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Dave, I found your gum wrapper. So you're there in 1 Timothy chapter 1, and I want to preach a sermon called Jesus Christ, Our Hope. Jesus Christ, Our Hope. And the first verse there really is where you're gonna find this. It says in verse 1, it says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope. So I want to hit on the subject of hope, okay? And the idea is that, you know, Christ is our hope and, you know, God is our hope. And what does that even mean, you know, to have hope in something, okay? Now go to Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1. And the first thing we see is that Jesus is our hope of salvation, okay? So Jesus is our hope, and that hope is the fact that He's life. You know, Jesus Christ, God, our life, our Christ, our life. And we have the hope of salvation. Now what I want to get to in this is that hope in Christ is sure. I mean, it is a sure foundation, meaning that, you know, when you think of like, I hope so, okay? When you're saying that Jesus is that hope, then that's unmovable. That's something that is not like, oh, I hope that happens, you know, as far as like the way we normally think about it. When Jesus is our hope, that's a sure anchor of the soul, sure foundation, like that's going to happen, okay? And so, you know, people will maybe look at this and say, well, it's the hope of eternal salvation. Well, you know, the idea there is the fact that, yeah, we're hoping for that, but it's something that's sure and steadfast. We're not like, I'm not sure, you know, because a lot of people think of hope as being like something that's unsure. You know, you're just hoping it happens, but, you know, you go out and say, well, do you know you're going to heaven? No, say, I hope so. Listen, I hope so too, but I also know so. You know, and the idea is that when your hope is in Christ, you know, okay? It's not just this idea of like wondering whether it's going to happen, okay? So in Titus 1, in verse 1, it says, Paul, a servant of God, an apostle Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, in the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began, but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior, to Titus mine own son, after the common faith, grace mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. So very similar opening, you know, declaration to Titus as you would to Timothy, but the idea here is that in Timothy, he says Jesus Christ, which is our hope, and then you have here it's saying in hope of eternal life, okay? And what you have to understand is that Jesus Christ is eternal life. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon our hands have handled of the word of life, for the life was manifested. We have seen it and bear witness and showing to you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us, and it even ends the book saying this is the true God and eternal life, okay? So when we're talking about Jesus Christ our hope, we're talking about the fact that he is our eternal life, he is our hope of salvation, okay? And it's not something that we're wondering about or anything like that, but I do want to show you the tie-in of hope and faith, meaning that the idea of having faith in something or having hope in something, they're very closely related, okay? Go to Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 gives a definition of faith. Notice what it says in verse 1. It says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, for by it the elders obtained a good report. Now what I want to get here is that if you could see it, it's not it's not by faith then. We walk by faith not by sight, the Bible says, but the same applies with hope, okay? And I want to prove that to you because when it comes to hope, hope that is seen does not hope. Go to Romans, well actually first go to Romans chapter 5 and I'm gonna just prove this to you and show you this relationship. And what it really comes down to when you think of hope, you really can't have hope unless you have faith, right? Because if you're hoping for something, you're believing that's going to come to pass. See hope is pretty much like the thing that you have faith for, if that makes sense, right? So we believe that he's gonna give us everlasting life and that hope is everlasting life. Does that make sense? And but just because it's something we hope for doesn't mean it's something that we're wondering whether it's gonna happen or that it's like this thing that we're not sure about. And that's what I want to get across is that our hope in Christ is sure, steadfast, it's an anchor, it's something that's not going to move, it is something that we can know for sure that is going to happen, but it hasn't happened yet so therefore we're still hoping for it, okay? That's the principles, we haven't seen it, it hasn't been manifested to us, it's not tangible, okay? And that's what it says, faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And so you know hope and faith, you know, they're things that aren't tangible, you don't see them, right? And in Romans chapter 5 in verse 1 here, Romans chapter 5 verse 1, it says, therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And then go to Romans chapter 8. So how do we get that grace? We have access to that grace by faith, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of worksless any man should boast. We have access to that grace through faith and it's the faith and the hope of the glory of God, okay? And Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8, notice what it says in verse 28, or 24. Romans chapter 8 verse 24, it says, for we are saved by hope. You see that? We're saved by hope. Well if you understand that Jesus is our hope and that the hope of eternal life, that makes a lot of sense. We're saved by Jesus. We're saved by everlasting, having everlasting life, the gift of eternal life. But we're saved by hope, but notice this, but hope that is seen is not hope. You notice that? Hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man seeth, why did he add hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then we do we with patience wait for it, okay? So it wouldn't be hope if you could see it. If you could tangibly see it, why are you hoping for it? It's there, see it, it's tangible. And the same thing with faith. If you see it, then that's not faith, right? You know, and the idea is that what would you need faith for if you could see it, okay? And the thing is with hope it's the same, the same deal. Now I don't have this in my notes, but I was just kind of thinking about it. In Romans chapter 4, Romans chapter 4, it talks about hope as well, okay? Because Romans chapter 4 is an awesome chapter, okay? So honestly you could find so many different things in here. Because when we think of Abraham, okay, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. And it says at the end of the chapter there, let me see which verse we're looking at here, it says in verse 21, "...and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform, and therefore is imputed unto him for righteousness." Okay? Now physically speaking, he was talking about this child that was promised, right? The seed that should come. But we know that that seed is what? Christ. Now go up to verse 18, verse 18. It says, "...who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be called. