SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: A few years ago, my wife and I were on our way to Las Vegas.
SPEAKER_01: But I had never seen the Hoover Dam.
SPEAKER_01: And so we wanted to go that particular direction to get there.
SPEAKER_01: And we got to the dam, and many of you that have been there, you know that there the street, the bridge there, and on both sides of the street, there's kind of this wall that many people come up to to look over the wall to see this unbelievable engineering spectacle.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, when children are small, that they don't have this sense of fear.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's my little baby girl.
SPEAKER_01: She's running to where she can see over the wall.
SPEAKER_01: But instead of just standing there, she's running to kind of leap on top of the wall so that she can see.
SPEAKER_01: And she's real close to the edge, and I see her out of my peripheral, and I begin to run to try to catch her before she gets too close to the edge, because she could easily fall.
SPEAKER_01: So fortunately for me, I was able to grab her before she got too close.
SPEAKER_01: And I grabbed her and I held her real close, and I kind of lovingly scolded her for doing that, for kind of getting out of our sight.
SPEAKER_01: And as a little girl would do, as a little child would do, oh daddy, it's no, it's okay.
SPEAKER_01: No, sweetie, no, it's not okay.
SPEAKER_01: No, you could have fallen.
SPEAKER_01: But I held on to her real close because she wanted to be able to look over, and so I held on tight.
SPEAKER_01: She looked over and she just was just in amazement at what she saw.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, the reason why I held on to her because she's my baby.
SPEAKER_01: She's she's the last of our seven children.
SPEAKER_01: She's very valuable to me.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to do anything to lose her.
SPEAKER_01: So I held on tight.
SPEAKER_01: Well, there was another time I held on to something tight.
SPEAKER_01: My wife and I were in Oklahoma, and we were encouraged to do something called white water rafting.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone ever done that?
SPEAKER_01: Craziest thing I ever did in my life.
SPEAKER_01: And so we go there, and um we've got this guy that's prepping us to go down the rapids.
SPEAKER_01: So he tells us how much fun we're gonna have, and all the people in our group, you know, they're laughing and joking, oh, they're super excited and everything like that.
SPEAKER_01: And then I begin to get nervous because he says, Well, I've got this thing, I've got this helmet for you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Well, I thought we were just gonna have a good time.
SPEAKER_01: Well, then they put the life jackets on us, and then they begin to give us instructions of the things that we needed to do as we're gonna go down the river.
SPEAKER_01: So we start and it's super smooth.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, what's what's I mean, what's the big deal about this big speech?
SPEAKER_01: This is this white water rafting things, this is this is a piece of cake.
SPEAKER_01: This this is easy, and the thing starts kind of speeding up a little bit, and then it spread up a little bit more, and then we start kind of going here and right, and then we start going up and down, and then people were kind of being lifted up in the air, and and so it was so funny because many of the people, of course, including my wife and I, that thought this thing was gonna be a piece of cake, they had these things on the side where you could grab a hold to, and all of us were for dear life, we were holding on super tight.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you all know the reason why.
SPEAKER_01: We all valued our life.
SPEAKER_01: No one wanted to get thrown out of the water, I mean, out of the raft into the water.
SPEAKER_01: You know, when I think about the value of my daughter and why I held on to her so tight, and the value of my own life and my wife's life as we're in this raft, I thought about is there anything more valuable than human life?
SPEAKER_01: And I found out that there is.
SPEAKER_01: It's the hope that we have in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It's the special hope that we've been given that people that don't know Christ have no clue of what we have.
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to turn with me this morning in your Bibles to the book of 1 Peter.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Peter chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna place it on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Peter chapter 1, and we're gonna begin our reading at verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Peter chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: Beginning at verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: When you get there, just say amen to let me know that you're there.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Peter chapter 1, beginning at verse 3, it reads, Blessed be the God or the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, he's caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
SPEAKER_01: In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Though you have not seen him, you love him.
SPEAKER_01: Though you have not seen him, you believe in him, and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul.
SPEAKER_01: You see, everyone, when you think about this whole idea of hope, it's quite interesting.
