SPEAKER_00: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: We've gathered to remind ourselves that yes, uh, to to say, oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel, to acknowledge the fact that you came before and you're gonna come again.
SPEAKER_01: Love came down to find us.
SPEAKER_01: You came on a mission.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says in Luke that you came to seek and save that which is lost.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't just come to make a visit, you came hurtling out of eternity into time like a meat meteor, and boom, you set it down.
SPEAKER_01: And the world has been on fire ever since.
SPEAKER_01: It's never been the same.
SPEAKER_01: We changed the calendar, we changed the time we reckon and measure time because of the incarnation.
SPEAKER_01: So we never want to get over this.
SPEAKER_01: So, Holy Spirit calls us to think in ways that we don't normally think today, so we can live in ways that we don't normally live.
SPEAKER_01: Not as a one-off, but as a daily experience of the life that Jesus came to make available.
SPEAKER_01: This is why you came.
SPEAKER_01: There is no other reason.
SPEAKER_01: You came so we could have life and have it to the full.
SPEAKER_01: This life is available.
SPEAKER_01: It's not religion, it's relationship.
SPEAKER_01: So thank you that you left the sanctity of heaven that came to the depravity of earth for sinners like me, so that we could find our way out of the darkness into this light.
SPEAKER_01: We have hope today, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Remind us of that from your word and by your spirit.
SPEAKER_01: We pray in Jesus' name when everyone said.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_01: If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to Hebrews chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guest today, let me explain what you're seeing down here.
SPEAKER_01: Today's the first Sunday of Advent.
SPEAKER_01: Advent is from a is from a Latin word called Adventist, which means coming or arrival.
SPEAKER_01: And Advent commemorates the the first uh coming of Jesus, the incarnation, baby Jesus in the manger, but also the second coming.
SPEAKER_01: We're kind of stuck in between uh this first coming and the second coming, and we want to live with intentionality uh uh uh uh between those two realities.
SPEAKER_01: And so each Sunday of Advent, today's the first Sunday, each Sunday, let me ask a practical question.
SPEAKER_01: Is my microphone loud?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I sound like I'm yelling at you, don't I?
SPEAKER_01: I want to yell at you later, so we'll turn that down a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: There we go.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, so anyway, each Sunday has a theme, and like today's theme is hope.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to talk to you about this simple statement, which I said to a friend of mine, and he laughed out loud in my face.
SPEAKER_01: He said, What are you gonna talk about in Advent, the first Sunday of Advent?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Um, I said the last time I preached, I talked about uh the final judgment, a bright, happy sunshine topic.
SPEAKER_01: And this time I want to talk about how to be hopeful to the very end, how to be hopeful to the end.
SPEAKER_01: And he was like, dude, do you realize what the world's like?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Uh but we don't take our cues from the world.
SPEAKER_01: Because the problem for many of us, and my friend has this problem as well, uh, the problem is by the time we're 16, we're so disappointed by people in life that we're pretty much hopeless.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, not that we don't want to have hope, but we can't take any more disappointment.
SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, matter of fact, you would be surprised how many people feel a deep sense of hopelessness, not just during the holidays, but but but all year round.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, you would be even more surprised that you're sitting probably around people right now, they're like, I don't think I'm hopeless, but I don't have the hope that the Bible talks about.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is why I want to talk about how to be hopeful to the end, because the Bible is very clear, okay?
SPEAKER_01: It is very clear and very obvious.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to show you that this morning, but before I do, I want to give you a definition for what I call hopelessness, okay?
SPEAKER_01: This is what hopelessness, when I say hopelessness, this is what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: Hopelessness is a feeling of despair or a lack of hope that life can feel better than it that it has been.
SPEAKER_01: Hopelessness.
SPEAKER_01: This is an epidemic in America.
SPEAKER_01: It is a feeling of despair or a lack of hope that life can feel better than it has been.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there's a people progression to hopelessness.
SPEAKER_01: You say, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Uh a people progression.
SPEAKER_01: It starts off with parents and then peers and ourselves and then God, then it ends up in a state no one wants to be in.
SPEAKER_01: So let me just back up.
SPEAKER_01: It'll come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: What do I mean?
SPEAKER_01: It starts with parents.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how it spools out in your life.
SPEAKER_01: You have faith in your parents, and then you get to be a certain age and you think, man, my parents are lame.
SPEAKER_01: I don't trust them.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I refer to as the eye-rolling stage.
SPEAKER_01: If you're on bomb, you know this.
