The Church of Eleven22 - Saturated 2020 - Sunday: Pastor Joby Martin

Episode Date: September 13, 2020

Misplaced hope will kill, steal and destroy you. Hope in Christ alone brings life to you and to those around you. Always be prepared to preach the gospel to anyone who asks you for the hope that is in you.

Amen and amen. Happy Saturated Sunday. So glad that you were here, whether you're joining online or at one of our campuses. Jimmy's good to see you. It's one of my youth group kids from 100 years ago. Hey, if you got your Bibles, I hope you do. We're going to end up in, we're kind of going to be in and around 1st Peter, chapter 3, verse 15. And you've come on a great day because it's the fifth day of saturated. Anybody come to saturated? At least one night. You'll have a good time? Man, I appreciate y'all. You all are so much better than our 9 o'clock service. I appreciate it, all right? Man, how about these bad? praise God. Amen. Praise God. And so for five days of saturated, the whole point was that if you are saved, then you are sent. And we wanted people to understand what is my role, what is your role in the Great Commission and the taking of the gospel to the very ends of the earth, whether that means your neighborhood

or to the nations. And we're not done yet. We still got one more. We still have today, so it's not too late for you. and if you think God is calling you to be a missionary, again, whether that's to your neighborhood or to the nations, then we want to equip you and prepare you to be able to do that. And for us to know, we need you to text the words, send me to 44, 1122. The word send me to 44, 1122.

And so far, we have had 225 people text that to say, I think God is calling me to go. And then we're also in week two of a three-week series called These Three Remain out of a verse in First Corinthians, Chapter 13. Last week we talked about hope this week, or last week we talked about faith, and this week we're going to talk about hope. And before I dive into, which, by the way, anybody believe that this world needs a little hope right now? Before we dive into that, I've got a good friend of mine, Josh Turner, not the country music singer, although I'd probably be friends with him too. but a dear friend of mine pastor and a guy that has worked with an organization, funny enough, called One Hope, and we, 1122, have partnered with One Hope to take the gospel to the dance of the earth.

Please welcome Josh Turner. You look like a country music there. How we doing? We're doing good? Hey, man, I just want to say, it is such an honor to be with you guys. God, I said I wasn't going to cry this service. And I don't know. Someone just hugged me after service, socially distanced.

I want you to know, like, I've been friends with your pastor for 15 years. I've been around Jacksonville for a while and preached here a few times. And the thing that gets me being back here right now is I hope that you can recognize this, there's a different spirit on this house. Amen. That God is, guys, I'm telling you, please hear me in this. God is doing something incredible in this house. And this doesn't happen. We know first and foremost, this is Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and the sovereign grace of God. Amen. Like that's why this is happening. But this also doesn't happen without great leadership from your pastor. And I hope you guys know how lucky you are

to have Pastor Reverend Bishop, His Holiness, Jobi Martin, as your pastor. So can you please just honor him for me for a second? Because he won't do it about himself. And I like to make him feel uncomfortable. You can do better than that? Yeah. Well, the real reason I'm up here is I work for an organization called One Hope. And very simply, our goal is to reach every kid in the world with the gospel. We've been around since 1987, and since 1987, we have reached 1.6 billion children with the gospel all over the world. And we have 316 different programs in 177 different languages. And we actually started working with Church of 1122 last year. And I want you to know, since the beginning of this year, Church of 1122, you have reached over 75,000 children.

with the gospel. 75,000. And so here's what we believe. We believe it's always good to meet the physical needs of children, but we also believe it's important and more important to meet their spiritual needs as well. Amen.

And that's what you guys are doing. Now, here's what's cool about this conference and what you guys are doing. You're also translating Uzbek for Uzbekistan for these children. Now, if any of you have ever seen the Bible app for kids, you can actually download it on the app store.

We've had 50 million downloads, and you guys are translating that app into Uzbek for these children. And it is actually going to be one of the first translations that these children will ever see of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that is happening because of you at 1122. And so I know that not all of us can go and be missionaries overseas, but what I want you to know is that what you are doing here in Jacksonville, Florida, and your other 37 million campuses that you have around Jacksonville, I want you to know that you are changing lives. And there are children that you may never meet.

who will come to know Jesus Christ because of the work that is happening at 1122 because of Jesus Christ. Amen. Love you guys. Give it up from my man Josh Turner. Thank you. Thank you. You see, when we respond to God in generosity, when we bring our first and best, you have no idea what God is using you to do around the world. And I need you to know this.

