SPEAKER_00: If you're a guest here today, I want to say welcome.
SPEAKER_00: That is something we are really excited about and would love for you to participate in.
SPEAKER_00: And just all of our campuses.
SPEAKER_00: And as we head toward Easter, we are going to do an Easter offering.
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, and you have the opportunity just to go online to the boxes in the back or online to our app, and there's a place for you to be able to give there toward that Easter offering.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to encourage you that that's like above and beyond our regular giving.
SPEAKER_00: It's the opportunity that we have just to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And if you think about it,$300,000 sounds like a large amount.
SPEAKER_00: Like sounds like a large amount, but you spread it across five campuses, you spread it across thousands and thousands of people.
SPEAKER_00: If we all sacrifice a bit, man, it does a whole lot.
SPEAKER_00: And it gives these opportunities.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want us to understand.
SPEAKER_00: Like we are working.
SPEAKER_00: Like some of you have questions, don't we have poverty like right here?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: And all of our campuses are working in places and areas that are working with underprivileged families and helping people with that right here, working with the homeless and all kinds of different things that we're doing.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the reality: in America, most situations, the kids grow up in poverty, man, horrible situations, but there is still an opportunity somewhere for them to take a step.
SPEAKER_00: Usually to take a step and to choose something different and to rise above with the help of other people, but to rise above, what we have in America is poverty.
SPEAKER_00: What we have in places like Kenya, in the slums of Kenya, places like India, places, I mean you could go all around the world.
SPEAKER_00: We have extreme poverty where children there who do not have the opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: They can't just pull themselves up by their bootstraps or make a different decision or they they don't have the opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: They will live in this cycle of extreme poverty that just goes over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: And what we have the opportunity to do is come in with 420 kids, build out three more floors, fill those up with 420 kids that have the opportunity to not just receive education, not just receive medicine, not just receive food, not just receive health care, but receive the gospel of Jesus Christ, which changes them, their siblings, their families, and has the opportunity to change their communities and even that country from the inside out.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: So that's why we do this.
SPEAKER_00: The other reason we do this is because Jesus just said, care for the poor and go into all the world.
SPEAKER_00: That's a great commission.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Go to all the world.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we're doing is we're doing here, but we're also doing there.
SPEAKER_00: We're going into all the world and bringing the gospel to all nations because that's what Jesus commanded us to do, and we have the resources to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_00: And so I hope you'll do it.
SPEAKER_00: Um, the other thing I want to say is don't miss next the next two weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, in two weeks it's Easter.
SPEAKER_00: So be here, invite somebody.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about this issue of hope and and what the resurrection says about hope.
SPEAKER_00: So I think you'll want to invite somebody to come.
SPEAKER_00: But then next Sunday, it's Palm Sunday, we've got Wallace and Mary Kamau who are the original founders, the leaders of Missions of Hope International.
SPEAKER_00: There's like 37,000 kids that are in schools across Kenya, and uh and it started with 50 kids with Mary Kamau.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna get to meet Wallace and Mary next week.
SPEAKER_00: They are so awesome, so inspirational.
SPEAKER_00: My wife Jen's gonna join me on the stage, and we're gonna sit down with uh Wallace and Mary.
SPEAKER_00: I'll do a small message and then we're gonna interview them, and you'll get to hear all the things that we get to be a part of.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be cool.
SPEAKER_00: So be here for that.
SPEAKER_00: All right?
SPEAKER_00: I want you to get to 1 Peter chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we're gonna be.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna welcome all of our campuses, everybody online.
SPEAKER_00: And I would just say this before we get into the book of 1 Peter, I don't know who your favorite character is in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Like, who is it in your mind?
SPEAKER_00: Like if you just think and you don't have to know the Bible well to have a favorite character because there are stories like David.
SPEAKER_00: You know, David slew the giant, Goliath, and and there are stories like Esther, a woman who came into just this incredible story who became queen and then saved her people.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, just incredible stories of different characters.
SPEAKER_00: I would have to say that Peter might be my favorite character in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And here's why is because Peter is messy.
SPEAKER_00: Like, like Peter is such an incredible leader, but there are so many times that you see throughout the Gospels, he was a friend of Jesus that gets called to be one of Jesus' disciples, then he's one of the top three disciples, and he's like the leader outside of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If they looked at a leader, it was Peter.
SPEAKER_00: But Peter was always a guy that was like sticking his foot in his mouth, which I can relate to, you know, making some decisions you wish you could take back.
SPEAKER_00: If you've ever needed a comeback story, you don't have to look any further than Peter.
SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting, when you look at Peter's life, he goes through with Jesus, and when the pressure hit at the very end, what happened?
SPEAKER_00: Peter cracked.
SPEAKER_00: Like, literally cracked.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he didn't show up to Jesus' execution.
SPEAKER_00: He had denied him three times and then he had run.
SPEAKER_00: He actually had quit and he went back to fishing.
SPEAKER_00: Like, which was his original occupation.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus called him from.
SPEAKER_00: He went back to fishing.
SPEAKER_00: And then what happens?
SPEAKER_00: Like the story of Peter is this incredible story that there's always hope, always hope of a comeback.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus comes back from the dead, and what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: Who's he go looking for?
SPEAKER_00: He goes looking for Peter.
SPEAKER_00: He finds Peter fishing.
SPEAKER_00: He invites him to breakfast on the beach.
SPEAKER_00: He's got fish all prepared and ready for him.
SPEAKER_00: He sits down with Peter, and you're just waiting for this moment for Jesus to sideline him, for Jesus to shame him.
SPEAKER_00: And what does Jesus do?
SPEAKER_00: He puts him in charge of the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't shame him, he doesn't sideline him, he forgives him, he loves him, he encourages him, and he says, Peter, this is gonna make you better.
SPEAKER_00: This comeback story is making you the leader that I'm looking for.
SPEAKER_00: And so what I'm doing, Peter, I'm gonna put you in charge of this whole thing that we're gonna call the church.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to lead it and it's gonna grow.
SPEAKER_00: And guys, it's the reason that you and I are sitting here today.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing: if you've ever needed a comeback story, if you've ever messed up something, if you ever just kind of got sidelined or sidelined yourself or made some decisions that you regret or embarrassed of, here's what you need to understand from Jesus' story with Peter is there's always hope because what Jesus is in the business of doing is he's in the business of taking our mess and bringing beauty out of it.
SPEAKER_00: Like Jesus brings beauty out of the mess of our life.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna talk about that on Easter Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: You should get your friends here for that.
SPEAKER_00: But some of you need to hear that today.
SPEAKER_00: If you need a comeback story, man, it's available with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you a little context on the book.
SPEAKER_00: First and 2 Peter, we look at our Bibles and we call those books.
SPEAKER_00: Those aren't books, they're actually letters.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, they're called epistles.
SPEAKER_00: That word means letter.
SPEAKER_00: And all throughout the New Testament, you see that there is the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
SPEAKER_00: Those are the stories of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And then there's the book of Acts, and the book of Acts is a story of history.
SPEAKER_00: But in the book of Acts, you see all these churches that are started, or you see all these leaders who step into leadership that God's calls to lead.
SPEAKER_00: And what you see after the book of Acts is you see the book of Romans and 1 and 2 Corinthians and Galatians and Ephesians and Philippians, Colossians, you go all the way through, and then you get to books like 1 and 2 Peter, 1 and 2nd 3 John.
SPEAKER_00: These are letters that were written to churches.
SPEAKER_00: And so the book of 1 and 2 Peter, what Peter's writing to is he's actually writing to a group of people, a group of Christians that have been dispersed all across the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you step back into the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 7 and verse and chapter 8, there's a guy named Stephen.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens to Stephen?
SPEAKER_00: He's the first martyr.
SPEAKER_00: He's stoned to death for his faith.
SPEAKER_00: Then what happens is there's a guy named Paul right after that.
SPEAKER_00: His name was actually at the time Saul, and Saul was the one who was in charge of Stephen's murder, like execution.
SPEAKER_00: And then Saul becomes this guy that begins persecuting the church, and it says the church was scattered or dispersed across the Roman Empire, and those people settled down.
SPEAKER_00: And the crazy thing about the story is in Acts chapter 9, Saul actually Jesus appears to Saul, renames him, calls him Paul, and says, You're going to be my missionary that's going to start churches for all those people who were dispersed.
SPEAKER_00: And so Peter is the guy, so understand this.
SPEAKER_00: Peter is the guy who was the head of the Jerusalem church where it all started.
SPEAKER_00: Then there were people that were dispersed.
SPEAKER_00: There was still a church in Jerusalem that he was over, and then he was the one who sent out Paul and Barnabas and others to plant churches.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's the guy who goes out and plants churches for all these people that Peter is writing to.
SPEAKER_00: Peter writes and he says, Hey, understand, you're suffering.
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
SPEAKER_00: Because you believe in Jesus, because you believe in the resurrection, you're not a part of the Roman Empire, you're not a part of the Jewish tradition and religion.
SPEAKER_00: You don't believe in those things.