SPEAKER_01: You see, a little boy who's asked his dad to go to the mall and pick up his favorite game has hoped that his dad will return and give him the game that he asked for.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the young man hopes that when he proposes to his girlfriend that she'll say yes, in the midst of 18,000 people in the Toyota Center.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the student who has studied hard and prepared hopes that his professor will give him or her a passing grade on that exam.
SPEAKER_01: Even a man hopes that his supervisor will give him a raise after he's watched how hard he's worked at his job.
SPEAKER_01: Even a young couple, like just happened at our first service, there was a couple that had been trying to have a child for many years, and they were having problems, and finally little Caleb was born to them, and he was dedicated this morning.
SPEAKER_01: A couple hopes that maybe this time they'll be able to have this child.
SPEAKER_01: But you see, there's a problem when we deal with hope as it relates to men.
SPEAKER_01: The dad, the professor, uh, the young lady saying yes to the young man, even the supervisor with the raise, or even the couple that has this dream of having a child.
SPEAKER_01: You see, it's possible that their hope may never materialize.
SPEAKER_01: In some cases, it becomes almost kind of like just guesswork.
SPEAKER_01: But you see, when you deal with God, when you deal with God, when God is in the mix or when God is in our midst, there's something that you have to add to the word hope.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got a pen or something, I want you to write this down.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to write the word confident.
SPEAKER_01: So when you're dealing with God, it's a confident hope.
SPEAKER_01: Because God is not a man that he should lie.
SPEAKER_01: If God says he's going to do something for you, it's a confident hope.
SPEAKER_01: It's something that you are sure of.
SPEAKER_01: It's not guesswork, it's not maybe he will, it's not maybe he'll forget, or maybe he'll get tired, or he needs to be reminded.
SPEAKER_01: When God says, trust me, when God says, there's something that I've promised for you, then guess what, guys?
SPEAKER_01: We can hold on to that promise.
SPEAKER_01: So just for a few moments this morning, I want to speak to you from this theme.
SPEAKER_01: Hold on to your hope.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when I'm at the seminary, one of the things I do for my students is that I tell them, if you're going to study a passage, there's two things that are critical.
SPEAKER_01: You have to study a passage in its context, then you have to study a passage in its greater context if you're to come away with the proper interpretation.
SPEAKER_01: And those of you that have done any Bible study, especially or studying the book of 1 Peter, you know that Peter's calling, his ministry, is primarily to minister to those that are of the Jewish faith.
SPEAKER_01: Paul's responsibility was primarily to minister it to Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: And so as Peter writes this book, he's writing to a group of Jewish Christians who have trusted Christ as their personal Savior, but they're under extreme persecution.
SPEAKER_01: They've been pushed away from their homeland.
SPEAKER_01: They're strangers in an alien place.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's why he says in these opening words, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect, exiles.
SPEAKER_01: Exiles.
SPEAKER_01: From Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Aja, Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God, in the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ, for sprinkling with his blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you.
SPEAKER_01: Peter says, I know you guys are in a situation where it's difficult, where it's hard, where in some cases you've been separated even from family members.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe even last week, just a loved one that you saw was murdered, persecuted.
SPEAKER_01: And I know it's hard, so I want to give you some words of encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe even this morning, we're somewhat like Peter's audience that we're going through stuff right now.
SPEAKER_01: You're going through stuff in your home.
SPEAKER_01: You're going through stuff in your marriage.
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't be surprised because I've had it happen to me many times over these almost 40 years of ministry.
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't be surprised that there is a couple in here.
SPEAKER_01: There's a married couple in here this morning who's been going through all kinds of marital difficulty.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you guys haven't even slept in the same bed in months.
SPEAKER_01: You guys barely speak to one another.
SPEAKER_01: And you're right there, you're right there at the edge of divorce.
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, here's what you said last night.
SPEAKER_01: You finally talked to one another and you said, okay, we're gonna go to church, and if we don't hear a word, if we don't hear something from God today, Monday morning, we're going down and we're gonna file the divorce papers.