This book, we're going to talk about hope. This book contains the message of hope. in a world in a hopeless, hopeless generation. You make your way to 1 Peter chapter 3. I'm going to warm us up with 1st Corinthians 13. This is where this series comes from. Paul says this. Paul says, for now we see in a mirror dimly,

but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. He's talking about the difference between here in heaven. He says, so now faith, hope, and love abide, These three, but the greatest of these is love. Last week we talked about faith. This week we're talking about hope.

Faith is like the ground or the foundation on which your feet are planted. And hope is the horizon that we set our eyes out to. You see, in 1. Peter, chapter 3, 15, the reason that I'm using this passage is because it really does in this passage what we're doing as a church. You see, we're intersecting between saturating. that everybody that is saved has been sent and this idea of hope. And so what Peter does in 1st Peter chapter 3

is he starts out the chapter talking about wives and husbands, talking about marriage, and then right on the heels of marriage, he starts talking about suffering. Some of you just understood your marriage a little bit more, didn't you? And so in the context of suffering, now the suffering that he was talking about is not just things not going your way.

He was talking about the church being persecuted. and in the context of suffering, this is what Peter says. Now, who is there to harm you if you were zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness's sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, that them is the people that are persecuting you, nor be troubled. Verse 15, I need you to underline this. And I'm going to tell you something that bothers me is I say that all the time, and some of you don't even move. Okay?

So get out your app and highlight it or bite your finger and bleed on it. Do something. You understand? When I say underline, I need it. This is a participatory event for you, okay? Underline this verse. We're going to come back to it about 10 times in this sermon. Verse 15.

But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who ask you for a reason for the hope that is in you. So in light of persecution, what Peter is saying is, is you have a hope that is not a circumstantial hope. And when people see that, they're going to ask you a question. What is going on with you? And when they ask you that question, you need to always be prepared to make a defense to anyone

who ask you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. Shawshank Redemption. Anybody seen that movie? Morgan Freeman says, hope is a good thing. Maybe the best thing. You see, because if you ain't got hope, you got nothing. You want to know what a big deal hopelessness is?

The Bible says in Proverbs 1312, hope deferred makes the heart sick. In other words, part of what the Bible is saying is that our hearts run on hope. And when hope is deferred, when hope is misplaced, when there is a sense of hopelessness, you can get heart sick. And I don't know about you, I'd rather have a sick body than a sick heart. I'd rather have a sick bank account than a sick heart. And hope deferred makes the heart sick. You see, maybe the problem with our country right now is we've got some deferred hope.

I mean, I believe there's a lot of minorities right now. And they feel hopeless. They feel, they feel like, is it ever going to get better? I mean, I'm tired. And I feel like it's not going to get better. and listen to me, church, before you get into your defensive posture, can we just feel the fields of our brothers and sisters real quick? Can we just understand it if one part of the body hurts, the whole body hurts?

Can we just understand we're supposed to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep? And there's some people feeling that way right now, and what the body of Christ is supposed to do is come and put our arms around each other and say, it's not hopeless. It's not hopeless. If God is my father, then you are my brother. Amen?

And it is not hopeless. But sometimes it feels like it when you're in that situation. And look, man, the poor police officers right now. And listen, this is where I lean. My brother's a police officer. I'm at my niece's birthday party last week, and I'm the only non-cop at the party. You used to make me feel a lot more nervous than it does today, praise God. That's sanctification.

But as I hear these men and women talking, it feels hopeless. They're like, what a minute? For a couple decades now, like, I've tried to just serve and protect and do my my job and put my life on the line for people. And now I feel like anywhere I walk in public, people are labeling me with this thing that I don't know that I deserve. And it feels hope, it feels like is it worth it to put my life on the line? I don't get paid anything. I thought this was a calling and there's a sense of hopelessness. And then we the people, man, we've lost hope in our government, in our news sources. I mean, we don't even know

where to get information anymore. Who do we trust? And trust is, trust is the currency of hope. Look, there is no free press anymore. It is for profit. You ain't going to get the good news from Fox News. You ain't going to get the good news from CNN. They are not your friend. You know why?

Because hope does not sell. Fear does. So they stir it up and stir it up and stir it up. And if we continuously just get that kind of hopelessness, this fear mongering just pours over us. It can't help begin to affect us. And look, man, I ain't even talking about our local news. Our little local news is awesome.

Man, I love those people. A bunch of them go here. That's not what I mean. I am talking about this machine that just spits out fear to try to divide us. Now, sometimes it's not on that macro level. You ain't even got time to worry about the whole country because you feel hopeless in your marriage. I mean, you've been praying for him and praying for him and praying for him. And you're at the point where you're thinking, is he ever going to show up?

