271 ~ REKINDLED ~ HONEST HOPE ~ PART 4

We welcome you to the VI Zion Sermon Podcast.

We are a church based out of Chennai, India.

We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will

be refreshed, revived and energized by what you hear.

Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of

purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.

The year 2025 is 1 where we will be positioned by God to possess

our promise. We start a new sermon series

called Rekindled where we look closer at our own lives and ask

the Holy Spirit to revive and restore things that have gone

dormant in the dry seasons of our souls.

We pray that this series will help you dive deeper into

yourself and see where you need more of God.

Hi Church, such a joy and a privilege for me to bring God's

Word to you today. For those of you watching and

for those of you listening, I pray that even as you hear God's

Word, it'll fall on the good fertile soil of your heart.

Just last week and the week before that, we saw what fertile

faith looks like. And last week we saw what

fragrant faith looks like. And the week before this, we saw

why we need to have faith, such as a fiery faith in US.

And the reason why we've entered into this series called

Rekindled is because our faith, our hope, and our love have to

be rekindled. It can't be dominant over a

season, over a period of time. We claim that we have faith,

love and hope. But it's in this Rekindling, we

realize that there are so many things that we are set in our

ways. There are so many things we've

convinced ourselves. This is what faith is.

This is what love is. This is what hope is, and I want

us to come to a place where we will allow the Holy Spirit to

rekindle our hearts once again. Our hearts so that we believe

once again, our Spirit man, so we'll be thirsty once again, our

physical bodies that will be geared up to do what God's

calling us to do. And so even today as we look

into the continuation of this, we're going to step into the

topic of hope. And my title today is called

honest hope. The rekindling that happens when

we see the Holy Spirit, when we give him access, especially

after we've just come through the entire Pentecost series.

We see that when he when we allow him into our lives, he

rekindles even our hope. Many a times the hope that we

have, many times the hope that we see is so limited.

I don't know about you, but many times when I think about hope,

when I think what I'm hopeful for, a lot of times I'm looking

it through my faith lens or it's my faith size hope.

But God is telling today. Would you have a God sized hope

today? And that has to come to a place

of being honest where we say God, I only can hope for so

much. But when you are in me, when you

are with me, when you are the future, when you say you are the

same yesterday, today and forever, I am willing to trust

in a God says hope. And so we the baseline for the

entire thing is faith. Because without faith none of

this would exist. As we strengthen the faith, as

you go through what fertile soil looks like, as you look through

the fragrant in the crushing is when we are becoming a fragrant

to everyone who are around in that we start having hope.

So I want to ask us today, what do we consider as hope?

If I have to look into the meaning of hope, it's to want

something to happen and you want it to be true.

You have a good reason it might happen or may not happen.

And that's what hope is defined as, as a dictionary.

But I want to go back to what the Word of God says, because

the Word of God doesn't leave room for doubt.

It's certain. And I want us to come to that

place. Romans chapter 5 verses 1 to 5

Romans 5:1–5

is what we have taken as a key passage today, and therefore

this and this is what it says in Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have

peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we

have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now

stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings because we

know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance,

character, and character hope. And hope does not put us to

shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts

through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Even as I mentioned, the outcome of our faith is hope.

Even as we read this, Paul constantly draws our attention

to the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.

What is the hope that we have that whatever is happening here

on earth, we are assured of eternity with Jesus?

And so today, you and I are definitely going through a lot

of things. You and I definitely need a lot

of hope for the things that we're going through.

You know, 10 years back, we probably needed some kind of

hope. Today in 2025, we need some kind

of hope. We don't know what the future

holds, but Jesus is telling us. And Paul is also reminding us

through the Romans to keep our eyes fixed on eternity because

the problem is when we don't have our eyes fixed on the

eternity of hope that is given, that's not changing.

Jesus is coming back. The world is going to be judged.

God is going to set apart those who follow him and those who

don't follow him. All these are for sure.

That's what our faith is built on.

That's the cornerstone of our faith, that Jesus Christ came to

seek and save that which was lost.

We who are lost are all now saved.

And so today as we look into this, the word hope in the Greek

means elpis, which is properly expectation of what is sure,

expectation of what is sure. It's to anticipate.

It's to welcome properly and expectation of what is sure.

World explains it as it might happen, or we'll hope for the

outcome of this to be good. We hope that they might be doing

well. We hope.

But the Bible says it's an expectation of what is sure it's

going to happen. And so today I want us to go

back to what Paul's saying. Our hope is in the glory of God,

the resurrected Savior. He's seated on the right hand of

the Father. He's coming back.

There's no change in that. And as we read this letter,

what's encouraging is the fact that he wants us to realize that

our faith has to be in Jesus. He constantly takes us back to

that because we are living in a world where our faith often

times is so fluctuating. If I have to ask you on Monday,

what is your faith in or who is your faith on?

You would soon realize there are so many questions we have for

those of us who are going through sickness.

A lot of times our faith is on our doctor, our faith is in the

medicine that we take. It's all add-ons.

The main faith has to be in Jesus because when we have our

faith in Jesus, everything else starts making sense.

