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 Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: God, you are good.
SPEAKER_01: As we sit in darkness, this is a great reminder, Lord, that you are the light of this world.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, you are the light of this world.
SPEAKER_01: How comforting the fact that there's darkness in us, there's darkness around us.
SPEAKER_01: And the darker it gets, the more we need light, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You are the light of this world.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you for reaching so far beneath your glory to come rescue.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, thank you for being our payment for our sins.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, help us to not forget this moment right now.
SPEAKER_01: This moment where we sit or we stand or in the holy reverence of the fact that you are the light of this world.
SPEAKER_01: And would you now just bless the proclamation of your truths this morning?
SPEAKER_01: Help us to see, help us to see you clearly.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your beautiful name I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can be seated.
SPEAKER_01: Go morning, how are we good?
SPEAKER_01: If you have your Bibles, would you grab those?
SPEAKER_01: Go to Romans chapter 15.
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 15.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a Bible, you can obviously access the scriptures on your device or look on with a neighbor.
SPEAKER_01: Either way, I think the best use of our time is for us to be looking at God's word together.
SPEAKER_01: Today I'm just attacking one verse.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, one verse.
SPEAKER_01: I'm used to longer passages.
SPEAKER_01: I'm even, I even enjoy more distilling entire books of scripture in one sitting.
SPEAKER_01: So on one hand, today's a little bit nerve-wracking, but on another hand, this is good because this is my prayer for you, my prayer for me, my prayer for us in this Advent season.
SPEAKER_01: And that passage me, Romans chapter 15, verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: But first, I want to start off with a story.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm addicted to a good story.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and this story comes from a long-standing seminary professor named Ray Bach.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna read you this story, and I want you to listen in on this story because I think it frames our time this morning well, and I think it's gonna help calibrate our hearts this Advent season.
SPEAKER_01: So just listen into this story.
SPEAKER_01: This is told by Ray Bach.
SPEAKER_01: He says this.
SPEAKER_01: I knew an old Glasgow professor named McDonald, who, along with the Scottish chaplain, was put in a prison camp in the World War.
SPEAKER_01: A high wire fence separated the Americans from the British.
SPEAKER_01: McDonald was put with the American barracks, and the chaplain was put with the British.
SPEAKER_01: Unknown to the guards, the Americans had made a little homemade radio and were able to get news from the outside.
SPEAKER_01: Every day, McDonald would take a headline or two to the fence and share with the chaplain in an ancient language that the Germans could not decipher.
SPEAKER_01: One day, news came over the radio that the German High Command had surrendered and that the war was over.
SPEAKER_01: McDonald took the news to his friend and watched the Scottish chaplain disappear into the barracks.
SPEAKER_01: A moment later, a roar of celebration came from the barracks.
SPEAKER_01: Life in that camp was transformed.
SPEAKER_01: Men walked around singing and shouting, waving at the guards, even laughing at the dogs.
SPEAKER_01: When the German guards finally heard the news three nights later, they fled into the dark, leaving the gates unlocked.
SPEAKER_01: The next morning, the Brits and the Americans walked out as free men.
SPEAKER_01: However, they had truly been set free three days earlier by the news that the war was over.
SPEAKER_01: They had truly been set free three days earlier by the news that the war was over.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, do you see the power of good news?
SPEAKER_01: Do you see how the news itself transformed them?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, they walked out as free men three days later, but did you see how the news transformed them?
SPEAKER_01: So the war was already over, but they had not yet been set free.
SPEAKER_01: The promise had already come, the announcement had already come, but he was not yet fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: Did you see how they lived in the life in between?
SPEAKER_01: Life in that camp was transformed.
SPEAKER_01: Men walked around singing and shouting, waving at guards and even laughing at the dogs.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, that life in between, that's where we sit.
SPEAKER_01: That's where we sit in history.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: We're in an Advent sandwich with hope in the middle.
SPEAKER_01: An Advent sandwich.
SPEAKER_01: Advent literally means arrival or a coming.
SPEAKER_01: We're in an Advent sandwich with hope in the middle.
SPEAKER_01: What do I mean by that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, the entire Old Testament is pointing to one that is called the Meshok.
SPEAKER_01: It's a Hebrew word.
SPEAKER_01: And if you translate that word into Greek, it's called the Christos.
SPEAKER_01: And it literally translates to the anointed one.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's the Messiah, the Christ, the one who's here to save the world, the one that's gonna take care of this world from this huge sin problem.
SPEAKER_01: The whole Old Testament is the history of Israel, but it's pointing towards the Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: So therefore, the Bible has what's called messianic expectation.
SPEAKER_01: What's he gonna be like?
SPEAKER_01: And that's important because I don't know if you knew this, but before Christ, there was a lot of little fake Jesus popping up.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of fake Messiahs popping up, like I'm the guy.
SPEAKER_01: And they weren't.
SPEAKER_01: They disappeared the next day.