Is he ever going to quit looking at pornography and sometimes? blaming me as if it was my fault. You feel hopeless in your marriage because she said she was going to love you forever till death was part. Well, now she's parted. Or maybe it's not in your marriage. Maybe it's some medical prognosis.

And you got that scary call from the doctor and things got better for a minute and your hope was this going to be better and now you've taken a turn for the worst. And you're beginning to feel helpless. Or maybe you're a small business owner and you're freaking out. And you should be. I don't blame you.

And you're thinking, are we going to make it? Like if this thing doesn't turn back on, I don't know what I'm going to do. Or maybe some of you, you got a prodigal son or a prodigal daughter. And you prayed and you prayed and you prayed and you never in your mind had a category where this little human that you brought home from the hospital and you loved them and for a long time they loved you. they wanted to do is be with you and be on your lap, and now they won't even return a text. And you've prayed, and you've prayed, and you've prayed, and there's been no action. And honestly, you despise it a little bit when I go to Luke 15 and start talking about the prodigal son.

You see, hope deferred makes the heart sick. Or for some folks, it's an addiction. And you believe in Jesus, and you've prayed, and you've prayed, and you've prayed, and you can't understand. why doesn't God just take this desire away? I don't want to desire that. And you feel hopeless. For some of you, it's a loneliness. And again, you believe when Jesus said,

in the Great Commission and lo, I will be with you always. So, theologically, you agree that Jesus is with you. It's just every morning when you wake up, it don't feel like it, and you don't know what to do. Sometimes the hardest one to deal with is when you have this hopelessness, even though the condition of your life is pretty awesome. and you just can't turn hope on.

And there's like a spirit of depression over you, and you didn't even believe Christians were supposed to be depressed. It doesn't even fit in your category. Somebody told you that, and yet hope deferred makes the heart sick. Hope is a really big deal. You don't believe me?

Coronavirus, since we began to shelter at home and people began to be separated, clinical depression has increased from 8.5% to 27.8% of our population. We have some people that feel hopeless. That the suicide rate has risen by 40% since COVID hit. There's this term, it's the saddest term I've ever seen, called death of despair. This means like drug overdoses or alcohol poisoning. They are up 108% of,

among adults ages 18 to 34. You don't think our world needs hope? Our world needs hope. And what's crazy is right now in this world, everything is political. Everything's political. Whether kids go to school, it's political. How about these things?

These things are so political. I knew Frank would be here. All right, so look. Frank, you're going to like about half of this, okay? I mean, it is. It's a political statement. Now, now here's the thing. You don't want to know what I think about this,

probably. According to Philippians chapter two, regardless of how you vote, you should wear this thing, because we should consider others as better than ourselves. You're like, what about my rights? Like, oh, my bad, I thought you were a Christian. According to Galatius 220, you've been crucified with Christ. Crucified people don't have rights. We lay our lives down for the benefit of others, okay?

Now, however, this thing is going to save your life. At best, prolong it. It may prolong it, no doubt. It can't save it because guess who's dying? All y'all, me too. 100% death rate in America right now. And when we get to heaven, guess what? There ain't a mask line and a no-mash line.

That ain't how it's going to work, all right? But nobody, you know what nobody's talking about? People talk about masks and school and all that. Nobody's talking about mental health, emotional health, and spiritual health. But apparently hopelessness is killing people. This is why the church is essential, because we corner the market on hope, amen? Because hope is not in our circumstances. Hope is in our Savior.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus. blood and righteousness. It ain't coming from the White House. It's coming from God's house. That's where hope comes from. You see, and in fact, I'm going to use the word hopelessness a bunch, even though I don't like the word. I just can't come up with a better one.

All of us have hope. We just misplace our hope. That's where the feeling of hopelessness comes from. And oftentimes, what we do is we take our hope and we place it in our circumstances instead of placing our hope in our sovereign king. And so what I want to do is I'm going to use the book of Philippians to flesh out what Peter is talking about here in 1st Peter 3, but I almost didn't go to Philippians. So you're a little bit in trouble. I had a few extra days to prepare.

