one says this. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So how amazing we are. We have his grace, we've received something we don't deserve. And we have peace, literally friendship relationship with the living, God. And then finally the word he uses there is mercy. He says, according to his abundant mercy. So mercy as, as grace is something that is unmerited that God has given to us. Mercy is the fact that God has chosen to withhold something from us that we actually deserve. What do we deserve? 6 (34m 12s): We deserve judgment. Grace, peace and mercy acts chapter 1731. God has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness, by the man whom he has ordained. And that man is Jesus Christ. So why is God doing this for us? Because of God's great love for you. And for me, because of his abundant grace and peace and mercy that he has chosen to lavish upon us. So we've looked at the who we've looked at the why, and now I want to go back to Peter's main point. 6 (34m 56s): How, how did God make a way for us to receive the living, hope that he's talking about here? So the simple answer is he made a way through the gospel, but more specifically, he made a way through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Again, back to verse three, blessed, be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has been gotten us again to a living hope. There it is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So this is sort of a side subject, but I have an interesting question for you who raised Jesus from the dead and the simple would be, well, God did raised him from the dead. 6 (35m 41s): Well, interesting as we look at a few verses acts chapter 13, beginning with verse 29, it says this. Now, when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning him concerning Jesus. They took him down from the tree, from the cross and they laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead. Seems fairly obvious who raised Jesus from the dead God did well. There's another interesting scripture in, and Jesus is speaking to here in John chapter 10. He says this for 17. He says, my father loves me because I laid down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. 6 (36m 25s): I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it again. Hmm. Okay. I guess Jesus raised himself from the dead. Another scripture. I want to have us think about this morning, Romans chapter eight, verse 11. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in. You seems like the holy spirit raised Jesus from the dead. So who raised Jesus from the dead? Well, well, God did, or they all did, or, or God is three in one. 6 (37m 7s): And here what we see as another example of the Trinity or the, the unity of God who raised Jesus from the dead, the father, the son and the holy spirit did. So the clear teaching of the Bible is that Jesus rose from the dead that's, that's the fact that we want to embrace this morning. And because Jesus rose from the dead, he has promised that we will also rise from the dead John chapter 11. I love these verses verse 25. I am. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. 6 (37m 48s): He who believes in me though, he may die. He shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. And then he says, do you believe this? That's a question we need to answer today. Do you believe this? And then Paul expounds on this in first Thessalonians, chapter four, beginning with verse 13, because there was his concern about those who had died, believers that had died. And some of them, there was this rumor going around that the resurrection had already happened. And they were confused. Paul says, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died. 6 (38m 32s): So you will not grieve like people who have no hope for, since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life. Again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him. The believers who have died, we tell you this directly from the Lord, we who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died for the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves and then together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. 6 (39m 21s): Then we will be with the Lord forever. He says, so encourage each other. With these words, he, he is talking about a future event as well. It hasn't happened yet. So that's part of our living hope. We're looking forward to that. How did God make a way for us to receive the living hope that Peter is talking about? He made a way through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead that's, that's how he did it. So we looked at who, why and how, and, and now I wanna look at what, so what is it that we're preparing for? What are we waiting for? What are we waiting for and preparing for, to receive and what is called it? 6 (40m 4s): We're waiting for our inheritance back to first, Peter and I'm looking at verses three and four. Again, blessed would be the God and father of our Lord. Jesus Christ, who according to his at mercy has gotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away. And it's reserved in heaven for you. So we have an inheritance that is waiting for us in heaven. And as Peter says, here is it's reserved in heaven for you, which is exactly what Jesus was thinking about or talking about. When he was speaking to me in Matthew chapter six, verse 19, he says this, he says, don't store up treasures here on earth, where MAs eat them and rust destroys them. 6 (40m 56s): And where thieves break in and steal store your treasures in heaven, where moth and rust cannot destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. So we're waiting for this inheritance. What is the inheritance or waiting for while some might say, we're waiting for our salvation, the fullness of it. We're waiting for the rewards that God has promised to us. We're waiting for eternal life. We're waiting for God himself. We're waiting for heaven. We're waiting to see Jesus face to face. I think we're waiting for all these things and all those things combined. That's our inheritance. You