1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,600 Isn't it wonderful to know that we serve and worship a God for whom there is nothing too 2 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:14,600 difficult. 3 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:21,240 He is a God who is able to do exceeding above all that we ask, exceedingly abundantly above 4 00:00:21,240 --> 00:00:25,420 all that we ask or think. 5 00:00:25,420 --> 00:00:32,680 And so he is able to take our ordinary lives and do something extraordinary because that 6 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:36,040 is the kind of a God he is. 7 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:41,480 Would you open your Bible with me this morning to 1 Thessalonians once more as we look in 8 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:49,440 chapter 1 again and we will be focusing on a phrase in verse 3. 9 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:54,680 As we think about the church that I want to join. 10 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:58,640 Now as I have said before it is not that I am looking for a church to join because I 11 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:03,600 belong to a church and I am glad I belong here and I hope you feel the same way. 12 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:09,120 Thank you Frank, I am glad you do and others of you as well. 13 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:14,320 But as we think about the kind of a church we would like to belong to, how would we characterize 14 00:01:14,320 --> 00:01:22,040 the ideal church knowing that there really is no such thing as a perfect church. 15 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:27,240 So what kind of a church would you want to belong to if you were in a community brand 16 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,720 new looking to join? 17 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:31,480 What would your standards be? 18 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:37,960 How would you go about evaluating or measuring a church that you might join? 19 00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:42,200 Well the apostle Paul helps us out in the book of 1 Thessalonians. 20 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:47,120 One of the things he seems to say to us is that this church in Thessalonica was known 21 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:53,680 for a hope that dominated the congregation. 22 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:57,300 Hope is a powerful motivator. 23 00:01:57,300 --> 00:02:01,720 It moves good people to greatness. 24 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:07,720 Jim Collins wrote a book about that subject a few years ago called Good to Great in which 25 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:16,160 he describes a series of companies that were good but which became great companies. 26 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:20,600 He researched these particular companies as well as some others and formulated a list 27 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:27,440 of characteristics of the companies that were good but became great. 28 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:34,360 One of the things he discovered was that those companies that went from good to great confronted 29 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:42,980 the brutal facts about their own existence but never lost faith as they did that. 30 00:02:42,980 --> 00:02:50,440 They honestly confronted their hard current reality but they didn't let the harsh reality 31 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:54,000 they saw dispirit them. 32 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:55,000 I quote him. 33 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:00,320 He says, they hit the realities of their situation head on. 34 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:06,580 As a result they emerged from adversity even stronger. 35 00:03:06,580 --> 00:03:10,640 He says that these companies had hope. 36 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:19,240 That hope was the absolute certainty that they would prevail in the end. 37 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:25,840 You see hope produces the mindset of a winner. 38 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:34,600 In the context of a church, hope, a spirit, an attitude, a culture of hope can make the 39 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:45,360 difference between just a church, an average church, and one that rises to enormous effectiveness 40 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:50,840 in reaching people for Jesus Christ. 41 00:03:50,840 --> 00:04:00,120 Hope leads people to mountain size challenges with a vision of what things can look like 42 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:04,360 from the top of the mountain. 43 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:14,040 Hope motivates people to risk everything to attain a certain desired future. 44 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,360 It doesn't always work. 45 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:23,120 As we saw for example in the twins from Iran who hoped to be separated. 46 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:26,360 They were conjoined, you remember, the adult ladies. 47 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:31,360 And this last week they hoped to be separated successfully but both of them died in the 48 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:33,080 surgery. 49 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:44,000 And yet we all applaud their courage and the hope that motivated them to take that risk. 50 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:48,160 Hope isn't present where things are perfect. 51 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:50,580 It isn't needed. 52 00:04:50,580 --> 00:04:57,400 Why would you need hope if everything was already the perfect way it ought to be? 53 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:04,080 The apostle Paul says as much in Romans 8 when he says, hope that is seen, that's already 54 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:08,160 attained is no hope at all. 55 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:14,120 Who hopes for what he already has? 56 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:23,440 You see, hope functions where there is the realization that things are not perfect. 57 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:27,200 We are not in a perfect world. 58 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:30,720 It is a broken and fallen world. 59 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:37,100 And we are broken and fallen people as part of that. 60 00:05:37,100 --> 00:05:40,280 We desperately long for hope. 61 00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:44,040 Indeed, hope is essential to life. 62 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:52,640 If you take away hope from a person, that person will begin immediately to shrivel and 63 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:57,040 will ultimately die. 64 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:05,640 Our world searches for hope, but it cannot produce the kind of hope that lasts beyond 65 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:08,560 this life. 66 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:14,760 You see, hope that goes beyond the few years of our existence here is a hope that only 67 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,320 comes from God. 68 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:28,760 I want to join a church where hope dominates, where hope is infectious and life-changing, 69 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:35,700 where it dominates the life and the spirit of the ministry of the people in that church. 