And I got to sit under some of the greatest preaching on the planet like my man Matt Carter over here for the week. Amen. And glory to God, deer season started in Georgia, so a little more tree sand time. So you might want to buckle up buttercup. This could be a lock-in. So I thought about going to Second Kings. Second Kings, there's a widow, and she bumps into the man of God named Elisha, and Elijah's traveling around all the place, and so she sees him crossing through his town all the time,

and she says, I got a idea. How about we put a little garage apartment in the house for you, Elijah? So anytime you come through here, you've got somewhere to say, you've got somewhere to eat. And so Elijah feeling grateful, he says to the Chudomite woman, what can I do for you? and she says, I dwell among my own people, which is Hebrew for my husband takes care of me. I don't need you. And then he says, how about this? She doesn't have a child.

And so Elisha says to her this time next year, you will be with child. And she says to him, don't lie to me. You know what that means? Don't get my hopes up. I pray for this my whole life. Don't you get my hopes up, man of God. Sure enough, a year later, she has a baby. That baby starts to grow up, becomes a little boy.

And then one day, without expectation, that little boy at noon, the highest part of the day, climbs up in his mama's lap, and dies the lowest point in her life. And this shoot-a-mite woman lays him on the bed upstairs and goes after this man of God. And when the man of God, Elisha sees her, he says to her, how are you doing? And she, her answer is, it is well. Literally in Hebrew, that is, it's going to be okay. Here's what she was doing. It ain't okay.

It is not okay. I lost my child. It don't feel okay. But my trust is not in my current circumstances. I know it's going to be okay because the sovereign king of the universe rules my life and not my feelings. But I'm not even going to preach about that. See, I ain't got time. And then the next place I thought about going was Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8 is when Jesus heals. We call her the woman with the issue of blood. You ever heard of the woman with the issue of blood? Anybody? Four of you. Okay, that's why I have a job, because you don't know your Bible worth a mess, all right? That's fine. Keep me employed. In Luke chapter 8, this, we call her this, the Bible doesn't say it this way, the woman with the issue of blood. Why don't

we call her the woman who was healed by Jesus? You ever notice we always trying to label people by their issues? Aren't you glad we don't treat each other that way? Like you come into the church and the ushers like, how you doing, man, with the issue of porn? Welcome. He'd be like, whoa, man, calm that down a little bit. But instead of letting her issue to find her, to find her, she lets her hope in Jesus, define her. She's believing when Malachi, in Malachi verse 6 said, and one will come with a son of righteousness will come with healing in his wings, that this Messiah, this Jesus is that son of righteousness. And if she can just fight through the fray and just get to the edge of his garment, she's hoping there will be healing there. And in her faith, Jesus

accidentally heals her. I felt power come out of me. And then she's good, but I ain't got time to preach about that one. It'd have been a good one. And then I thought about when Jesus was in the boat with the disciples and the storm rises up and you remember this Jesus is taking a nap and they woke him up now this afternoon when your man's asleep in the third quarter of the jazz game because it's already over we're going to be first in heaven praise god don't worry about us don't wake the man up he's trying to be Christ-like okay and the disciples have taken their hope and they put it in the storm and the problem is is when you put your hope in the circumstances they can give you some theological psychological amnesia, and then you forget that Jesus is for you and not against you,

and they look at him and wake him up and say, do you not even care that we're going to perish? Now, how can they perish? He's taking a nap. This waves aren't going to kill him, and Jesus gets up. I think he's a little bit agitated as he should be. I believe he's looking at the disciples, and he's speaking to the winds of the waves, and he says, peace, be still, and it all comes down. And they worship him because the wind and the waves obey him. You see, where are you placing your hope? because right-placed hope gives you peace and peace preaches. Peace preaches. Like when your world's falling apart and your circumstances are haywire

and you put your hope in Christ instead of what's going on in your life, you have this peace and everybody sees it. This is how Paul will talk about it. Go to Philippians chapter 4 and what I'm going to do, 27 minutes, let's do the whole book of Philippians. In reverse order. We're going to start in four. We're going to go back to one. We're going to end back up in four. Okay? Hang on. Paul, from prison. He's writing this letter from prison.

Not Pontiveter Boulevard, prison. And he says this. Rejoice in the Lord always. What's always mean, Paul, on vacation or prison? Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to every. everyone, the Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything.

How you like that command? Don't be anxious about anything. Honestly, does it even help to hear that? Anybody struggle with anxiety or worry? Please raise your hand. Okay? All right. Most of you didn't because you're like,

I'm worried what people will think. All right, so that's how it goes. And then Paul says, oh, you're anxious? What about? Anything? Okay, don't do that. What? How do you just not be anxious?