SPEAKER_01: They disappeared very quickly after.
SPEAKER_01: God in his wisdom, God in his wisdom, um, through the prophets created a profile as to what to expect when the Messiah comes.
SPEAKER_01: The Old Testament prophesies that the Messiah will at least be a prophet greater than Moses, a king greater than David, a priest greater than Aaron, a servant suffering more than Israel, and a sage wiser than Solomon.
SPEAKER_01: So this is the fingerprint, obviously, this is not an exhaustive list, but the Messiah is this is what they're expecting.
SPEAKER_01: The Messiah is going to be this guy right here.
SPEAKER_01: But there are two objections to this list.
SPEAKER_01: Objection number one is this this list contradicts.
SPEAKER_01: How can he be a servant suffering more than Israel and yet be a king greater than David?
SPEAKER_01: Further still, if you read your Bible, in the Old Testament, kings got in trouble for doing what priests should do.
SPEAKER_01: Like the first king of Israel got disqualified for doing priestly work.
SPEAKER_01: So how is the Messiah going to be a priest and a king?
SPEAKER_01: Servant and a king, priest and a king.
SPEAKER_01: So objection number one is this list contradicts.
SPEAKER_01: Objection number two is did Jesus really fulfill this?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he was a sage wiser than Solomon.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we we see the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_01: He has a brilliant insight on the nature of mankind.
SPEAKER_01: We even hear the parables, and he's an amazing teacher.
SPEAKER_01: So he's a sage wiser than Solomon, he's a prophet greater than Moses, he has a bigger following right now than Moses ever had.
SPEAKER_01: And we know about the cross, we know he's a suffering servant.
SPEAKER_01: But that's only 60%.
SPEAKER_01: That's three out of five.
SPEAKER_01: That's my rough cowboy math.
SPEAKER_01: Did he fail?
SPEAKER_01: Friends, Christmas answers that question with an emphatic no.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus fulfills all five with two advents.
SPEAKER_01: In his first advent, advent in his first coming, he's gonna be a servant suffering more than Israel.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna be a sage wiser than Psalm.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna be a prophet more than uh greater than Moses.
SPEAKER_01: In between advents, he is that priest greater than Aaron.
SPEAKER_01: So right now, I don't know if what you think about whenever you think about Jesus, he is no longer wandering around Galilee anymore.
SPEAKER_01: He's not in some campfire in Nazareth, he's no longer walking around Judea anymore.
SPEAKER_01: He's at the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible calls him an advocate for sinners.
SPEAKER_01: And what that means is that Leo is trying to live a life that's worthy of the call of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to follow the Lord, but I'm going to fail.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to fail.
SPEAKER_01: And when I fail, as I stumble, as I as I as I as I fall down, Jesus is up there going, I paid for that.
SPEAKER_01: I paid for that.
SPEAKER_01: Over, he's an advocate for sinners.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, God is a dynamic, dynamic forgiver.
SPEAKER_01: As I stumble forward, he's yelling, I paid for that.
SPEAKER_01: So in between advents, he's a priest that's greater than Aaron.
SPEAKER_01: Priests in the Old Testament, they were all sinful and they all died.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is neither.
SPEAKER_01: So in between Adventist, he's a priest greater than Aaron.
SPEAKER_01: And then in the second Advent, in the second coming, he will be that king greater than David.
SPEAKER_01: We're in an Advent sandwich with hope in the middle.
SPEAKER_01: Like the story we heard, okay?
SPEAKER_01: The news has already come, but it's not yet been fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: We are here with hope in the middle.
SPEAKER_01: And that's going to be what we attack this morning is hope.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Romans 15, verse 13 for me.
SPEAKER_01: This is Paul praying for the Roman church.
SPEAKER_01: And he says this 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: So briefly, in our time together, we're gonna look at just two things this morning.
SPEAKER_01: It'll be quick.
SPEAKER_01: Hope defined and hope abounding.
SPEAKER_01: So first off, hope defined.
SPEAKER_01: What exactly is hope?
SPEAKER_01: Friends, you may not have a great definition, a great uh Webster definition of the word hope, but you and I are experts at hope.
SPEAKER_01: And I would contend with this this morning.
SPEAKER_01: We run on hope.
SPEAKER_01: Why do students work so hard in high school?
SPEAKER_01: It's to probably get to a good college, in hopes of getting into a good college.
SPEAKER_01: Well, why work hard when you get to college?
SPEAKER_01: It's in hopes of getting a good job.
SPEAKER_01: Why pursue a good job if it's in hopes of be feeling fulfilled or it's in hopes of making a good living?
SPEAKER_01: We run on hope.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, uh the prosperity, most of you guys have heard the prosperity gospel, correct?
SPEAKER_01: It is not the gospel at all.
SPEAKER_01: It's not the real gospel that the Bible teaches.
SPEAKER_01: It's an abominable, abominable gospel.