70 00:06:35,700 --> 00:06:42,280 That kind of a church is a church that's a happy place to be because wherever hope is 71 00:06:42,280 --> 00:06:45,640 dominant there is joy. 72 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:51,720 Paul says in Romans 12, 12, be joyful in hope. 73 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:58,300 He knew, as we know, that hope produces joy in the heart. 74 00:06:58,300 --> 00:07:04,360 The Thessalonian church was that kind of a place. 75 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:06,360 It was in a culture where there was no hope. 76 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:11,180 The pagans had no hope beyond this life. 77 00:07:11,180 --> 00:07:13,780 To them when one died, that was the end of it all. 78 00:07:13,780 --> 00:07:17,840 They knew that when a person died they would never see that person again. 79 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:22,840 There was absolutely no hope among the pagans in Thessalonica. 80 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:27,840 And among the Jewish population that was there, there was this bondage, an obligation to their 81 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:31,480 legalistic religion as it had become. 82 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:36,960 And so they had no real hope either because of the bondage of the law that pressed them 83 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:38,940 down. 84 00:07:38,940 --> 00:07:46,080 In the midst of this culture of hopelessness, the Thessalonian church was planted and it 85 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:48,760 took root. 86 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:55,940 The apostle Paul describes it in the words of verse 2 and verse 3 where he says, we always 87 00:07:55,940 --> 00:08:00,500 thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 88 00:08:00,500 --> 00:08:09,640 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor 89 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:21,060 prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 90 00:08:21,060 --> 00:08:27,680 You notice immediately the triad of graces that are found throughout the New Testament, 91 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:32,720 faith, love, and hope. 92 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:37,520 Those three are always together in the experience of the Christian. 93 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:41,660 We've talked about faith and love on previous Sundays. 94 00:08:41,660 --> 00:08:45,560 Today I want us to think about hope. 95 00:08:45,560 --> 00:08:52,020 You see, hope makes you a positive person. 96 00:08:52,020 --> 00:08:55,120 Hope keeps you going when things are tough. 97 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:58,800 That was certainly true of the Thessalonian believers. 98 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:03,020 Things were tough in the city of Thessalonica. 99 00:09:03,020 --> 00:09:09,860 Later in this first chapter he says, for example, in verse 6, you became imitators of us and 100 00:09:09,860 --> 00:09:15,600 of the Lord in spite of severe suffering. 101 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:20,360 He is talking about persecution that came from all sides. 102 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:25,880 The pagans as well as the religious Jews attacked this church. 103 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:33,800 He says, in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message, the gospel, with joy 104 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:39,360 given by the Holy Spirit. 105 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:45,720 Here was a church that was positive and optimistic and joyful in the midst of tough circumstances. 106 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:52,200 It is a church motivated and dominated by hope. 107 00:09:52,200 --> 00:10:00,280 Now, hope has a specific foundation, a specific foundation. 108 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:06,160 That foundation is nothing less than the character of God himself. 109 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:09,560 Read with me this verse from Romans chapter 15. 110 00:10:09,560 --> 00:10:17,480 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you 111 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:22,560 may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 112 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:25,080 How does God identify himself? 113 00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:27,440 What is the name he gives himself in this verse? 114 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:29,520 The God of what? 115 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:31,040 The God of hope. 116 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:34,080 He is the source of hope. 117 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:40,600 Paul says essentially the same thing in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 16. 118 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:45,520 Turn over there and look at this verse where he says, may our Lord Jesus Christ himself 119 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:55,760 and God our Father who loved us and by his grace, by his grace gave us eternal encouragement 120 00:10:55,760 --> 00:11:00,560 and good hope. 121 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:02,360 God is the source of hope. 122 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:07,360 It rests upon his character. 123 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:14,640 Again in the book of Jeremiah in verse 14, verse 8 of chapter 14, it says, oh hope of 124 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:20,040 Israel, its savior in times of distress. 125 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:25,760 Jeremiah is praying to God and he says, oh God, you are the hope of Israel. 126 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:30,680 I want you to know today that God is the only hope there is for this world. 127 00:11:30,680 --> 00:11:34,920 He is the only hope that there is. 128 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:39,840 Because he is the kind of God he is, he is a God who keeps his promises. 129 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:43,520 God can be counted on to keep his promises. 130 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:51,440 In the last chapter of this book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23, Paul says a brief 131 00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:53,080 prayer. 132 00:11:53,080 --> 00:12:01,160 He says, may God himself, the God of peace sanctify you through and through. 133 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:06,480 He says, may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our 134 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:08,800 Lord Jesus Christ. 135 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:16,200 Then he says, the one who calls you is faithful and what? 136 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:18,800 He will do it. 137 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:21,300 God is faithful and he will do it. 138 00:12:21,300 --> 00:12:29,240 He will keep his promise, his promise that someday you and I will be perfectly conformed 139 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:32,000 to the image of Jesus Christ. 