SPEAKER_01: You say things to your kid, they just roll it like, okay, whatever, mother.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and so uh you're disillusioned because they aren't what you need them to be, that don't let you do what you want, they don't let you do what you want to do.
SPEAKER_01: So you lose hope in them, and then it moves from parents, you turn to your peer group.
SPEAKER_01: It starts happening about 12 to 14 years old, depending on the circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: This feels great in the beginning, but it only takes a little bit of time for you to realize, uh-oh, I can't put a lot of hope in these people because this is like Lord of the Flies, okay?
SPEAKER_01: If I disappoint them, they will slander me on social media, they will say things about me that aren't true, they'll lie, they'll stab me in the back.
SPEAKER_01: I can't put any faith in them.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so uh by the time you're about 16, 17 years old, you're very aware of the fact that the world's full of people who have left you feeling unsafe.
SPEAKER_01: And over time, you have this kind of lingering sense of hopelessness or this this feeling of despair, or that hey, that life is not gonna feel much better going forward as it has been in the past.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and that's a very real uh feeling.
SPEAKER_01: So, parents, peers, self, uh I almost forgot that somewhere along the way you just kind of look around, you think, hey, the only person I can really trust in is myself.
SPEAKER_01: And while this sounds good and some days it feels good, uh here's the reality that dawns on you one day in the shower when you're about 16.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Things that I said I would never do, I've actually done.
SPEAKER_01: So I kind of have this low-grade sadness about myself.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I'm kind of disappointed, and I feel for the most part a little bit hopeless.
SPEAKER_01: And then we begin to project on to God.
SPEAKER_01: The final expression of hopelessness is that we apply to God uh what what we feel about ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty disappointed in myself, and we project onto God because I'm so disappointed in myself, you probably are disappointed too.
SPEAKER_01: This is kind of the passive expression, the active expression of this posture towards God is simply this thought that, hey, I can't really reconcile the existence of a God who is good with a world that is so bad.
SPEAKER_01: So, how can God be really good?
SPEAKER_01: How can God be real and be good if the world is so bad and I feel so bad?
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't God care that I feel the way that I feel?
SPEAKER_01: And then you progress through all these people, and then parents, peers, yourself, God, and then you get to the state of what's called nihilism.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, nihilism is very popular uh uh in counseling because basically it's this it's a rejection of all religious and moral principles in the belief that life has no meaning and therefore it's hopeless.
SPEAKER_01: And you would be surprised the number of adults and students who get to this place of this nihilism, hey, it just doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01: And so you say nihilism is a bit clinical like sign uh definition.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you are like, dude, I got my family here, they still for Thanksgiving, and you're dropping this on us, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me because I want to be very hopeful today.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what nihilism looks like in your kids.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: It looks like this.
SPEAKER_01: You you say something to them, they just kind of they just kind of shrug.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like, I oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01: I want that to be true.
SPEAKER_01: I hope that's true.
SPEAKER_01: But by the time they're about 16, they're so disillusioned and let down by people and themselves that they have a real first name basis relationship with this thing called hopelessness.
SPEAKER_01: And along comes the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I mean when I say uh where I get the idea of about, hey, I want to talk about how to be hopeful to the end.
SPEAKER_01: This is Hebrews chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: I'll start reading verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says this for God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints as you still do.
SPEAKER_01: And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness, to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible is unblushing in what it says.
SPEAKER_01: Hear that last part again, verse 12, so that you may not be sluggish.
SPEAKER_01: That means lazy.
SPEAKER_01: So you may not be sluggish, but you imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
SPEAKER_01: Then you say, Who are those who have faith and patience and inherit the promise?
SPEAKER_01: Well, verse 13 picks it right up, and he says, This for when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, Surely I will bless you and multiply you.
SPEAKER_01: And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.
SPEAKER_01: For my people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes, an oath is final for confirmation.
SPEAKER_01: So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
SPEAKER_01: We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the place behind the curtain, that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus is gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever, after the order of Melchazadek.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you say, okay, you got all that.
SPEAKER_01: You made a case for hopelessness.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: The Bible, go back up if you would, verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: He says, and we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness, to have full assurance of hope to the end.
SPEAKER_01: The same earnestness to have not just hope, but a full assurance of hope.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean a full assurance?
SPEAKER_01: That means you have a sense of certainty about this thing that you have hope in.
SPEAKER_01: Our hope is not in hope, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Hope has a name.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll get to that towards the end this morning.
SPEAKER_01: But when I say hope, I'm not talking about an emotional, positive, mental frame of reference.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about a person.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: Say amen.