SPEAKER_01: If God doesn't show up, if God doesn't tell us something to do to save this marriage, it's over.
SPEAKER_01: And you might be that couple that's here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I want to let you know, you're not here by surprise.
SPEAKER_01: You're not here by accident.
SPEAKER_01: The sovereign God of the universe has you here because he wants to give you some hope.
SPEAKER_01: It's not too late for you guys.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to throw on the towel, you don't have to quit.
SPEAKER_01: Neither of you are perfect.
SPEAKER_01: So God knows how to take two imperfect people and put himself in the midst of the two of you, and as the two of you look to him for help and strength, I promise you that you can make it.
SPEAKER_01: I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt, I love my wife and she loves me, but can I tell you the truth?
SPEAKER_01: There are times I don't like her.
SPEAKER_01: And there are times I promise you she doesn't like me.
SPEAKER_01: Especially when I go to her favorite barbecue place and only buy enough barbecue back from me.
SPEAKER_01: She doesn't like it, but she still loves me.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe just last week you were given some shocking news after that blood test from your doctor, and you haven't even told your children.
SPEAKER_01: You haven't even told your mom and dad what the diagnosis was, and you're scared to death.
SPEAKER_01: What's gonna happen?
SPEAKER_01: What am I gonna have to deal with?
SPEAKER_01: How long is it gonna last?
SPEAKER_01: Is this gonna be fatal?
SPEAKER_01: And you're sitting here in church this morning and you are worried sick.
SPEAKER_01: You haven't been able to sleep, you haven't been able to eat, you've been irritable, and you're not here by surprise.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe you're like that dad and mom that has that son that was raised right, that was raised in church, you live godly in his presence, but he's way out there somewhere.
SPEAKER_01: He's way out there.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you're almost embarrassed to even tell people the stuff that your son is doing.
SPEAKER_01: Well, can I tell you guys, I've been there.
SPEAKER_01: I know what it's like to have a son or daughter who was raised in Jesus Christ, and you weren't a hypocrite.
SPEAKER_01: The same person that you were at church on Sunday was the same person that you were on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the house.
SPEAKER_01: They saw a godly husband, they saw a godly dad and mom, and yet at some point they chose to go totally opposite from Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Any parents know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_01: But don't give up.
SPEAKER_01: Don't give up on that son, don't give up on that daughter, don't give up on that grandson, that granddaughter, because I'm a living witness.
SPEAKER_01: Because right now, one of those children that was waiting out there 45 years old, she's committed her life to Jesus Christ, and she's so fired up, she's serving the Lord, she's just blowing my mind with it.
SPEAKER_01: And my son that's almost 30, he was waiting out there.
SPEAKER_01: They moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
SPEAKER_01: He's serving the Lord, he's on fire.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord's giving him a great wife, he's giving him two beautiful children, and man, I'm telling you, God is able.
SPEAKER_01: We serve a God who's what?
SPEAKER_01: Omnipotent.
SPEAKER_01: He has all power.
SPEAKER_01: As my grandmother would say in her southern voice, he has all power in his hand.
SPEAKER_01: But what is it that would encourage Peter's audience to have so much hope?
SPEAKER_01: He talks about it beginning in verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope.
SPEAKER_01: Watch this, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Guys, put it on the screen again.
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 6, beginning to verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: What is it about this resurrection of Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: What would make the resurrection of Jesus Christ give us so much hope?
SPEAKER_01: The Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 6, verse 1, it says, What shall we say then?
SPEAKER_01: Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
SPEAKER_01: By no means.
SPEAKER_01: How can we who died to sin still live in it?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 3, don't you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
SPEAKER_01: We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
SPEAKER_01: For if we had been united with him in a death like this, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like this.
SPEAKER_01: We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
SPEAKER_01: For one who has died has been set free from sin.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if we have died with him, we believe that we will also live with him.
SPEAKER_01: We know that Christ being raised from the dead, that he will never die again.
SPEAKER_01: Death no longer has dominion over him.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 10, for the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God.
