The Hope Jesus Gives

[0:00] Father, we ask that, Father, we confess that we often don't think you want to give us things which are really important to us. Father, that's just a problem many of us have.

[0:12] So we ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would do a gentle but very deep work on us this morning and help us to trust you and to believe you, Father. And we ask in particular that you would grow good hope within us, that you would grow a good hope that allows us to live well for the good of ourselves, the good of this community, the good of our families and our friends, and for your great glory and praise as the gospel is spread.

[0:39] So, Father, grow good hope in us this morning. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. So I've had an interesting or an odd type of week. I had two conversations about suicide this week.

[0:57] And that's not something which I normally have a conversation about. But this week I had several conversations about suicide. One, in one case, it was because it's coming up to the, like almost any day, it will be the one-year anniversary of a very shocking, for this person, a very shocking and gruesome suicide.

[1:19] The one-year anniversary of it. And in the other case, it was a person sharing, I can't remember now if it was two or three, but the person sharing with me how a very close family member has now had either two or three suicide attempts, serious suicide attempts.

[1:37] And it was just in each of those cases, just pure, I mean, some people would just say by chance, others would say by providence of God. A person who wasn't supposed to drop in, who had a key, dropped in and had a key.

[1:49] Like those types of weird situations. And if it hadn't been for that, the person would have successfully committed suicide. And so we had, you know, these conversations about it.

[2:00] And, you know, in both cases, you know, one of the people who'd committed suicide, I mean, it's always tragic, right? In fact, actually, in the one with the several attempts, the person who tried to do it is very wealthy.

[2:16] And in the other case, this is a person who was just brilliant. A doctor, you know, young, like all, from the outside, in both cases, you'd look as if you'd think that these people had everything going for them in their life.

[2:31] You might even wish that you could be like them. You might even be saying, my life sucks, I wish I could be like them, without knowing that one of them would then, as I said, coming up a year ago, commit suicide, very in a gruesome manner.

[2:43] And in both cases, as I'm talking in these cases, they shared how, especially with the person who talked through the person, I can't remember now if it was two or three suicide attempts, they just shared how an overwhelming darkness and hopelessness, overwhelming darkness and hopelessness, just descended upon them and settled upon them, and settled and settled and settled.

[3:11] And, I mean, hopeless doesn't begin to capture the darkness of the state that they were in.

[3:21] Believe it or not, the Bible text that we are going to look at today has an awful lot to say about hope and how to understand hope and God and hope and help anybody to think about hope better.

[3:37] So it'd be a great help for me if you would take your Bibles and turn in them to Ephesians 1, verses 15 to 23. Ephesians 1, verses 15 to 23.

[3:48] And we're going to look at this whole problem of what hope is. And here's the thing to begin with. Isn't it puzzling that we need hope to live? Isn't it puzzling that we need hope to live?

[4:05] Like, most of us might never have thought about it, but we do. Without hope, we want to die. But that's an interesting thing about us as human beings, that that would be so important about us.

[4:20] So let's see what the Bible says. And in this particular case, we'll have the text up on the screen as well for those who don't have your Bibles with you. And hopefully I'm doing this correctly.

[4:31] So this is how it begins. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

[4:46] And we'll just sort of pause there for a second. What I should have mentioned before we started to read this is one of the things which is very puzzling, and if you go back on your own and read the whole letter to Ephesians, is that the man who's writing this is in jail.

[5:02] He's in jail. And in fact, it doesn't sound like he's in jail. I think as I shared last week, if I was in jail writing you folks a letter, it would begin probably, I'm so glad nobody's beat me up yet.

[5:16] Then the second thing might be, get me a better lawyer. The third one might be, pray like crazy or whatever. But when you read this letter, it doesn't sound like it's written by a guy who's in jail.

[5:26] And he's in jail in Rome. The letter is written around somewhere between the year 60 and 62. And he's writing a letter to a group of churches in a place called Ephesus, in what we now know of as Turkey, which was an important city in the Roman Empire at the time.