SPEAKER_01: However, okay, it will always be very popular because it preys on the anthropological um tendency for human beings to hope.
SPEAKER_01: There's always going to be people who want more money or want better health or want better life.
SPEAKER_01: So that gospel will always be popular.
SPEAKER_01: We run on hope.
SPEAKER_01: There was a Holocaust survivor named Victor Frankl, and he was a neurologist, psychiatrist, and a philosopher.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that sound like the type of guy you want to party with?
SPEAKER_01: But he was thrown in a prison camp or a concentration camp, and in the concentration camp, he obviously is in the behavioral world, people world, and when he's there, you could not stop analyzing.
SPEAKER_01: And he wrote a book called Man's Search of Meaning, where he actually talked about how the death toll would spike right after Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: In between Christmas and New Year's, the death toll would just spike up.
SPEAKER_01: And in his book, he explains that it had nothing to do with the rations being smaller or the conditions being harsher, but he attributed it to hope.
SPEAKER_01: And he explains that the people in the in his concentration camp, or at least in his barrack, were all hoping to be home by Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: They were all aiming at Christmas as the time, I'll be home by Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: And when Christmas came, Christmas went, they lost hope, they lost their will to live, and eventually their life.
SPEAKER_01: We run on hope.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, we often define hope as uncertain desire.
SPEAKER_01: I hope I make it home safely.
SPEAKER_01: The roads are kind of slick.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I hope that the Thanksgiving leftovers in my fridge is still good.
SPEAKER_01: I'll find out the hard way because it was delicious.
SPEAKER_01: I hope the Houston Rockets can, you know.
SPEAKER_01: If God can raise from the dead, you know, boy can dream.
SPEAKER_01: We usually define hope as uncertain desire.
SPEAKER_01: However, the this the Bible um it describes the ultimate Christian hope as something different.
SPEAKER_01: Look at that passage again.
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: Friends, this hope that Paul is praying for is not to be confused with optimism.
SPEAKER_01: It's not to be confused as hey, I look on the bright side more often.
SPEAKER_01: It's not to be confused with that.
SPEAKER_01: The Greek word that's used here that's translated into the word hope, is the word elpis.
SPEAKER_01: My Greek professor isn't here, so I can.
SPEAKER_01: It's E-L-P-I-S, El Pis, and it literally means confident expectation.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, the ultimate Christian hope, the ultimate Christian hope is not something, it's something that we have full assurance of, not uncertain desire about.
SPEAKER_01: The ultimate Christian hope is something that we have full assurance of, not something we have uncertain desire about.
SPEAKER_01: John Pepper puts it this way: a biblical hope not only desires something good for the future, it expects it to happen.
SPEAKER_01: And not only does it expect it to happen, it is confident that it will happen.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, our ultimate hope in Christ looks a lot more like waiting than it does like wishing.
SPEAKER_01: Christmas should not make you merely more optimistic.
SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful holiday.
SPEAKER_01: Lots of lights, people in great moods, people more feminine together.
SPEAKER_01: It should not just merely make you more optimistic or someone who crosses their fingers more or someone who has a little more hope for humanity.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: As followers of Christ, Christmas should make you stand tall in confident expectation.
SPEAKER_01: Christmas should make you stand tall in patient anticipation because it's not whether or not our ultimate hope will come to pass, it's when.
SPEAKER_01: It's not if, but it's when.
SPEAKER_01: And that begs the question.
SPEAKER_01: When what?
SPEAKER_01: What exactly are we waiting for?
SPEAKER_01: In another passage in Titus chapter 2, verse 13 and 14.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Paul says this about believers in Christ today.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we Christians, we are waiting for our blessed hope.
SPEAKER_01: Here he calls it our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see it?
SPEAKER_01: We're waiting for God Himself.
SPEAKER_01: We get God.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, seeing Him and enjoying Him forever.
SPEAKER_01: We get God.
SPEAKER_01: Two weeks ago I went to Camp Regenerate.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I preached there for the students, and I asked them, What's the grand prize for being a Christian?
SPEAKER_01: What are we in it for?
SPEAKER_01: What's the grand prize for being a Christian?
SPEAKER_01: And naturally, the junior high section was vocal.
SPEAKER_01: And I heard they yelled some stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I heard two voices.
SPEAKER_01: One of them said, forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Another one said, Heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, they're kind of right.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we're not in it for mere forgiveness, we're in it for reconciliation.
SPEAKER_01: Reconciliation is so much better.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, in Christ, we are not just merely forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: We're what the Bible calls justified.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness says you were guilty, but okay, you're off the hook, you're free to go.
SPEAKER_01: Justified and reconciled means you were forgiven, or you were guilty, but okay.
SPEAKER_01: You're free to come.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so we are reconciled, and furthermore, we're not just wishing for heaven, because heaven without Christ is just a cooler hell.
SPEAKER_01: I want him.
