Living Hope | Pastor Chris Kouba | Easter 2024

Adam lived life like Abitant.

Every day.

But I felt like he loved the way that the work was.

It didn't matter what color you were, what age you were, what shape you were, he just embraced everyone.

I remember April 19th.

So we snuck away and we went to Outback for dinner, thinking this is a really nice moment.

We're gonna have, you know, a little break.

We're gonna sit and my phone rang.

Um Adam's dad said, hey, we were in an accident.

911, what's your emergency?

Calling on unit.

You know, is everything okay?

What's going on?

And all he said is they're doing CPR in Adam.

I'm married to a fireman who knows how to drive really well quickly.

So we started driving.

And I knew in my heart, I knew Adam was gone.

But I just kept praying.

Um God, I know that you are a miracle worker, but I knew.

I already knew.

And so I remember walking in, and the doctors were startled because a mom was in the room.

And I placed my hands on Adam's feet, and I told him that I loved him.

I've been doing what I do for 20 years or so, and uh, I knew the situation, I knew what words are gonna be coming, I just wasn't ready to hear them yet.

Like, this isn't an this isn't somebody else's kid, this is mine.

And I remember thinking, like, my God, why?

My heart will never be the same without Adam here.

But it will forever be changed because he was.

It's pretty easy to get upset with God to wreck in your plans.

Man, I had it all lined out.

I had figured out how we're gonna do college, we're gonna hunt Alaska, we're gonna do all these things.

We thought we'd have a lifetime to watch all of that unfold.

We didn't expect that this impact was just going to happen in 11 years.

Because I've had so many people ask me, like, how are y'all functioning?

And I think the only word is that we have hope.

There is a hope.

It is greater than your difficulty.

It's a hope that is greater than your path.

Hope that is greater than your There's a hope that is even greater than death.

It's a living hope that sees beyond what is visible.

It believes the unbelievable.

It suffers.

The unsufferable.

Let's pray together.

Father in heaven, we come before you and we admit we want this hope.

Whatever we walked in with, whatever struggles and difficulties and the reality of life has hit us, I pray, God, that we would leave here with hope.

Father, we believe that this whole thing that we're doing today matters.

And Lord, we know that the reality of life, we need it to matter when it matters the most.

And so, Father, we pray.

That today we would leave with hearts that are full.

Even if our circumstances don't mean that everything's perfect.

Instead, Father, we would leave with hope.

Thank you that we know where we can find it.

That's in the name and the person of Jesus.

In whose name that we pray.

Amen.

Grab your Bibles and open them up with me to 1 Peter chapter 1.

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

1 Peter chapter 1.

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

I want to read just one verse to begin with, beginning in verse 3.

It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

On this resurrection Sunday, the question that I want us to answer is this How can you get living hope?

How can you have the type of life that when the greatest tragedy that you could possibly ever imagine happens, you can still say what Rachel did at the end of that video.

We have hope.

And that living hope comes when we believe in what Jesus did, we believe in what Jesus does, and we believe in what Jesus will do.

Living hope is different than just having a wishful hope.

Most of us have a wishful hope about a lot of things.

We'll say things like this I really hope that I hit all of the green lights on my way into work because I left too late and I know I'm going to be late.

We'll say things like, you know, I hope that at some point in my lifetime I will be able to see the completion of all of the construction on 1960 and North Park Drive.

You say things like, I sure do hope the Astros bullpen gets this thing figured out before we get too far into a hole at the start of this season.

Let's be honest.

When you have those wishful, hopeful types of reactions, though, when life hits, when reality strikes, when tragedy comes, when addiction enters in, when medical diagnosis happen, those types of hopes don't hold up.

In fact, what you've probably discovered is that if you have tried to rely upon yourself and to lean into yourself and to coach yourself up and to tell yourself just to persevere and it will get better, that what you have discovered is over time, even if you get all that the world has to offer, it still leaves you wanting and desiring more.

When the real stuff happens, instead of finding hope, you actually find your hopeless.

Peter's invitation to us today is that you can have a living hope that is grounded in, that is based upon, that is the foundation of what Jesus did, what Jesus does, and what Jesus will do.

First of all, I want us to consider what Jesus did.

Verse 3 tells us that the living hope is because of the fact that Jesus Christ died on a cross and he rose from the dead.

This is the message of Easter.

This is what we celebrate.

This is why we are here.

We talked about it on Good Friday.

1 Peter chapter 2, verse 24, it says this He himself wore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

1 Peter 2:24

By his wounds, you have been healed.

What we know is back in those culture, there were many people who went through crucifixions.

But Jesus stands out because he says, I'm not going to the cross for what I did, I'm actually going to the cross for what you did.

You see, he had all of my sins, and he had all of your sins, and he bore all of those sins on himself on the cross.

And as great as that is, if he had just died, it means nothing.

But the Bible tells us that three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, and by so doing, he overcame the power of sin and the power of death.

And so, because that is the case, what we can now know is that we have the ability to have a living hope based upon the resurrection of Jesus and what he did in the past.

In the Gospel of Mark, it tells that Jesus, who had died and was buried in the tomb for three days, it says that some women went to the tomb to go and check on it, and when they came upon the tomb, they found that the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty.

They were confused, and so the Lord sent an angel to them.

And in Mark chapter 16, verse 7 reads like this But go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.

Mark 16:7

There you will see him, just as he told you.

The person Peter here is also the author of 1 Peter, the book we've been walking through as a church, and we have seen in the book of 1 Peter that over and over again, this is a message that is being written to struggling believers, folks who were at their wits' end, folks who are wondering, is it worth it to hang on when the reality of life hits?