It's like trying to sleep. You ever try to sleep? Like, I'm so good to sleep right now. It makes it worse. Trying to not be anxious makes it worse. And ultimately, what anxiety is, is anxiety is misplaced hope. Anxiety is putting your hope in your circumstances and you're crossing your fingers and you're gambling that they'll get better. That's why you're anxious.

Paul says, don't do that. Be anxious for not. How, Paul? How can we be anxious for nothing? But in everything by praise. and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding. I memorized in the NLV, and the peace of God that transcends understanding will guard your

heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. You see, sometimes you worry about stuff and you pray about it, and the worry doesn't go away, and the reason is because you're not done praying. Oftentimes, when we pray, all we try to do is give information to God like a dummy. Hey, God, you see my stocks lately? He's like, you know what I have? I'm fully aware of everything that's going on in the world. I don't need information.

What I need is transformation. And what I mean is what true prayer is, is when you take that worry and anxiety and you transfer it over to the Lord, I said, Lord, I'm going to need you to take this. And he's like, cool, I've got something for you too. Peace that transcends understanding. And Jesus says, I'll guard your heart and I'll guard your mind.

Let me tell you how this works itself out. When the wheels start falling off of your life, and you get cancer or you get fired or you lose a loved one and people look at you and they're like I don't know it's hard I just don't know how you're making it and you say I don't know either that's what it means to transcend understanding and they say if I was in your shape I don't think I could get out from under the covers and you say I don't I didn't feel like I could either but it's the craziest thing I was anxious I was worried about prayer and cut supplication I transferred my hope from the jail cell for him, from this situation to my sovereign Savior.

And God gave me this peace that doesn't make sense to me either. And it's like he is guarding my heart and guarding my mind in Christ Jesus. When you put your hope in Jesus, he gives you peace and peace preaches. I'm talking about when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death and you fear no evil because he is with you, people are going to roll up on you and be like, how are you doing this? I don't know how you're doing this. Paul keeps going. You may say to this sermon, and you may say to Paul, well, Paul ain't in jail.

Like, as I look at my life, it's going pretty good. Like, I'm blessed. So what about me, Paul? Do I have to wait for my life to fall apart? Paul would say, well, you know, I know you think you're awesome, but I'm more awesome than you. Look at Philippians chapter 3 versus 4 and 9. 4 to 9. He says this, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also,

if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the 8th day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted it as lost for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I counted everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for his sake. I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as your Bible. Translate that's rubbish. If you're in 1122 or you know the Greek word, scubilon. If you look it up in the Bible dictionary,

scubilon is slang for animal dung. Unless you're British, we don't call that rubbish where I'm from. There ain't nobody ever stepped in and be like, oh, rubbish. That's not what we do at my house. Say scubelon. That's a bad word. The best translation, the first word is bull. last word I ain't going to say because I like my, I'd have to fire myself.

It's BS, bull, scubilion, that's what it is. See, what Paul is saying here is, it's just as dangerous to misplace your hope in your circumstances as it is to misplace your hope in you. He's like, look at my resume, look at my pedigree, look at my blessing, look at what I was doing, and all of that is BS, bull scubilon compared to the treasure. of knowing Christ Jesus. He says, for his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as scubilon in order that I may gain Christ

and be found in him not having the righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, that depends on faith. Because the problem is, is if you set your hopes on your life and your life is going well, then those things can go unwell in a hot minute. Praise God you got to great. job. Praise God, you got a great family. Praise God, you got some cash in the bank. So did Job. So did Job.

And the dangers of the American dream is that we would be lulled to sleep thinking that the blessings are more important than the blesser. All right, Paul. So we're supposed to put our hope in Jesus. Check. So what does this practically look like? How do I transfer that hope? What does it look like at work, at school, tomorrow, if I'm going to put my hope, not in my circumstances, but in my Savior. I'm glad you ask. You see, your mouth will reveal where your hope is because it's out of an overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks. And so in Philippians chapter 2, Paul says this, starting in verse 14, one of my favorite

verses. I have about a thousand favorite verses. The ESV says, do all things without grumbling or disputing. The way I memorized in the NIV was do everything without complaining or arguing. Do everything without complaining or arguing. And so if there's a thing that you want to complain about, just check yourself and it falls in the everything category. Don't. That's what he says.