140 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:37,920 And really that's the hope that Paul had in mind as he commends the Thessalonians for 141 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:41,640 the hope that dominated their church. 142 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:48,240 However brief a time Paul was there, he taught them about future things. 143 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:55,940 He made sure that they understood that Christ is coming again. 144 00:12:55,940 --> 00:13:02,060 We need to keep that in the foremost of our minds, that Christ is coming again. 145 00:13:02,060 --> 00:13:03,160 He is coming. 146 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:09,520 In fact did you know that every chapter of this book ends with a reference to the coming 147 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:10,960 of Christ? 148 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:11,960 Just look at it. 149 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:16,200 Look at the end of verse 10 in chapter 1. 150 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:22,520 He talks about Jesus whom he raised from the dead who rescues us from the coming wrath. 151 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:28,760 And I skipped the part I wanted to read in verse 10, to wait for his son from heaven 152 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:30,760 who rescues us from the coming wrath. 153 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:33,640 Look at the end of chapter 2. 154 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:40,000 He speaks about the Thessalonians being his joy and his crown and he says, we will glory 155 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:45,680 in you in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes. 156 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:47,780 Look at the end of chapter 3. 157 00:13:47,780 --> 00:13:53,420 He says, may he strengthen your heart so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence 158 00:13:53,420 --> 00:13:59,920 of God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy angels. 159 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:06,060 Chapter 4, the whole last part of the chapter deals with the rapture of the church and Jesus 160 00:14:06,060 --> 00:14:11,320 coming and our being caught up together with him to meet the Lord in the air and to be 161 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:13,440 with him forever. 162 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:19,860 Chapter 5 continues with that theme and it begins to close as he speaks about the coming 163 00:14:19,860 --> 00:14:24,360 of our Lord Jesus Christ in verse 23. 164 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:28,480 That is the specific hope of the Thessalonians. 165 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:31,240 They were a church dominated by hope. 166 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:37,960 Their hope was founded upon the character of God himself that God always keeps his promises 167 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:43,960 and God has promised to send his Son again from heaven. 168 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:50,780 He is coming again and because of that you and I, whatever our circumstances, can be 169 00:14:50,780 --> 00:14:53,940 a people of hope. 170 00:14:53,940 --> 00:14:57,140 We know the final chapter. 171 00:14:57,140 --> 00:15:03,760 We know where this story comes out at the end as dark or as bleak as it may be from 172 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:08,440 day to day or month to month in our nation or other parts of the world. 173 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:15,520 We know where it's all going and it's going to end with the coming of Jesus Christ. 174 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:18,440 Therefore we are a people of hope. 175 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:24,460 This world is not going to end in some sort of an atomic bomb explosion that's going to 176 00:15:24,460 --> 00:15:30,600 unleash fire and destroy everybody and all the earth will go back to the dark. 177 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:31,600 No, no, no. 178 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:33,800 It's not going to end that way. 179 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:39,200 Jesus Christ is coming again and he's going to establish his kingdom on the earth and 180 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:41,960 that is the hope of the believer. 181 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:47,460 We are dominated by that hope. 182 00:15:47,460 --> 00:15:57,320 Hope also has a specific fruit and that fruit is perseverance. 183 00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:05,680 Paul talks about the endurance that is prompted by their hope and inspired by their hope. 184 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:11,720 The perseverance to hang in there, the patient waiting. 185 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:20,880 You see hope enables us to bear hard things because we know that through these hard things 186 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:27,880 there is a wonderful goal coming. 187 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:31,880 My granddaughter is with us this weekend. 188 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,160 It's a good weekend around our house. 189 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:39,440 We celebrated her second birthday yesterday just a little bit early and of course Kelly 190 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:44,520 and Cory surprised us and came yesterday from Los Angeles where he's been on business and 191 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:50,800 so we're all together today and Kelly is carrying our grandson. 192 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:51,800 Isn't that good news? 193 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:54,960 That's wonderful news. 194 00:16:54,960 --> 00:17:02,240 He's going to be born in October and on Friday we got to go to the doctor and we saw him. 195 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:03,440 We saw him. 196 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:07,020 He looks just like me. 197 00:17:07,020 --> 00:17:10,280 Sort of alien-like at this point. 198 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:12,740 You know what I'm saying? 199 00:17:12,740 --> 00:17:17,200 They're not really beautiful at this point except the grandparents and parents but it 200 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:25,600 was so exciting to be able to see him and we look forward to his arrival in God's time. 201 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:30,600 Kelly has passed the sickness at this point and you mothers, you know what it's like. 202 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:32,720 You're sick. 203 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:37,480 You just feel like you can't go another day but you have no choice. 204 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:41,360 You go on and on in the sickness and finally for many people it lets up for a while and 205 00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:48,800 then there is this state of mind called labor. 206 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:52,800 My wife's teaching Sunday school so I don't have to worry about that this morning. 