SPEAKER_01: The cream of heaven, Charles Spurgeon, is actually being with him and being with him forever.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, Christmas is the signal that the plan is underway, June 6th, 2001.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I was seven years old.
SPEAKER_01: So today I fell in love.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I fell in love with basketball.
SPEAKER_01: This is, I had only been in America for like, you can laugh.
SPEAKER_01: I'd only been in America for about six, but yeah, six months at the time.
SPEAKER_01: And I was still resting.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, am I a soccer guy?
SPEAKER_01: Am I a basketball guy?
SPEAKER_01: I was going back and forth and back and forth.
SPEAKER_01: These are the existential angst that a seven-year-old feels.
SPEAKER_01: But um, that day, June 6, 2001, um, my favorite team was playing against my least favorite team.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, my favorite team had this guy there that I was so obsessed with, this guy named Alan Iverson.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you know who that is.
SPEAKER_01: He was awesome.
SPEAKER_01: He had braids, he has tattoos like all over his neck.
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And then he had wore this sleeve.
SPEAKER_01: I remember like cutting my mom's socks and putting a sleeve on my.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I wanted to be him.
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to be him.
SPEAKER_01: And he was my favorite team at the time, and they were going in the NBA Finals, it was game one of the NBA finals against my least favorite team at the time, okay?
SPEAKER_01: The Los Angeles Lakers.
SPEAKER_01: And they were super annoying back in those days because they had Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Philip Jackson, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses.
SPEAKER_01: They had.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it felt like.
SPEAKER_01: It was horrible.
SPEAKER_01: And it the Sixers had no chance.
SPEAKER_01: The analysts were trying to hype up the game, like it's gonna, it was, they had zero chance.
SPEAKER_01: And the first game, um, on a miraculous turn of events, okay, it was a nail-biting game that went into overtime, and my team, okay, won.
SPEAKER_01: They won the game 107-101.
SPEAKER_01: It was amazing.
SPEAKER_01: That was in 2001.
SPEAKER_01: Now, July is a slow basketball month.
SPEAKER_01: All I see on my TV are baseball highlights.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
SPEAKER_01: So, what NBA TV does is they just run old basketball games.
SPEAKER_01: And a couple of years ago, that game was on TV.
SPEAKER_01: Even though I was up to my neck in seminary work and even church work, I was like, I have two hours.
SPEAKER_01: So I watched that game.
SPEAKER_01: And what's interesting is whenever I watched that game now, I wasn't as nervous as I was when I was seven years old, biting my nails, even though I found out that the circumstances were a lot worse.
SPEAKER_01: A lot worse.
SPEAKER_01: Come to find out, I remember when I was seven, one of the players that I liked on my team was a guy named Aaron McKee.
SPEAKER_01: Come to find out, at the time when I was watching the game when I was seven, I couldn't hear the commentators or I couldn't understand what they were saying.
SPEAKER_01: And I heard the game again a couple of years ago, and I realized Aaron McKee was limping because he had a broken foot.
SPEAKER_01: He was playing with the broken foot, and actually half the team was dealing with like significant injuries.
SPEAKER_01: And there was actually a part of the game where the Lakers took complete control.
SPEAKER_01: Shaq was Shaqing, Kobe was Kobeing.
SPEAKER_01: It was complete control, but I was no longer biting my nails because I know how this ends.
SPEAKER_01: I know how this ends.
SPEAKER_01: I know it's gonna be tight neck and neck, and then Alan Iverson get the ball in the corner.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna go against Louis, he's gonna step back, he's gonna make a shot, and they're gonna win 107-101.
SPEAKER_01: I know how this game ends.
SPEAKER_01: In that same way, you see, we're gonna turn into it a little bit, but in Ephesians 1, um, Paul starts praying for the church in Ephesus.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I pray that your hearts can see the finality of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We know how this ends.
SPEAKER_01: As followers of Christ, Let Christmas be a signal to you, a reminder to you that we know how this story ends.
SPEAKER_01: No matter what happens around us, hatred being celebrated, evil being celebrated, we know how this story ends.
SPEAKER_01: Our hope is something we have full assurance of, not uncertain desire about.
SPEAKER_01: So our hope is something we have full assurance of, not uncertain desire about.
SPEAKER_01: Furthermore, our hope is personal, not general.
SPEAKER_01: It's personal, not general.
SPEAKER_01: In 2 Peter chapter 3, Peter starts addressing some of the questions that you might be asking in your hearts this very moment.
SPEAKER_01: He starts addressing the question of when.
SPEAKER_01: He starts thinking about addressing the question of God's timing.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about God's apparent slowness in coming back.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter says this: do not overlook this fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
SPEAKER_01: And what he's saying there is that for God, what feels like a thousand years for us is one day for God.
SPEAKER_01: He's a timeless being, he's outside of time.
SPEAKER_01: What feels like a thousand years for us is merely one day for God.