SPEAKER_01: And so I just basically, here's what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that, hey, uh that we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness, to have full assurance of hope until the end.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: So that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promise.
SPEAKER_01: There's two things the Bible says here, and here's the only two things I want to talk about this morning, okay?
SPEAKER_01: That's most of my sermons, short, sweet, and to the point.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Why are you laughing?
SPEAKER_01: Two things.
SPEAKER_01: He says, through faith and patience.
SPEAKER_01: Through faith and patience, you inherit the promises.
SPEAKER_01: And then he talks about Abraham is an example of this.
SPEAKER_01: So I just want to talk about two things today.
SPEAKER_01: Uh hey, this is how you have faith to the end.
SPEAKER_01: You number one, you gotta have faith.
SPEAKER_01: Now, a few thoughts about faith.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I just want to take off four things about faith.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, our faith is not in our faith.
SPEAKER_01: Our faith is not in our faith, or what some people call our religious tradition.
SPEAKER_01: You say, Well, I would never say that.
SPEAKER_01: Sure, you would.
SPEAKER_01: If you ever just talk to people and you say, Well, I'm Baptist, your faith is in your faith.
SPEAKER_01: Or you say, I'm Catholic.
SPEAKER_01: Like this is a get out of spiritual conversations free card.
SPEAKER_01: Your faith is in your faith, okay?
SPEAKER_01: If you say I'm Methodist, I'm Presbyterian, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Our faith is not in our faith or our religious tradition.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second thing about faith: our faith is not in ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: This is where hopelessness begins.
SPEAKER_01: You you look to your parents and you roll your eyes like, whatever, mother.
SPEAKER_01: And you look to your peers and you realize, oh my gosh, I cannot trust these people.
SPEAKER_01: They are as dishonest and deceitful as I feared they might be.
SPEAKER_01: And so our faith is not in ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: That's not a good place to put your faith.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, our faith is a verb.
SPEAKER_01: If your faith is a noun, if it's this proper noun, this person, place, or thing, it never invades the reality you call life.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the fourth thing I want to say about faith.
SPEAKER_01: Our faith is in God.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to remind you of some of the things about our God while we can have certain hope to the end, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Our faith is in God.
SPEAKER_01: If your faith is not in God, then your hope kind of goes up and down like the stock market.
SPEAKER_01: It's got if your faith is not in God, if your faith is in anything but God, if your faith is in a relationship, if your faith is in, as someone said to me, Oh, I said, now what are you where are you in premarital counsel?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Where are you and your fiance?
SPEAKER_01: What do you really build and bank your life on?
SPEAKER_01: And this person said, Oh, my faith is in him.
SPEAKER_01: These are women that are married, that are groaning right now.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Can I just suggest that that's not a good place to put your faith?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, he's a good man.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I don't doubt that.
SPEAKER_01: I think that's great.
SPEAKER_01: And I think he's gonna be a great husband, but he is you don't want to put your faith in him.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I put all my faith in him.
SPEAKER_01: And I looked at him and I just said, You feel okay about that?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Most days.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, because here's the thing about putting your faith in him.
SPEAKER_01: You need him to be what only God can be for you.
SPEAKER_01: And that's a lot of pressure to put on him.
SPEAKER_01: So he says, Hey, you become imitators of people who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
SPEAKER_01: How do you experience when the Bible says inherit the promises, how do I experience the things the Bible talks about?
SPEAKER_01: Through faith and patience.
SPEAKER_01: Faith, where you gotta have you, I want you to understand some things about the God that you have faith in that the Bible calls and commands us to have faith in because this is what allows you to have this certain hope all the way to the end, not just during the holidays, not just when things are good, but regardless of what's happening around you, your faith is unchanged because your faith is not in people, your faith is not in yourself, your faith is not in your circumstances, your faith is not in your boyfriend or your fiance or your husband or your wife, or your faith is not in your kids.
SPEAKER_01: Uh-oh.
SPEAKER_01: Because they will disappoint you.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: So, what should you know about this God that allows you to have this certain hope all the way to the end?
SPEAKER_01: Let me tick off three things this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, his promise is rooted in surely I will.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, Surely I will bless you and multiply you.
SPEAKER_01: The promise of God to Abraham and to you and I by extension, because we are the heirs of the promise, is rooted in, surely I will.
SPEAKER_01: It's not rooted in surely you will, or surely you shouldn't.
SPEAKER_01: He is not a God of behavior modification.