know, there's a lot of talk these days about making wise investments, you know, inflation so high and interest rates are crazy and, you know, stock, market's going up and down. 6 (41m 44s): So here's a question we often ask are the value of my investments going up or down. So Jesus encourage us, encourages us to store up our treasures. That would be our investment in heaven. Peter is telling us that our inheritance, our investment in heaven is there they're incorruptible, they're undefiled. They won't fade away. In other words, your inheritance, your investment in heaven is secure and it will pay eternal dividends. So Peter goes on to say that our investment in heaven, as I said, it's, it's not only incorruptible. It's undefiled that won't fade away. 6 (42m 24s): In fact, our inheritance is actually kept or guarded by the power of God. The truth is everything we know and love here on earth is going to burn up figuratively and literally, phew, phew, read revelation. I mean, literally, I mean, when we think about saving our environment and protecting everything for future generations, and that's all, that's all good. We're a steward of the earth. But if you read through revelation, the events of the last days, most of it's going to burn up. And most of the living creatures in the sea are going to die. 6 (43m 7s): So we have to have God's perspective about these things. The truth is everything we know and love here on earth is going to burn up because it's corrupted, it's been corrupted. The only thing that will survive the fire of God's judgment is our eternal salvation. God will transform that, which is corrupted into that, which is incorruptible. Paul speaks about this in first Corinthians 15 beginning with 15 verse 51, behold, I tell you a mystery, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed for this corruptible must put on incorruption. And this mortal must put on immortality. 6 (43m 50s): So when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass. The saying that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ, our Lord in that grade. That's good news. So we looked at the who, the why, how and now, and the what now I want to look at when, you know, when is this going to come to pass? When will we receive our inheritance? We will receive our inheritance at the revelation of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Back to first Peter one verse four. 6 (44m 30s): He says our is it's incorruptible. It's undefiled in it. It won't fade away. It does not fade away. It's reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God, through faith for salvation. And here it is ready to be revealed in the last time. So we will receive our inheritance when Jesus Christ returns to take us home, Jesus was surrounded by those who are looking to him and he wanted to encourage them about these things in John chapter 14, he says, let not your heart be troubled. 6 (45m 11s): We look out at things are going on. The world today is pretty troubling. There's a lot of confusion and mayhem and in the world. So Jesus is speaking to us. He's saying, don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me, in my father's house are many mansions, many dwelling places. If it were not. So I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. And I will receive you to myself, that where I am there, you may be also, and where I go, you know, and the way you know, Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you're going and how can we know the way Jesus said to him? 6 (46m 0s): You guys know it. Well, I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me. So right now we're kind of in this holding pattern, we're in this, we're just waiting. Jesus said, you know, God says occupy until I come. In other words, we're, we're being steadfast unmovable. We're continuing to believe and, and just stay faithful to the Lord until these things, until these things happen, occur are fulfilled right now. We're simply in a holding pattern of waiting mode. We're patiently waiting for the imminent, the promised return of Jesus Christ, revelation chapter one, verse seven behold. 6 (46m 50s): He is coming with clouds and every eye will see him. Even those who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. Why will they mourn? Because they rejected him. They chose not to believe in him. The only way of salvation, all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him even so amen. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning, and the end says the Lord who is and who was, and who is to come? The almighty. We looked at who, why, how, what? 6 (47m 30s): And when the last w is where, where are we going to go when Jesus returns again, I'm looking back at first, Peter chapter one, again, verse four. He's again, talking about this inheritance. That's incorruptible undefiled that does not fade away. He says, it's reserved in heaven for you. Who are you, who are kept by the power of God, through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. So where are we going? When Jesus returns simple answer, we're going to heaven. We will be in the kingdom of God. We will see Jesus face to face. 6 (48m 16s): A few days ago, I got a text from our oldest daughter, Jamie, and she was passing on a question that our grandson, David who's eight. Jamie, can you ask Papa this, these two questions? So these are the two questions he wants answered. What is it like in heaven? And the second one, the second question is how old is the earth? I'm going to leave the age of the earth one till another time. But what is it like in heaven? I mean, that's a good question, right? Because again, the reason is where, where are we going when Jesus returns, we're going to be with him in heaven. 