He then starts when you see here Paul, he talks about having

faith in Jesus. He then talks to them about the

fave moving towards hope where they are assured of what will

happen when we close our eyes. Paul in this discourse always

ends with the hope that we will experience with Jesus face to

face. You know, just recently in the

place where we stay there was the residents who were all

staying had raised a concern and the concern was that the tedious

level of the water was getting too much.

And then me and Tina as we saw the comments going back and

forth in this chats. And for most of you who are

probably in all these association chats and when you

see things go back and forth to banter, you realize that

sometimes what we are fighting for is so few time.

One person argued that everything is getting spoiled

because of the hard water. One person argued that the

resale value of the flat is begin coming down.

But I just realized as this was happening, God, my hope is not

on it. I want to allow my hope to be

dictated by things that can take me off track.

Because these are small things, but we can make it big things.

And so today I want you to realize, what are we making?

What are the small things that we are taking?

And we are making it big. Because when we realize what

God's calling us to have hope, we will realize that it's far

bigger than what we've ever thought of.

You know, growing up I've been to a lot of I used to play the

keyboard music for a lot of these meetings which are

happening in prime between. And one of the words that I keep

hearing is of CT stud. And it says here only one life

will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will

last. And so even today, as we've

titled it as honest hope, it's for us to come to a place to

realize is my hope free of deceit?

Is my hope truthful? Is my hope sincere?

Because that's where we will see the migration between our faith

to hope happen. So as we look into the

Scriptures, I want us to be, I want us to be aware and allow

the Holy Spirit to say, God, if my hope is not honest, I'll come

back to you, Lord, I'll come back to you.

I want to read a verse from Proverbs, chapter 13, verse 12.

Proverbs 13:12

I'm reading for the passion. And this is what it says.

When hope's dream seems to drag on and on, the delay can be

depressing. But when at last your dream

comes true, life sweetness will satisfy your soul.

A lot of us probably know the worst in NIV, and I want to read

that too. Hope deferred makes the heart

sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

And I pray that as we wait, because one of the key

ingredients of having hope is waiting, one of the key

ingredients of having hope is to realize that this the journey is

long. One of the key ingredients of

realizing of hope is to realize that one day God will make it

come to pass. So what I'm saying is that OK,

you might be like eternity is set, yes, but what about my hope

here on earth? God answers, God sees, God

provides, God will come through. But will you be honest?

Would you be sincere with the hope that you have?

Because often times we have added too many layers to it.

That's it's dependent on our parents is dependent on our

children is dependent on our circumstances.

It's dependent on our job. God saying, can I bring you to a

place where you'll have honest hope?

You know, I was as I was meditating, I was reminded of

this passage in Genesis chapter 28 was 16 to 22, which I want to

Genesis 28 · chapter mention

read. It's the story of Jacob.

He had cheated his brother. He saw of his birthright he had

stole, in fact he and his mother had conceived and had taken the

birthright blessing from his father and he's on the run.

He's going to his uncle's house and in that he comes to a place

and he puts his head to rest. And this is what happens in

Genesis 28 or 16 or 22 when Jacob awoke from his sleep, he

thought surely the Lord is with is in this place and I was not

aware of it. He was afraid and said, how

awesome is this place? This is none other than the

House of God. This is the gate of heaven.

Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone he had placed

under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top

of it. Then he called the place Bethel,

though the city used to be called Lust.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, If God will be with me and will

watch over me on this journey I am taking, and will give me food

to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my

father's household, then the Lord will be my God.

And this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's

house. And of all that you give, I will

give you a tenth. Jacob's earthly hope was fused

when he, when he had this dream of, you know, a stairway with,

with angels going up to heaven and on earth.

When he woke up with that, he knew God was presented.

As he made this vow to God, he realizes that if you look into

his life, everything that he says is all around himself.

The hope is around himself. And I want us to come to a

place. This is a good place to start

where you say God, This is where I am at Lord, and then you allow

faith to really step up. When faith steps up, hope

automatically steps up. And this is what we see.

What happens here is we see Jacob needed a few things from

God, but God's plans were different.

They had to be unfolded. He had to go through this

journey. His ask of God was to watch him

over his journey, return safely to his Father's household.

And in the end, when we look, we'll see that God did far

beyond than what he could have imagined.

And so today as we start meditating on this, there are

three things that I want to highlight as we look into this.

The first thing is our honest hope is birthed out of our

personal salvation. Our honest hope is birthed out

of our personal salvation. You know, when we go back to the

time when we were saved, we were aware of our sinful nature.

And because of receiving Christ and his forgiveness and his

grace over our lives, we suddenly are not operating out

of the yoke of sin, rather out of the freedom that comes from

Christ. And suddenly hope changes.

And So what happens in this moment?

Suddenly we who are not aware of the circumstances and the

consequences of eternity, suddenly are aware of it.

What seemed hopeless, we are hopeful because of Christ Jesus.

And so today I want us to go back to the place where we all

should have a hope that's been birthed out of our personal

salvation. You know, a lot of us have gone

through hardships in life. A lot of us are going through,

you know, our old man was something different.