SPEAKER_00: You believe something different.
SPEAKER_00: You are undergoing suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Understand, suffering goes with the territory.
SPEAKER_00: But then he says, okay, even amidst suffering, you are called to be holy and to be humble.
SPEAKER_00: Those are two words that Peter uses throughout the book.
SPEAKER_00: He even calls you us Christians.
SPEAKER_00: He calls us a holy priesthood.
SPEAKER_00: That we are called to be holy and to be humble, but then he says, you are called to live out the mission through the gifts that God has given you.
SPEAKER_00: You are a priesthood that is taking to take the gospel to the world through the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given you.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand?
SPEAKER_00: That the Holy Spirit is gifted each and every one of you.
SPEAKER_00: If you are a person of faith, you are gifted, and you are not gifted just to come and sit in a seat.
SPEAKER_00: You are gifted to use your gifts across God's church to be taken to the world to expand his gospel and his kingdom to the world.
SPEAKER_00: And so Peter writes this and he's saying, Look, I understand the suffering, I understand all that, but you're called to be something, and here's how you live out that calling.
SPEAKER_00: He gives two ideas that says, This makes it all possible.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he says.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.
SPEAKER_00: So what Peter does is he writes this letter that he's going to send out to these churches, and he says, Everything in your life, staying true to the gospel, is possible because of two ideas.
SPEAKER_00: The letter's built on two ideas.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, living hope, like and new birth.
SPEAKER_00: There is a new birth into a living hope.
SPEAKER_00: So let's break those ideas down for a second.
SPEAKER_00: New birth.
SPEAKER_00: What's Peter saying?
SPEAKER_00: He says, when you become a Christian, he says it's not just that you begin to think different or behave different.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this is not self-improvement, this is not self-help.
SPEAKER_00: There's something far deeper that happens when you place your faith in Jesus and receive him as your Savior.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying this, just like you did not cause your physical birth to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Like we all get that, we understand that.
SPEAKER_00: We did not cause our physical birth to happen, he says the same thing is true of your spiritual birth.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you did not cause that to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Again, this is not self-help.
SPEAKER_00: This is not just some philosophy that we adopt and we start thinking different and behaving different.
SPEAKER_00: No, this is actually an idea of new birth.
SPEAKER_00: So if you step into other places in the New Testament, you go to John 3, what does Jesus call it?
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say new birth, he says you must be what?
SPEAKER_00: Born again.
SPEAKER_00: And you may have heard that terminology of people saying, man, if you want to accept Jesus, you must be born again.
SPEAKER_00: It comes from these same ideas.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, who writes 13 books, 13 letters in the New Testament, he writes to the churches, he doesn't use new birth, he doesn't use born again, he uses the idea of new creation.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what he's here's what they're all saying.
SPEAKER_00: All of them are saying is when you step into faith in Jesus, what happens is you were stuck in your hopeless, sinful condition.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of people that just think, hey, if I would be good enough, like if my if my good deeds outrank my bad deeds, then I'm I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: Like I believe in God.
SPEAKER_00: I I believe that Jesus is a great teacher and all that, and if I will be good like Jesus was good, then then I'm probably gonna be good enough and I'll make it to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible does not say that.
SPEAKER_00: That is not the gospel, that is a false gospel.
SPEAKER_00: What the Bible says is the only way.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_00: No one comes to the Father except through me, unless they are born again, unless there is new birth, unless they become a new creation, not by their own doing, but by God's doing.
SPEAKER_00: You see what this is, is this is God-originated transformation.
SPEAKER_00: Like the transformation that happens in our heart is we, Peter talks about this, and he just says, you've been given new birth into a living hope, and then he goes on and says, You're given a new identity as children of God, and then you are given an inheritance as a child of God.
SPEAKER_00: So you think about it.
SPEAKER_00: I've got two boys that live at home.
SPEAKER_00: I've got two girls that are home for spring break right now.
SPEAKER_00: Those are my children.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, they are children in the Mooriers family.
SPEAKER_00: So everything we have.
SPEAKER_00: Like my girls came home and it was interesting.
SPEAKER_00: We're watching the NCAA tournament and we're having a good time.
SPEAKER_00: And my boy and I we walk in and we see the girls' tournament on the main TV, which the girls' tournament is great.
SPEAKER_00: But the girls have taken over the living room, and my boy is like, Dad, they've taken over, they're watching the girls' tournament.
SPEAKER_00: We gotta watch the guys' tournament.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I know, dude, I don't know what to do, but they can't.
SPEAKER_00: And we went to another room, we watched the watch the guys' tournament, and they would say, Dad, shut up.