SPEAKER_01: He is a God that says, Listen, just hear this again.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible just said it.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, since he felt that since there was no one greater by whom for him to swear by, he swore by himself.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine somebody doing that?
SPEAKER_01: You know, we testify in court, you haven't put your hand on the Bible, raise your right hand, repeat after me.
SPEAKER_01: Do you solemnly swear the testimony you're about to give?
SPEAKER_01: Is the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
SPEAKER_01: Help you, God.
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't put his hand on the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: God puts his hand on himself and says, I swear by myself.
SPEAKER_01: Because I can't find anybody greater than me to swear by.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss this part down here where it says in verse 16, for people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes, an oath is final for confirmation.
SPEAKER_01: So this is what people do.
SPEAKER_01: So God says, you know what, since this is what people do.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't realize this until I was in the third grade and we were playing football at recess.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, do they have recess anymore?
SPEAKER_01: I don't think they do have recess in school.
SPEAKER_01: But we used to have recess where kids went and got physical activity.
SPEAKER_01: And so we always played football.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and and there was a kind of, I mean, we would the big discussions or fights in football would be about the out of bounds.
SPEAKER_01: Did you go out of bounds?
SPEAKER_01: Did you step over the sideline?
SPEAKER_01: This imaginary line from that corner of that building to the corner of that building.
SPEAKER_01: And when I was in the third grade, there was a kid in my school, and his name was Thomas Matoulis.
SPEAKER_01: And I just thought, what is up with your name, bro?
SPEAKER_01: He was Italian.
SPEAKER_01: And here's how I do he was Italian, and I think he was in the mob because he caught a pass and he was running, he ran way out there.
SPEAKER_01: We're like, dude, you're out of bounds.
SPEAKER_01: You can start with it.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: I swear on my on my mother's eyes.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember the third grade thinking, what did you say?
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, I swear on my mother's eyes, I wasn't out of bounds.
SPEAKER_01: Now remember, the Bible says, hey, people swear by something greater than themselves.
SPEAKER_01: And this kind of ends the argument.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember thinking, I don't know your mom, but please don't bring up her eyes ever again.
SPEAKER_01: And then we went back in and Mrs.
SPEAKER_01: Peoples, Mrs.
SPEAKER_01: People said to us, Boys and girls, how was recessed?
SPEAKER_01: And somebody raised their hand and said, Thomas swore on his mother's eyes.
SPEAKER_01: And Mrs.
SPEAKER_01: People said, shouldn't do that.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember thinking, I think he's in the mob.
SPEAKER_01: I think his family's somehow connected.
SPEAKER_01: But see, here's the thing about God.
SPEAKER_01: When I say our faith is in God, one of the reasons you you you should have great confidence about the fact that your faith is in God.
SPEAKER_01: You shouldn't look around the world today and think, hey, we're kind of the moral minority.
SPEAKER_01: No, you should have this incredible faith because his promise is rooted in surely I will.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't just say I will.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Surely.
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: Is there anything you're waiting on God to do?
SPEAKER_01: And you're just kind of like, God, I don't know if you got any surely left in you with my name on it.
SPEAKER_01: But God says, Surely I will.
SPEAKER_01: Not just I will, but are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_01: Have you lost sight of who I am and how I operate?
SPEAKER_01: Our faith is in God.
SPEAKER_01: And so one of the things that should kind of reorient us back around, reorient us back around God is that his promise is rooted in surely I will.
SPEAKER_01: And his promise is as certain as his nature.
SPEAKER_01: This is why he swears by himself.
SPEAKER_01: He looks around and says, You know what?
SPEAKER_01: I want to, since you people do it this way, I want to accommodate and I want to make an oath, but I got nobody I can swear by because there's nobody greater than me.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second thing that ought to cause you and I to have this increasing sense of faith in this God.
SPEAKER_01: His purpose hasn't changed.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean his purpose hasn't changed?
SPEAKER_01: For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes, an oath is final for confirmation.
SPEAKER_01: So when God desired to show more convincingly, did you hear that?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 16 says, this is what people do.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 17, he says, So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise, who are the heirs of the promise?
SPEAKER_01: Hello?
SPEAKER_01: You.
SPEAKER_01: You're the heirs of the promise, okay?
SPEAKER_01: He says, so when God desired to show more convincingly, the Bible is not just written like it's not a history book, written for people back then, and we gathered on Sundays to appreciate their lives.
SPEAKER_01: It is written to you and I.
SPEAKER_01: So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.
SPEAKER_01: So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, you know what's impossible for God to lie?