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body, now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb, he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform, and therefore is imputed on him for righteousness." See, he knew that Christ was to come through his lineage, through Isaac, okay? And he's basically saying, even though he was 99 years old and Sarah ends up being 90 years old when she gives birth to this son, even though, like, it just doesn't seem like it's possible that this could happen, he, against hope, believed in hope, believed that God would do this, and that Christ would come through his lineage, that that seed that would come. But you think of this, he believed in hope, what? The hope of eternal life. He staggered not at the promise of God, what is that? And this is the promise that he had promised us, even eternal life. That he's fully persuaded that what he has promised he'd able also to perform, what is that? The eternal life. That he's actually gonna save you, that it's eternal, that you can't lose it. And this works hand in glove with faith, okay? Meaning that if you hope for something, you have faith that it's gonna happen, okay? But what I want to prove to you is that our hope is not something that is movable, it's something that is just going to happen, okay? And go to Hebrews chapter 6, Hebrews chapter 6, Hebrews chapter 6. I mean we believe that we're going to heaven, right? We believe that it's eternal, but don't we still like hope for it? Aren't we still like hopeful, like that, you know what our hope is? Our hope is not who's president. Our hope is not who's in the the legislature. Our hope is not who is in the justice system right now, or in justice system, however you want to look at it. Our hope isn't in that. Our hope is in God, and that is a hope that is not wandering to and fro as far as whether it's going to happen or not, or whether it's a good hope to have, or to, you know, basically hope deferred make it the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. You know what? A lot of people are putting their hope in men today. They're putting their hope in Donald Trump or Joe Biden. That's hard to say. That's just, that shouldn't even come out of someone's mouth, right? But I remember when Obama ran, it was like hope and change, right? It was all about hope, and we're just putting our hope in these people. You should not be putting your hope in men. You should be putting it in God, because men will fail you, and that hope will fail, but not with God and not with Jesus. Jesus is our hope, and he will not fail. He will neither leave us nor forsake us. He will neither leave you nor fail you, the Bible says. God will not fail you. If he says it's going to happen, it will happen, and if he promises you everlasting life, then that everlasting life is going to be there, and it's not going to go away at all, and he's not going to lie to you. And hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began. And let's get into that promise in chapter 6 of Hebrews here in verse 17. It says, wearing God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation. And I've preached this before, and I've explained this before, but the reason it's two immutable things is because he he can't lie, okay? So when he said it the first time, that's immutable. That make sense? It's immutable if he just said it, because he can't lie. It's unable to go back forth on that, you know, he can't go back on his word when he says he's going to perform it, right? But then he confirmed it by an oath. That makes it two immutable things. Not only did he say it and he can't lie, but he also confirmed it by an oath, okay? But keep reading there. It says, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Now let's talk about this hope. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both surer and steadfast, and which enter it into that within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And then it goes on a tour de force about Melchizedek in chapter 7, and that he ever liveth to make intercession for us, that he's the author of eternal salvation, and that he is able to save us unto the uttermost, and just goes on and on because he ever liveth. And that hope is surer and steadfast. So that's a good hope to have, okay? So if someone says, are you hoping to go to heaven? Yeah, but my hope's a little different than your hope. Because when they say, you know, I hope I'm going to heaven, they mean like they're not sure. But what did the Bible say about it? It is sure. It's both sure and steadfast. So if you're not sure you're going to heaven, then you don't have hope like I do. You don't believe in hope like Abraham did. Abraham against hope believed in hope, and he is fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform. That is why it was imputed unto him for righteousness. And if someone doesn't do that, their hope is not in Christ. Or they're saying that Christ isn't a sure and steadfast hope, okay? Ultimately that's what you'd be saying. If you're saying, well, I would go to hell, or he wouldn't save me to the uttermost, or, you know, I have to do something else, or I could lose my salvation, you're saying that that hope is not sure and steadfast. You're saying that hope is not eternal life, okay? Go to 1 Peter chapter 1, 1 Peter chapter 1. I want to give you hope today. Now obviously if you're saved, you have hope. Ultimately you have hope that we're gonna have heaven, we have eternal life, and no matter what happens in this life when we die, you know, we're gonna be with the Lord in heaven. I mean, just think about this for a second. Are you gonna really care about this election when we die? Are you gonna care about anything that's going on down here? Or, you know, let's say a thousand years after everything's over, you know, after the thousand year reign and we're rolling and reigning with Christ for a thousand years, or for eternity, do you think anybody's gonna be like, man, you remember that Donald Trump election? You remember that in 2020? You remember that coronavirus? You remember the pandemic and, you know, like all that stuff that was going on then? No one's gonna remember that. No one's gonna care at that point, okay? And so sometimes we need to unplug and just look at the hope of the Bible, the hope of the Word of God. Because when I read this, you know, an unsaved person reads this and they see doom and gloom and condemnation. You know, when I read this, I see hope. I see comfort. I see consolation and salvation. That's what I see. I read the Bible and it's like going home. There's something about reading the Bible that I just feel I'm at home. I'm just comfortable, I can read it, and you're like, well, you're reading the fluffy stuff. I'm comfortable reading Leviticus 20. Give me my cup of coffee and my biscotti. It's not that bad. The biscotti is pretty good. But you know, I'm comfortable. You know, put me in my easy chair, get the fire roaring, and I'll read Leviticus 18, 19, 20, you know, and I'll read it all. I love it all and none of it is uncomfortable to me. I love it. It's just like going home and just my Savior talking to me. But there's hope. You say, you're reading about Revelation, you know, and you're reading about people being destroyed. There's hope. Because on that coin, on their coin, they're being destroyed. But you know what? There's the token of the righteous judgment of God that he's able to recompense, tribulation to them that trouble us, and the idea is for them it's perdition, but to us it's salvation. And so where they see condemnation, I see salvation. And you know what? We need to be, who's on the Lord's side? When you're on the Lord's side, then if God be forced, who can be against us? And that hope is sure and steadfast. See, their hope in man, their hope in, you know, their other religions, or their so-called science, okay? I'm so sick