207 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:56,440 No, there's a real thing called labor. 208 00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:58,540 It's painful. 209 00:17:58,540 --> 00:18:09,380 What is it that causes a mother to put her life right on the line and to endure the travail 210 00:18:09,380 --> 00:18:12,840 and the agony of labor? 211 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:15,480 It is the goal. 212 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:20,920 She is able to patiently wait for those months and then for those hours of labor because 213 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:23,240 of what's going to come at the end of that. 214 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:30,560 It's the wonderful goal that is coming of holding that baby in her arms. 215 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:38,160 If there's no hope, it's easy to give up. 216 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:41,680 We want to be a church that is dominated by hope. 217 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:44,840 Paul says in this book that hope guards your thoughts. 218 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:48,400 Look at chapter 5 and verse 8. 219 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:51,640 He says it in a picture but that's what he means. 220 00:18:51,640 --> 00:19:01,760 He says put on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 221 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:04,880 The helmet of course goes over the head. 222 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,720 It protects the brain, the thoughts. 223 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:12,200 He is saying that hope guards your thoughts. 224 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:19,800 It keeps you thinking right when there are all kinds of false ideas coming against you. 225 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:27,520 It prevents you from getting into disillusionment and depression and deception. 226 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:31,220 Have you ever suffered from depression? 227 00:19:31,220 --> 00:19:33,680 Depression has many roots. 228 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:35,160 It can come from a lot of sources. 229 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:38,240 I have suffered from depression. 230 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:47,440 My particular depression was caused because of the lack of sunlight in Minnesota. 231 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:48,440 You can laugh. 232 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:50,780 I'm telling you the truth. 233 00:19:50,780 --> 00:19:53,640 It's easy to laugh in California. 234 00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:56,640 That's funny. 235 00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:58,380 It's easy to laugh here. 236 00:19:58,380 --> 00:20:02,080 It's not easy to laugh when you're living there in January. 237 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:09,480 The lack of light combined with the cold and the snow put me into a prison. 238 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,400 The last five or six winters I was there. 239 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:18,160 I would feel it coming on about September or October. 240 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:22,480 I bought a light in Canada. 241 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:23,680 They have a lot of lights in Canada. 242 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:26,680 They need them in Canada because there's so much darkness there. 243 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,620 This was a special light and an expensive light. 244 00:20:30,620 --> 00:20:36,080 It was supposed to produce a certain amount of lumens or a certain kind of light that 245 00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:42,160 if you put it before you 15 minutes or maybe a half an hour a day, it would fool your brain 246 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:48,200 into thinking that you were experiencing more sunlight than you really were. 247 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,840 Good theory. 248 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:55,560 Just a little bit of help with the depression I experienced. 249 00:20:55,560 --> 00:21:03,520 I finally found an herb that was a real help to me in the last couple of years I was there. 250 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:07,440 If you've not experienced depression in your life, you don't know how debilitating that 251 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:10,200 can be. 252 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:17,400 You don't know how it can drag your thoughts right to the bottom. 253 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:25,320 When you're experiencing depression, what can really help is to focus on hope. 254 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:32,080 And even though your emotions, because of body chemistry, as in my case, or because 255 00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:38,920 of circumstances that you're passing through, if you can begin to focus on the hope and 256 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:48,120 on praise, it begins to free you from the muck of depression. 257 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:50,480 Hope helps guard our thoughts. 258 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,560 It is a helmet that we can put on. 259 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:57,640 Hope also lifts your spirits. 260 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:04,240 Chapter 2 in verses 17 through 19, Paul says, brothers, when we were torn away from you 261 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:10,960 for a short time, in person, not in thought, out of our intense longing, we made every 262 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:17,180 effort to see you, but we wanted to come to you again, but certainly I, Paul, did again 263 00:22:17,180 --> 00:22:19,920 and again, but Satan stopped us. 264 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:24,800 Paul is here expressing his frustration, the loneliness of his spirits, because he could 265 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,040 not be with these people he loved so desperately. 266 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:34,840 He says, what is our hope, our joy, or crown of rejoicing, in which we will glory in the 267 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:39,020 presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes? 268 00:22:39,020 --> 00:22:43,200 When you and I are tempted to be down, it is hope that picks us up. 269 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:49,000 In Psalms 42 and 43, which really belong together. 270 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:54,520 The psalmist cries out in his depression, and he speaks to his own soul. 271 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:57,680 He says, my soul, why are you so depressed? 272 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,600 Why are you so disquieted? 273 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:06,040 What is going on in you that you are so low right now? 274 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:13,780 And as he speaks to himself about that, he goes on in his self-talk to say to himself, 275 00:23:13,780 --> 00:23:17,200 hope in God. 276 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,600 Put your hope in God. 277 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:27,520 He gave his own medicine, his own answer to his depression, to his thoughts, to his depressed 278 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:28,520 spirit. 