SPEAKER_01: You want to see how how outlandish that sounds?
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine a politician going on TV tomorrow and saying, by the way, it's impossible for me to lie?
SPEAKER_01: You shouldn't let me.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it doesn't happen.
SPEAKER_01: So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope that is set before us.
SPEAKER_01: When I say his purpose hasn't changed, you say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that in verse 16, for people swear.
SPEAKER_01: So when God desired to demonstrate, hey, this the unchangeable character of his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: I do not change my mind.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know, I want you to be very convinced that the unchangeable character of my purpose, there's nothing in the world that changes who God is and how God is, okay?
SPEAKER_01: His purpose hasn't changed.
SPEAKER_01: You missed, if you miss this, you miss the whole point.
SPEAKER_01: So God comes to us, He said, in ways that are familiar, he says, Oh, you guys like to swear an oath?
SPEAKER_01: And that kind of settles it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: I'll swear by myself because I want you to know that my purpose is unchangeable.
SPEAKER_01: And so then the question becomes so what is God's purpose for your life?
SPEAKER_01: If you want to have an interesting conversation, ask somebody sometime, hey man, what do you think is God's purpose for your life?
SPEAKER_01: I ask people this sometimes in counseling settings when I feel like, hey, I don't think you got some wrong thoughts about God.
SPEAKER_01: And so I just take notes, I just write them down, things they say.
SPEAKER_01: So I just ask people, hey, uh, what do you think is God's purpose for your life?
SPEAKER_01: And here's some of the answers that I get.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, target practice?
SPEAKER_01: So the guy told me, I said, excuse me.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yeah, I just think target practice.
SPEAKER_01: I think if anything's bad is gonna happen, it's gonna land on me.
SPEAKER_01: I said, dude, you're kind of like Wiley Coyote, just waiting for that.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yeah, that's pretty pretty much what my life feels like.
SPEAKER_01: Here's another one to show people how not to live.
SPEAKER_01: Excuse me.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, a person said out of their mouth, I said, What is God's purpose for your life?
SPEAKER_01: Show people how not to live.
SPEAKER_01: My favorite one was a young man said, so people can learn from my mistakes.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Do you think that's why God brought you into the world?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Pretty much.
SPEAKER_01: And at that moment, I felt hopeless.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Oh my gosh, this is so sad.
SPEAKER_01: So let me answer the question for all of us this morning.
SPEAKER_01: See, because the Bible's very clear.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: He makes it very so when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise, that's you and I, in unchangeable character of his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: What is that, what is unchangeable about God's purpose?
SPEAKER_01: So, what is his purpose that he guarantees it with an oath?
SPEAKER_01: So by two unchangeable things.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, if you're a Bible nerd and you like fun facts, the two unchangeable things are God's promise and his oath.
SPEAKER_01: God's promise and his oath.
SPEAKER_01: God made a promise to this guy named Abraham way back in Genesis, says, Sure, I'll bless you, I'll make you the father of many nations.
SPEAKER_01: And he laughed.
SPEAKER_01: He and his wife Sarai laughed in response because he was old.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Dude, are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_01: That ain't never gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: God says, Hey, I'm not looking at this through the lens of you, I'm looking at this through the lens of me.
SPEAKER_01: It's how it Nothing's impossible with God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm the Lord God of all flesh.
SPEAKER_01: Is anything too difficult for me?
SPEAKER_01: Now, way back then, he wanted you and I to have strong encouragement to hold on to the hope that is set before us right now, December the 1st.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, it's December today.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: It moves quickly.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Way back then, this is what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: So when God desired to show more convincing to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, by the way, what's his purpose?
SPEAKER_01: His purpose is not, he didn't create you for talk practice.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't create you so that your life is an example to everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Get off the cross.
SPEAKER_01: You're not a martyr.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody else needs the wood.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I'm saying to you today.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a student, especially hear this, because I meet so many students.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm talking, I'm not talking old people like you, you people that watch Fox News, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking 14, 15, 16, 17-year-olds are kind of like, I just, I mean, I hope my life is gets better eventually.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, it does get better.
SPEAKER_01: Hang in there.
SPEAKER_01: And one kid said to me, How do you know?
SPEAKER_01: I said, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm 60 and I'm awesome.
SPEAKER_01: I don't walk in the room and think, is my wife in here?
SPEAKER_01: Is my future maid in here?
SPEAKER_01: Am I looking good today?
SPEAKER_01: No, I wear the same clothes sometimes, one day to the other.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care that much.
SPEAKER_01: And this girl looked at me and she clutched her pearls.