SPEAKER_00: You watched the guys' tournament all day yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: But you just get it.
SPEAKER_00: Like, my kids, they're our children.
SPEAKER_00: They can walk into our home.
SPEAKER_00: They don't gotta knock.
SPEAKER_00: What do they do?
SPEAKER_00: They walk right into the house and they have access to everything that is ours.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Peter's saying.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You realize you've been given new birth into this living hope, and you have an identity as children of God, and you have an inheritance that is set for eternity that will never spoil, perish, or fade.
SPEAKER_00: And guys, understand to this persecuted, suffering, difficult, difficult uh suffering that this church was going through, that the Christians at that time were going through, this meant everything.
SPEAKER_00: Because what they were just understanding is because of their belief in the resurrection of Jesus, because of their acceptance of Him, they had been given new hope into a new identity, into, into an inheritance that would never, even though the world could take from them their occupation, their finances, their influence, their, it could not take their hope.
SPEAKER_00: And I think we need to understand that when this world and the difficulty of this world takes from us, some of you have gone through very difficult things and you're saying, I need some hope.
SPEAKER_00: You need to understand that your near new birth into the identity of being a child of God, into the inheritance of having eternity, having a relationship with Jesus that can never be taken away from you.
SPEAKER_00: That ought to bring some encouragement to you that that cannot be taken away.
SPEAKER_00: Peter goes on.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You've been given new birth, and then he says, You've been given new birth into a what?
SPEAKER_00: Into a living hope.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we just sang a song called Living Hope.
SPEAKER_00: He just sang a song called Living Hope, and it had that idea just running through it about the resurrection and why that's a living hope.
SPEAKER_00: Why does Peter use this idea, living hope?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he talks about hope because most of what we hope for, what they hoped for, and what we hope for isn't actually hope.
SPEAKER_00: Like if you think about it, most of the things that we use the word hope for, it's more this idea of wishful thinking.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you see it even in our language.
SPEAKER_00: So, like, what do we say?
SPEAKER_00: I hope things will get better.
SPEAKER_00: I hope things are gonna change.
SPEAKER_00: I hope the Arizona Wildcats are gonna win the you know March Madness, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's probable, actually.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they got a really good team.
SPEAKER_00: That could actually happen.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not certainty, what is it?
SPEAKER_00: It's cross fingers, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's hopeful, wishful thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Like we we have this idea with the word hope, but we just like, man, I I hope things will get better.
SPEAKER_00: What we're really saying is I wish things would get better.
SPEAKER_00: Like I wish life would change.
SPEAKER_00: I wish the diagnosis was different.
SPEAKER_00: I I wish this relationship will end up working out.
SPEAKER_00: I none of that is certainty.
SPEAKER_00: That's just cross fingers.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's writing and he's like, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, church.
SPEAKER_00: Let's step back and let's just look at what happened.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at what happened at the cross and understand you have more than just wishful thinking.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the word that Peter uses there in the Greek language has nothing to do about guessing or wishing something into existence.
SPEAKER_00: This is about confidence.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he is using a word there that is a word that is confidence built on the promises of God.
SPEAKER_00: This is not say, hey, I hope this is gonna be better.
SPEAKER_00: This is, hey, I know what God has promised, and I am confident in that.
SPEAKER_00: Like I am counting on that.
SPEAKER_00: Now understand, that does not mean that the diagnosis is always gonna change.
SPEAKER_00: What it does mean is when you have confidence in a living hope that goes beyond this life and an inheritance that is eternal, that will never spoil, perish, or fade, it changes your perspective when you look at the diagnosis.
SPEAKER_00: As hard as that may sound, it changes your perspective and gives not just hope and wishful thinking, but it gives some confidence that, hey, this life is not all there is.
SPEAKER_00: And God is with me as he said he would be.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is with me through every single thing.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Peter doesn't just say hope.
SPEAKER_00: He attaches a different word to it.
SPEAKER_00: He says living hope.
SPEAKER_00: He says, you were born again into a living hope.
SPEAKER_00: You have new birth into a living hope.
SPEAKER_00: What he's saying is our our hope's not built on an idea, idea.
SPEAKER_00: It's not built on a philosophy, it's not built on this idea of positive thinking.
SPEAKER_00: What is it?
SPEAKER_00: It's anchored to a person who walked out of a grave.
SPEAKER_00: Like our hope is built on the instance of in history when Jesus got up and walked out of the tomb and said, Death is defeated.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is defeated.
SPEAKER_00: Do you realize that every other grave in history communicates one message?
SPEAKER_00: Death wins.