SPEAKER_01: So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what Paul is saying, guys.
SPEAKER_01: Remember in the book of Galatians, chapter 2, verse 20, Paul makes this statement I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.
SPEAKER_01: Now the life I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul says, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: I recognize now, spiritually, when Christ was on the cross, Paul was on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: When Christ was crucified, Paul was crucified.
SPEAKER_01: When Christ was buried, Paul was buried.
SPEAKER_01: When Christ was resurrected, Paul was resurrected.
SPEAKER_01: So guess what, guys?
SPEAKER_01: If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, when he was on the cross, you were there with him.
SPEAKER_01: Because he was your sin bearer.
SPEAKER_01: He atoned for your sins and minds.
SPEAKER_01: When he died, you died spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: When he was buried, you were buried.
SPEAKER_01: But the good news is when he got up from the dead, you got up with him.
SPEAKER_01: And now God has given you a new life.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the good news.
SPEAKER_01: Even if you experience physical death, Paul says in Romans, in the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, he says, what's going to happen?
SPEAKER_01: This mortal body is going to put on something called immortality.
SPEAKER_01: Then the saying is going to be said, Oh death, where is your sting?
SPEAKER_01: Oh grave, where is your victory?
SPEAKER_01: Because guess what?
SPEAKER_01: We're only going to be dead temporarily because the Bible says we shall be raised to new life.
SPEAKER_01: Aren't you glad about that?
SPEAKER_01: If you're glad, say amen.
SPEAKER_01: No, say amen like you just won the best game of your life.
SPEAKER_01: So why can't we be sure?
SPEAKER_01: What gives us so much hope?
SPEAKER_01: We are in him.
SPEAKER_01: I have to recognize there's a big difference between being around him and being in him.
SPEAKER_01: See, guys, I was raised in the church.
SPEAKER_01: I told you the last time, and if I you didn't hear it the last time, let me remind you.
SPEAKER_01: I feel bad.
SPEAKER_01: You need to feel bad for me because my mom had a drug problem when I was a little boy.
SPEAKER_01: She drugged me to Sunday school.
SPEAKER_01: She drug me to church.
SPEAKER_01: She drugged me to mid-afternoon church.
SPEAKER_01: She drug me to night church.
SPEAKER_01: When there was revivalist in town, we would have a midnight revival.
SPEAKER_01: She drug me to the to the 12 o'clock revival.
SPEAKER_01: My mother was a drug addict.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm glad of those drugs she took.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm standing before you today because of a praying mother, one who believed in that scripture that said, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he's old, he won't depart.
SPEAKER_01: I had a mother who loved me, and now I'm a believer in Jesus Christ, and now I have the assurance that comes with knowing that Jesus Christ is my Savior.
SPEAKER_01: Is that good news or not?
SPEAKER_01: That's why the gospel is called the good news.
SPEAKER_01: That's right, man.
SPEAKER_01: So one of the words I want you to write down.
SPEAKER_01: What gives us hope?
SPEAKER_01: The surety of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And can I tell you guys all of Christianity hinges upon that one single truth?
SPEAKER_01: The resurrection of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It is the most important doctrine of all.
SPEAKER_01: Because Paul says in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians, if Jesus is still dead, we of all people should be the most pitied.
SPEAKER_01: Because we have believed in the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on humanity.
SPEAKER_01: When an atheist is trying to attack Christianity, guess what?
SPEAKER_01: He's always going to go to first.
SPEAKER_01: He's going to go to the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: Because if the resurrection is not true, then Christianity is not true.
SPEAKER_01: It's a lie.
SPEAKER_01: It's almost like C.S.
SPEAKER_01: Lewis said Jesus Christ is either a liar, he's either a lunatic, or he's Lord.
SPEAKER_01: What do we know?
SPEAKER_01: He's what?
SPEAKER_01: He's Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And he is very much alive.
SPEAKER_01: So guess what?
SPEAKER_01: When I'm going through difficult times, all I have to do is remind myself he is alive.
SPEAKER_01: And because he's alive, I can always turn to him for help, even when there's moments when I feel that it's hopeless.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Number two.