[5:40] And he writes like this. He actually spent three years, the writer of the letter, spent three years in Ephesus. He planted the church and the multiple churches. But he writes like this because he's been gone from them for several years, but he's heard that they're growing and they're doing really well.

[5:56] And so he's filled with thanks. Right? I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I'm going to say one other thing. So here's a, okay, time out.

[6:09] Grammar geek moment. Time out. You know who you are. Okay? So this is for you. This, 15 to 23 in Greek, is one sentence.

[6:21] No modern editor would ever let you write this sentence today in English. But it's one long sentence. But in the original language, I'm breaking the verses up into six sections because, okay, grammar geek moment, in the original language, this would have been read out loud.

[6:40] Many people were illiterate, right? So this would have been a letter that was written in all of the different churches in Ephesus and the surrounding community. And, and one of the things that they taught you in the ancient world was how to read properly.

[6:51] And so, if you just, trust me on this, if you analyze it in the original letter, there's breathing spots because they were trained to be able to stand. I don't know how they stood, but they would have stood there in a proper way.

[7:03] They read a bit and then there'd be a, and then they'd speak and speak and speak and then be, they breathe. And so it's designed that way and that's how I've divided up the verses. It helps you to understand the units of meaning.

[7:14] Okay, Greek, geek, not Greek, geek moment over back to the rest of you who are not geek grammar nerds. Okay, so, so that's how it begins.

[7:26] He's very thankful and then he's thanking and remembering you in your prayers. And what does he say next? The next thing he says is this. And, this sounds a little bit innocuous, but he actually sort of enters into a very interesting riddle that we don't really think about that often.

[7:44] Look at what he says. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened.

[8:00] Now, that just looks like a pretty innocuous thing, but here's this interesting thing. Remember I said, why is it that we can't live without hope? Like, why is that? Well, here's this other thing.

[8:12] I am not a dog person. I married a dog person, so we have dogs. Louise loves dogs. She also loves birds and fish and all sorts of other things, so we live in a small zoo almost sometimes.

[8:27] But, we have this humongous German shepherd and a dog not quite as big that's a cross between a standard poodle and a sheep dog. The big dog is called Rocky and the smaller dog is called Wooly.

[8:42] But, here's the thing. I observe these dogs and dogs, you know, domesticated dogs, they're pretty high up in terms of animals. Dogs never hope. If you think about it for a second, dogs don't hope.

[8:55] not really. Like, Rocky's not hoping for Christmas. That's a bit too far for us. Rocky's not hoping for Halloween.

[9:08] So, I mean, I observe the dog. It's not as if they're just a lump. Louise, often on many days, she goes to one of our kids and she meets their kids, our grandkids, off the bus because, you know, Victoria can't be home in time for it and so Louise goes and meets the kids, some of our grandkids and, you know, brings them and looks at it and then when Louise comes home at quarter to six or six o'clock or something like that, as soon as she comes in, as soon as she pulls in, the dogs are very excited and because it's six o'clock at night, the dogs know that unless Louise desperately has to go to the bathroom, the very first thing Louise does will be to feed the dogs and they're really excited about that, let me tell you, they really jump up and down, it is a big, big moment.

[9:55] I think actually first she gives them a cookie, then what parents aren't supposed to do with your kids, you don't give them a cookie and then their dinner but it works with dogs, right? So, but I don't think they think all day, I wonder what type of cookie I'm going to have, I hope I get a good, like, dogs don't hope, so just think about it for a second, like, why is it that human beings hope?

[10:16] It's not obvious, like, if naturalistic evolution is true and we're just a result of cause and effect and the natural physical laws and processes, like, we're no more biologically adapted to live well than, well, in fact, they used to say, some of us are old enough, remember when the thing that used to be mutually assured destruction and the worry that there'd be nuclear bombs that would kill everything and the only things that would survive wouldn't be humans, it would be cockroaches, and they never hope, by the way, they're just bugs, right?