Had we been in that track, we would have ended up differently.

But God, out of his sheer grace and mercy, has shown upon our

life and has redeemed us once and for all.

And today, you and I get to sit here.

We get to worship God. We get to give thanks to God.

We get to say, God, you be glorified.

But in the midst of all of this, can we say, God, I want you also

to resurrect my hope out of this personal salvation.

I'm not having hope of one that's condemned of sin, but I'm

having hope of one who's been redeemed from sin.

I'm not having I'm not having hope from a place of being, you

know, broken and desolate, but I'm having hope from a place of

being set being worked on by the maker.

Let's continue reading from Romans chapter 2, verse 13.

Romans 2:13

It goes on to say, for it is not those who hear the law who are

righteous in God's sight, but it's those who obey the law who

will be declared righteous. In fact, when you look in Romans

Romans 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, he Paul has this argument where he goes on to say

he talks about the Jews, where he says you have been so focused

on the outwardly, you've made everything out about the

outwardly. You've you've given so much

importance to that that you forget that those who hear the

law insist on those who are Jews who are righteous before God.

But anyone who obeys God's word is righteous and that changes

everything. And so today in our step one is

accepting Jesus Christ as a Lord and personal savior.

And most of us have done that. If you've not done that, I would

love to journey with you, get in touch with us.

We would love to walk with you in that and introduce Jesus

Christ as a Lord and personal Savior.

Step 2 is what we commit to the waters of baptism.

What is the committing of what the waters of baptism say?

Lord, I am no longer out of the world.

I'm yours. I belong to Jesus, the world

behind me, the cross before me. I am following Jesus and not the

world. And so today that is Step 2.

Step 3 is we continue to grow in reading, in meditating and

living out the gospel. We just don't read.

We just don't know the law or we start living it out in this day

and age. And so today what happens when

we do that, others around will see there's something different

about him. There's something that God's,

he's got God in him. He's got joy in him.

He's got hope in him. Galatians chapter 2, verses 19

Galatians 2:19–21

to 21. It says for through the law, I

died to the law so that I might live for God.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but

Christ lives in me the life I now live in the body.

I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave me,

gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of

God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law,

Christ died for nothing. Paul says here I died to the

law, which means the law is fulfilled and now it's Christ.

So now no longer are you called to give sacrifices in different

times of the year, you'd rather go to Jesus.

You ask for forgiveness, receive the grace that He extends, ask

Him for strength to overcome the enemy, because only he can

overcome with his help. We overcome in Christ my living

faith. I am being made righteous in

Jesus Christ, died and is risen again, and we get to spend

eternity. That is the hope.

But in him, in this world, we have hope that we can bring

light everywhere we go. You and I no longer have to go

to a designated place. We are not anywhere we go as

long as we bear His name. We become His witnesses.

And so our personal salvation births hope.

So I pray that today as we think about this, we don't, we don't

just keep the hope contained to ourselves.

Yes, my name is in the book. Yes, I am assured of eternity.

But there's more to it. Else you're not reading your

Bible. Else you're not growing to be,

you're not growing to become mature believers, Else you're

not putting what you're learning from the Word into practice.

It has to go beyond that. It we are just not looking for a

ticket. We are looking to live out His

glorious life here on earth. Here on earth.

Our personal salvation cannot force us to just think of

ourselves. Personal salvation assures us of

our personal hope. But the personal hope is to move

us from seeing His redemptive work for the world.

Because Jesus just didn't come for you.

He just didn't come for me. He came for the entirety of

mankind. And so today, what we receive,

we also receive His love for the entirety of mankind.

And so I pray that His redemptive work for the world,

it was never meant to be personal.

And So what happens of this is we have an overhaul of hope.

He reshakes everything. He we suddenly live that God has

blessed us with hope. We get to oversee our hope

because everything that we do, we look at it with hopeful eyes.

We also get to have this hope imparted to many others.

I want to go back to a passage in Luke chapter 12, verses 13 to

Luke 12:13–21

21. And this is where Jesus talks

about a rich person who suddenly decides to build storehouses and

he talks and he tells you and I just want to go through that

entire verse. It says here in Luke chapter 12

Luke 12:13–21

verses 13 to 21, someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell

my brother to divide the inheritance with me.

Jesus replied, man who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between

you. Then he said to them, watch out.

Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.

Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.

And he told them this parable. The ground of a certain rich man

yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, what

shall I do? I have no place to store my

crops. Then he said, this is what I'll

do. I will tear down.

I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I

will store my surplus grains. And I'll say to myself, you have

plenty of grain laid up for many years.

Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry.

But God said to him, you fool this very night your life will

be demanded from you. Then you will get what you have

prepared for yourself. This is how it will be with

whoever stores up things for themselves.

But it is it not rich toward God.

As we read this passage, there are two things.

One, Jesus is saying there is so much more than possession.

So if you're in a place today where you are.

Actually in feud with some of your siblings, with or with

your, with your extended families, Bring God into that

mix. Bring God into the mix because

it'll show you where your hope is really yet is it on the

possession or is it really on God?