and tired of people like, well, I'm not in the religion, I'm in the science. You mean your fairy tale about the Big Bang Theory? You know, your fairy tale of evolution? And people, you know, I remember telling somebody this, you know, I was talking to an atheist who's a nice guy. I talked to him all the time, lived with him and all that stuff, and he just kind of looked at me like, oh, you know, like kind of laughing that I would say it's a fairy tale. But it is. I mean, it's that you can't prove it. So you can call them what I believe a fairy tale, I'll call what you believe a fairy tale. But you know what? My hope is sure and steadfast. Their hope is in, you know, Charles Darwin. Their hope is in, you know, Stephen Hawking, who's dead in hell right now. Their hope is in Carl Sagan, who's dead in hell right now. Their hope is in, you know, Charles, Richard Dawkins, Michio Kaku, or whatever his name is. Like all these scientists and all that stuff that are in these theoretical realms that can't prove anything that they say, you know, time travel is possible because of gravity, you know, and like all this craziness that they're saying. They can't prove any of it, but that's supposed to be scientific and accurate, okay. So you can put your hope in that. You put your hope in scientists that they're gonna somehow figure out that God doesn't exist, but you know, the fool has said in his heart there is no God. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 18, it says, For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, and from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was full ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory. Notice this, that your faith and hope might be in God. Notice how these things are so closely related, and then it talks about these three things abide, faith, hope, and charity, and the greatest of these is charity. You see how faith and hope are just like, it's almost like spirit and soul, you know, when it comes to how closely related they are, but hope is the, you know, faith is the substance of things hoped for, right. So you have faith in the hope of eternal life, right, and but that hope is not something that is movable, okay, and that's what I want to get across, that when the Bible talks about the Jesus Christ, our hope, it's not something that we have to wonder about. It's not something that we can't know for sure. We can know for sure that we have eternal life because it says these things have been written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life, but I think the difference is is that we're thinking of the world's hope. Our definition of hope is what the world would think of hope, right, because the world's hope isn't sure and steadfast. The world's hope isn't something that's solid and eternal and everlasting. The world's hope is weakness. The world's hope is failure, okay. Now 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 15, 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 15, notice what it says here. It says, "...but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." See, when we go out and give the gospel, what are we doing? We're preaching about hope. Because we usually say, hey listen, you're a sinner, you deserve help, but here's the hope, right. The hope is if you believe on Christ you have everlasting life. Isn't that a hopeful message? Now people that preach repent of your sins, that's not hopeful. You know, they're like, well you got to repent of all your sins, and then maybe if you're sorrowful enough and you cry enough and you get on your knees hard enough, you know, then maybe he'll receive you. No, the hope is he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. The hope is for God to love the world he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's hopeful. That's a hopeful message and that's good tidings, okay. Because it says, "...by it the elders obtained a good report. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, for by it the elders obtained a good report." And what's that good report? That's the good news, that's the gospel, that's how they obtained it. That's how they obtained everlasting life and that's how they had access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. And we glory in the hope that is set before us. Now go to Titus chapter 3, just another verse on this dealing with salvation. I mean, a lot of people, let's just face it, a lot of people don't know their Bible anyway, so they're not usually bringing up these verses, but I could see people taking this and saying, well, it says the hope of eternal life, so how are you gonna be sure if it's just hoping for it? You know what I mean? But when you know that Jesus is the hope, then it's really silly to say that. It's really silly to say, well, you know, that the hope is not something that's for sure, okay? When you understand that Jesus is eternal life, Jesus is the hope, and that hope of eternal life is Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross, then there's no idea of something that's not sure, okay? Titus chapter 3 and verse 4, it says, but after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord, I'm sorry, Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. See, there's nothing wrong with saying that, and hopefully after you see the verses that I showed you as far as the hope that is eternal life, that Jesus is that hope, and that hope is sure and steadfast and enter within the veil. And what does that mean? That means that Jesus went into the holiest of all in heaven, sprinkled his blood on the mercy seat, and his blood of sprinkling speaketh better things than that of able. His blood is what purges us from all our sins. That's a sure hope. That's a steadfast hope, okay? And that hope is not in man. You can't have that hope in the Levitical priesthood. And he talked about bringing in a better hope did, you know, it talks about, you know, which is established upon better promises and all that. Go to Psalm chapter 33. Now, an interesting thing here to think about with this is that I probably preached this before that in a New Testament you see believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, faith, believe, and there's a couple of places where it talks about trust. Well, in the Old Testament a lot of times you'll see trust. Every word of God is pure, he's a shield unto them that put their trust in him, add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar, kiss the son lest he be angry, now perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in him. You know, those are just a couple places where it's saying trust in the Lord, okay? And there's a lot of places it says trust, but what you'll find if you do a study on this is a lot of places where it's saying hope in the Lord, okay? So what I want to get across here is that hope in the Lord is just as strong as trust in the Lord and just as strong as faith in the Lord, okay? If I'm hoping in the Lord, this is not a hope like the world thinks of. This is not a hope of like I wonder and, you know, like I'm not sure if this is gonna happen. No. Putting your hope in the Lord, your faith and hope in Jesus Christ, your faith and hope in God, your hope is a sure hope, a steadfast hope, okay? And in Psalm 33 and verse 18, Psalm 33 and verse 18 it says, Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. So upon them that hope in his mercy, and what did the Bible say? That he had saved, you know, not by works of righteousness we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, being justified freely by the grace, you know, and according to the hope of eternal life, being