SPEAKER_01: But for us, sometimes we can feel the reverse of that.
SPEAKER_01: One day can feel like a thousand years.
SPEAKER_01: If you are currently, if you are dealing with the sting of singleness and loneliness, Valentine's Day can feel like a thousand years.
SPEAKER_01: If you have family in different states or different countries, Thanksgiving Day can feel like a thousand years.
SPEAKER_01: Or if you just lost someone, Christmas Day can feel like a thousand years.
SPEAKER_01: What's the light at the end of the tunnel on those days?
SPEAKER_01: In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 18, Paul is praying for the church and Ephesus that their hearts be open, that the eyes of their hearts be open.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, this having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you should that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.
SPEAKER_01: Watch this.
SPEAKER_01: And what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints?
SPEAKER_01: Friends, the light at the end of the tunnel is that, in a sense, you are the light at the end of his.
SPEAKER_01: The light at the end of the tunnel is that you are the light at the end of his.
SPEAKER_01: The saints are the glorious inheritance of God.
SPEAKER_01: Our hope is a personal one.
SPEAKER_01: The saints are the glorious inheritance of God.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, God looks at what we're doing this morning.
SPEAKER_01: He looks at us, he looks at believers in Christ, and he feels filthy rich.
SPEAKER_01: Our hope is personal.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, what do you buy someone who has everything?
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's the age-old question that some of y'all better get it figured out because the time is ticking.
SPEAKER_01: What do you buy someone who already has everything?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, my parents are in this category.
SPEAKER_01: They've done very well for themselves, which means they're very difficult to shop for.
SPEAKER_01: A few Christmases ago, my mom gave my dad a watch.
SPEAKER_01: It was an expensive watch.
SPEAKER_01: It's a special watch.
SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful watch.
SPEAKER_01: And how I know that is not because I saw it.
SPEAKER_01: It's because I saw when my dad rejoiced in it.
SPEAKER_01: The way he rejoiced in it, let me know it must have been expensive and it must have been special.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, in Ephesians 1.18, we learn that we are the glorious inheritance of the one who already owns everything.
SPEAKER_01: Our hope is personal.
SPEAKER_01: There's an eagerness in God and having and enjoying you in a different way.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible ends in a wedding.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Our hope is personal, not general.
SPEAKER_01: So hope to find.
SPEAKER_01: Our hope is not something that we have uncertain or uncertain desire about, but this is something that we have full assurance of.
SPEAKER_01: And our hope is personal, not general.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, hope abounding.
SPEAKER_01: Let's look at hope abounding.
SPEAKER_01: Look at that passage one more time.
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: So Paul is praying that God will not just give people hope, but people will abound, overflow, gush out in hope.
SPEAKER_01: And rightfully so.
SPEAKER_01: If you read the scriptures, God has a track record of making people overflow.
SPEAKER_01: God is in the business of making people overflow.
SPEAKER_01: That's on-brand behavior for God.
SPEAKER_01: 1 John chapter 3, verse 1, it says, See what great love the Father has given us.
SPEAKER_01: That word given can actually be translated to the word lavished on us.
SPEAKER_01: See what great love that God has lavished on us.
SPEAKER_01: In Psalm 23, the psalmist is meditating on the providence of God, how God is a provider, and he says, okay, my cup overflows.
SPEAKER_01: He anoints my head with oil, my cup overflows.
SPEAKER_01: And then finally in John 10, 10, Jesus says, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
SPEAKER_01: So it makes sense that Paul is asking God to abundantly fill his people with hope.
SPEAKER_01: Not just give them hope, but they can abound in hope.
SPEAKER_01: And that begs the question: what does it look like when someone is abounding in hope?
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like when someone is just dripping in hope?
SPEAKER_01: Friends, abounding in hope looks like joy.
SPEAKER_01: May the God of hope fill you with all joy in believing.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, as you know, I am African, but this is not my way.
SPEAKER_01: This is not my way of echoing the message of the Lion King.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: As I call us to joy, okay, this is not my Christian needs way of preaching hakuna matata.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that problem-free philosophy makes for a top five Disney song, for sure.
SPEAKER_01: We can argue about this afterwards, but for sure.
SPEAKER_01: But it's not biblical or realistic.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, there are problems in this world.
SPEAKER_01: This world is hard.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of confusion, a lot of pain.
SPEAKER_01: Sin has unleashed chaos onto this planet.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you felt the last few years.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you, it intensifies around the holidays.
SPEAKER_01: So hear me clearly.
SPEAKER_01: Our call to joy is not God demanding that you always be in the mood to go to Schlitterbahn.
SPEAKER_01: That's not it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you're not called to just pretend like you're fine all the time.
SPEAKER_01: No, real men and women sit down to cry.
SPEAKER_01: Nehemiah did, Jesus did.
SPEAKER_01: So our joy is not necessarily a fake enthusiasm.