SPEAKER_00: Like death wins, except for one grave.
SPEAKER_00: There's one grave in history where Jesus walked out of that grave, and that grave communicates something totally different.
SPEAKER_00: Not that death, darkness, sin, difficulty, hardship, pain win.
SPEAKER_00: But that hope wins.
SPEAKER_00: That hope wins.
SPEAKER_00: Our confidence in the promises of God, that wins.
SPEAKER_00: Peter calls it a living hope because it's not attached to a dead leader in history.
SPEAKER_00: You realize that every other religion out there is attached to some dead prophet.
SPEAKER_00: We can go to their tomb.
SPEAKER_00: This is attached to an empty tomb, to a leader, to Jesus, a savior who's resurrected, who's alive, and who walked out of the grave.
SPEAKER_00: He's alive.
SPEAKER_00: And you think about this idea of hope.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of you have experienced dead hope, and you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_00: You've said things before like, I hoped the relationship would work out, and it didn't.
SPEAKER_00: I hoped the diagnosis would change, and it didn't.
SPEAKER_00: I hoped that life was just gonna get better and things were gonna be different, but they weren't.
SPEAKER_00: That kind of hope dies.
SPEAKER_00: What Peter's talking about here to this church that is needing this type of hope is a different kind of hope, a hope that does not depend upon circumstances, but a hope that is anchored to Jesus who is alive today.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes on and he says that that hope is not just for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If you go to another book in the New Testament that Paul writes in Romans chapter 8, verse 11, here's what Paul says He says, the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.
SPEAKER_00: Let's stop right there for a second.
SPEAKER_00: Do you actually believe that?
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 8, verse 11 says, The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.
SPEAKER_00: Now understand, he lives in those who have experienced the new birth.
SPEAKER_00: You experience the new birth when you place your faith in Jesus, when you pray and ask forgiveness of your sins, ask Jesus to come into your life and be the leader of your life.
SPEAKER_00: And then Scripture says that all those who did that place their faith in Jesus, responded, and they repented of their sins, they confessed Jesus as their Savior, and then they were buried in the waters of baptism as a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection or living hope.
SPEAKER_00: Like this living hope that is through the resurrection of Jesus being applied to them.
SPEAKER_00: Like if you have made that decision, man, you have God's Spirit who lives in you.
SPEAKER_00: If you have not made that decision, understand being Good.
SPEAKER_00: Coming to church, sitting in seats, even reading your Bible and praying will not get you to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: The only place, the only thing that gets you to heaven is having the cross of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus applied to you.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says, scripture says, all who call on the name of the Lord, meaning Jesus, will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: But those who place their faith in Jesus and respond to Him as we see in Scripture, they will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Have you done that?
SPEAKER_00: If you've done that, awesome.
SPEAKER_00: If you've not, you should do that today.
SPEAKER_00: Like services get done, you should come down.
SPEAKER_00: We've got a prayer team right here.
SPEAKER_00: They will pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: They will help you schedule your baptism.
SPEAKER_00: They will help you receive the living hope of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But let me say this: if you have received that, do you understand that the Spirit, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you?
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe that?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if we actually do.
SPEAKER_00: We say we believe that.
SPEAKER_00: But would we not pray bigger prayers?
SPEAKER_00: Risk bolder things?
SPEAKER_00: Be more generous, share our faith more?
SPEAKER_00: Would we not, if we truly believe that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, would we not step up and live more, speak more?
SPEAKER_00: Risk more for him?
SPEAKER_00: Romans 8, verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read it again.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.
SPEAKER_00: And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your immortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
SPEAKER_00: Peter writes to these Christians and he says, guys, there's hope.
SPEAKER_00: Like there's hope.
SPEAKER_00: No matter what your circumstances are, remember that your hope's not dependent upon your circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: Your joy is not even dependent upon your circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you have the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, living in you, the Holy Spirit, you understand that there is always a comeback story from every situation.
SPEAKER_00: There is always joy and hope and peace that can come in the midst of every single situation because that spirit is in you.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you go back and you look at what we're going to talk about in just a couple weeks at Easter, man, on Friday, it looked like the messiest, most, I mean the biggest failure in history.
SPEAKER_00: And three days later, on Easter morning with the resurrection, it was the greatest comeback story, the greatest victory story that's ever been told.
SPEAKER_00: And what God says and what Peter is writing, he's saying, that is available for you.
SPEAKER_00: God can do that in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why the gospel matters because this message of Jesus offers is something the world cannot manufacture.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that on Google, like when you go to Google and you search things, you know in the last five years that one of the top, like in the top just couple things that have been searched over the last five years, do you know what's one of the top three or four?