I pray that this will minister to you.

The second thing that we see from this is we have to be very

careful because when he had a rich plentiful harvest that is

spent already think he just thought of building storehouses

and he thought that he can retire.

Hope doesn't cause me to retire, but hope causes me to see God in

every season. The point of God's blessing is

not for us to build storehouses so that we can retire early and

in fact, this is a contradiction to the current culture that is

being spoken about. Everyone is talking about you

know what I want to retire my 40s.

I want to retire my 50s. I want to make sure I have the

Esop's. I want to make sure I have built

wealth. I want to make sure I have this

all that sounds good but is a hope on that because the world

without knowing. We'll move you towards thinking

you know what I need to make a good bank balance so that I'll

be set. That is not from God, that is

from the enemy because he uses money to lure us.

What I'm asking us to have is the fact that we be right right

with money. We learn how to spend, we learn

how to save, we learn how to set up at something for our future.

We learn how to give to God. We learn how to be better

stewards, but the bottom line is where is our hope lying at?

Because his hope was on his storehouses.

And that's what God said. If I had to take your life

today, what happens to everything?

And I want to position that to you today is our hope is our

guarantees, our future in our storehouses here on earth.

What are our storehouses looking like?

What are a storehouses looking like?

Even as I speak about this, don't think we shouldn't.

It says in Proverbs 1322, it says a good person leaves an

inheritance for their children's children, but a sinner's wealth

is stored up for the righteous. A good person leaves an

inheritance for his children's. So he doesn't even talk about a

godly person, just says a good person, which means a person.

A good person is a person who's learnt contentment.

A person who's learnt to do good with what they have leaves it

for his children's children. That's two generations down.

Just imagine if God is calling you and me into that space, what

is it looking like? And so today I want us to go

back to that question I first asked.

The first thing in our honest hope is it being birthed out of

our personal salvation. Because if our personal

salvation is not growing, our hope won't grow.

If our personal times with God is not growing, our hope won't

grow. And I pray that we'll move to

that place. I pray especially even as we

come to a conclusion of the first thing.

For those of you who have not committed your lives, I would

say make prayerfully make that decision to acknowledge that

Jesus is God, Saviour all our lives.

For those of you who've been living, can we start being

intentional about His instructions?

May we not just become so rigid that we think, you know what, I

know God's Word, That's it. Allow God's Word to permeate,

allow it to shape you, allow it to make you a vessel so that you

can be a blessing in the way God wants you to be.

The second thing that we see with regard to honest hope is

honest hope is lived out with perseverance is lived out with

perseverance. Once our hope is refined with

our salvation, we see as Christ follows that we have to go

through a journey here on earth and that requires hope.

And many a times we as Christians, we know many who

some of you probably have given up journeying saying, you know,

it's just too hard for me to live this Christian life.

And you've probably checked out, some of you probably have gone

in 10 years and you're like, God, where is this heading?

I don't see anything happening. And for some, probably you've

seen it happen in different stages.

But now you're like, God, I'm just so desperate.

I'm just so desperate to see something.

And so today, even as we read, I just want to encourage you that

God wants us to persevere so that we'll see this honest hope

come to life. And as I make this point, I'm

also mindful that when we have to live out this hope, where our

eyes are locked in matters. Today, when we look into this

hope that God's calling us to have and persevere for what our

eyes locked onto is locked onto people.

Is it locked onto the things of the world?

Is it locked onto situations? Is it locked onto circumstances?

Can it be locked onto Jesus? Because when it's locked onto

Jesus, you will see you'll have strength to face another day.

You'll have encouragement to persevere every step of the way.

Romans chapter 5, verse 3 says not only so, but we also glory

Romans 5:3

in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces

perseverance, perseverance, character, and character hope.

And there's a progression to this whole thing.

When we say sufferings, there are hardships that will come.

You and I will face hardships. And that's the beauty about

following Jesus. When we gather here, when we

have so many people who come, everyone is going through

hardship, everyone is going through some kind of suffering

or the other. Everyone is going through that.

But what do we get when we come together?

We get a sense of renewed purpose, a renewed vigor and

strength to say, Lord, I'm ready to face this week ahead.

That's why community is important.

That's why the Church of God is important.

That's why we gather in his name.

That's why we break bread and partake of the cup to say God.

We want to see see it come through.

When we do that very act, we are acknowledging, saying we're

going ahead with and saying Lord, you committed to your

entire journey fully. He didn't give up on Gethsemane

and Gethsemane, Jesus looked up to God and said, God, let it be

your will, not my will. And so today when we partake of

the bread week on week and when we partake of the cup, you're

saying, God, I'm in this now. I don't want to give up, Lord.

Yeah, my faith is shaky, but I still want to perceive here.

I still want to perceive here. I still want to perceive because

that builds character and character in turn gives us hope,

gives us hope. James One verse 12 says blessed

is the one who persevere under the trial because having stood

the test, that person will receive the crown of life that

the Lord has promised to those who love him.