SPEAKER_01: Our joy is a godly gladness that is rooted in the person and work of Jesus regardless of circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: It's a godly gladness.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just, I'm bubbly.
SPEAKER_01: That can happen, but for some people, there's a quiet confidence in the Lord, a godly gladness that is rooted in the person and work of Jesus, regardless of circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, that's good for you, and it's also good from you.
SPEAKER_01: It's good from you.
SPEAKER_01: This is one of the ways I was saved.
SPEAKER_01: And that wasn't that long ago.
SPEAKER_01: This was 2009, 2010, 2011.
SPEAKER_01: I was over at Seven Lakes High School, Go Spartans, and I was there my junior and senior year of high school, and God put a lot of things, a lot of factors in my life to providentially draw me to him.
SPEAKER_01: And one of them was a guy named Tyler Moffat.
SPEAKER_01: As I was resting with the question, is Christ worth it?
SPEAKER_01: He had me run into a guy named Tyler Moffat.
SPEAKER_01: And Tyler Moffat was just different.
SPEAKER_01: He had a joy about him that was infectious.
SPEAKER_01: And what was interesting was he wasn't on TV or on a stage.
SPEAKER_01: He went to the same Monday morning woes that we did.
SPEAKER_01: He had the same afternoons with a bunch of homework that we did.
SPEAKER_01: He had the same sports with the same awesome coaches that we had, same classes as the rest of us.
SPEAKER_01: He did them with joy, experiencing our same reality but in a different perspective.
SPEAKER_01: He had joy.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember actually getting the courage to go to one of his Bible studies at his house.
SPEAKER_01: I remember him teaching on the topic of joy.
SPEAKER_01: He taught on Philippians 4, 4, which says, Rejoice in the Lord always.
SPEAKER_01: Again I will say, rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember, I still remember this scene.
SPEAKER_01: I remember him sitting on the floor and me sitting on a couch and everyone else sitting on the couch, room full of high school.
SPEAKER_01: I still remember him saying, Listen, the Bible never says, Don't murder, and again I say, don't murder.
SPEAKER_01: Don't steal, and again I say, don't steal.
SPEAKER_01: But it says, rejoice in the Lord always.
SPEAKER_01: Again I say, rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, abounding in hope means joy.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it spills out someone who is abounding in joy, or abounding in hope will bleed out or will sweat out joy.
SPEAKER_01: As you orient your hearts around Christmas with your families, I encourage all of us in this room to spend 20, 30 minutes just reading Luke chapter one and chapter two.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to count the music.
SPEAKER_01: Count the praises.
SPEAKER_01: Count how many people burst into praise at the arrival, at the announcement of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: When you see his heavenly host break out in the praise.
SPEAKER_01: Simeon, an older gentleman who's been waiting, God revealed to him, I'm gonna, God revealed to him that he's gonna see the Messiah one day, and then he dies, or he dies, he he he's brought, Messiah is brought to him, he sees the Messiah and he breaks out in the praise.
SPEAKER_01: Mary breaks out into praise.
SPEAKER_01: Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, he breaks out into praise.
SPEAKER_01: Elizabeth, his wife, breaks out in the praise, and in the middle of her praise, talks about the fact that whenever she heard the voice of Mary, the baby in her womb leapt for joy.
SPEAKER_01: So John the Baptist was praising God in the stomach of Elizabeth.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, this is just at the announcement of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He hadn't done anything yet, no parables yet, no cross yet.
SPEAKER_01: But they were sitting where we're sitting.
SPEAKER_01: They were, it's already, but not yet.
SPEAKER_01: He's already been announced, but it's not fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: They were sitting there and hope, and they were abounding in hope in such a way that they had joy.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because this is good news of great joy.
SPEAKER_01: Good news of great joy.
SPEAKER_01: Kind of.
SPEAKER_01: This is good news of mega joy.
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like when someone is abounding in hope?
SPEAKER_01: It looks like joy.
SPEAKER_01: Further still, may the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace.
SPEAKER_01: Abounding in hope looks like peace.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 4 for me.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Romans 15, verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: Says this.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever was written in the former days was written for our instruction, that through the endurance, through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.
SPEAKER_01: How did the scriptures give us hope?
SPEAKER_01: And how does that hope give us peace?
SPEAKER_01: Well, the Bible starts starts off in the beginning of history, different than any other textbook.
SPEAKER_01: It starts off at the beginning of history and it ends at the end of history.
SPEAKER_01: It starts off at the beginning of history and it documents the garden.
SPEAKER_01: So God creates and then he unleashes his uh Adam and Eve says, Hey, go for it.
SPEAKER_01: You make houses, make love, make families, you be fruitful and multiply.
SPEAKER_01: And then they sin against God.
SPEAKER_01: Man fell.
SPEAKER_01: And God curses the man and he curses the woman.
SPEAKER_01: But before he does that, he curses the serpent.