SPEAKER_01: Why can we have hope?
SPEAKER_01: Why can we hold on to our hope?
SPEAKER_01: Because our hope is steadfast.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4 says this.
SPEAKER_01: The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to the inheritance that's imperishable, undefiled, unfading, and kept in heaven for you.
SPEAKER_01: As you look at these words, you know that these are words that are not words that relate to the earth.
SPEAKER_01: These words are otherworldly because notice what it says.
SPEAKER_01: It says imperishable.
SPEAKER_01: We know that there's nothing on the planet that's not everything is perishable.
SPEAKER_01: We even know how it is when you have that fish that you forgot to cook.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, it's left out on the counter, and you walk in the house, and anyone know that smell of that spoiled fish?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it takes times hours to get that smell out of the house.
SPEAKER_01: But Peter says, what we have, it will never perish.
SPEAKER_01: What we have is undefined, which means what?
SPEAKER_01: It will never be stained, it will never become impure.
SPEAKER_01: Then he says it's unfading.
SPEAKER_01: Even that beautiful car that we just bought, that we when we polish on it, or that beautiful dress that you just bought, or that very nice looking suit, or whatever the case may be, you we all know what's gonna happen sooner or later.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's going to fade.
SPEAKER_01: Sooner or later, we're gonna have to give it away.
SPEAKER_01: Sooner or later, as much as we like it, it's gonna begin to tear, it's gonna begin to unravel, and we're gonna have to discard it.
SPEAKER_01: Anything that is created, anything that's attached to the earth will sooner or later what fail.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we know that he says this stuff that God has for us is where?
SPEAKER_01: It is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Heaven is the place where people don't get old.
SPEAKER_01: Heaven is the place that I want to go to so I can get my Denzel fineness back.
SPEAKER_01: I used to be fine just like Denzel.
SPEAKER_01: I did.
SPEAKER_01: I even had that walk.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I even had that Denzel walk.
SPEAKER_01: But I've noticed my fineness is leaving me.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've got these dark things up under my eyes, and and and my hair has turned this funny color, and I'm dying.
SPEAKER_01: I'm getting old.
SPEAKER_01: I may not be around another 40 years because in just a few months I'll reach my 67th birthday.
SPEAKER_01: 40 years would be 107.
SPEAKER_01: How much longer do I have?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But the good news is that however much longer I have, the Lord told me, Willie Bolton, live every day with hope of something better than this.
SPEAKER_01: Guys, you know what it's like?
SPEAKER_01: You work all your life and you do all this and and and and and and you say I'm working and I'm saving, and boy, one day I'm gonna retire and I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna start traveling the country, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go fishing, I'm gonna play golf at all the best places I'm going, and you and you retire, and you hear about the guy that had all these plans, and then two weeks after he retires, what do we hear?
SPEAKER_01: He just died.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, is that all there is?
SPEAKER_01: The good news for you and I is that isn't all there is for the believer in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It just got started.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, God has something waiting for you, and guess what?
SPEAKER_01: When you get there, he won't forget you.
SPEAKER_01: When you get there, it has your name on it, and he never will get the names confused.
SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
SPEAKER_01: If you're looking for me, just go to Mansion 2020.
SPEAKER_01: That's where Willie Bolden will be living.
SPEAKER_01: Mansion 2020.
SPEAKER_01: Willie Bolton has his name on it.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that what Jesus said?
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to prepare a place for you in the foreign.
SPEAKER_01: So I would have told you, coming back to get you.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm saying, hey, I'm just getting ready to live in my mansion.
SPEAKER_01: For the first time, I'll be living in the palace.
SPEAKER_01: I won't be in the back of the bus anymore.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be riding on the front of the bus with my own chauffeur.
SPEAKER_01: What a great, what a great, what a great life.
SPEAKER_01: When I think of this benefits, when I think of this specialness, it reminds me of uh of this lady uh who was with her pastor and she was she was an elderly lady and she had been given uh uh um uh um a kind of a terminal diagnosis so she knew she was gonna pass away very, very shortly.