I want to ask you today for those of you especially who are

persevering through just being a solo person who has come to know

Jesus, it's it's a hard journey. Don't give up.

Jesus is there, he's watching For those of you who are

probably living out the consequences of your sin, have

hope. He can turn things around.

He can turn things around. God can, God will.

You know, many a times we think, yes, God, eternity is said.

So our prayers are likely. Good Lord, if I can close my

eyes, I can spend eternity with you where there won't be pain,

there won't be sorrow. Yes, but God saying son and

daughter, I want to see you become mature believers.

I want to see you become a seasoned Christian wherein

you've just produced through your procedures, you've produced

character, your characters become better.

And God wants us to become more refined so that we will be His

into that original design He has created.

As I'm speaking this, I'm also speaking it over my soul, my

personality. I'm speaking it over my own

spirit. Because many a times my body

tends to give up my spirit. Man tends to give up.

My soul is downcast. And today, can we persevere

today in the midst of difficulty, in the midst of

hardship, in the midst of not being understood, in the midst

of being challenged, in the midst of finding confusion, Can

we say, God, I will trust you no matter what till I see my

breakthrough? Hope is seen when hopelessness

is at its maximum. But what is our response going

to be today? Because that's very important.

Two Corinthians chapter 12 verses 1710 says this where Paul

tells the Corinthian church. The extraordinary level of

revelations I've received is no reason for anyone to exalt me.

For This is why a thorn in my flesh was given to me.

That was these messengers sent to harass me, keeping me from

becoming arrogant. 3 times I pleaded with the law to relieve

me of this, but he answered, My grace is always more than enough

for you, and my power finds it's full expression through your

weakness. So I will celebrate my weakness.

For when I'm weak I sense more deeply the mighty power of

Christ living in me, so I'm not defeated by my weakness, but

delighted. For when I feel my weakness and

endure mistreatment, when I'm surrounded with troubles on

every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ, I

am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal

for God's power. The reason why I'm reading this

is cause many a times we look at the very struggles that we're

going for lot of us it's our it's our physical limitations.

It's probably a skin disease that we have.

It's probably our bone arthritic pain, or it's probably some of

the limitations that our body has in terms of digestion, in

terms of whatever we're going through.

But Paul is reminding us here that shouldn't be the cause that

pulls us back. The attack of the enemy is real.

He will use all that you're going through to pull us down,

to harass us. But God's grace is manifested in

our weakness. That is an evidence of God being

mixed into the door of our lives.

When you're sick, His strength comes in and helps us to see it

in a light, new light. Some of us are probably having,

you know, hereditary ailments that have been passed on, or

probably some of us are having things in the midst of that.

Would you not give that the final say?

But would you give God the final say to say, God, what is it that

I need to tap into you so that I can overcome this?

It says here that it's a portal that I can see God's power

through. So are you able to see God's

power through some of your weaknesses?

I'm not talking about the weaknesses of sin that we need

to overcome, but the limitations that some of us have with regard

to whatever we are going through.

In fact, some theologians I disagree with the fact that it

wasn't a sickness. It was probably the persecution

and the turmoil that he was going through because of being a

lover of Jesus. Paul celebrates the weakness

because in celebrating, he's testifying about God's hand over

his life. And I pray So today when someone

comes in front and says, I had a hard week, but yet God came

through, we need to give a clap and say thank you, God, thank

you that you persevered today. If you've shown up here, if

you're listening to this in the midst of a dark cloud

surrounding your head, in the midst where you didn't feel like

waking up out of your bed saying God is asking you, would you

persevered through this? Would you push through this?

Because when we persevere, we give access to God's portal.

What's God's portal, Lord? It was not my strength, but you

gave me strength, Lord, and my weakness, Lord, I didn't feel

like doing this, but you gave me the strength.

I didn't have insight to this, but you gave me strength.

I didn't have power, but you gave me strength, Lord.

And when you look into Paul's life, you know, when you read in

Two Corinthians Chapter 11, verses 23 to 29, you see that

he's been he's been flogged many times.

He's been exposed to death time and again.

He's received 40 lashes 3 times. He's been beaten with rods once

he's been pelted with stones. Three times he's been

shipwrecked. And night and day he was in open

sea. He was constantly on the move.

He was in danger from rivers, from bandits.

He was in danger from fellow Jews, danger from Gentiles,

danger the city, danger the country, danger at sea, danger

from false believers. He's gone without food, without

sleep. Everything that he faced, he

says at the end of it in Two Corinthians Chapter 11, verse

13. I must boast, I will boast of

the things that show my weakness.

Perseverance develops my character, but it causes me to

acknowledge the need of a saviour even before that,

because when character is being developed, it has to change an

aspect of a character that's already existing.

And that requires pushing through.

That requires pushing through. Today a lot of us will face a

lot of hardships in our being honest hope when we ask saying

God, I want honest hope in my life, Lord Jesus and it if you

have to live out with perseverance, how do we live

that out? It takes it.

It's lived out with perseverance, which means

hardships will come. The journey will have its Rd.

bumps. The journey will have things

that come up which will make it even more hard.