made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. I go to verse 21 down there. It says, For our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in thee. So notice how it's using these synonymously. It's basically saying we trust in thee, we're trusting in your holy name, and we're also hoping in thee, right? We hope in thee. Go to Psalm 71. Psalm 71. Psalm 71. Psalm 71 verse 5, it says, For thou art my hope, O Lord God, thou art my trust from my youth. Do you see how it's just it's reiterating the same point? My hope in him is being synonymous with trust in him, okay? And trust we know is a synonymous term dealing with faith, right? We talked about, you know, predestinated who first trusted in Christ, and whom also you believed after that you heard the word of truth, and so the idea of trust and believe are synonymous, but hope a lot of times is used in that same sense, okay? Now I'm not saying that hope is like, you know, just a synonym for faith, okay? Because hope, I believe, you know, faith is the substance of things hope for, okay? But what I'm saying is that if you have hope, you have faith, okay? Does that make sense? Like, I don't believe you can have hope in something if you don't have any faith in it, okay? Then where's the hope, okay? So hope is more so what you're putting your faith in. So if you hope in Christ, then obviously you have faith in Christ, okay? If you hope in Christ, you're obviously trusting in Christ, okay? And go to the Lamentations chapter 3, one more for the Old Testament here, and by the way, there's there's a ton of these, okay? So in your Bible study time you can go and look at all these places where it talks about hoping and, you know, having your hope in the Lord, trust in the Lord, that you have faith in the Lord, and how these are used a lot of times interchangeably. Lamentations chapter 3 and verse 24. Lamentations chapter 3 verse 24, it says, The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is a good, it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. And so here's another place where it's talking about hoping in his salvation, hoping, hoping, you know, and, you know, basically deliverance, but this is not, again, this is something that is sure. It's known. You know what's going to happen, and you're just patiently waiting for it. But the other idea here is that when it comes to salvation, obviously we have hope. We have hope that we're gonna be in heaven. We have hope that we have eternal life. We have all that hope in that, right? It's by faith that we have that hope in Christ. But go to Titus chapter 2, Titus chapter 2. The other thing that we're hoping for or waiting for or have faith in is the fact that Jesus is coming again. Jesus is coming again, and we're gonna be resurrected from the dead, okay? And there's a lot of verses when it comes to the hope of the resurrection, the hope of his coming. So, you know, in these times where it just seems like hope is lost, you look at, you look at who's trying to run our country, and you're just like, this is what we got. It's like, it's hopeless, right? The country's hopeless, everything's hopeless. Listen, you need to be putting your hope in God, okay? And really be waiting for the hope that Jesus is coming, and that we're gonna be resurrected, and just looking forward to that. Think on things that are eternal, not on things that are temporal, okay? In Titus chapter 2 and verse 11 here, it says, For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that what? Blessed hope in the glorious appearing of the great God in our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifying to himself of the pure people, zealous of good works. Now, it's interesting because this passage here is talking about the grace of God that brings salvation, but and he's talking about how he redeemed us from all iniquity, but he's also coupling that with the fact that, hey, you know, after that, he's redeeming us that we might be zealous of good works, that we might live soberly, righteously, and godliness in this present world, right? And so the idea is that after we get saved, we should be living godly and doing great works. Why? Because we're looking for that blessed hope in the glorious appearing of our Lord, of the great God in our Savior Jesus Christ, which, by the way, this is a great passage to show that Jesus is God. We're looking for the, you know, the appearing of the great God in our Savior Jesus Christ. That's Jesus is God, you know, coming in the clouds, okay? But go to 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2, and what I want to say here is that if you have hope that he's coming, okay, if you have hope that the Lord is coming, then what the Bible says is that hope will make you purify yourself, physically speaking, and, you know, as far as, you know, Christians go, okay? Now obviously this isn't talking about eternal salvation. I've kind of already hit on that. Our hope of eternal life, all that stuff, is in Christ because we believe on him, but now we're stepping onto another area here, which after you believe, we have this hope. If you are thinking about Jesus coming and you're thinking about him coming and setting up his thousand-year reign and all that, then you're going to want to live righteously. You're going to want to be zealous of good works. And go to 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2, and notice what it says here, and I kind of want to answer this verse in chapter 3, okay, as far as what it's talking about. In 1 John chapter 2 and verse 28, it says, And now, little children, abide in him that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. Now just to give you an idea of what this is talking about, when it's talking about everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him, we're talking about the fact that a child of God doesn't sin. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Okay, so it's basically talking about you need to be walking in the Spirit, you need to be walking in a new man, and so that you're not ashamed when he comes, right? That he won't be ashamed of you when he comes. Now look at verse 1 of the next chapter, it says, Behold what manner love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. Beloved now are we the sons of God. So is that something happens after we die? No. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. You're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. You know, it's just over and over again that it's just you believe on him, you're a child of God. Okay, so now you're a child of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. So what's the whole context of what's being said from the end of chapter 2 to this point right here? The coming of the Lord. His appearing. And what state are we in at his appearing? Okay, notice what it says in verse 3, it says, And every man that hath this hope in him purify himself, even as he is pure. So what hope are we talking about? That blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. That's the hope. It says, Every man that hath his hope in him purify himself. This isn't talking about salvation. This isn't talking about, you know, you need to purify yourself to be safe. This is saying that if you had the hope of his appearing, if you love his appearing, if you're waiting for his appearing, you will purify yourself. You will be zealous of good works. You will be, you know, trying to live godly, soberly, righteously in this present world. Because you're looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. You have to have that hope that you can hold on to and say he's coming. I'm gonna live for him