279 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:35,060 He says, hope in God, because hope in God lifts your spirits. 280 00:23:35,060 --> 00:23:38,500 Hope also fills you with comfort. 281 00:23:38,500 --> 00:23:44,680 You can lack hope because your heart has been torn out by sadness of loss. 282 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:49,160 That was the case with the Thessalonians, some of the believers had died. 283 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:55,020 And someone had come along saying to them, well, you're not going to see them again. 284 00:23:55,020 --> 00:23:57,720 And Paul writes to say, no, that is not true. 285 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:01,800 He says, brothers, in verse 13 of chapter 4, we don't want you to be ignorant about 286 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:09,120 those who fall asleep or to grieve like the rest of men who have no hope. 287 00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:13,780 He is saying here, it's okay to grieve, but don't grieve like the pagans. 288 00:24:13,780 --> 00:24:15,000 They have no hope. 289 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:20,960 They have a certain kind of grief, and you grieve, but it's a grief that has hope underneath 290 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:21,960 it. 291 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:28,280 There is a comfort that is yours in the midst of your sorrow. 292 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:38,320 I have stood before a number of graves and wept my heart out at the loss that that grave 293 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:41,080 represented to me. 294 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:45,280 And many of you have too. 295 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:50,760 How I thank God for the hope. 296 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:56,760 The hope that enables me to weep and to grieve and yet to know that that is not the final 297 00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:00,080 chapter of the story. 298 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:07,000 Thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 299 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:11,000 That is the hope of the resurrection from the dead. 300 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:16,120 And our loved ones who have departed from this world are present with Him. 301 00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:17,800 And we will see them again. 302 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:24,040 We will meet them again and be together with the Lord and them forever. 303 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:28,200 That is our hope, and it comforts us. 304 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:34,120 What does hope in a life or in a church look like? 305 00:25:34,120 --> 00:25:38,040 What do you think hope looks like? 306 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:39,520 How would you answer that question? 307 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:47,320 What does hope look like in a church that is dominated by it? 308 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:48,680 Joy. 309 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:50,040 Okay. 310 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:52,040 Anybody else? 311 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:53,520 Peace. 312 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:54,800 Grace. 313 00:25:54,800 --> 00:26:03,080 That's the sermon a couple of weeks from now, so we'll hang on to that one. 314 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:08,160 So we fellowship in the sense that we mourn with those who mourn, but we also share joy 315 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,840 with those who are rejoicing. 316 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:13,280 Anybody else? 317 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:18,760 I missed this one. 318 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,760 Long suffering. 319 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:22,760 Holding up. 320 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:26,160 What was the one over here? 321 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:30,280 To believe, to hang on. 322 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:32,080 I've thought a lot about this. 323 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:35,160 I want to tell you why. 324 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:37,120 I love being your pastor. 325 00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:41,160 I feel it's the honor of my life to be here as your pastor. 326 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:48,520 You know, when I came here almost four years ago, someone said to me, why in the world 327 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:50,560 did you want to come here? 328 00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:52,680 Well, thank you. 329 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,200 I'm glad to be here too. 330 00:26:56,200 --> 00:27:02,640 And it wasn't a put down of me, but it was an expression of an agony of that soul. 331 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,440 And there have been at least two other people in the last four years who've said almost 332 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:08,640 the same thing to me. 333 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:12,680 Now I don't remember who they were, so if that was you, don't think I'm talking to 334 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:14,920 you or about you because I have no idea who said this. 335 00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:16,680 I just know it happened. 336 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:19,160 I have a wonderful memory. 337 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:25,920 It's just that it's full or something and it doesn't retain things real well anymore. 338 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:33,360 And people have said to me, why did you want to come here? 339 00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:37,280 And I wanted to say, well, did you know I lived in Minnesota? 340 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:45,160 No, no, I didn't say that. 341 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,360 But I thought about that question. 342 00:27:47,360 --> 00:27:57,720 And you know what it suggests to me is that there are some of us who don't have hope for 343 00:27:57,720 --> 00:27:59,960 this church. 344 00:27:59,960 --> 00:28:08,360 In fact, I have talked to people and I have seen a little of this myself, that there is 345 00:28:08,360 --> 00:28:16,920 a little bit of a spirit of heaviness that hangs over us. 346 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:24,600 One person said to me, there's a sadness in that church. 347 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,360 And I understand a little of that. 348 00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:35,400 Being a megachurch, as you were at one time, although many of us don't remember those days, 349 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:41,880 being on television, being the talk of the valley, being the place where people from 350 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:45,640 across the nation came to observe and to learn. 