SPEAKER_01: She calls the pastor to the house and she says, Pastor, I just wouldn't like to talk to you about what I'd like to see done at my at my funeral, and and I want to tell you what dress I'm gonna wear, and I've got these beautiful pearls of mine that I've always love.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I want you to make sure I've got that.
SPEAKER_01: And Pastor, I want you to make sure that my favorite Bible is put in the casket with me.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, so the pastor said, Okay, ma'am, I'll do everything I can.
SPEAKER_01: So the pastor's about ready to walk out the door, and she says, Oh, hold on, Pastor, I I forgot.
SPEAKER_01: There's one more thing.
SPEAKER_01: One more thing I want to make sure that you have placed in my casket.
SPEAKER_01: She says, I want you to make sure that they put a fork in my hand.
SPEAKER_01: The pastor looks at her.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, and so she says, I can tell, or I can tell by your look that you don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: She says, Look, for many, many years, I've attended many uh church potluck dinners, uh, I've attended many socials, and oftentimes she says, when the people were clearing the plates, they would whisper, they'd lean over and they'd whisper in my ear, and they would say, uh, hold on to your fork.
SPEAKER_01: Uh hold on to your fork.
SPEAKER_01: And she learned over times that when they would say that it's because dessert was coming.
SPEAKER_01: That beautiful, what red velvet cake.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone know what it's from?
SPEAKER_01: Or that beautiful pecan pie, not pecan.
SPEAKER_01: That beautiful pecan, come on, y'all.
SPEAKER_01: That beautiful pecan pie.
SPEAKER_01: That deep crust peach cobbler.
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: That thick German chocolate.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, oh gosh.
SPEAKER_01: I'm in trouble already, sweetie.
SPEAKER_01: I've I've I've broken my diet already.
SPEAKER_01: So she says, Pastor, when the people come by the casket, they're all gonna be asking this question.
SPEAKER_01: What in the world does she have that fork in her hand for?
SPEAKER_01: And she says, so she says, Pastor, when they ask, I want you to come to the pulpit and I want you to remind them because she knows when she leaves this earth dessert is waiting for her.
SPEAKER_01: Something far better, something far sweeter when she gets to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: I want to ask you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Got your fork with you?
SPEAKER_01: Turn to your neighbor and say, neighbor, come on, don't be scared.
SPEAKER_01: Neighbor, don't be scared.
SPEAKER_01: Neighbor, ask, do you have your fork?
SPEAKER_01: Do you have your fork?
SPEAKER_01: And then, real quickly, real quickly, two more words that are important.
SPEAKER_01: The text says, What we have, these benefits, this dessert in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Verse says that it is kept in heaven for us by God's power, verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: We're being guarded.
SPEAKER_01: We're being guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
SPEAKER_01: The word guarded carries the idea of protection.
SPEAKER_01: So the word I want to give you is the word secure.
SPEAKER_01: Secure.
SPEAKER_01: I've given you the word that our hope is sure.
SPEAKER_01: Our hope is steadfast, it's it's it's it's never wavering, it'll never spoil, it'll never wear out.
SPEAKER_01: Then our hope is secure.
SPEAKER_01: When I think of being secure, I think of back in the late 50s and 60s.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm uh um some of you guys who are millennials, you you're not gonna even know some of these names I'm gonna tell.
SPEAKER_01: But there used to be uh move, there used to be monster movies that uh uh many in the room that we loved, or some of us we were scared to death of the movies, and one of the monsters was Frankenstein.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone remember Frankenstein?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Not the modern Frankenstein, the old Frank, the old guy.
SPEAKER_01: You know about the old guy?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, good.
SPEAKER_01: And then there was another one called Dracula.
SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
SPEAKER_01: Then there was another one called The Mummy.
SPEAKER_01: So my older brother, four years older than me and his friends, they were way into their teens, and I was I was one of the little guys.