because if not you can be choked by the cares of this world. Because you're thinking about, you know, I want America to thrive and all this. No, I want Jesus to thrive. I want Jesus to come down, take over, and do what needs to be done. And the more I see this world go down in the spiral, the more I just can't wait for his kingdom to come and his will to be done. And I just long for it, okay? But someone that's in this world, they don't long for that. If it's not their hope, if they're not really just holding on to that and saying, you know, I want that to happen, I'm just hoping that'll happen in my lifetime, then, you know, and we're not pre-trib, okay? We believe we're gonna go through tribulation. But listen, if you're pre-trib or post-trib, listen, the difference there is like three and a half years, okay? So whether you're pre-trib or post-trib, you should be holding on to this hope of the fact that he's going to come and believing that he's gonna come, that he's not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but his long suffering to us were not willing that Annie should perish but that all should come to repentance. The reason he is taking his time or, you know, taking as long as he has is because he wants people to get saved, but you know what? He's still coming. And to the Lord, a day is a thousand years to him and a thousand years one day. So to God, it hasn't been that long. It may seem like a long time, but he's coming back and he's gonna rule with a rod of iron and he's gonna take over, okay? But do you have hope about that? Do you think about that often? What's your motivation to live godly? And listen, there's many motivations you could have, but think about this. If God says, you know, if God's telling us the reason that he carries is because of the souls of men, that's a good motivation. But think about that. If Jesus was going to come back, if you knew let's say we're, you know, the abomination desolation is set up and we know we're in it, okay? We only have about two and a half months until he comes in the clouds. What about all those people that need to get saved? And so we need to be thinking about that. We need to be thinking about the fact that it could happen in our lifetime. And that's why I believe, you know, it's just it's something, it says the time is at hand. It says that in Revelation, the time is at hand. It doesn't say the day of Christ is at hand, it says the time is at hand. You know why? It's because from when Jesus rose from the dead, he wanted people to think that it could have been in their lifetime. Why? Because that hope of the blessed hope and that hope will help someone purify himself even as he is pure. It'll help you to stay pure, it'll help you to get right with God, it'll help you see the urgency for the work of Christ. But if you just knew, let's say you had a time machine or you could know the future, you just know it's not gonna be for another hundred years, okay? Then you might just be like, ah, you know, well, we don't have to worry about the tribulation in our days, we don't have to worry about this, but if you don't know when that's gonna happen, you don't know when that's gonna happen, then you better get prepared. You better sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. You better be ready for that time and you better purify yourself. And you say, well, you know, when that time comes, I'll be ready. Hogwash. Anybody that says that would be like, well, when you know the tribulation comes and they're persecuting Christians, I'm gonna be the first out there, you know, just preaching the gospel to every creature. No, you're not. You're gonna be afraid. You're not gonna be strong in the Lord because if you can't do it when there's no pressure, what are you gonna do when there is pressure? And so we need to just have that hope. Hold on to it. The fact that Jesus is coming and that He's the hope that is set before us when it comes to His coming. Now, go to Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3. Having that hope will help us to live for God, okay? Now if your motivation for going out soul-winding is the fact that you know people are gonna die and go to hell and you want to save them, you know, some have compassion, making a difference, others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments by the flesh, and your motivation is that, you know, you just want to see people, you know, plucked out of hell and you're afraid they're gonna go to hell. That's great motivation, okay? That's obviously biblical, that's true, and you need to have that motivation, but there should be other motivations. Other motivations as far as why you do what you do, okay? You know, one of my motivations is the fact that I want my family to love God. I want my children to grow up, get saved, and love God. If you want to know what I want my girls to do, I don't really care what they do with their life. As long as they love God, they're saved and they love God, I'll be happy, okay? My biggest fear is that they don't get saved and they don't love God, okay? That's a huge motivation for me to be in church, to read the Bible to them, and to live godly, be an example unto them, because I do not want it to be because of me and why they don't get saved or they don't love God, okay? So there's a lot of motivations as far as why you do what you do, okay? And a lot of people that get out of church, like the young people, you know, when you turn 18 and you leave your parents' house, is they don't have that hope and that sure hope that they're holding on to to say, this is why I do what I do. And you may even be saved, you know, a lot of these kids will get saved in the church, but then they'll leave and they won't do anything for God. They'll go to some watered-down church, not go soul-winning, not read their Bible, and they just kind of fall out. And praise God they're saved, okay? But you know what they didn't have? They didn't have, they weren't looking for that blessed hope in the the appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. They weren't looking to that and saying, hey, I want to take a hold of that, take a hold on eternal life and do great things for God because it could happen in my lifetime and what is nuts to this world when it comes to all the things of this world? But people don't have that. They leave church and they get out of their house and then they, you know, there's like, well, I'm just gonna live for the world. What's that to me? And there's consequences to that because, you know what, if you don't live for God and you don't go out soul-winning and you don't do what you're supposed to be doing, people will die and go to hell because there's people that you can talk to that I can't talk to and vice versa. But Hebrew chapter 3 here, notice what it says in verse 6, and I've preached on this before but I want to answer this question about these if statements, okay? In Hebrews 3, in Colossians 1, and I think that the idea of this hope when I'm talking about what the hope of his appearing, the blessed hope, and looking for his coming is really going to answer this as far as what's going on here. Hebrew chapter 3 verse 6 says, but Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the what? Hope firm unto the end. He that hath this hope in himself purify, or he that hath this hope purify himself even as he is pure, right? Hope of what? His appearing. Hope of what? You know, the glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And go to verse 14, for we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Now go to, and the reason I read that is because it's talking about the same