SPEAKER_01: She went, Are you being serious right now?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: I just pick it up and it smells clean.
SPEAKER_01: I put it back on.
SPEAKER_01: No, seriously, are you being I'm being serious?
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: And she's like, How long have you been this way?
SPEAKER_01: Like I had a disease.
SPEAKER_01: Like, are you terminal or something?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: But see, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: If you take your cues for the culture, you look around, by the time you're 16, I promise you, you got some level of hopelessness operating in you.
SPEAKER_01: You got to either keep it at bay or you just cave into it and be like, okay, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01: Two unchangeable things, God's promise and his oath.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, here's his purpose for your life.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, don't miss this.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to bless you.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: By two unchangeable things.
SPEAKER_01: You got to ask yourself, now, what would it look like for God to bless you?
SPEAKER_01: He wants to bless you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not talking if you're Vincent Day, we're not a prosperity gospel church.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what bless you looks like.
SPEAKER_01: But God says, hey, I'm still the God that wants to bless you.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't create you just to curse you and make an example of you for everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_01: I want to bless you.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to say to you about this God, his promise is rooted in surely I will.
SPEAKER_01: Surely, right?
SPEAKER_01: Surely.
SPEAKER_01: I told Blake this week on a podcast about my friend Mike Curry.
SPEAKER_01: Mike Curry is the only man I know.
SPEAKER_01: That brother's like 67 years old, rocks a mullet, okay?
SPEAKER_01: It is business up in front and a permed party in the back.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, gets it perm.
SPEAKER_01: And it is it is white as snow, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And he has three, he had three sons.
SPEAKER_01: Uh still does, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: But when they were like in teenagers, they live in Arkansas, they live by the lake, and it's like, Dad, all our friends, they have sea-dus and jet skis and we need to get something like that.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, hey guys, maybe one day we just, I'm in ministry, we don't have a lot of disposable income.
SPEAKER_01: And well, well, dad, this stinks, man.
SPEAKER_01: All my friends go on the lake.
SPEAKER_01: And he just said, Hey guys, could you just knock it off?
SPEAKER_01: It gets old.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what his sons did not know, that he had gone down to the outdoor sports store and got and financed two sea dudes with the covers, with a trailer, and was going to go down and pick them up on Saturday.
SPEAKER_01: And he said to his boys, Listen, don't bring this up one more time.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm sick of hearing about it.
SPEAKER_01: They lasted about a day and a half.
SPEAKER_01: And one of them was like, Hey, David, tell me more about them sea dudes.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, All right, get in the truck.
SPEAKER_01: We'll go down to the store.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, All right.
SPEAKER_01: This is this, he would be in prison right now.
SPEAKER_01: He put his three teenage sons in his truck, drove down to the seating place, got out, went to the salesman, said, Hey, are they back?
SPEAKER_01: He says, Yeah, they're back in the back.
SPEAKER_01: You said you're coming Saturday.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're ready, but we can do the paperwork.
SPEAKER_01: He said, No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: We don't need paperwork.
SPEAKER_01: I want to teach my boys a lesson.
SPEAKER_01: Walked them in the back and said, Look right there.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Now, salesman, tell me what I was gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yeah, your dad got financing.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna buy these two CDs for you.
SPEAKER_01: There's two man, superpower.
SPEAKER_01: They're like, oh, and he goes, But you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna do that because I'm sick of you guys doubting my character.
SPEAKER_01: So take a look at what you could have had.
SPEAKER_01: But because you've insulted me as your father, you're not getting them ever.
SPEAKER_01: Get in the truck, we're going home.
SPEAKER_01: And when I told Blake the story on the podcast, Blake was like, and I said, Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And Blake's like, did he?
SPEAKER_01: No, he didn't.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't.
SPEAKER_01: And I met his kids, and I said to one of them, hey, because I heard the story.
SPEAKER_01: I said, hey man, is it true?
SPEAKER_01: And he went, about the sea dudes.
SPEAKER_01: There's a cloud of sea dew that went before him.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Yeah, my dad doesn't play.
SPEAKER_01: My dad was offended because we acted like he wasn't a good father and didn't want to bless us.
SPEAKER_01: Be careful.
SPEAKER_01: You don't be the same way towards God.
SPEAKER_01: Third thing about God.
SPEAKER_01: It causes you to have faith in him.
SPEAKER_01: Our hope has a name.
SPEAKER_01: It's verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 19, we have this as a sure, steadfast anchor of the soul.
SPEAKER_01: A hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.