Why? Because when we complain and argue, you are verbalizing to the whole world that your hope is in your circumstances. Secondly, it's an indictment against God. God, you're not doing this right. You gave me the wrong job. you gave me the wrong spouse you gave me the wrong income god you are not doing this right do everything without complaining and arguing and some of you i'd love for you to do a self-exam do i complain and argue nobody thinks they're complain and argue i just tell the truth no you complain and argue you know how

i know because we have transcripts of your complaining and arguing the greek word is twitter That's what Twitter means in Greek. Complain and argue. Because when we do this, it reveals that we put our hope in all the circumstantial things that the world puts its hope in. But when we don't, and Paul does not say you don't have reasons to complain and argue.

You have reasons. You're right. Your boss is the devil. He is. I get it, all right? The girl that works next to you, she is aggravating. All those things are true. H-O-A, they're communist. There's no doubt about any of these things. But if you're a believer, you don't complain and argue. Why? Because you trust the sovereign king of the universe is at work in all things.

Even the things you want to complain and argue about. So how dare we mistrust God and complain about the things in our lives that he is using for our very own sanctification? So do everything without complaining or arguing. And then look what happens. That you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. You want to be sent into your workplace. You want to be sent into your neighborhoods.

You want to be sent into your school and make a difference? You think you've got to sing like Michael Osam and preach like Matt Carter or being evangelist like Billy Graham? The Apostle Paul says, no, no, no, how about this? When everybody else in your cubicle is complaining, why don't you just shut up for a minute? And people will be like, hey man, so what's up with you? Like this is what we do this for sport in our office.

We run down people when they're not here. So what's different about you? And you will shine like a star in a crooked and depraved generation because you are not putting your hope in the applause of man. You are putting your hope in the sovereign king of the universe. This is what Paul says. That's right. Three of you are excited about it.

The rest of you? Still can't believe I said, shut up. It gets worse. He says, holding fast to the word of life so that the day of Christ, at the day of Christ, I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain, even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. He is praising God for his imprisonment because God is using it as a sanctifying work

and some people he loves. He ain't complaining. And it makes the difference. Now, some of you at this point say, you know, I know we're using the Bible as commentary to 1. Peter 315. which says, always be prepared when somebody ask you about the hope you found, and you say, well, you know what, nobody's asking me about the hope I have? Well, it's because you complain and argue like an atheist. I know you, theologically believe in God. You just are practically

an atheist with your mouth at work because we complain and argue all the time. Or is your hope in your circumstances and not Jesus? And you say, okay, well, question Paul, but if I don't speak up for what's mine, won't people run all over me? And Paul, in chapter 1, verse 18B to 21 says, yes, and I will rejoice. For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or death.

Do you see, Paul has not put his hope in his circumstances, whether he lives or dies, whether he's freed or prison, he's like, whatever it takes, I just pray that Christ would be glorified. And then he says one of my favorite verses. I know this is my fourth favorite one, but I got a lot. Verse 21, for me, to live as Christ and to die as gain. Can you imagine that kind of, imagine living, with that kind of freedom.

Because hope in Christ brings freedom, and freedom preaches. Because when people look at the circumstances of your life, the jailers are looking at Paul and be like, Paul, if you don't shut up, we're going to put you in prison. He's like, you're better give me a hymnal. I'm about to lead the guards to Christ.

Come on, let's get this going. Then we're going to kill you. Thank you very much. Because now I'll be face-to-face with my safety. What do you do with a man like that? You don't want to play chicken against the guy that pulls a steering wheel off the car and throws it at the window.

It's like, bring it on to live as Christ. game, what we got. That's freedom. That is freedom. I think this illustration only makes sense in my mind, but I don't care. I need it right now, too. I feel like we are born and nurtured, like we've got handles all over us, and we live in a zombie apocalypse world, and the walking dead are trying to get their hands on us so that we can't walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ and just drag us down into the muck and the mire. And sometimes those handles are temptations. Sometimes it's the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh. Sometimes it's our approval of man.

Sometimes it's our insecurity. Whatever it is, you want to follow Jesus, but this world grabs onto these handles, and it's like in the life of the Apostle Paul, all the handles fell off. Like, as he's making his way through prison, and they're trying to grab onto his ego and his insecurity, they can't get a grip

because the brother says, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Can you imagine living in that kind of freedom? That kind of freedom comes when you put your hope in Jesus. And now full circle all the way back to chapter four. Again, what I'm trying to show you here is that Paul in the entire letter to the church at Philippi, written from prison, is a real life biblical example of what it looks like to always be prepared to make a defense to anyone

who ask you for a reason for the hope that you have. Paul says this in chapter four, verses 11 through 13, not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. The NIV says, I have learned the secret of being content in every situation. He says, I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. and then he shares a verse that has nothing to do with scoring touchdowns or getting a new job

or any kind of stuff like that. In the context of I've learned the secret of being content. Can you just imagine real quick? Imagine being content at the soul level. I mean like if you got home and your house burned to the ground and even in that tragedy, You could breathe in, you could breathe out, and you could say it is well. Because I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Let me ask you this.