But would you push through? Because God has not given us a

spirit of fear, but of one which one which is of love and of

sound mind. Sound mind to know, Lord, I

can't do it, but you can't do it.

To go from the God of Lord. This is, it seems like an

impossibility to me. But Lord, I'm asking you, the

God of impossibilities to come into this, come into this.

You know, just a couple of weeks back, I was spending some time

with the pastor. And as I was talking to him, he

was sharing from his life of as he had mentioned, you know, I

can't come on Sunday, I'll come only on Sunday evening.

And as I was talking with him, he said, my daughter's

graduating and it's a big deal for me.

And I asked how did the graduation go?

And he said, you know what? It's as a family, it's a really

big thing. We never, I thought we would see

this day, but it's so nice to see hopes come true.

And he was just talking back in 2020 when his daughter had

joined into college and when COVID had set in, she had gone

through a mental breakdown. And in that mental breakdown

they found out that she was having, she was been diagnosed

as a bipolar. And what should have been a

three-year course became A7 year course for her to do.

And the family walked through that.

The family walked through that. And in the end, after seven

years when she's graduating, as they were there for the

graduation ceremony, he said we were tasting God's fruit of what

hoping in God looks like. And one thing you need to be

sure, the timeline looks long, but it was just not one person.

It was an entire family that persevered through that.

And I want to pray today and thank God especially for those

who walked out of those persevering moments with

victory, because you've won. You've trampled over so many

things. You've won over so many things,

and God's gracing you for much more.

And we rejoice with you. But I want to ask those who are

wanting to give up midway to say, God, would you strengthen

your feet? Would you strengthen their

hands? Would you strengthen your

spirit? And I would ask today, would you

extend that perceiving hope to others?

A lot are hopeless today. Would you stand in the gap for

someone else? Would you allow?

Because today, if the church has to be radiant, it will be only

when we stand for others. Today when we are standing with

others for their miracle, today when we are standing with for

others for their breakthrough, today when we are standing for

others and interceding, today when we are standing for others

and warring and bringing down this powers of darkness is when

we'll see God come through. So today as we conclude the

second point I want to ask today, are we stuck trying to

hold a pity party for ourselves or are you really persevering?

If you do not rise up, no one will rise up for us.

This is a decision you personally have to take.

Jesus has already won the victory.

He has done his job and it's it's our time to do our job

because he's paved the way. He's made a way.

He's saying trust me, involve me in this journey.

Hardships will come, but joy comes in the morning.

Amen. The third part is honest.

Hope is shared to draw others to God.

Are we willing to run this race till the end so that we can

share in His glory? Yes, but also are we willing to

share what He's given to us till we close our eyes here on this

earth? One of the things Paul

constantly reminds the church tells the churches we are not

done till we close our eyes here on this earth.

And you know when as as me and my wife have been journeying

with quite a few people, you know, we've been seeing how hard

journey gets. It's one thing to start and be

so passionate in your 30s and we don't want you to die down.

Rather we wanted to exponentially increase.

What does that mean? So that when we go into our 80s,

we are more hopeful than ever before.

We are more vibrant than ever before.

We are living out God's life than ever before.

You know, one of the biggest challenges that I personally

take, you know, is when I see a man who's twice as old to me.

You know, Ken, who's a good friend, he's 85 years old and

he's doing God's work still today, even after losing his

wife. He's so passionate and that is a

constant reminder of what the whole gospel looks like because

the whole gospel is to trust, knowing that God has blessed

him. He has a family, he has

grandkids. Life is full.

He can always go back to it, but he's like God.

There's a thirst for many more to receive Jesus.

There's a thirst to see many more come into your Kingdom and

that is where we see the Great Commission being fulfilled

today. You and I are wanting to fulfill

the Great Commission today, but hope is what will keep us going.

So what, what, what do I mean by that?

Today? What I do will determine what I

do when I get old. If I'm not doing anything today,

I can be assured when I get old I won't be doing anything today.

And that's why we call everyone to serve God's Kingdom in

whatever capacity you can today. Because if you don't have hope

for today in serving God, you will be assured when you get

older you'll just by be yourself.

Yeah, you know God is good. You'll be content and that's all

good. But will it be full?

Would it have built character? Would you have perceived?

Through everything is where the question lies.

Paul clears the air that each of us have to do our part.

The hope that our eyes are locked and will make room for

others to partake of it. We will soon realize we're just

one part of the light attracting them to Jesus.

One Corinthians chapter 3 verses 5 to 11.

And this is a fundamental problem that we have.

We always think others will do it.

No, even my part in this is important.

My part in this is important. Here Paul addresses that to the

Corinthians. Judge in one Corinthians 3 was 5

to 11. After all, who is Apollos?

Who is Paul? We are only God's servants

through whom you believe the good news.

Each of us did the work the Lord gave us.

I planted the seed into your hearts, and Apollos watered it.

But it was God who made it grow. It's not important who does the

planting or who does the watering.

What's important? Is that God makes a seed grow.

The one who plants and the one who waters works together with

the same purpose, and both will be rewarded for your own hard

work. For we are both God's workers

and you are God's field. You are God's building.