SPEAKER_01: Hello.
SPEAKER_01: This this hope is not a noun, it's a verb.
SPEAKER_01: This hope enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus is gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
SPEAKER_01: Like, what?
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: Come on, dude, you lost me there.
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: What is the anchor?
SPEAKER_01: Our anchor is this hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.
SPEAKER_01: What is he talking about?
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about the Holy of Holies in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: When I say our hope has a name, he's talking about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus has gone into the inner place behind the curtain to make atonement for your sins.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking as a reference to uh uh uh uh uh the the Holy of Holies, where this is where the Ark of the Covenant was, and no one went in there because God is so holy.
SPEAKER_01: Only one day a year the priest would go in on it's called Yom Kippur in the Jewish faith, uh in the Jewish tradition, and he would make atonement for the sins of the people.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says here in Hebrews, reminds Jesus has already been behind the curtain.
SPEAKER_01: All your sins have been paid for, so nothing's gonna come out from behind the curtain and humiliate or embarrass you one day.
SPEAKER_01: This is this hope.
SPEAKER_01: This is why he says in verse 19, hey, by the way, you have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.
SPEAKER_01: Every once in a while I ask people, hey, how's your soul these days?
SPEAKER_01: No one's ever said to me, sure and steadfast.
SPEAKER_01: Sure and steadfast, Skippy.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for asking.
SPEAKER_01: Usually it's like, oh, well, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: I mean my soul.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know what you mean by that.
SPEAKER_01: And then he drops this thing on us.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Oh, uh, uh, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
SPEAKER_01: Now look at me.
SPEAKER_01: That's something you read in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Most of the time you just skip over, like, I don't know what that means.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you what that means.
SPEAKER_01: Melchazed was a priest, was a high priest way back in Genesis.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't like other high priests.
SPEAKER_01: There's two things you need to understand about this order of Melchizedek.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, the eternal nature.
SPEAKER_01: The eternal nature.
SPEAKER_01: Unlike a Levitical priesthood, which is passed down from generations, the order of Melchizedek was eternal.
SPEAKER_01: It didn't have a beginning or an end.
SPEAKER_01: And it basically reminds us that Jesus' priesthood is everlasting.
SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be, there was not a beginning, and there's never gonna be an end.
SPEAKER_01: That's why the Bible says that he ever lives to intercede for you at the right hand of the throne of God.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing, it's a dual office.
SPEAKER_01: Melchizedek was a king and a priest.
SPEAKER_01: He was a king and a priest.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't just a priest like other priests, like, hey, I just got, I just gotta provide sacrifices.
SPEAKER_01: He was a king and a priest.
SPEAKER_01: And so it signifies this dual role of leadership and spiritual authority.
SPEAKER_01: So the one who rules over you is the one who forgives you as well.
SPEAKER_01: So when I say hope has a name, his name is Jesus, this first Sunday of Advent, we celebrate the fact that the light has come and the light is won.
SPEAKER_01: And the light's never gonna go away.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus is a high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
SPEAKER_01: He's never not going to intercede for you.
SPEAKER_01: He's never not gonna remind you, hey, I went into the Holy of Holies.
SPEAKER_01: I went back there behind the curtain where no one can go, so there's no surprises coming.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing's gonna come out and humiliate or embarrass you because I've paid for that.
SPEAKER_01: I've atoned for that.
SPEAKER_01: So the Bible says, Hey, so that you may be not be sluggish, but imitators, verse 12 of those who who uh uh through faith and patience inherit the promise.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how you experience this hope that the Bible talks about.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, through faith.
SPEAKER_01: Number three, number two, through patience.
SPEAKER_01: That's why verse 15 says this about Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: And Abraham having patiently waited, obtained the promise.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's that little part that says, having patiently waited.
SPEAKER_01: I can wait.
SPEAKER_01: I don't always, I'm not always patient when I wait.
SPEAKER_01: Like, for example, when I go out to eat, I notice who's sitting at the tables around me like they're empty.
SPEAKER_01: Like I gave a kidney the other day and I took Chris Brooks to dinner at Lupe Tortilla.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and we were seated in the back rooms.
SPEAKER_01: It was empty when we got there.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm patiently, okay, I'm waiting.
SPEAKER_01: I'm waiting.
SPEAKER_01: I'm doing good.
SPEAKER_01: Then other people come in and get seated, and then they start getting their food before we get our food.
SPEAKER_01: I'm waiting, but I'm not patiently waiting anymore.