SPEAKER_01: And as he curses the serpent, he says this in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, he says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring.
SPEAKER_01: He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Neil mentioned, or he uh went through this passage a few weeks ago, but this is called the proto-evangelian, meaning the first gospel, the first announcement of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: God is cursing the serpent.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Hey, there is one coming that is going to fix all of this.
SPEAKER_01: In the middle of the curses, in the middle of the mud, God announces.
SPEAKER_01: God announces that there's one that's coming to fix all this.
SPEAKER_01: That he in there, that he that's referring to Jesus, the Emmanuel, the God with us.
SPEAKER_01: And that bruising, okay, that bruising is Jesus dying as he's defeating death.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 18, verse 19 says, yes, Adam's one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ's one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and a new life for everyone.
SPEAKER_01: Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners.
SPEAKER_01: But because one other person obeyed God, many will become righteous.
SPEAKER_01: So basically, not basically, on the cross, Jesus took our consequences for the evil that we've committed.
SPEAKER_01: We did the crime, Jesus did the time.
SPEAKER_01: He went through the infinite pain and suffering in order to save you and I for ultimate death.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's how the scripture gives us hope.
SPEAKER_01: That's on page three.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus doesn't actually show up.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he has some cameos in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't actually show up until the Bible is 75% over.
SPEAKER_01: But this is being announced on page three.
SPEAKER_01: Why did God reveal his plan so early?
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't it be more wise to just sneak attack Satan?
SPEAKER_01: And the Old Testament and Malachi on a really depressing note, like, oh, I guess sin wins.
SPEAKER_01: Bam, Mary's pregnant.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't that make more sense?
SPEAKER_01: Why did he reveal his plan so early?
SPEAKER_01: And then constantly, every book of the Old Testament is pointing to him.
SPEAKER_01: Why did he reveal his plan so early?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what God was doing.
SPEAKER_01: He was saying, listen, sin will have its way today, but not forever.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the most insidious act of chivalry of all time is sin entering the world and opening up the doors and the windows for all his friends to come in.
SPEAKER_01: So sin will have its way today, but not forever.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, those words are timely for us.
SPEAKER_01: May they give you peace.
SPEAKER_01: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
SPEAKER_01: May they give you peace.
SPEAKER_01: So what does it look when someone is abounding in hope?
SPEAKER_01: They look like joy.
SPEAKER_01: And they look like they look like peace.
SPEAKER_01: So that's hope defined.
SPEAKER_01: That's hope abounding.
SPEAKER_01: As I close, I want to arm you with a sermon for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I want to arm, I want to leave you armed.
SPEAKER_01: In Psalm 42, we see a man, a grown man, fighting himself.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, David is fighting himself.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Man, why are you downcast?
SPEAKER_01: Oh my soul! Why are you downcast?
SPEAKER_01: Oh my soul.
SPEAKER_01: And as he's talking to himself, he preaches to himself a three-word sermon.
SPEAKER_01: Hope in God.
SPEAKER_01: And that's my encouragement to you is that you preach to yourself hope in God.
SPEAKER_01: Over these next few weeks, preach to yourself hope in God.
SPEAKER_01: Enjoy Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: Wear the pajamas.
SPEAKER_01: Post the light or do the light.
SPEAKER_01: Is it okay to do the lights now?
SPEAKER_01: Do the lights.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to the music, okay?
SPEAKER_01: But listen, hope and God.
SPEAKER_01: Preach to yourself, I'm gonna hope in God.
SPEAKER_01: Over the next few weeks, materialism will be tempting.
unknown: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: The people who make commercials for Mercedes and K jewelers, they've defrosted.
SPEAKER_01: They're awake.
SPEAKER_01: It's their time of year.
SPEAKER_01: And they're gonna flood your TVs with commercials.
SPEAKER_01: But friends, preach yourself hope in God, knowing that the greatest thing that this universe has to offer is kept.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Peter chapter 1 says that we have a living hope.
SPEAKER_01: So hoping in Jesus is not hoping in your fantasy draft or hoping on a scoreboard or hoping in stock.
SPEAKER_01: No, you're hoping in a person and that and that prize is undefiled, unfading, and it can't be expired.
SPEAKER_01: Hope in God.
SPEAKER_01: Over the next few weeks, loneliness may set in.
SPEAKER_01: But preach to yourself hope in God, knowing that the cosmic wedding is coming.
SPEAKER_01: And heaven will be a place where loneliness will at last be extinct.
SPEAKER_01: Over the next few weeks, fatigue may set in.
SPEAKER_01: But preach to yourself hope in God.
SPEAKER_01: Knowing that they who wait on the Lord, they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.
SPEAKER_01: They shall mount up with wings like eagles.
SPEAKER_01: Over the next few weeks, hurting may intensify.
SPEAKER_01: Emotional hurting tends to flare up around this time of year.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, uh, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13 says, Let us not grieve as those who have no hope.