[10:51] So it doesn't really add any advantage, like, why do human beings hope? Why do we hope? And why is it that hope is so important to us that without hope we'd die?

[11:02] And in fact, it's even curious because from Eastern religion's point of view, if in the way, like, the CBC or the University of Ottawa would tell you about how you began, which is through blind chance, like, how does hope exist in such a world?

[11:18] Yet from the Eastern religions where there's either this constant cycle, but at the end of the day, all things that exist are a result of an ancient catastrophe where the divine unity somehow or another started to have separation and we're all trying to get back to it.

[11:32] But if it all began by a catastrophe, then why does hope exist? Huh? Like, why? Well, you, now go back and look at the text again because the text actually says we're just so familiar with it we don't realize that the text says something very, very significant.

[11:50] Look at it again. The last bit, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened. See, here's the thing. Human, the Bible teaches that human beings are deep and that we're not just bodies.

[12:06] there's something deeper about a human being. In the language of a heart, we not normally hear it and we think of emotions but in fact, the Bible here is not referring to the fact that human beings have emotions.

[12:21] Dogs have emotions. What it's referring to is the command center. So those of you who really like Star Trek, just picture where Captain Kirk sits and that's the biblical understanding of the heart.

[12:36] that there's something non-physical that makes us human that's obviously connected to our bodies. It's like having bodies isn't sort of an accident or just a chance.

[12:48] We were designed to be a body with a command center that's not purely physical. One being. And this command center, out of this command center, out of this thing which is the very center of who we are, which can't be explained purely by cause and effect or by genetics or biology or anything like that, out of that one command center, this is what's so unique about the Christian worldview because it fits with us.

[13:12] Out of this one command center comes the mind and thinking, comes the mind and imagination, comes the mind and memory. Out of it comes the ability to will, to choose.

[13:22] Out of it comes creativity. Out of it comes feelings and emotions and affections and longings and apprehension of beauty and glory. And out of this one spot, it's not as if there's a, it's not as if there's, over here is the, you know, the feeling part and over here is the willing part and over here is the thinking part.

[13:43] No, there's just one center of a human being and that's how God designed us. And it's because God designed us to be a body with a heart, with a command center that's not purely physical.

[13:57] It's because that God designed this. designed us in such a way not as a catastrophe, not as just mere chance, that we understand that the heart that out of us comes a natural desire to think.

[14:15] If we had a baby and it wasn't showing any sense of thinking, we would be worried. If we had a baby and it showed no sign of ever wanting to smile or cry, we would be worried. If we had a young child and it never had any imagination or creativity, we would be worried.

[14:29] If we had a child and it had no longings, we would be worried. And so in this little tiny thing, we don't realize that one moment, all of a sudden, with this one text, a whole different way of understanding human being is opened up to us.

[14:47] That human beings are deep and that out of the very center of who human beings are, we think, we reason, we remember, we imagine, we will, we feel, not out of different places, but out of one place.

[15:00] Even though, as fallen human beings, we recognize that those things can sometimes be at war. We think one thing and we emote, we feel emotions around another thing and we long for different things. But we understand that they're at war because God, you know, the Eastern religions are right, there is a catastrophe, but the catastrophe isn't what created us.

[15:19] The catastrophe came after God made a good creation and the catastrophe came when we, human beings, desire to be like gods ourselves. And in seeking to do that, we broke our connection with the true and living triune God and division and brokenness entered into our lives.

[15:43] And God made us to hope. If you think about it, go back and look again at the Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Why did God create human beings? He created us to be at home in this universe and he created us to tend the garden.

[15:57] He created us to be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over all of the earth. Now, true confessions, again, I am not a gardener.

[16:09] If you want your garden to die, ask me to be the gardener. If you want all the plants in your house to die, ask me to care for them. I have a black thumb, not a green thumb.

[16:21] But, here's what I understand about gardeners because my wife likes to garden and I know lots of gardeners. You know, you can't tend a garden without hope.