6 (48m 58s): What's heaven. Like, so here's the problem. Here's the problem. We tend to use our experiences here on earth. As we try to imagine what heaven will be like. We tend to use our experiences here on earth. And we try to imagine having through the lens of our experiences here on earth, we can't, we can't do that. In fact, Paul talks about this in first Corinthians chapter two, verse nine, he says, he says, as it is written, eye has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered in the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him. 6 (49m 41s): And so with that, we think, well, then we can't fully know. And, and we can't fully imagine what being in the presence of God and being in heaven will be like, and that would be true, but then he closes ACEs, but God has revealed them to us through his spirit for the spirit searches, all things. Yes. The deep things of God. So can we think about an, imagine what heaven might be like? Yeah. We can through the, through the holy spirit, through the lens of the holy spirit, through the pages of scripture, but not through our world's experiences is, and so we know it's radically different, that's for sure, but it's radically better. You see, sometimes we get to the point where we think about heaven. 6 (50m 21s): We go, well, you know, I don't, I don't really want to play a harp on a cloud somewhere, you know, for eternity. This is doesn't sound fun to me. Just imagine this, imagine anything and everything that really brings you joy and fulfillment and happiness upon this earth. And imagine it exponentially magnified in heaven. We're going to be, we're going to be, I want to say useful. There's an economy in heaven. There's fulfillment in heaven that we can't even imagine truly on this earth. 6 (51m 5s): It will be wonderful beyond our imagination to the point that we're gonna, we're going to want it to let, let it go on for eternity. And it will. Our living hope is in heaven. Our living hope is heaven. Our living hope is Jesus Christ himself. Our living hope is to be in the presence of the living. God who created all things. Another verse first Corinthians 13, 12 for now in this present situation we're in for now, we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. 6 (51m 46s): Now I know in part, but then I shall know him just as I also am known by him. There's going to be this amazing revelation that occurs. We're not fully going to, it's not fully going to be revealed to us until we are standing face to face with the Lord. Jesus Christ. That's our living hope again, the joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation. So we've got this living hope and as compared to, I'm going to compare to a false hope. So there's a lot of things in life we could hope for and say, well, I wish it were this way. 6 (52m 27s): Or I hope for this. That would be a false hope if it's really not, it's not going to happen. There's no way that's going to happen. You know, for example, I want to give you a few examples. False hope is, is hoping that something that absolutely will never happen. That's a false hope. I'm going to give you a couple examples. I hope I will grow my hair back someday. That's never going to happen. I'm not going to go to Bosley, hair treatment, whatever. That's a false hope. How about this one? I hope I will grow another seven inches so that I can be six feet tall. It's not going to happen. That's a false hope in life is full of false hopes, but a living hope it's based on God's promises and God cannot lie. 6 (53m 18s): Titus one, two in hope of eternal life. What Peter's talking about here, which God that cannot lie promise before the world began Hebrews chapter six, verse 18 by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. And he's talking about this hope again. We might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope that is set before us. And this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence behind the veil, literally into the presence of God himself. 6 (54m 2s): Our living hope is not false. Hope. It is not a pipe dream. It's not based on our own wild imaginations. It's based on the promises in God's word. And it is confirmed by the witness of the holy spirit, Hebrews 11, one faith. What we're talking about are living hope. It is the substance of things hoped for it is the evidence of things not seen. God is faithful. The holy spirit is faithful to, to open up the pages of scripture, to us, to speak into our heart, our mind, our soul, our spirit, and end to tell us and affirm to us. This living hope that you're holding on to continue to walk in that, continue to believe in that Romans five, five hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit who's been given to us Titus chapter two, verse 13, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ. 6 (55m 4s): I want to continue my, my goal this morning is to make it through verse, verse 12. How are we doing? I have, okay. I've got four and a half minutes left. Let's jump back to first. Peter verse six, chapter one, verse six in this, in this living. Hope you greatly rejoice though. Now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials that the genuine genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold. That perishes though it is tested by fire. It may be found to praise honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. 6 (55m 47s): And though, now you do not see him yet believing you rejoice with joy, inexpressible, and full of glory. Receiving the end of your faith. The salvation of your souls stay strong. Stay strong in the Lord. Don't lose hope, endure hardship. As a soldier of Jesus Christ, place your faith in him. He has promised that he will never leave you and he will never forsake you. In fact, you are kept by the very power of God and he is worth the weight. 6 (56m 27s): Jesus Christ is returning very soon. Matthew chapter 25, verse 34, Jesus speaks. And he says, the king will say to those on his right hand come, you blessed bless it of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. So we see this is not a new idea. This is not a new thing. The profits of old have been waiting for the fulfillment of the things that God had previously revealed to them. 6 (57m 7s): Again, back to first Peter, picking it up in verse 10 of this salvation, this living hope that he's talking about here of this salvation, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully who prophesied of the grace that would come to you searching what or what manner of time? The spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand, the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow to them. It was revealed that not to themselves, but to us, they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the holy spirit sent from heaven. 