SPEAKER_00: It's hope.
SPEAKER_00: More than politics, more than economy, more than this, more than that, more than anything.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's the word of hope.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because people are experiencing in our society, they're experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety and depression and loneliness and fear, and you just go down the list.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because they're looking for hope in places that cannot deliver.
SPEAKER_00: And what do we have?
SPEAKER_00: What Peter is writing, he said, you have been given new birth into a living hope.
SPEAKER_00: Not a hope that's wishful thinking, but a hope that actually delivers.
SPEAKER_00: A hope that actually delivers on what it promises.
SPEAKER_00: Man, if you need hope today and you have not found Jesus, you need to come down after services, meet with our prayer teams at any of our campuses, and just start the journey of finding hope.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you would say, Well, I've done that, and I'm gonna, hey, you put your faith in Jesus, you lean into Jesus, you lean into his spirit, and you lean into his people.
SPEAKER_00: And I promise you that God will bring hope back into your life.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's what Peter does.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's writing to this group of people, and he says, Okay, this is the idea.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the whole book is is built upon.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want you to tell, I want to tell you something you're supposed to do with your hope.
SPEAKER_00: This portion right here, he's saying, he's writing two Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Understand, he's not writing two people right now.
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to present the gospel to you.
SPEAKER_00: This part of the gospel, this part of his letter, he's writing two people who are already believers.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, many, most of us.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he says.
SPEAKER_00: What do you do with this living hope?
SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: He says, But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the what?
SPEAKER_00: For the hope.
SPEAKER_00: You guys are awake.
SPEAKER_00: I think you are.
SPEAKER_00: For the hope that you have.
SPEAKER_00: But do this with gentleness and respect.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what Peter doesn't say right there may be important than what he does say, more important than what he does say.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, what he doesn't say is Peter doesn't say, hey, this living hope, this new birth that you have into living hope, this hope that's an inheritance that never spoils, perishes, or fades.
SPEAKER_00: He does not, here's what he does not say.
SPEAKER_00: He does not say, hey, be ready to argue that hope.
SPEAKER_00: He does not say, hey, be ready to argue every theological issue or know the answer to every theological question.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't even say, hey, be sure you've memorized every verse that has to do with salvation and forgiveness of sins and Jesus and he doesn't say that.
SPEAKER_00: What he says is be ready to share your what?
SPEAKER_00: Share your hope.
SPEAKER_00: You may know who Rick Warren is.
SPEAKER_00: Rick Warren is probably one of the most famous, if not the most famous, pastor of the last few generations.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote The Purpose-Driven Life next to the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: It's the seven second best-selling Christian book in history.
SPEAKER_00: He's done so many good things just with the faith and churches and leadership.
SPEAKER_00: Rick Warren's an incredible guy.
SPEAKER_00: I saw a reel of one of his messages where he was talking about this idea, and here's what he said.
SPEAKER_00: It just captured my attention.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I have quit telling people to share their faith, and I've started telling people to share their hope.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, intrigued.
SPEAKER_00: And he went on.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Do you realize in scripture, nowhere in scripture, there's not one place in scripture where it says, share your faith.
SPEAKER_00: It does say share your hope.
SPEAKER_00: And then he asked the question, why?
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, that I get what you're saying.
SPEAKER_00: He said, understand, sharing your faith, that's all the doctrinal stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That's all the theological stuff.
SPEAKER_00: That's Jesus was born of a virgin.
SPEAKER_00: That's Jesus lived and then he died.
SPEAKER_00: He went to a cross to be crucified for our sins.
SPEAKER_00: His blood paid the penalty for our sins.
SPEAKER_00: Then he was put in a grave.
SPEAKER_00: Three days later, he rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: He went to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He's coming back someday.
SPEAKER_00: All that stuff.
SPEAKER_00: That's the theological stuff, the faith stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And you share that with somebody in their deepest, darkest, difficult moments, they don't resonate with that at all.
SPEAKER_00: But you share your hope in somebody's deepest, darkest moments.
SPEAKER_00: What it does is it opens a door and leads to the point where you can share the truth of the gospel with them.
SPEAKER_00: You see, what Rick Warren and what Peter are saying is hope travels through people.
SPEAKER_00: Like hope travels through people, so don't share your faith, share your hope, and that ought to be so reassuring for us.
SPEAKER_00: Like it ought to be so reassuring for us, and it ought to be sobering at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: Should be reassuring because you don't have to know every scripture to share your hope.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's sitting down with you at a coffee shop and they just start bleeding all over the place about their marriage.