[16:33] Like right now, gardeners are just, you know, there's a sense that they're going to be winding everything up but even as they're winding everything up, as they start to bank things and cover things, it's also, the garden will flourish this coming spring.

[16:47] And over the winter, they'll buy seeds at the right time and they'll start to plant them and try to get them germinating inside their house and they'll think, I know them, they'll talk about, should we buy these types of plants or these types of tomatoes or these types of flowers?

[17:00] I'm thinking of extending this. I think we'll have less corn and rather than that, there will, right? It's hope. They think, they plan, they hope. God created us that way. That's why we can't live without hope.

[17:13] God created us. This text opens us up on this very, very, very profound riddle. But the text then goes on and does something else which is very, very, very interesting.

[17:27] Look again at what it says up there, right? It asks, it asks, that, I have to look at the right spot in my Bible, that may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened.

[17:40] It's very interesting that what he's praying for is that light will come into the center of the hour. Remember what suicide, suicide I described as this overwhelming darkness that comes to you.

[17:53] And Paul's prayer, his insight, is that we need to be praying into people that light comes into the very center of who they are. And then he asks for three very interesting connected things.

[18:08] Look at verses 18 through the beginning of verse 19. And there's three things that he prays for, each begin with the word what. That you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.

[18:23] What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might?

[18:36] Now, these things are like a Rubik's cube. It's not three completely separate things. It's three things which you get aligned just as you want to get the Rubik's cube to be aligned with all the colors in the right way.

[18:48] And they fit with each other and they communicate with each other. And it's not just pie in the sky. In fact, if you look at it, once again, it helps you to understand how we think about hope.

[18:59] I know a person. I haven't had very many conversations with this person for a while. It happens, but because of their past, because of the fact that they were rejected by their dad, they've been rejected by their family, they've had a hard time with bosses, this person's a really, really, really, really hard worker.

[19:34] A really hard worker. But it's other people who will take credit for the work. It's other people who get the promotions. And their entire past just seems to be one of rejection and failure.

[19:45] And so they have no hope for the present or for the future. And others, they look at something, maybe their future, they look at their finances, they look at their health, they see death coming and they have no hope for the future.

[20:02] I know of one person who wanted to get the doctors to administer drugs to them so they could die quickly because they couldn't look good anymore. They couldn't get their hair done and their makeup done.

[20:14] I'm not making this up. Could not get their hair done and their makeup done and wear good clothes because of their medical condition and they wanted to die. The future just looked bleak and bleak and bleak and the present, no power.

[20:25] Look at how this is structured. Just look at, listen to it again, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. So Paul wants Christians, he wants the people in Ephesus to have hope.

[20:36] And the first thing to remember about hope is that God called you. That's the past. Sorry, I guess for you I should point that way. That's the past. You know, the reason you're a Christian is that God called you first.

[20:51] You become a Christian not when you call out to God hoping he'll answer, but when you call out to God who has been already calling you. And you're to remember that God called you.

[21:05] And then he looks to the future and he says, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? In other words, he's telling you to look forward to heaven.

[21:17] This is really, remember, Paul's in jail. And he said, you know, I want you to grow in hope. And one of the ways to grow in hope, one of the ways to have light come into your life is to reflect and remember that God called you to be his child.

[21:32] And one of the things to bring hope into your life is to remember and reflect upon the fact that even though from the world's point of view, you might not be the most successful person. And at some point in time, you who might have been very, very, very beautiful or very, very handsome or very, very important or very, very powerful if you live long enough, all of a sudden you become old and wrinkly and not as important and have no positions of power and the people look through you, not at you, past you, not at you, and all of that.

[21:59] But that's not the final word about you. The final word about you is that God, who has called you, is preparing for you these glorious, like, you are part of God's treasure that he will enjoy forever.

[22:16] You are to understand that in Christ, that is the final word about you. And then it's not just the past and it's not just the future. Look at the next what. The next what says, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might?