SPEAKER_01: I I would love to go to the movies with my brother, but it was always it bothered me when the scary movies would come and it would get to those parts where the the wolf man or uh the of the mummy of Frankenstein was gonna do something to somebody, and I would turn my face away from the screen because I didn't want to see it, because it made me scared, and my brothers and his other friends they'd be laughing at all of us little kids, you're scared of the cat.
SPEAKER_01: Then on the way home, they they they go in the bushes and they jump out of the bushes.
SPEAKER_01: And boy, some stuff would run down our legs, a little water would run down our legs.
SPEAKER_01: But then when I got home and I tried to go to sleep, all those guys were in my room.
SPEAKER_01: Over in the corner was Dracula.
SPEAKER_01: He was he was there.
SPEAKER_01: I know he was there.
SPEAKER_01: They kept trying to tell me he wasn't, but he was there.
SPEAKER_01: Frankenstein was over in the closet, and he kept trying to get out of the closet.
SPEAKER_01: And I'd go and I'd close the closet.
SPEAKER_01: Then I'd hear the closet open.
SPEAKER_01: And the wolf man was trying to crawl through my window.
SPEAKER_01: And so I was scared, and when I'd do almost all the time, guys, I'm telling I would do this almost all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I'd go get out of my bed, and I'd go and I'd knock on somebody's door.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody have any idea who it was?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And guys, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm I'm a dad now, but when I would knock on the door, I would not say daddy.
SPEAKER_01: First word out of my mouth was mama, mama, dwarf man trying to get me, mama, Dracula's trying to bite my neck, mama, can I please?
SPEAKER_01: And so every time without a fail, she would say, Boy, come on in here.
SPEAKER_01: Get in the bed with me.
SPEAKER_01: I'd get in the bed with my mother, and she would just begin to rub my head, she'd rub my back, and guess what she would say?
SPEAKER_01: She would say, Little Willie, little baby, it's gonna be alright.
SPEAKER_01: You're safe with me.
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting.
SPEAKER_01: In my head, Frankenstein was still in the house.
SPEAKER_01: But he couldn't get to me because I was with my mama.
SPEAKER_01: I was with my daddy.
SPEAKER_01: I was protected.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: There's a spiritual Frankenstein in your life that's got you scared to death.
SPEAKER_01: But you know what you need to do?
SPEAKER_01: Just go knock on your daddy's door.
SPEAKER_01: And if you do, he'll put you in his arms and he'll whisper to you, my child, you alright?
SPEAKER_01: He might be real in your mind, but I'm telling you, I'm more real and I'm bigger and I'm better than he ever was.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody.
SPEAKER_01: And last but certainly not least, here's the part that it's rough for me to always talk about.
SPEAKER_01: In verses six through nine, Peter says this.
SPEAKER_01: Our hope is refined.
SPEAKER_01: Let's use the word polished.
SPEAKER_01: Through suffering.
SPEAKER_01: It's hard to understand peace if you've never experienced pain.
SPEAKER_01: In the second service, a mother came up to me with a little tear in her eye.
SPEAKER_01: She says, Willie, about three years ago, my baby girl, she died.
SPEAKER_01: And so she meets with a group of ladies who've all experienced the loss of a child.
SPEAKER_01: And she says, What's so painful?
SPEAKER_01: Then many of the other ladies that are there they say to her, How?
SPEAKER_01: You seem to be doing so well.
SPEAKER_01: How do you do this?
SPEAKER_01: And she says, Willie, there's some ladies that are there that it's been 10 years since their child died.
SPEAKER_01: One lady had three children.
SPEAKER_01: Three children die at the same time in a car accident.
SPEAKER_01: She says, It's been 10 years and she still has not been able to get past it.
SPEAKER_01: And rather than for us to look cruelly or down upon her, that's pain, guys.
SPEAKER_01: Lose all three of your babies at the same time.
SPEAKER_01: That's pain.
SPEAKER_01: But she said to me, the only way that I've been able to deal with it is to know that in the midst of me losing my baby girl, that God loved her.
SPEAKER_01: God loves me.
SPEAKER_01: And he's made it alright.
SPEAKER_01: Do I miss her every day?