Because of God's grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an

expert builder. Now others are building on it.

But who is building on this foundation must be careful.

No one can lay any foundation other than the one we have

already have, that is Jesus Christ.

Paul is confident that because of this hope locked in, he's

able to build the foundation God's called him to build, that

is on Jesus Christ. And so today, when you and I are

doing God's work, let comparison go out.

Because if we have to be honest about our hope, we need to

realize that God, in this journey that you're calling me,

this is what you're calling me to do.

There'll be seasons where I'll be doing A, but if I'm not doing

AI won't be able to do B because when I in my doing A and when

I'm, when I'm God moves me to B, He allows me to encourage others

to do A when I move to CI, encourage the other few who are

there to do B. Suddenly we realize we are all

working together on God's field. What started as one.

Suddenly there are a multitude of people who are willing to

till the soil, to plow the field, to put the seed, to water

the plant, to make sure the fertilizers are put in, to make

sure you're there showing up every day in the field to see

people being saved and coming into the saving knowledge of

Jesus Christ when I hope is shared to draw others to Jesus.

We need to realize that we play an equation.

We are not the equation. We are part of the equation.

We are not the equation itself. And many a times we think, Oh,

my time is done. No, God always has an unfolding

that happens. And when that unfolding happens

is when He reveals a part of His will for our plan.

And I want to extend that because if we are not aware of

what God's calling us to do today, because if we are not

taking that fate step today, hope will fail or cease to exist

today. What is God laying on your

heart? The city needs you.

Our pin codes need you. Everyone of humanity needs an

aspect of us. Would we rise up today?

Would we be honest to say God? I won't be content with just my

name being on the book. I make sure I'm able to draw

many others so that their names will be filled into it.

Hope, honest hope, which is shared, draws others to God.

And so today I want to encourage you Philippians.

One was 15 to 18. Paul constantly reminds the

church, don't whatever is being preached.

Some, he says here it is true that some preach Christ out of

envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.

The latter do sort of love knowing that I'm put here for

the defence of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of

selfish ambition, not sincerely supposing that they can stir up

trouble for me while I'm in chains.

But what does it matter? The important thing is that in

every way, whether from false motives of true, whether from

false motives or true, Christ is preached.

And because of this, I rejoice. You know, one of the important

things I want to emphasize here is you and I are not called here

to be judged. We aren't here to sit here to

you know how the judges sit during Olympics when they're

doing that insane rhythms and moves on the in front of them.

They just take and they put 10-9.

They're not here to do that. We are here to do everything out

of the love that we have forgot. However it is preached, however

it is to if they have to last the test of time, they will

last. If they are drawing people away,

that's on God between God and then let God be the judge.

Maybe always be clear of what God's calling us to do, which

means we have to be in line with God's calling us to do according

to his word. I it comes down to what I

explained first. If you're not having a personal

salvation, this hope that God's calling you to step into, this

hope that he's wanting you to perceive you through and build

character and do will struggle. And the bottom line is in this

entire thing with regard to hope, there's always a constant

motion. Hope cannot be seen when you're

stationary. Hope is seen only when you're

out in constant motion. There's a constant motion that

we as Christ followers are called to exhibit.

John Stott says this. His authority on earth allows us

to dare to go to all the nations.

His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success, and

His presence with us leaves us no choice.

God's authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the

nations. Whatever nation God's calling

you to go, whatever St. The problem is, we are not

willing to occupy the street here.

We're wanting to occupy the street in another country.

God won't allow that to happen. That's being rooted out of

selfishness. Do what God's calling you to do

here. Eventually He will take you to

the nations. His authority in heavens will

give you the only hope of success, which means He has won

everything. He is the only one who will set

us up to see things happen. His presence with us leaves us

no room, no choice but to go. He believes there's no choice

but to go. And so today, church, you and I

have been commissioned with hope to take hope into this hopeless

world. You know, as I started with

Genesis 26 about Jacob lying down there and witnessing,

having a dream, a stairway to heaven, and then anointing that

place and calling it Bethel. He comes back to that place in

Genesis 35, verses 9 to 15 when we read.

Genesis 35:9–15

And this is what he says. And Jacob returned to Padhan

Aram. God appeared to him again and

blessed him. God said to him, Your name is

Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob.

Your name will be Israel. So he called him Israel.

And God said to him, I am God Almighty.

Be fruitful and increase in number.

A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and

the kings will be among your descendants.

The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I

will give this land to your descendants after you.

Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with

him. Jacob set up a stone pillar at

the place where God had called, talked with him, and he poured

out a drink offering on it. He also poured out oil on it.

Jacob called the place where God talked with him.

Better. Hope realized in Jacob's life at

that point, in this second time when he visited there.

Hope was realized when God brought Jacob back to Better his

ask was for God to protect him on his journey.

You know to to bring him to bring him back to safety to his

household. But when God talks when you see

verses 11 and 12, he says I am God Almighty be fruitful and

increase in number. A nation and a community of

nations will come from you. Kings will be among your

descendants. The land I give Abraham and

Isaac, I will also give you, I'll give you a land to your

descendants. When hope he goes out with that

one prayer, his personal, he encounters God.