[22:37] That that power of God hidden in a body that is frail and aging. That God's power is present and working in you.

[22:52] You see, that's the way, isn't that the way, but aren't those three things all really important in structure and hope that sometimes when you're trying to encourage somebody and hope you want them to think about the past in a different way or you want to say, well, you can't deal with the past but look at the future or look at the present.

[23:05] Just look at the casual wisdom and insight of the Bible as it talks about this particular thing. But some of you might say, well, George, it's all religious stuff but here's the thing which is even.

[23:21] Remember I said, why is it that hope is so important and without hope we die? Why is that? And we talk about the fact that, well, what if it is that there is something human that's not just cause and effect that makes us different than a dog, makes us different than a cockroach, makes us different than an animal, that there's something in fact that only only the fact that we were designed by a triune God for love and fellowship with him and for harmony with the creation and harmony with other human beings, only that can account for the reality of what a human being is like and within that hope makes some sense.

[23:55] But you see, there's something even deeper here is that hope, if it is to be real, real, true, deep, enduring hope has to be something beyond this world.

[24:06] Like, if we are something beyond just the physical, doesn't it make sense that what we should really hope for should be beyond what is just physical?

[24:20] But it goes even more, if you think about it for a second, just like think about it for a second. One of the things that's really neat about having grandchildren, I don't want to harp on this all the time, but one of the things which is really neat about it is they come over and they're all young and so you have the four-year-old grandchild or the three-year-old and my wife has lots of different blocks and, you know, so you get a kid, it's a natural thing at a certain point in time, they like to see if they can make the black blocks as hard as they possibly can.

[24:47] I'm picturing a three-year-old right now and one of the things which is very natural for the 18-month sister tottering around is when they see a block, a pile of blocks like this, she does, pushes them all down.

[25:01] Two natural processes that work at the same time. Child number one, the three-year-old goes, ah, mommy, and the 18-month-old just totters away with a big smile hoping the three-year-old will make a tower of blocks again so they can be knocked down.

[25:17] But here's the thing, isn't really, if all there is is this human life, isn't it really like a three-year-old making a tower of blocks not knowing when the 18-month is going to come and knock them all down?

[25:28] If all there is is life, isn't that what life is really like? I put money aside for my pension, I buy a house, I try to pay off the mortgage, I do this and I don't know if I will be in a car accident tomorrow that will wipe it all out, I don't know if I'll die on my way home, I don't know if tomorrow that lump will turn out to be cancer.

[25:54] That in fact all human life, if all you hope for is in this life, the fact of the matter is is that we are the three-year-old building a tower not knowing when the 18-month-old is going to knock it all down.

[26:10] But the very nature of hope implies that there's something more than that. And what can be more than that? It has to be something outside of this world that fits with the fact that our heart, our soul, our spirit, our mind is not just of this world of cause and effect.

[26:32] If hope is to be real and enduring, there must be something outside and more, but not just all outside, which has nothing to do with now, but is present amongst us.

[26:46] And that's why this next little bit is so important. Look at what it says next. Verse 20. Remember it said, what is it?

[27:00] The immeasurable greatness of his power. That just went on before. The immeasurable greatness of his power. Verse 19, toward us, I believe, according to the working of his great might. Verse 20, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.

[27:13] You see, here's the thing which people don't understand. The Christian faith is not about being good.

[27:25] If you're not good, God will send lightning. He'll get you. It's not about being good, being good, being good, being good, being good. In fact, it's about, amongst other things, coming to the point in time you say, that is a rat race that I am only going to lose.

[27:37] If I am honest with myself, if I am not a Pharisee, I am only going to lose in that. And the Christian life is amongst other things this very counterintuitive message that the door to life is behind you.

[28:00] Accomplishing, accomplishing, accomplishing, accomplishing, accomplishing, planning, religious, spiritual, this, a little bit of that, a bit of meaning, going through life, going through life, going through life. But the door to life begins when you stop.

[28:15] It's called repentance. And you realize that the door to life is behind you. God is calling you back to himself. And it's not just a call.