thing, it's giving you two different aspects. One is talking about the house being a spiritual house or Christ's house. Another part is just talking about being a partaker of Christ, but it says if we hold the beginning of our confidence or hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope, notice in chapter 10, Hebrew chapter 10 verse 35, Hebrews chapter 10 verse 35, it says this, it says, cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward. Confidence of what? The hope. And people lose that confidence in the hope of his coming, and they just forget about it, don't think about it, and it really comes down to this, is that they're not thinking about what what's gonna happen in the future. They're not thinking about eternity, right? And we need to be eternally minded. Go to Colossians chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1, and the thing that I see with these passages where it's like, if we hold this fast, if we do this, is that hope is always being mentioned in there. That you have this hope, you're holding on to it, you're holding it fast, and that is gonna cause you to continue. And we need to have hope. You know, hope will get you through some dark times. You know, I don't want to say the worst part about hell, but it probably is the worst part about hell, is there's no hope. You know, when you're going through a really hard time, the thing you're looking for is, where's the hope? I need the light at the end of the tunnel. And you know what? The world sucks. A lot of times. And just dealing with everything in the world, it is not fun. But you know what? If you just had that light at the end of the tunnel, be like, I'm working towards that. I see it. I see the prize. And I'm just hoping for it. I see it. And you know what? And I think about this, I'm like, he can come in my day. And you know what? I want to be living for Christ and doing everything I can for Him until the moment He comes in the clouds. And so that I'm not ashamed before Matt is coming, that I didn't, you know, basically recant Him in life. And you know what? Just to see that, to lift up my head and look out for my redemption draweth nigh, after all of that, that is what I'm waiting for. And you say, well, that may not happen in your lifetime. Maybe not. Maybe not. But don't you want to live that way, though? And this isn't a sermon to be like, He can come in any moment now. You know, at any moment today. Listen, He's not gonna come today. Okay? Because the abomination desolation hasn't been set up. Like, there's things that have to happen first. The manna sin has to be revealed before that day comes. But I can still live as if it can happen in my day. Because it could. It could very well happen. We could be in the middle. It could be starting tomorrow. It could be starting 2021. You know, you don't know when it's gonna start up. So that's the beauty of it. And the idea of, like, it could happen in your day. You better be ready. You better be hoping for that coming. And in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 21, it says in you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprobable in his sight. So notice that. What's the context of what we're doing, what he's talking about here? To present you holy and unblameable and unreprobable in his sight. Okay? And it says, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled. So people will take this and be like, say, if you want to be reconciled, if you want to be saved, then you need to continue rooted and grounded. Okay? Or grounded and settled in the truth. It says, and be not moved away, notice this, from the hope of the gospel, which he have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister. So if you want to be unblameable, holy and unblameable and unreprobable in his sight, then you need to continue rooted, grounded, and it says, if you have received him, let us also walk in him, it says in the next chapter, rooted and grounded in the faith. Okay? So the continuing is you walking. Okay? The grace of God that bringing salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. You know, so when we get saved, we need to continue, and why? Because the hope of the gospel. The gospel is a message of hope. And go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. You know what's interesting? Is that this passage where it says, holy, unblameable, and unreprobable. You know that term unblameable is only used one other time in the Bible, and it's in this passage right here. So notice that it says, in his sight he may present you holy, unblameable, and unreprobable, right? And notice what it says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 12. It says, and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love, one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you, to the end he may establish your hearts, unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, notice this, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. So when it says that in his sight that you may be made that, that's what we're talking about. We're talking about at his coming. That you may not be ashamed before him at his coming, but you may have confidence. And why? Because you have the hope. Because you're continuing for the hope of the gospel. You have that hope you're holding on to, and it's gonna keep you going. Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23, and I preached on this last week, but it's kind of the same thing that we're dealing with here, as far as the idea of being blameless, unreprobable, unblameable, you know, all that stuff in his sight or at his coming. We're not talking about your soul, okay? Your spiritual aspect, you know, that is unblameable, holy, sanctified, you know, washed in the blood of the Lamb, okay? What we're talking about is holistically here, okay? Notice what it says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23. It says, And the very God of peace sanctify you holy, I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So when it's talking about all of that, it's talking about being unblameable, unreprobable, confident, and not being ashamed. That is coming physically, but how do you do that? By having the hope that is set before you, by holding on to that, by running with patience the race that is set before you, and holding on to that hope. Now, 2 Thessalonians chapter 4, you know, Paul, you don't have to turn there, but Paul is basically saying, you know, he finished this course and it says that there's laid up for him a crown of righteousness, and it says it's not only for me though, it's but unto all of them also that love his appearing. So let me ask you a question. Are you excited for his coming? Are you excited for him to set up his kingdom? You know when Jesus said, this is how you should pray, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, and I'm gonna mess it up, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I'll mess it up. I should know that. I was a Catholic, you know. We say that every single service, but thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Okay, is that your prayer? Now you don't have to say it exactly like that, and don't say it in repetition either, but you don't have to say it like that, but is that your prayer? Are you saying that every day? Are you praying to God saying, hey, thy kingdom come and your will be done? Do you really want his kingdom to come right now? And you know what, the more you live for God and the more that you are holding on to the things of God, the more you want that, okay? So if you're like, I don't want him to really come yet, then there's something you're holding on