SPEAKER_00: And you've gone through difficulty in your marriage and you've seen how God has taught you.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's my story.
SPEAKER_00: You want to ask about the reassuring places.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, I would not be married today.
SPEAKER_00: Would not be married today if my wife and I wouldn't have found a Christian counselor that led us, but led me in particularly to understand how to love my wife as Jesus says to love my wife.
SPEAKER_00: Like, like, understand, you don't have to know every scripture, you don't have to know every theological answer, you don't have to know every question that somebody's gonna ask.
SPEAKER_00: All you gotta be willing to do is in the moment, is share your hope.
SPEAKER_00: And what's really interesting is God has a tendency to put us in places with people who have similar stories as we do.
SPEAKER_00: Like you've heard me share that story so many, many times just about my wife and I and how God has brought so much health into our relationship.
SPEAKER_00: You have no idea how many times she's been able to share about her perspective and how it was different going through cancer two times because of her living hope.
SPEAKER_00: And how many people who have gone through cancer that that she's been able to encourage and talk to, and her story is that she's cancer free.
SPEAKER_00: That's not everybody's story.
SPEAKER_00: But God's used her to be able to share that.
SPEAKER_00: And what's your story?
SPEAKER_00: It's as easy as sharing our living hope because here's the thing: God never said that hope was to terminate with you.
SPEAKER_00: Like that you were gonna be a person who receives the hope of Jesus, has new birth into a living hope, and has all this inheritance that's never gonna spoil, perish, or fade, and it's supposed to terminate with you.
SPEAKER_00: No, hope is supposed to travel through you, it's supposed to be transferred from you to other people because of your story.
SPEAKER_00: That's why God gave you a story.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Peter had a story, a comeback story.
SPEAKER_00: That I'm sure Peter sat down with so many people and said, Hey, I've been there, and if Jesus could forgive me, the guy who denied him three times, if Jesus could forgive me, the guy who didn't even show up to his execution and could put me in charge of this thing, then he can forgive you.
SPEAKER_00: You see, what God calls you and I to do is not to keep hope, not to store hope.
SPEAKER_00: Hope is never supposed to be stored, it's supposed to be shared.
SPEAKER_00: And who is it in your life that God wants to share hope with?
SPEAKER_00: There's a guy named Kevin Briggs.
SPEAKER_00: Kevin Briggs was a highway patrol officer in California, Northern California, and his area that he patrolled was the Golden Gate Bridge.
SPEAKER_00: It was right there with the Golden Gate Bridge.
SPEAKER_00: If you know anything about the Golden Gate Bridge, sad stories, but um, more people commit suicide off that bridge than anywhere else in our country.
SPEAKER_00: Interesting enough, Kevin Briggs became famous for the fact that he literally talked over 200 people off that bridge by himself.
SPEAKER_00: Over 200 people, 200 people that are standing on the edge, believing that life's over, there's no hope, my story's done.
SPEAKER_00: Reporters started calling Kevin Briggs and hearing the story, and they would call him and they would say, Kevin, what what do you say?
SPEAKER_00: Is there like some psychological like you know thing you've learned or some motivational pep talk thing that you say?
SPEAKER_00: What do you say that helps these people find some hope?
SPEAKER_00: And he just says, I actually don't say much.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I just I just listen.
SPEAKER_00: I do a lot of listening, and then I always remind people that their life's not over, that their life still matters, and there's always still hope.
SPEAKER_00: Church, there's a whole lot of people that we know.
SPEAKER_00: Friends and family members and people that you may not even know, the fact that they're standing on the emotional edge.
SPEAKER_00: Looking at whether it be a diagnosis or a relationship that went south, or something that they're grieving, or or pressure and stress is just too overwhelming, or or questions about faith and hardships that have happened in their life, there are people that are standing on the emotional edge, and the difference between them finding a way out of their pain or them being stuck in it might just be a simple conversation or a simple invitation from you.
SPEAKER_00: If we believe in this new birth into living hope, and that Peter says that if that is true, if we believe that Jesus is who he says he is, that he died on the cross, rose from the dead, that he is God, that he is the only way to salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And if Peter says, hey, you are to share your hope, hope travels through people, then our silence becomes morally complicated.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Our silence becomes morally complicated because Jesus said, Go into all the world.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says, always be ready to share your hope.
SPEAKER_00: Not to not share the all the big theological implications, but would you just share your story?
SPEAKER_00: Sharing your hope is saying, here's what Jesus has done for me, and here's what he's doing for me lately, and here's how it's changed my life.