[28:27] See, this is the wonderful thing about this verse. Look at this verse again. That he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him in his right hand in the heavenly places.

[28:37] You see, the gospel is the message. That it's not just that there's this hope in a God who is distant, who created all things and he's distant. He made us for himself, but he's distant.

[28:51] The message of the gospel is that this distant God became Emmanuel, became God with us, among us, in our mess. But without sinning, without breaking fellowship with God, and this God came and dwelt among us and died on the cross.

[29:09] He died the death that we deserved. All the death which crushes us and brings an end of all of our longings and our yearnings, if this life is all there is, all that death that we deserve and that we will someday face unless Christ returns first for his people, fell on him.

[29:30] He died my death. And the Christian faith is to put your hand out to Jesus and he comes who's called you.

[29:40] He takes your hand. He takes him to yourself, takes me to himself, and I am united with him which is why Paul is saying that even in the midst of my aging, I'm united with Christ.

[29:55] I'm united with Christ. I was united with him in his death and I am united with him as God took a man who died and experienced all there is to experience of death and rose into resurrected life and ascended into the heavens and that is who the lowliest Christian is united with.

[30:23] Paul is in jail because he is a Christian. Paul is in jail because he is a witness to the resurrection of Jesus.

[30:37] That is why he is in jail. He says, you can't stop me from saying that Jesus didn't rise from the dead because if I did that, that would be a lie.

[30:54] I saw him. He rose from the dead. I know he died. I know the grave is empty. I know they never found the body. I saw him. He is alive.

[31:05] And if I have to go to jail because I won't deny that, I will go to jail. in five to six years after this, he dies a gruesome death.

[31:20] And he dies a gruesome death saying, he lives. And he came and died and rose for you.

[31:34] He came and died and rose for you. And then this next little bit as we start to wrap it up.

[31:47] It's something that worries us, but it shouldn't worry us. It's very wise. Look at the next little bit. Verse 21.

[32:00] Remember it says that Jesus was seated at the right hand of the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named not only in this age but also in the age to come.

[32:15] Jesus is above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named not only in this age but in the age to come.

[32:27] See, here's what it opens up for us for hope. Every single one of us have had times when we've talked to a friend to try to talk them out of hoping in something. Really?

[32:39] You hope that guy's going to make you happy? Come on. Smarten up. That guy's going to ruin you. You really think doing that's going to make like we all know what bad hopes are and we all wish that we could intervene and try to have people sort of walk away from bad hopes and pick up good hopes and what this text is pointing to isn't a scary thing but it's saying listen, anything that you might hope in anything that you might hope in put your trust in anything that you might long for Jesus is higher and it's not just that Jesus is higher this is the same guy he's for you he's for you he came because he loves you he came and died for you he took his death he took your death and made it his and he gives you his life and now he's above everything he sees everything he can rule in your life this is good news because the fact of the matter is is that every single one of us have something right now going on in our lives that if we're lucky and if we're wise in a year we will say we shouldn't have been hoping in that he can start to rule your hopes order your hopes see that's what's so important here about this next little bit as well look at this verse 22 and 23 and he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all in all you see this

[34:14] God puts everything under the feet of Jesus he puts Canada he puts United States he puts Russia he puts China he puts hostile spiritual powers he puts idols he puts good things he puts bad things he puts good things he puts good things he puts good things he puts good things he puts good things you're not under his feet why?