351 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:55,160 I mean, that's heady stuff when that happens to a church. 352 00:28:55,160 --> 00:29:05,280 And then when there is a tragedy and there's a loss of trust in leaders and there's a humiliation 353 00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:11,660 that comes from losing the status that you once had and then there's the repeated cycle 354 00:29:11,660 --> 00:29:17,080 of people who are leaving because of one thing or another. 355 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:23,280 And there is a circling of the wagons sort of thinking that sets in a defense posture 356 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:25,620 to protect. 357 00:29:25,620 --> 00:29:35,320 All of this takes a heavy toll on the soul of a congregation. 358 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:36,720 This is a little bit visible. 359 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:41,520 Let me explain what I mean. 360 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:49,120 Have you ever noticed that when you visit somebody's house, the condition of the house 361 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:53,040 says something about what's going on with them? 362 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:59,520 Now, not when you're going as an invited guest necessarily because we all clean up, right? 363 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:08,480 But when you just pop in, it tells you a little bit about the marriage perhaps. 364 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:16,880 It tells you about a little bit perhaps about the emotional state that they're in. 365 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:25,040 A home tends to reveal something about the immaterial part of the person or the family 366 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:27,720 living there. 367 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:34,600 I have visited the home of seniors and seen in the condition of the home that this couple 368 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:36,500 needs help. 369 00:30:36,500 --> 00:30:41,360 They need someone to intervene at this point in their lives because they're not able to 370 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:48,260 manage the cleaning of their home and the upkeep of their home. 371 00:30:48,260 --> 00:30:53,380 And thank God there are people who are willing and wanting to do that sort of thing. 372 00:30:53,380 --> 00:31:03,480 I've gone into the rooms of teenagers, my own, and I said, Lord, what is going on in 373 00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:05,400 their life? 374 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:09,760 You look around, if someone came into my garage right now, they'd probably wonder if I'm a 375 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,560 Christian. 376 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:17,720 The condition of that garage, it just seems to be continually the collection point of 377 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,240 things we don't know what to do with. 378 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:21,240 You know what I'm saying? 379 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:26,660 It tells you a little bit something about the soul. 380 00:31:26,660 --> 00:31:35,260 So does our building tell us a little bit about the soul of our church. 381 00:31:35,260 --> 00:31:43,040 We meet in a lovely worship center that was remodeled in 1995. 382 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:46,880 It probably needs a little bit of work, but I'm thinking about some other parts of our 383 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:53,120 building where a lot of us never go. 384 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:54,600 There are a couple of rooms. 385 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:59,760 By the way, I'm not criticizing anyone in saying this to you. 386 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:05,520 Most of all, our maintenance staff, our custodial staff, okay? 387 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:11,120 I'm just making a reflection in general just to help you see what I'm saying. 388 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:16,720 There are a couple of rooms where our school students go. 389 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:22,480 If I were a parent going on a tour to see where my kids were going to study that year, 390 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:28,500 I would say, let's check out the next school. 391 00:32:28,500 --> 00:32:34,740 We talk about the nursery where there is real need. 392 00:32:34,740 --> 00:32:36,880 I don't have to talk about some of the bathrooms. 393 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:41,240 You ladies know exactly what I'm talking about in the condition of them, and you have voiced 394 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:42,240 that many times. 395 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:46,600 And God bless you, you're absolutely correct. 396 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:52,640 The facility here is not only dated. 397 00:32:52,640 --> 00:33:03,120 It reflects a little bit of sadness and depression and loss of hope. 398 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:07,800 And again, that's not to criticize, it's to observe. 399 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:14,440 And it's to say that as we invite people onto our campus, they pick up on stuff like this 400 00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:15,680 that fast. 401 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:25,680 A visitor here, especially a needy person, immediately senses the heart of the congregation. 402 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:31,440 Now, they may not be 100% accurate, but they get a pretty good picture just walking in 403 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:35,280 and observing. 404 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:38,640 What does hope in the church look like? 405 00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:41,840 Well, I've got some very quick answers. 406 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:45,840 It needs to be quick because the hour is going on. 407 00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:56,640 First of all, I would say that hope in a church is seen in a positive way of thinking. 408 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:06,040 You see, hope does not ignore the brutal facts of the situation, but it sees beyond them. 409 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:08,040 It has a lens. 410 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:14,280 Hope produces a lens that enables us to see the brutal reality and yet at the same time, 411 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:19,280 see the possibilities. 412 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:23,040 There are some people who consider themselves to be positive thinkers because they refuse 413 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:26,480 to look at the realities around them. 414 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:30,900 They deceive themselves because they don't want to see the reality. 