Is your hope in your circumstances or in your Savior? Because when you put your hope in your Savior, you get this secret, you get this contentment. And that preaches. You see, when your hearts honor Christ, the Lord is holy, it preaches. And when you get that gift of peace, it preaches. And no matter what the circumstances are, when your hope is in Christ, it preaches.

And, now don't hear me wrong. People all the time quote this thing. They attribute to St. Francis of a Cece. I don't think he actually said it, and it's dumb. Preach the gospel at all times, use words only when necessary. They're always necessary. People don't come up to you and say, tell me about this peace.

And you're like, just keep watching me. No, that's not how it works. You have to open your mouth and declare, be prepared to give an account. But your life preaches a sermon. It is the introduction that makes somebody want to say, what is up with you? I mean, seriously, I think if I was going through what you were going through, I think I would lose my mind and you would say, yeah, I thought that too, but as I'm going through it, I learned this secret.

And the secret is not a big secret anymore. His name is Jesus. And my life is no longer dependent on my circumstances. but my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. You see, I think the life of Paul, especially as we see here in the book of Philippians, is he is living out exactly what Peter says. But in your hearts, honor Christ, the Lord is holy, always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who ask you for a reason for the hope that is in you,

yet do it with gentleness and respect. And here's why I think this. after we looked at at least one passage from all four chapters of the book of philippians if you look at how the book of philippians in paul says this greet every saint in christ jesus tell all my boys hi and he says the brothers who are with me greet you all the saints greet you and now look at this last part you think these are like throwaway verses in the bible there are none all scripture is god breathed and useful look at this especially those of caesar's household You know what this means?

When they put him in jail, when they locked him up, he conducted himself in such a way that he had hope. He was not hopeless. He did not have misplaced hope. He did not put his hope in whether he was free or whether he was going to be in prison. And something happened in the eyes of the jailers that live in Caesar's household. And they came up to him and say, hey, man, you're different than everybody else. What is it that you have? Because I have a good job and a good life and a nice house.

And somehow in prison, you are freer than me. Can you explain that to me? And then these guys that live in Caesar's household put their faith in Jesus Christ. Churchhood of 1122, where's your hope? Where's your hope? Here's the point. Misplace hope will kill, steal, and destroy you. It is a tactic of the enemy.

The enemy's mission statement is in our Bible. He wants to kill you. He wants to steal from you. He wants to destroy you. And one of the primary ways he does it is bait you to take the hope that you have and to misplace it. That's called idolatry. And idols will always fail you.

They'll always let you down. Misplaced hope will kill, still, and destroy you. Hope in Christ alone brings life to you and to those around you. Always be prepared to preach the gospel to anyone who ask you for the hope that is in you. I got three ways to close. Again, I was in the tree extra this week. You're welcome. Number one is this.

prepared to take this hope to the ends of the world? The answer is you're not prepared. You may be called, you may want to, but congratulations. The church is going to help you be prepared to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. And so if you feel like God has called you to be a missionary to your neighborhood or to the nations, text right now, send me to 44, 1122. Again, so far, 225 people have said, at least to take that initial step. We're not booking your plane ticket to the Congo yet. Some of you are called to the Congo and some to the carpool line.

The dangers of the carpool line are infinitely greater than the Congo. I promise I've been in both. But if that's you, if you think God is calling you to take the message of the hope of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a hopeless or misplaced hope world, then text it right now.

Send me, 44, 11, 22. And then there's some of you. And you've never put your hope in Jesus. You've never put your hope in Jesus. You put your hope in religious activity, or maybe you thought you were hopeless because you thought God could never forgive you. The grace of God poured out at the cross

is infinitely greater than any of your sins. And maybe right now for the very first time, you want to put your faith in Jesus. You want to believe or trust that when he died on the cross somehow, that counted for you. Not them. That counted for you. And we're going to do something a little different, a little crazy. And if that's you right now, if you're ready to surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ right now,

this won't even work, but the good news is I don't save, God saves. It's not my invitation, it's his. If you're ready to put your faith in Christ with every eye open and every eye up, I want you to look around at people. If that's you and you're ready to surrender to Christ, just raise your hand, say yeah, that's me. I'm ready to put my hope in Jesus. Will there be even one? Amen. Praise God.