[34:37] you are his feet you're his body and the same God who fills all things orders all things comes and fills you to order you and so we can call out to God to give us hope and not just to give us hope but God Lord Jesus Christ may you be our true wise long deep enduring hope and Lord Jesus Christ may you come into me and may you put to death help me to put to death those things that I should not be hoping in because they will only hurt me they are empty things and may you come into my life and may you help me to understand those things I'm hoping for that are wrong that they're bad may you help me to no longer do those and Father may you come and order my hopes because you see when Jesus comes into us it doesn't mean that like for the gardener it doesn't mean well I can't hope for a nice garden next June because I have to only hope in Jesus no no he doesn't say just pretend you're not physical pretend you're only spiritual and only hope no no he comes to restore hope to order hope to put them in the right place that there be a harmony and a unity and a union of hopes all centered in Jesus our great hope who came and died for us and rose from the dead and is above all powers and authorities and fills all things and he is present not just in me but in us his church and he doesn't come and fill us so that we should rule no he fills us so we will proclaim who Jesus is and so we will bless just close how do I grow good hope here's the first thing ask the question think and pray about it how many of us ever actually say

[36:49] Lord what's good hope that's a good question to bring to Jesus it's a good question to bring to your friends what's good hope and then ask what are my functional hopes like what are the hopes that actually go on in my life like how much of my happiness depends true story I shouldn't say this I went through a period of about eight years seven years maybe where I didn't follow sports I was walking to school one day true story this is before the senators okay so give me some grace and the maple leafs had lost the night before and I was sick to my stomach and it was as if God said to me George why did your happiness all depend upon whether the maple leafs live win and I realized I had to go cold turkey I had to dive I had to stop following sports completely like what a stupid thing to base a person's happiness on is whether a group of guys who don't know you who happen to wear a blue jersey win a game like what are your functional hopes and one more thing before I do this final slide I want to say something here it was in my notes

[38:08] I forgot to say it if there is anybody here today who's struggling with suicide you need to talk to somebody talk to somebody before you leave okay talk to somebody before you leave in fact if you're struggling with hope speak to one of the people beside you leave the church go talk to them about it you got to deal with it don't do something foolish that will end up in you dying okay you really need to deal with it and for some of us remember I said how Jesus by ruling over all of our hopes it doesn't mean he stops using means for some of us we need to maybe have we need to see a doctor we need to have some other type of professional help you need to talk to a counselor you don't just say well because I'm going to hope in Jesus he's going to take away this no no no no no no no no no no no speak to come and speak to somebody okay please do that and you might you might need to talk to counselor you might need to see a doctor who can give you some help while you sort some of these things out but one final slide here's what we pray ask Jesus to help you to kill all false hopes ask Jesus to help you to kill all false hopes ask him to help you to kill all fell hopes in quotes fell just means evil if you're hoping that somebody who hurt you that they lose their job that their dog dies their car breaks down they break a leg yeah it's not good got to be working on forgiveness you want that hope to die ask

[39:49] Jesus to help you ask Jesus to order your disordered hopes to put your hope that the sends win in a proper place finish 30th it'll be a good year ask Jesus to be your highest deepest fullest enduring ruling hope and ask Jesus to grow hope in you ask him to grow hope in you ask him for it please stand let's bow our heads in prayer father we thank you so much that you know what's going on in each of the lives that are present in this room and and those who will be listening to this sermon later on online father you know what's going on in their lives and and so father we thank you that you know what's going on in our lives and still you love us so you sent Jesus to die and father if there's anyone here who has not given their life to Jesus and they feel a tug as a result of this father please come upon them in a powerful way help them to realize that you are calling them to be yours you are hoping they will stop walking away from you to understand the door to eternal life is behind them that they need to stop and turn and look at you and look at your son who died on the cross for them father may this be the day that they come to saving faith in

[41:22] Jesus and father you know those of us who are struggling with despair struggling with darkness struggling with hopelessness around different things father please grow within us good hope just as I've put up here father help us to die to false hopes to recognize them and die to them help us to die to things we are hoping for that are just morally wrong father please come in and order our hopes because they can be so disordered we can hope too much in some things and not enough in something else and most of all father may Jesus be our deep hope grow in us a deep hope that Jesus is the ruler he is the savior that he is the one who is fitting us for heaven father grow in us this deep hope and make each of us in the midst of our circumstances whether it's health problems or health successes or financial problems or financial success father grow in us good hope and this we ask in Jesus's name and all God's people said amen