415 00:34:30,900 --> 00:34:32,980 But that's not hope. 416 00:34:32,980 --> 00:34:36,920 That kind of positive thinking is not hope. 417 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:44,040 Hope's positive thinking is able to look at the truth, be confronted with the brutal facts, 418 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:51,040 and yet see beyond those to what the possibilities are because God is able. 419 00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:54,640 Secondly, hope looks like this. 420 00:34:54,640 --> 00:34:59,600 It is an expectation of the best in people. 421 00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:06,680 You see, hope knows that, as Chuck Swindoll says, people will be people. 422 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:12,480 Hope knows that people will fail, that they will sin and mess up, that they don't listen, 423 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:18,560 that they don't follow through, that they have bad breath, that they disappoint you. 424 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:24,160 But hope produces a certain patient endurance with them. 425 00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:27,500 You expect the best of them. 426 00:35:27,500 --> 00:35:29,060 You put them in the best light. 427 00:35:29,060 --> 00:35:30,060 You trust them. 428 00:35:30,060 --> 00:35:31,840 You risk with them. 429 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:36,200 You believe with your heart that inside of that little guy who gives you a Sunday school 430 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:45,640 class such moments of terror is a hero, a success story, a future Billy Graham. 431 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:51,980 You see, hope that dominates a congregation causes that congregation to see the best in 432 00:35:51,980 --> 00:35:58,060 people and expect the best of them, knowing that the reality is something less than that 433 00:35:58,060 --> 00:36:00,680 for all of us. 434 00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:07,880 And then hope produces a confidence in the face of trials, in the face of tough times 435 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:10,240 when the enemy attacks. 436 00:36:10,240 --> 00:36:13,100 There is this sense, we're going to come through this. 437 00:36:13,100 --> 00:36:15,520 We're going to make it. 438 00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:18,960 We're not going to be defeated by the grace of God. 439 00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:20,960 I think of Daniel's three buddies. 440 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:21,960 Remember them? 441 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:25,600 Nebuchadnezzar was going to throw them into the fiery furnace because they would not bow 442 00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:27,620 down and worship the image. 443 00:36:27,620 --> 00:36:32,840 And they said, oh Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this 444 00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:33,840 matter. 445 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:40,360 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it. 446 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:43,920 And he will rescue us from your hand, oh King. 447 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:49,420 But even if he does not, we want you to know, oh King, that we will not serve your gods. 448 00:36:49,420 --> 00:36:51,500 That's hope, my friends. 449 00:36:51,500 --> 00:36:53,420 A confidence in the face of trial. 450 00:36:53,420 --> 00:36:54,780 God will rescue us. 451 00:36:54,780 --> 00:36:59,200 But even if he doesn't, we're going to obey him. 452 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:01,420 It's a confidence in the face of trials. 453 00:37:01,420 --> 00:37:04,360 It's a whole mindset in tough times. 454 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:06,800 And then hope looks like this. 455 00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:13,000 It's an influence that attracts other people. 456 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,680 I want to tell you that hope is infectious. 457 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:19,360 We live in a valley that needs hope. 458 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:31,560 I heard this week that 18% of the population of Santa Clara County has left in the last 459 00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:35,260 three years. 460 00:37:35,260 --> 00:37:42,520 That's almost one out of five people in the last three years gone. 461 00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:44,520 About a month ago I heard a figure that blew me away. 462 00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:49,840 I said that the real unemployment rate, not just those on the rolls, but those who are 463 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:54,900 now off the rolls because they've been unemployed so long, that the real unemployment rate in 464 00:37:54,900 --> 00:38:00,400 our valley is 16%. 465 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:07,880 We have 18 families at least in our church, or individuals in our church without jobs. 466 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:11,280 This is a valley that needs hope. 467 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:18,520 When hope dominates a congregation, you almost have to lock the doors to keep people out 468 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:21,760 because they will flock to where there is hope. 469 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:23,680 Where can you find hope? 470 00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:27,500 Let me say in the first place, you find hope in God. 471 00:38:27,500 --> 00:38:30,120 You find hope in God. 472 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:34,660 I call this to mind, says Jeremiah in Lamentations. 473 00:38:34,660 --> 00:38:38,480 He is weeping about the city of Jerusalem. 474 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,920 Gaza is destroyed, the people are taken away captive. 475 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:46,680 He weeps, he says, yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope. 476 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:52,080 Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassion never fails. 477 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:53,800 Hope is found in God. 478 00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:57,880 The psalmist said, now Lord, what do I look for? 479 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:02,720 My hope is in you. 480 00:39:02,720 --> 00:39:06,400 We find hope in God, my friend, and if you're here today and you need hope, that's where 481 00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:09,400 you'll find it. 482 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:15,240 In the God of the Bible, the God who makes promises and who keeps them, the God who will 483 00:39:15,240 --> 00:39:21,400 rescue you from your sin and bring you into His family and lavish His love upon you and 484 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:26,240 direct your life from now right into eternity in heaven with Him. 485 00:39:26,240 --> 00:39:28,080 He's the God of hope for you. 486 00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:30,320 But I also want to say this. 487 00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:36,800 Where can you find hope? in God's church. 488 00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:43,120 Peter says, in your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord. 489 00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:49,460 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope 490 00:39:49,460 --> 00:39:53,320 that you have. 491 00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:58,400 You see, hope when it dominates a congregation of people is so attractive. 