He has hopes in God. If you can bring all this, I

will give a 10th. But when he comes back, God

saying you've come back here, now here, here's bigger promises

for you which lasts beyond generations.

And I want to ask you, are we content with just something we

are coming to our terms with, or are we waiting to see that hope

when it's realized in God's terms, it's far beyond what we

can see. Ephesians 320 is what I can

remember more than we can ask or imagine.

And I believe and pray that a lot of us have to migrate from

just our realization of saying this is the hope that I think I

need to have in Jesus to sing God, what is the hope that I

have? Because I'm going to perceive

you, I'm going to be in motion. I'm going to move, Lord, even

when it seems hard, I'm going to push through.

Even when I don't feel like it, I'm going to show up.

Even when it's going to be hard, I will show up and God saying I

will do it for you. And so today in honest hope will

be, can it be birthed out of a personal salvation?

I know what your personal salvation is looking like.

For those of you who have not invited Jesus in, invite him in.

For those of you who committed to Jesus, we probably obey the

waters of baptism. But you've, you've just been,

you know, chilled out God saying you need to start seeing things

for what it is. Would you allow God's Word to

permeate in you? Would faith start being built

upon you? Because when faith is built,

hope suddenly will take place, will be visible, and that hope

will start creating certain things which will allow you to

pursue God even deeper. For those of you who've given up

midway, I pray and ask, would you live out this hope with

perseverance? If you've stopped because it's

too difficult, I pray you would stand up and say, God, I'm ready

again. If hope is deferred, it's hard,

and you're trying to create your own path, would you say God, no,

I'm sorry, I'm coming back to you.

Give me perseverance or I'll see it to you.

Ordain my steps. Psalms 37 says the steps of a

good and a righteous man are directed and established by the

Lord, and he delights in his way and blesses his part.

I pray that we'll be able to allow God to come through into

that. For those of us who've struggled

with the fact that Lord, we've made our hope all about

ourselves, I pray our honest hope will draw others to God as

much as we are being drawn to what God's calling us to do.

There are people who are who are who are waiting to experience

hope. Because of your hope, are you

willing to share about it? Are you willing to rise up about

the tide and say, God, I'm here? Are you willing to stand up

about your own circumstances and over the pity that you've been

asking to say, God, I'm ready to share.

I'm ready to contend for others. I'm ready to stand in the gap

for others. I'm ready to do what you're

calling me to do. So church, can I pray with you

right now? Loving Heavenly Father, I just

thank you, Lord, for this time. I pray, Lord, that hope, Lord

Jesus, for us, we come, Lord, in all sincerity to you, in all

truthfulness, Lord Jesus, we want to say, Lord, for most of

us we've lived for ourselves, but we come back to say, Lord,

our faith in you causes us to see bigger things, Lord, and I

pray we will see that right now we will stand.

We'll take the stand that you're calling us, Lord Jesus.

We will, Lord, our personal salvation will birth out that

hope, Lord Jesus. Lord, we pray that we will live

out with persevere and say, I pray especially, Lord, for those

who are weary, who are tired, would you refresh them right

now? For those who are in the words

of giving up, would they have a Rhema word from you, Lord Jesus,

to hold on to? Lord Jesus, I pray that we will

live the Zoe life here on earth. Lord Jesus, we thank you.

I pray, Lord, this honest hope will be shared to others.

It'll draw others into your fold.

Lord Jesus, we thank you. Go before us that we'll be in

motion. Lord, we will constantly be in

motion to see what you're unfolding in our life time after

time after time. Thank you Jesus.

I pray especially, Lord, for all those, Lord Jesus, who are in

the season right now where probably that hope that they

were hoping for is crushed. I pray that Lord, they'll go

back and ask you, Lord Jesus. Lord, for those who are waiting,

for those who are waiting for that breakthrough.

Lord, we believe in the power of the supernatural as a church, we

ask that you would come through, Lord.

I pray wombs will be open today. Lord Jesus, I pray that Lord

hearts would be open. Lord Jesus, I pray open doors of

opportunity will be open. Lord Jesus, I pray, Lord, the

clutches of debt will be broken and people will be liberated.

Lord Jesus, right now I pray for those who've been longing for

jobs that those will happen right now.

Lord, I pray a word would go forth, Lord Jesus, as it went

forth when the centurion came, that we would see miracles

happen. Lord, the doors of

impossibilities will start breaking down because the God of

impossibilities has come in and it's starting to break things

down. Go before I start.

Jesus, your blood covering over each and everyone, take charge.

Your most holy name we pray. Amen.

Amen, Church. I pray even as you step out this

week that you will step out with confidence knowing that he is

with you. The faith would mature to come

to a place where you'll be able to have this honest hope to see

God come through, in and through your lives.

I pray God will bless you every step of the way, strengthen you,

keep you, have a blessed week and God bless you.

And remember that whoever finds Jesus finds life.

God bless you all. Thanks for.

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