SPEAKER_01: Oh yes.
SPEAKER_01: But he's made it alright.
SPEAKER_01: You know, my wife Loretta and I, we have a very unique relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Our relationship was established almost through pain.
SPEAKER_01: Fifteen years before I met Loretta, her husband had been diagnosed with terminal illness.
SPEAKER_01: She and he battled with that for about five years.
SPEAKER_01: And he died.
SPEAKER_01: My late wife and I, we battled for about a year and a half with her lung cancer.
SPEAKER_01: She died.
SPEAKER_01: She thought she would never ever remarry.
SPEAKER_01: I too thought I'd never ever remarry.
SPEAKER_01: And God, supernaturally, sovereignly, in the midst of our suffering with the loss of our spouses, brought us together.
SPEAKER_01: She was able to encourage me.
SPEAKER_01: And I was able to encourage her.
SPEAKER_01: And now for the last almost 30 years, we've been seeking to encourage other couples just like us.
SPEAKER_01: Because God now used the pain of our experiences to give us peace with it so that now we could give that peace away to others.
SPEAKER_01: You remember what Paul says in the book of Colossians?
SPEAKER_01: He says, the God of all comfort comforts us so that we might be able to use the very same comfort to comfort others.
SPEAKER_01: My brothers and my sisters, God's given us some medicine that the world would love to be able to have.
SPEAKER_01: It's the medicine that says, even in the midst of your pain, you don't have to fake it.
SPEAKER_01: You can actually tell people, yes, I'm hurting.
SPEAKER_01: But I know pretty soon I'll be alright.
SPEAKER_01: Here's my challenge, and I want to ask you to do this today.
SPEAKER_01: I'm afraid for some of you in the room today.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason why, for several weeks and maybe several months, you've been coming to church hurting.
SPEAKER_01: And you've been putting on a mask.
SPEAKER_01: People have come up to you, they've hugged you, they've greeted you, you had your mask on, and you gave them the impression that everything was alright.
SPEAKER_01: Because it shocked me too many times, it's happened too many times in my ministry where everybody in the whole church was shocked.
SPEAKER_01: You'd hear about it.
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear?
SPEAKER_01: So-and-so, they just got divorced.
SPEAKER_01: What?
unknown: What?
SPEAKER_01: So-and-so just got caught you know uh in some kind of pornography uh uh um um scheme.
SPEAKER_01: What that's what he's been into, he's the chairman of the deacons.
SPEAKER_01: What wearing a mask to make us think that it's cool with you.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, real authentic church can only take place when we're all real with each other.
SPEAKER_01: And I know it's a chance you're taking.
SPEAKER_01: You're saying, well, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: If they know, maybe they'll lose respect for me.
SPEAKER_01: If they know, maybe some of my credibility will be gone.
SPEAKER_01: If they know, maybe they'll shy away from me.
SPEAKER_01: If they know, listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of us in this room is imperfect.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of us in this room is struggling right now with something.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not Jesus, we're all in the same boat.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So could you just finally today take off the mask and tell somebody that you trust what you're going through and let them pray for you and let God give you hope again.
SPEAKER_01: Father, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: That couple chose to try one last time today.
SPEAKER_01: And I hope that you said something to them.
SPEAKER_01: It already happened at the second service.
SPEAKER_01: A couple approached my wife, Lord, you know who they are.
SPEAKER_01: And they asked us, would we counsel them?
SPEAKER_01: And we agreed.
SPEAKER_01: So there may be another couple just like that couple.
SPEAKER_01: There may be another man just like the man in the first service who approached me about his pain from his wife recently passing away.
SPEAKER_01: And he was able to take off his mask and be real with me, and we cried together.
SPEAKER_01: I hugged him and I prayed for him.
SPEAKER_01: So, Father, if there's someone here this morning that's lost their hope, please, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let them go home with the burden still on their shoulders.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let them go home by themselves, still in the darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Help them to tell the truth and give us the ability to love them, still love them, and not judge them because we're no better than they are.
SPEAKER_01: Bless us for the rest of this day.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.