SPEAKER_00: And in my experience, that is what leads to them learning about all the other big faith questions in their life because they're looking for living hope.
SPEAKER_00: And so for you right now, who is it that God may be putting on your life?
SPEAKER_00: Easter is the opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want you to do right now.
SPEAKER_00: I want everybody just across our campuses, I want you to pull your phones out right now.
SPEAKER_00: Like I know there's a few of you that are going, ah, he won't see me.
SPEAKER_00: No, I see you, or somebody sees you, God sees you, or something.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Pull your phone out.
SPEAKER_00: Get your phone out, and usually when I want to remind myself of something, what I'll do is I'll put a note in with a reminder on it.
SPEAKER_00: I pull up notes and do that in my phone, or maybe you text yourself and there's a text that's sitting there unread that's a reminder for you.
SPEAKER_00: But here's all I want us to do.
SPEAKER_00: The question I think we go we should walk out of here and ask beyond this whole living hope idea for us.
SPEAKER_00: The question we ought to be asking this week is, Holy Spirit, who in my life needs hope?
SPEAKER_00: Like literally, you right now, I would ask you just to pray that just in your mind, just to say that to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.
SPEAKER_00: This is who we're talking about, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Who is God?
SPEAKER_00: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He lives in us who have placed our faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He guides us, he speaks to us, he encourages us.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I want to ask you to do is right now, ask him who in my life needs hope?
SPEAKER_00: And then write that name down.
SPEAKER_00: And if that name is someone who lives here, right here near one of our campuses, here's what I want you to do this week.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to simply take the opportunity to text them or call them or invite them to Easter services.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what you do: you invite them to come sit with you because people get a little scared to come because it's like the most attended weekend of the year.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, is there going to be parking?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know where to check my kids in, how do we do this?
SPEAKER_00: Navigate it.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what you do.
SPEAKER_00: You just text them and you say, hey, you know, I know things have been pretty heavy for you lately.
SPEAKER_00: My church is doing some hopeful Easter services.
SPEAKER_00: Would you just come and sit with me?
SPEAKER_00: And come and sit with me.
SPEAKER_00: That little line right there, that'll change everything and get a yes for you.
SPEAKER_00: Because what they know is you're gonna navigate all the like complexity of this place or whatever campus.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna sit with them.
SPEAKER_00: They, you're gonna take care of that so they can sit here and hear about the hope.
SPEAKER_00: We were talking about this in a meeting the other day, and I said something about I'm gonna have people get out their phones and I'm gonna have them text people, and then 30 seconds later, one of our guys laughed.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, What are you laughing at?
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I just text my hair guy and uh asked him if you want to come to Easter with me.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Yeah, what time?
SPEAKER_00: I'll be there.
SPEAKER_00: It was that easy.
SPEAKER_00: It's that easy.
SPEAKER_00: If the Holy Spirit puts a name on your mind today, on your heart today, here that here's the deal.
SPEAKER_00: If you are silent, that is morally complicated because they are the ones the Holy Spirit is saying, I want to give them my living hope.
SPEAKER_00: Church, we will not be a place.
SPEAKER_00: We will not be one of those churches that keeps the message of Jesus and the new birth and living hope.
SPEAKER_00: We won't keep it within the walls of these places because that's not who we are.
SPEAKER_00: We got to value people always.
SPEAKER_00: We will give everyone the dignity that God created them with because whether you agree with people or disagree with people or like them or not, they are a child of God that he created, that he is trying to usher into his kingdom to give them the living hope that you have.
SPEAKER_00: And we will, if Jesus loved them, we will love them enough to tell them about the living hope that he provides.
SPEAKER_00: And so this week, here's what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: That name, don't let the sun go down today or tomorrow without reaching out.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you wait till the day before or two days before Easter, that's because you're actually scared to make the ass.
SPEAKER_00: Don't procrastinate.
SPEAKER_00: Give them every opportunity, give them the time and tell them you're gonna be here because living hope is available for them.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, as we just bring these names before you.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that every single person took the time and wrote down a name.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, if they didn't have a name, maybe we need to think about the opportunity to get out and meet more people that don't know Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we just need to be watching at Target for the clerk or the waitress or waiter or the people that you just put on our hearts and minds to invite and ask them, take those invite cards on their seats and just invite someone to come and to sit with them at Easter.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, we want to pray that your living hope will be proclaimed through the resurrection that day, and we will see many, many people come to you and begin the journey of finding hope and peace in your love.
SPEAKER_00: And so, God, we just lift all these names to you.
SPEAKER_00: We ask that they will respond, that they will come, and that they will hear a message through your spirit that changes their life.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.