492 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:01,800 People say, what's different about you? 493 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:03,140 How can you be so positive? 494 00:40:03,140 --> 00:40:04,880 How can you be so optimistic? 495 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:09,840 How can you press ahead in light of your circumstances? 496 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,440 And we're ready to give an answer. 497 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:20,260 You see, hope is found in God's church when God's church is dominated by hope. 498 00:40:20,260 --> 00:40:21,260 I have to close. 499 00:40:21,260 --> 00:40:26,500 But I want to tell you the story of two men who were both seriously ill and who occupied 500 00:40:26,500 --> 00:40:28,880 the very same hospital room. 501 00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:34,040 One man was well enough to be allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour every afternoon 502 00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:38,960 so that he could help drain the fluid out of his lungs. 503 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:41,380 His bed was the only one next to a window. 504 00:40:41,380 --> 00:40:45,720 The other man in the room spent all of his time flat on the bed. 505 00:40:45,720 --> 00:40:47,440 These two men talked for hours. 506 00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:50,960 They spoke of their wives and their families and their homes. 507 00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:52,280 They talked about their past. 508 00:40:52,280 --> 00:41:00,560 And every afternoon, the man in the bed by the window, when he was sat up, he would pass 509 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:07,400 the time by describing to his roommate all the things that he could see outside the window. 510 00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:13,840 The other man began to live for those one hour periods where his world that was only 511 00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:20,320 the ceiling would be broadened and enlivened by the activity and the color of the world 512 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:21,760 outside. 513 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:24,800 The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. 514 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:30,240 Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. 515 00:41:30,240 --> 00:41:36,160 Young lovers walked arm in arm in the midst of flowers of every color. 516 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:41,080 Grand old trees graced the landscape and a fine view of the city's skyline could be 517 00:41:41,080 --> 00:41:43,940 seen in the distance. 518 00:41:43,940 --> 00:41:48,200 As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other 519 00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:54,400 side of the room would close his eyes and he would imagine a picturesque scene. 520 00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:59,480 One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by. 521 00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:03,680 Although the man on the other side couldn't hear the band, he could see in his mind's 522 00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:07,720 eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. 523 00:42:07,720 --> 00:42:11,920 And day after day, this would happen. 524 00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:16,440 Then one morning, the nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find that the 525 00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:19,800 man by the window was dead. 526 00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:23,520 He had died peacefully in his sleep. 527 00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:29,680 She was saddened by this and she called the hospital attendants to take his body away. 528 00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:34,680 As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the 529 00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:36,840 window. 530 00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:41,120 The nurse was happy to make the switch and after making sure he was comfortable, she 531 00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:43,520 left him alone. 532 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:47,040 He couldn't stand just to be flat in the bed. 533 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:52,400 So slowly and painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow and he took his first look 534 00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:55,200 outside that window. 535 00:42:55,200 --> 00:43:00,000 He wanted the joy of finally seeing all of this for himself and as he strained up on 536 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:09,360 his elbow to look out that window, it faced a blank wall. 537 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:14,800 The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his roommate who described such wonderful 538 00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:19,440 things outside his window to give him such hope. 539 00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:25,640 The woman responded that in fact that man was blind and he could not even have seen 540 00:43:25,640 --> 00:43:28,360 the wall, she said. 541 00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:31,960 I think he simply wanted to give you some hope. 542 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:37,280 Friends, you and I are not blind. 543 00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:40,320 There's not a wall outside the window. 544 00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:46,280 You and I can see the vistas of eternity in the distance. 545 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:54,720 We understand the context of life and there are people all around us who are dying because 546 00:43:54,720 --> 00:44:01,940 they can't see out that window and we have the opportunity to be a people of hope. 547 00:44:01,940 --> 00:44:10,160 The kind of a church that's dominated by this trust and this hope in the living God. 548 00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:15,720 The kind of a church that thinks the best of people. 549 00:44:15,720 --> 00:44:19,880 The kind of a church that perseveres through tough times. 550 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:24,020 The kind of a church that is so filled with hope that people come in these doors because 551 00:44:24,020 --> 00:44:36,800 they just want to be a part of a place. 552 00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:56,280 They just want to be a part of a place. 553 00:44:56,280 --> 00:45:17,640 They just want to be a part of a place. 554 00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:37,600 They just want to be a part of a place. 555 00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:57,560 They just want to be a part of a place. 556 00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:17,520 They just want to be a part of a place. 557 00:46:17,520 --> 00:46:37,480 They just want to be a part of a place. 558 00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:57,440 They just want to be a part of a place. 559 00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:17,400 They just want to be a part of a place.