SPEAKER_01: Hope in God, knowing that the Bible ends with God wiping our tears from our eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Over the next few weeks, um uh to temptation might be in your face, but man, the Bible says, hope in God, because he who who hopes in God purifies himself.
SPEAKER_01: So preach that to yourself these next few weeks.
SPEAKER_01: Hope in God.
SPEAKER_01: Go to the mirror and tell yourself, hope in God.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what it is to fight the good fight of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Like if you read the words that the Bible uses to describe our walk with Jesus, fight the good fight of faith.
SPEAKER_01: I press on to make my goal.
SPEAKER_01: I labor in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: That does not denote lazy river or dracuzzi.
SPEAKER_01: It's a fight.
SPEAKER_01: Two weeks ago, I preached at Regenerate, okay, the fall retreat here for the students.
SPEAKER_01: And at regenerate, I preached four times.
SPEAKER_01: I knew the third one was gonna be tough.
SPEAKER_01: Because what happens is I preach Friday night, Saturday morning, and then Saturday night, and then Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_01: That Saturday night one is gonna be tough because those kids just had a whole afternoon of free time where they're running around, they're having fun.
SPEAKER_01: I knew it was gonna be tough for them to sit there.
SPEAKER_01: And as I'm preaching, it was awesome because I see them over there praying as I'm preaching.
SPEAKER_01: It was beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: I love the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: They couldn't wait to get with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But afterwards, one of the students, super sweet kid, whose name by now escapes me, but afterwards he came up to me and goes, Man, as you were preaching, I was I was falling asleep, so I got up and I went to the bathroom just to splash my face.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Oh, that's cool.
SPEAKER_01: A couple days later, I think, is that not the Christian life?
SPEAKER_01: This world has a way of rocking you to sleep.
SPEAKER_01: This world has a way of making you relax your convictions.
SPEAKER_01: We're called to keep splashing ourselves in the face.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: Hope in God.
SPEAKER_01: Hope and enjoy this, but let it point to God.
SPEAKER_01: The joy of having this or this thing or this person, it is not terminated on itself, but it should spring up into worship of God.
SPEAKER_01: We are called to hope in God.
SPEAKER_01: So I leave you armed with that sermon to yourself.
SPEAKER_01: More potent than any sermon I can preach to you up here.
SPEAKER_01: Hope in God.
SPEAKER_01: And as you do, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
SPEAKER_01: So by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_01: God, you are.
SPEAKER_01: As I read that passage one for the millionth time, I the word power.
SPEAKER_01: God, these things are happening by the power of your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: God, give us the wherewithal to remind ourselves to hope in you.
SPEAKER_01: Give us the wherewithal to splash ourselves in the face, to hope in you.
SPEAKER_01: May we be a people who understands that our ultimate hope is personal and not general.
SPEAKER_01: May we be a people who understands that our hope is certain.
SPEAKER_01: God, you are good.
SPEAKER_01: And Christmas is a signal that the plan is still on.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for these truths, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We love you.
SPEAKER_01: We praise you.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your beautiful name I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Now what we're gonna do, we're gonna take a step back and allow you some time in reflection.
SPEAKER_01: I have some questions up here for our reflection, and we're gonna step back and just allow you to worship the Lord through your mind.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe this is the time for you to do some business with God and you just talk to God and ask the Holy Spirit to do its powerful work in you so that you may abound.
SPEAKER_01: But for the next um about a minute or so, I'm gonna step back and allow us that time to just be alone with God together.
SPEAKER_01: Be alone together.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, thank you for who you are.
SPEAKER_01: I pray, God, I ask that you remind us to hope in you.
SPEAKER_01: All throughout this holiday season, to hope in you, Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We love you, Lord, we praise you.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your beautiful name, I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you for being here today.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're a guest here with us, you're visiting here with us, we want to say welcome.
SPEAKER_01: Um, we're off the bat, we you you you you matter to God, therefore you you matter to us.
SPEAKER_01: And in some of these seatbacks, there's a connect card there if you can fill out.
SPEAKER_01: Um that just gives us a record of your visit.
SPEAKER_01: And you can drop it in the boxes that are in the back and on the side.
SPEAKER_01: And also, if this is your day to worship through tithes and offering, you can drop it on those boxes as well.
SPEAKER_01: After the service, we're gonna have some pastors here in the front that would love to talk to you, love to pray with you, and um just be an encouragement to you in however uh we can.
SPEAKER_01: So we guys stand now and get this benediction.
SPEAKER_01: God is the source and the object of our hope.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, may we hope in you.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to wait well and hope in you as we go out through these doors.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to encry and enjoy Christmas, but also understand we're living in that in between.
SPEAKER_01: Give us that joy, that peace, and that wherewithal to preach to ourselves that this is a certain future.
SPEAKER_01: We love you, we praise you.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your beautiful name I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Go in peace.