SPEAKER_01: I'm taking note.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, hey, hey, uh and Chris and my wife are talking, and I'm talking, and I'm kind of looking, and every time someone comes a big platter and they set it down by somebody else, my injustice meter goes a little bit higher.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just kind of like, hello.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I want to, but I don't ask.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, can I see the manager?
SPEAKER_01: Clearly, y'all need help running this place.
SPEAKER_01: Because we were here first.
SPEAKER_01: I do okay waiting until I experience a little bit of injustice, then it kind of kicks in.
SPEAKER_01: But see, here's the thing: you can wait patiently.
SPEAKER_01: I can wait patiently because patience is the byproduct of believing all this stuff that we mentioned above.
SPEAKER_01: I could wait as an act of worship because I'm waiting on a God who cannot lie.
SPEAKER_01: It's impossible for him to lie.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm waiting.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to be sluggish.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to be lazy.
SPEAKER_01: I have examples in the Bible and in my church.
SPEAKER_01: And I just look around and I see my friend Jack Lee, who got baptized last week.
SPEAKER_01: And I see Johnny Williams, who's battling cancer and wears a mask and just keeps on plugging away.
SPEAKER_01: He's joyful and content.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, oh man, I can wait.
SPEAKER_01: I can wait.
SPEAKER_01: And Johnny says, hey man, I got it.
SPEAKER_01: I got some test results.
SPEAKER_01: It's looking good right now.
SPEAKER_01: I can wait.
SPEAKER_01: Abraham's example, which is why the Bible says this about him in Romans chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: I want to read a section of scripture and I'll be done today.
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: See, the promise was made back in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: It was fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: And they wrote about the New Testament with these words.
SPEAKER_01: He said, This is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all of his offspring.
SPEAKER_01: That's you and I, not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, I have made you the father of many nations, in the presence of God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
SPEAKER_01: In hope he believed against hope that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told.
SPEAKER_01: So shall your offspring be.
SPEAKER_01: He did not weaken in faith, but he considered his own body, which was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old.
SPEAKER_01: And he considered the barreness of Sarah's womb.
SPEAKER_01: No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God.
SPEAKER_01: Hear that again.
SPEAKER_01: No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God.
SPEAKER_01: But he grew strong in his faith and he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
SPEAKER_01: This is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: But the words that was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also.
SPEAKER_01: It will be counted to us who believe in him, who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
SPEAKER_01: Just here, let me just summarize what we just read.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says it depends on faith, and it rests on grace, and it's available to anyone that shares the faith of Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: This is not a tradition, this is a faith.
SPEAKER_01: Again, hear it again.
SPEAKER_01: It depends on faith, it rests on grace, and it's available to anyone who shares the faith of Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a guest, we'd like to teach the Bible and then give you some space to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: Some questions come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: That's for our contemplation and consideration on this first day of Advent.
SPEAKER_01: How are you gonna say hopeful to the end?
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't depend on your personality, it doesn't depend if you're Peppy or not.
SPEAKER_01: It just depends.
SPEAKER_01: Do you have faith?
SPEAKER_01: Does your faith allow you to be patient?
SPEAKER_01: Those are the people that inherit the promises.
SPEAKER_01: There's the people that experience the life that the Bible talks about.
SPEAKER_01: It's just a life of faith and a life of patience.
SPEAKER_01: Let's think about that for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: I want to say this to you before we're dismissed today.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I feel spiritually sluggish.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want you to think that boy, Pastor Neil's always.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sometimes I look around and I'm just like, man, this world's jacked up.
SPEAKER_01: But look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Even when I feel sluggish, I always have hope.
SPEAKER_01: It's not in myself, it's not in our church, it's not in my wife or my kids.
SPEAKER_01: Hope has a name.
SPEAKER_01: This is why God left heaven and came to earth so that you could have hope because of a relationship with Him.
SPEAKER_01: If that's news to you, why don't you talk to somebody before you leave today or talk to one of our pastors who'll be down front?
SPEAKER_01: We'd love for you to understand what we mean by that.
SPEAKER_01: Hope is not a thing, hope is a person.
SPEAKER_01: It's not the power of positive thinking, it's not optimism on steroids.
SPEAKER_01: It's a relationship with God that in the hardest, darkest day of your life, even if it's just one little flickering candle, you're still hopeful.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: We don't do announcements or anything during advent, we strip our service down because we just want to take a break from all of that.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're a guest today, I'm gonna say thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_01: You're always welcome here.
SPEAKER_01: We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.
SPEAKER_01: So if you would stand to your feet, hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_01: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
SPEAKER_01: So that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Bless you.