6 (57m 48s): Things which angels desire to look into. I want to go ahead and invite the worship team to come on up at this time. So the truth is Jesus Christ is coming back again. He's coming back soon. The question we have to ask ourselves is, will we be ready? Will you be ready? When he returns? Jesus was talking about his return in Luke chapter 21, verse 25. He said this, and there will be signs in the sun, in the moon and in the stars. 6 (58m 34s): And on the, on the earth, there's going to be distress of nations. Sounds familiar with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring men's hearts will be failing them from fear and the expectation of those things, which are coming on the earth for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now, when these things begin to happen, look up, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near, you know, Paul and Silas, they went from place to place preaching the gospel. 6 (59m 16s): They happened to be in the city of Philippi. The message wasn't received very well. They wound up in, in jail, in prison and there they were, it was the middle of the night and they're just worshiping God, thanking him that they could be worthy to suffer persecution for the sake of Christ. And they're just praising and worshiping. And suddenly there's an earthquake. And the shackles that were holding them bound up, fell off the doors of the prison, flung flung open, and the head jailer thought everybody, all the prisoners had escaped. He's about ready to kill himself. And so this is what Paul and Silas said to him. The jailer in acts 1630, he says the jailer brought them out. 6 (59m 60s): He brought them out and said, SIRS, what must I do to be saved? So that that's such an important question. So Paul and Silas, this was what the response they gave to the jailer. They said, believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ. And you'll be saved you and your household, you and your family. That message is the same today. What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ. And you will be saved. And as you have influence on your family, there'll be saved to the writer, John, in his letters. 6 (1h 0m 43s): He wanted to help the believers to know, you know, there's this question that goes around. Can I lose my salvation? Am I really saved? You know, you have to be convinced of that. But to the question of, can I lose my salvation? I would say, this is just abide in Christ and you're going to be you're safe. But this is what John said in first, John chapter five, beginning, verse 11, he said, this is the testimony. This is the record that God has given us eternal life. And this life is in his son. He has the light, sorry. He who has the son has life. He who does not have the son of God, does not have life. 6 (1h 1m 24s): These things I've written to you who believe in the name of the son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the son of God. So naturally my encouragement to all of us today, if you are walking with the Lord, remain steadfast, grow in your faith, continue to open up the scriptures daily and let him encourage you. As you walk with him day by day. Those of you that you know, you, you can look back and think, well, you know, there was a time that I really loved the Lord and was walking with him, but not so much anymore. Today's the day you want to recommit your life to Jesus Christ. He's coming back soon. So reaffirm, reaffirm your commitment to him. 6 (1h 2m 7s): And for those of you that say, you know, I've never, I, I don't know if I believe I've never really thought too much about it. Today's a day of your salvation and you don't have to have all the answers. I promise you this. If you would just open up the door of your heart, the one of your heart, just a little bit and say, God, I don't know, but I'm willing. I'm willing to allow you to come in and reveal yourself to me. I'm willing to give Jesus a chance in my heart and my life. And if you will do that, I will promise you this. God will reveal himself to you in a profound way that you can, that you can affirm and say, Jesus Christ is the Lord. 6 (1h 2m 48s): Lord. We just want to thank you today that we can be encouraged. Even as Peter was trying to encourage the believers in his day, where we're so encouraged about the living, hope that you have reserved in heaven for us. Lord, help us to maintain that, that perseverance, that endurance that we need in this life. Lord, I pray that all of us would be opening up our heart, opening up our life to you to receive all the wonderful promises that you have for us. Jesus, we are so grateful that you went to the cross on our behalf. And we just want to say, thank you in Jesus name, we pray. God's people said, amen. 6 (1h 3m 28s): Amen. Go ahead and stand with me. We're going to continue to worship the Lord. 1 (1h 3m 34s): Grab that. Thanks spirit. Come to get And Renae dumb. 1 (1h 4m 26s): Don't let your car don't feed 0 (1h 4m 38s): Because 1 (1h 4m 39s): Your eyes on fruit, God is badly and take her told on the strong. Remember where But the price go up as the walls come down. 1 (1h 6m 51s): his name is Jesus. 1 (1h 7m 11s): his name is Jesus. 1 (1h 8m 37s): Come down. I'll create geez. 0 (1h 9m 11s): Geez. 8 (1h 9m 27s): Yes. Let your kingdom come. Jesus father, I thank you that the praises of your people break down walls. It's like Paul and Silas. They break chains. They open the prison doors and set us free. Father. I pray that as we go out this week, we would go out knowing that we have a living hope in Jesus, and we know that he is returning, his kingdom will come and we will get to spend eternity with him in heaven. How awesome is that going to be? Thank you. Jesus. Jesus. Same name.