to, right? And listen, there's a lot of things I want to do, okay? So I'm not here to say like, you shouldn't want to do anything else, you know, like there's nothing physically you want to do. Listen, there's a lot of things I want to do in life, but ultimately, his kingdom coming trumps all of that, okay? No pun intended or like to mention that name, but you know, listen, anything that I want to do, you know, Jesus coming, his kingdom coming, it's higher than all of that. I'd be like, yeah, sure, you know, that would be great, and you know what, we need to have that mindset. Now go to Acts chapter 23, Acts chapter 23, because when we're talking about the hope, obviously we're hoping for his coming that we can, we're not ashamed to format his coming and that we're there to, he could say, well done, now good and faithful servant, and think about this, there's got to be a tribulation such as the world is never seen. It's going to be a time and trial on God's people that the world has never seen, and you say, well, you know, the Bible talks about a lot of different things that go on, but how about the fact that Revelation was written about you? Wouldn't that be amazing? But let me ask you a question, are you going to be one of the good ones, you know, that whole, you know, that are faithful and doing what you should be doing and, you know, purging many and, you know, getting a lot of people saved, turning many to righteousness, are you going to be the one that's just, you know, bringing shame to the kingdom of God? Okay, now obviously all those that believe on Christ are saved, but you need to be thinking about that and have hope in that, okay, but Paul talked about constantly the hope of the resurrection, okay, the hope of the resurrection, and Acts chapter 23 and verse 6, Acts chapter 23 and verse 6, so in these chapters here, 23 to 28, I'm going to show you here, he's in prison, he's in bonds, but he's basically saying this is why I'm in bonds, because I was talking about the hope of the resurrection, okay, and it says in verse 6 here, it says, but when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the counsel of men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, of the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am called in question. Paul was willing to die and to be in bonds for the hope of the resurrection, and chapter 24 and verse 14, it says, but this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets, and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. So he says hope toward God that there's going to be a resurrection. Chapter 26 and verse 6, chapter 26 and verse 6, it says, and now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers, unto which promise our 12 tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come, for which hopes sake king and gripper, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought, a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? So it's just the hope, the hope, the hope, what of the resurrection. Chapter 28, he doesn't say hope of resurrection, but it's obviously, you know, he's talking about the same thing, and verse 20 here says, for this cause therefore have I called for you to see you and to speak with you, because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. So just constantly, his defense is that for the hope of Israel, for the hope of what the prophets taught, and what Moses taught, what the law taught, and what Jesus taught, and what he came to do, that hope is why he's in bonds. But that hope was also bringing him through all of that, okay? So when you have all these, you know, the times of tribulation and trials, that hope is going to help you through that. Go to Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8, the hope of the resurrection, and that's something that we should hold on to. You say, well how does that affect, you know, like if I'm, if I'm, whether I live for Christ or not, I'm going to be resurrected. Yeah, but there's a better resurrection. The Bible says in Hebrew chapter 11 that they didn't accept deliverance, that they might have a better resurrection, meaning that they would die a martyr's death to have a better resurrection. And Paul said that he is trying to attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Talking about he's trying to attain unto Christ, you know? But he's saying I haven't already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that, which also I'm apprehended of Christ Jesus, rather than I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth under those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, he knew that he hadn't attained unto Jesus's resurrection, right? And no one's going to attain unto Jesus's resurrection, okay? But what we want to do is try to attain as much as we can, okay? And there, each, each resurrection is going to differ. Just as much as the stars, one star's brighter than the other, the Bible says in 1st Corinthians chapter 15, so is the resurrection, meaning that some, some people that are resurrected, they're not going to shine as bright as others, okay? So in, in Romans chapter 8 and verse 19 it says, for the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God, for the creature was made subject to man, not willingly, but by reason of whom, of him who had subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and prevaileth in pain together until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. And that's what we are hoping for, and right after that, what does it say? Hope that is seen is not hope, right? And it goes into the fact that it is basically, it ceases to be hope if you can see it, okay? So our hope is the resurrection. Now go to 1st Corinthians chapter 15, 1st Corinthians chapter 15, and it all comes down to this. If you have hope in the resurrection, if you have the hope in the coming of Christ, first of all, if you have hope in the everlasting life, then you're saved, okay? But if you have hope in the coming of Jesus and the resurrection of your body, then that's something to hold on to. That's something you can live for, okay? But if there's no resurrection, what's the point, right? And that's what it says, what Paul is stating here in 1st Corinthians 15, verse 19, it says, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's that is coming, then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. And the last enemy, by the way, that's gonna be destroyed is death. See, that's a hopeful future, isn't it? That we're all gonna be in a resurrected state, no more sin, no more pain, no more sorrow, and this life is gonna be but a vapor. So if you're eternally minded on that, then it's gonna, really, what's there to be miserable about, right? But if in this life we only have hope, then we're of all men most miserable. And that's why people are really worried about this election, because their hope is only in this life, right? Yeah, it's all about the election, it's all about what's going on in the world, and everybody's getting all up in arms, people are screaming and pulling their hair out and, you know, and all that stuff that's going on. Why? Because their hope is in this world. But my hope's not in this world. And I hope that our nation will stay, you know, will at least have some freedom to where we can preach the gospel and get people saved and, you know, live without people messing with us as Christians. But you know what? This isn't my home. I'm a pilgrim and a stranger in this world. I'm just passing through. And so I am just here as long as God wants me to be here, as long as I can to do what God wants me to do, but ultimately, you know what? They can keep