Praise God. And it's not a hand in the air that saves you. It's what Christ did on the cross that saved you. And so you text, we've got a lot of text these days. Text the word surrender to 44, 1122. Surrender to 44, 1122. And somebody from our team will get around you and help you take the next steps

and what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And then lastly, some of you haven't made it past the beginning of the sermon when we were talking about hopelessness because your marriage is hopeless. It feels that way. Your finances are hopeless. At least it feels that way. This addiction that you've been fighting is hopeless.

These feelings of loneliness feels hopeless. This sense of depression that you just can't shake. You feel hopeless. And I'm going to tell you, man, gross things grow in the dark. And I know when you came into church and people asked you how you're doing, you were like, I'm blessed and highly favored. But in real life, you know that the fake you's doing just fine. but as long as you fake it, it'll never improve.

And God wants to take things out of the dark and put them in the light. And I'm going to ask you to do something ridiculous because who would do this? But if this is you, if you have this sense of hopelessness because you feel like I've misplaced my hope lately, I dare you to just stand up where you are. To just stand up and say, I need some help. I need God to do for me. Amen. I need God to do for me

what I can never do for myself. Now look, you're not alone. You're not alone. And I need to tell you, there's some of you sitting down, and the only reason you're sitting down is because of fear, and God did not give you a spirit of fear.

Fear's not a feeling. Fear's a spirit. God did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-discipline or self-control. And look at me. No, stay up, stay up. If the tomb is empty,

anything is possible. Hope is found in the person of Jesus. And every single one of us here, every single one of us have struggled with the same thing. And I don't know that I can make it better right now, but the one thing I promise I can do is you don't have to do it alone. You've got a faith family, amen, you've got a faith family that wants to walk alongside of you, a band of brothers and sisters that want to gear up, bear your burdens, cover your back, pray for you. So in just a second, I'm going to ask everybody to stand up. y'all stay standing and we're going to sing this song that we've been singing and the reason I wanted to sing the song I want to sing it over the people that are standing up now most of us that

are sitting down are lying so we're going to stand up too but we've been singing about the goodness of god and it says this in all my life you've been faithful in all my life you've been so so good with every breath that I am able I'll sing the goodness of God those of you standing you want to believe that but sometimes your current experience isn't that and then here's the next verse I love your voice. You have led me through the fire, and in the darkest night, you are close like no other. God is not abandoning you right now. God is with you right now.

He is close to the brokenhearted. He is close to the brokenhearted. And then it goes on, and it says, I have known you as father, and I have known you as friend. You know what a good friend does when you're in a tough time? A good friend gets beside you. A good friend puts his arm around you. A good friend picks you up when you have fallen down. A good friend never leaves you or forsakes you.

That's what Jesus wants to do with you right now. And then we get to this one part. And when we get to this part in the song, if you've got two hands, lift them. He says, because your goodness is running after. It's running after me. What if the reason, you thought it was random you would be here today? Or this is just what you do? You go to church because you've been doing it since forever.

And in this moment, because you are here hearing this message right now, It is the goodness of God chasing you down because he is good, he is good, he is good, amen. So would everybody please stand at all of our locations if you're in a coffee shop, stand up on this one? And we're going to respond to the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're going to respond by praying, by praying. And maybe your prayer, again, if you're anxious and worried, then by prayer and supplication, make your request. known to God. Transfer that anxiety over him. Transfer that hopelessness over to him. And you watch and see the peace of God that transcends all understanding, guard of your heart and soul in Christ Jesus. So we're going

pray. And we're going to bring. We're going to bring our first and our best. Because man, when we bring to God what is his first and best, he takes it like that little boy with some fishes and loaves, and then he multiplies it, and we're translating Bibles and kids are getting saved in places. I don't even know where it is on a map. And so we're going to bring as an act of worship. And we're going to sing. We're going to sing about the goodness of God that is running after his children. Let's pray.

Our good and gracious, Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you more than anything because Jesus, you loved us first. God, I thank you, and I praise you that our hope should never be found in the circumstances of our life, whether they are good or bad right now. Lord, I pray that you would rescue us from this. trap of trusting in the blessings at the expense of the blesser. That Jesus, you are our greatest treasure. And God, I thank you that this day that you would save sons and daughters.

And God, may we trust you. May we trust you. May our lives be full of hope. May the peace that covers us preach a message that would lead people to say, what is going on with you. And may we be prepared to give an account. account for that message, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God, we love you. We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're going to bring, we're going to pray, we're going to sing.

Let's respond.