this world. They can have this degenerate world that's falling apart. You know what? My God's gonna have a new heaven, a new earth. My God's gonna renew the earth that we even have right now before that. And so my God, there is hope, but not in this world that we have. And the last thing I'll show you is 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And not that I think anybody in our church is sorrowing over everything that's going on, or they're upset, because elections coming up, right? So not this week, but next week, I think. And you know, everybody's just worried about what's gonna happen. They're like, well, you know, if Trump gets in, then they're just gonna keep milking this whole thing. And if Trump doesn't get in, then it's just gonna be worse because of all the policies they're gonna pass. Listen, who cares? And you say, well, you know, you don't vote. You can't, you can't, you can't complain about what's going on. Watch me. Watch me. Not vote. And I will still tell you that they're wicked as hell, because I don't need to vote to say that. But I'm also not gonna vote for the lesser of two evils. So I was thinking about doing a sermon on voting, but I didn't do it, okay? I'd rather preach a sermon on the fact that, hey, our hope should be in God, not in man. And if you want to go out and vote, then you know what? You can do what you want to do. But I'm not gonna lay my hands on somebody so that I can be partaker of their evil deeds. I'm not gonna do that. So if you want to, if you want to take that chance and be like, well, you don't know if he's gonna do that. Yeah, I don't know. I don't have hope in Trump. I don't have hope in Biden, that's for sure. Or Kamala Harris or Kamala or whatever her name is. So I don't have hope in them, and I'm not gonna trust in them, and I sure am not gonna put my stamp of approval on them and say, go do. What thou do is go do quickly. No, obviously I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna basically put my endorsement on that. But this isn't a sermon about who you should vote for or anything like that. I'm just telling you that I don't have hope in any of them. I don't have trust in any of them, you know, and so I'm not gonna be putting my approval on that. But we need to have hope in God and not sorrow when all this stuff goes to shambles, okay? First Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 13, it says, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. In this whole passage, this is a very famous passage dealing with the resurrection, dealing with the coming of the Lord. And the idea here is that this is where our hope is at. The hope is, is that we're all gonna be together one day with the Lord and resurrected state, and all this stuff's gonna be gone. All this stuff is gonna burn up with, the elements are gonna melt with perfect heat, all this stuff's gonna be gone, so we just need to just hold on to that and not worry, not fret, not be afraid, not sorrow as others which have no hope. But you know what? If you didn't have hope in Christ, then you might as well start worrying. You better sorrow, and you better be worrying about what's gonna happen to you, because in this life you only have hope, you're of most men, most miserable, because you know, there's what do you have to hold on to in this life? And keep reading there, it says, If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. So what's that hope he was talking about there? That right there. The coming of the Lord, the resurrection. We're gonna be with all our loved ones that are in Christ forever, in a perfect, you know, sinless state of being the children of God, being in his presence, and being able to have no more pain, no more sorrow, and no more death. Now that is something to hope for, but you need to hold on to it. You need to hold on to that hope because that is gonna keep you going in this life, okay? And so I wanted to show you that relationship of hope because our hope is not something that is futile, okay? The hope of the world is futile, you know? If you're hoping in some politician, I don't know what to say to you, if you're hoping as a politician that you've got some misguided hope, but hoping anybody, don't have hope in me, okay? Because I'm just the man. Your hope should be in God. If I failed as a pastor, you should say, you know what, he failed, but I'm gonna serve God because God didn't fail me, and I'm sick and tired of people giving excuses of why they don't go to church, why they're not living for God because, well, this church, I had a bad experience with this church. Well, is that Jesus' fault or is that the church's fault? Is that the people of that church's fault? Stop blaming other people and look in the mirror and say, you know what, it should be because I hope in God. My trust is in God, and that's why I do what I do. And I've been to plenty of churches that let me down, and I've been to plenty of churches that would have shaken my faith to where I don't want to do it anymore, and I'm just tired of dealing with it, but you know what, I wasn't doing it for them anyway. You know what, I am doing it for God. God is my hope. He is the reason that I do what I do, and if everybody left, and I hope that doesn't happen, but if everybody left in this church and everybody just forsook God, I wasn't doing it for your sake. I was doing it for God's sake, and that's the mentality because, you know what, God won't fail me. You all can fail me or I could fail you, but God will not fail. That hope is sure and steadfast and nothing's gonna stop that, but you've got to hold on to it because you can't be looking in men for your hope because they will fail you. At some point, they will fail you. You know what, kids, at some point your parents are gonna fail at something. They're gonna promise something and they don't come through with it. They're gonna do something and it's not gonna happen. I'm gonna fail as a father at some point in some little manner or whatever. Hopefully it's not a big thing, but we're all gonna fail, but if your hope is just that they're perfect and they'll never fail, then you're gonna falter, but if your hope's in God, God never fails, and that hope is sure. Okay, and so I hope that makes sense, and I hope that that helps. Okay, to give a little glimpse as far as why we do what we do. You know, obviously so that people don't go to hell. Okay, but you know what, there should be a bigger goal. There should be something at the end of that tunnel that you're saying, hey, it's because the hope of the resurrection. It's because the hope of His coming. It's because of the hope of the gospel that we do what we do, and that's a great message. That's something that we can hold on to. It shouldn't just be doom and gloom. Okay, and if it's hell, the reason you go out and so on, that's great. Okay, but ultimately, hell is the reason you go, but the hope of the gospel is the reason that it even makes sense to go. Okay, so that's the end of the word of prayer. The Heavenly Father, we thank you for today, and thank you for your word, and Lord, just pray that you'd be with us as we go back to work throughout the rest of this week, and Lord, just pray that you'd help us to run into people that need to hear the gospel, and help us to hold on to the hope that is set before us. Lord, just help us to hold on to eternal things, and help us to mind those things, and Lord, help us to basically not put our hope and things in this world, or to get discouraged, or to fear, or to sorrow, and things that are in this world, but just to hope in you, and Lord, we love you in your presence, in Jesus Christ's name, Amen.