Is this something that will hold up?

And what Peter says, he's telling them, don't just believe in yourself.

Don't just endure, don't just think you can do it, whatever you want to do, as long as you believe in who you are.

He instead says, I'm telling you, I've seen it with my own eyes.

Jesus who died, he is alive.

And because he is alive, I'm telling you that in the moment when you need it the most, it holds up and you can believe in what Jesus did for you.

He didn't just say he would do it, he did it.

John chapter 11, verses 25 and 26, it reads, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

John 11:25

Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe this?

When we believe in Jesus' resurrection, we know this.

That because he lives, we get to live.

We just sang it a moment ago in that great hymn which says, Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because he lives, all fear is gone.

Because I know who holds the future, my life is worth the living just because he lives.

Living hope comes when you know what Jesus did.

Second, I want you to see that living hope comes when you know what Jesus does.

When you know what Jesus does, I want to ask you to skip down to verse six and to verse seven.

Verse six presents a very interesting uh situation to where you actually see two what on the surface would seem to be competing ideas.

Verse six, it reads like this In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.

So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Look at verse 6 again.

It says in the beginning, in this you rejoice.

In the original Greek language, that is a present active verb, meaning this, that this is something that not only is happening right now, but it's happening ongoing.

What he's saying is that you are to be rejoicing, no matter where this news finds you, no matter where this verse finds you at, you are to rejoice in that moment.

Look at what it also says there in verse 6, though now for a little while, that's also a word that is in the present active tense and verb.

What it's basically saying is this it's suggesting that at the one hand, you can be rejoicing, and also on the other hand, you can be suffering, both happening simultaneously.

How does this happen?

Because a lot of times we think about suffering and rejoicing as two competing ideas.

I was suffering, but I got through it, and now I'm rejoicing.

Or I was rejoicing and then tragedy hit and now I am suffering.

It says here, living hope from verse 3 leads to verse 6, which allows you to have uh rejoicing and suffering together.

Here's how this happens it's because your rejoicing isn't dependent upon your circumstances.

This is why Rachel and Stephen Seaver can have difficult, hard days where their hearts are heavy and they grieve and they cry and the tears feel like they're not going to stop, while at the very same time can have a smile on their face.

Why?

Because they know based upon the resurrection of what Jesus did that they will one day see their son again.

And not only do they have that promise, but they also know that God isn't wasting any of this trial that they're going through in their lives.

Look at what the Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 10.

1 Peter 5:10

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

The resurrection of Jesus, knowing what Jesus did, gives them hope that they can endure and persevere with a smile on their face.

But here's what I want you to see: the reason why we also can rejoice even while we suffer is because we know this that God is with us.

Isaiah chapter 41, verse 10 says, Fear not, for I am with you.

Isaiah 41:10

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Psalm 23 says, When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you can fear no evil.

Why?

Because God is with you.

If you're suffering today, I want you to know this.

Your life doesn't have to simply be defined by your suffering.

Instead, you can, in the midst of your suffering, know that you can also rejoice because you have the promise of God, which says he will never leave you nor forsake you, so that even in the darkest moment there is joy that rises out of the ashes.

Living hope comes because we know of what Jesus did.

Living hope comes because we know what Jesus does.

Look at verse 3 again, 1 Peter chapter 1.

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

Who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Living hope comes because of what Jesus did, because of what Jesus does, and finally because of what Jesus will do.

What Jesus will do.

Verse 4 is an important verse.

It says that the reason that you can have hope is because you have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you.

I've done a lot of travel over the course of the last month, and a couple of weeks ago, I was actually in the airport and I was uh eager and anxious to get home, uh back home to Houston, and so uh I realized that I was not the only one who had the same anticipation and excitement to go ahead and hurry up and get home because the the the terminal was just full of people, and you could tell there was a little bit of kind of chaos, and all of a sudden on the loudspeaker, they they came over and they said, Hey, here's the deal.

We have overbooked this flight, and so we are gonna ask if anybody is willing to have flexibility in their travel plans if they can move to a later flight.

I kind of looked it up and realized I didn't know this, but airlines actually routinely and commonly overbook flights.

They are legally allowed to do this.

Uh fortunately, I don't think they misuse this practice, but but it is something that they're allowed to do because they basically know enough people are either going to cancel or not show up for their flight, and so therefore it generally works out.

But this particular day, it was rather obvious that no one was canceling and no one was basically uh missing their flight.

They were all there, ready to go.

Not only were they there, they'd paw a ticket, they'd pay for the ticket, and they checked in, letting the airline know that they were actually there.

So they started what you've done before.

If you've ever heard this, they begin to say a hundred dollar voucher for anybody who would like to move their flight.

A few minutes later,$200, a few minutes later,$300.

Eventually they got to the point where the entire flight was basically going to be reimbursed back to you, and they were gonna give you a voucher for a future flight if you would just not go on this plane.

My travel plans were not flexible, and apparently no one else was because nobody was taking the bait.

Of course, everybody's just sitting around wondering, what's about to happen?

Then they get on the intercom and they say, Can so-and-so, so-and-so, please come up to the desk.

Of course, everybody's watching, like, what's about to happen to this person?

Guy gets up there to the desk, and you could tell based upon the volume of his voice and the tone of his body language.

He was not happy with what he had just got told.

He basically said, Sir, I'm still not how to tell you this, but you've been bumped.

You can't fly on this plane.

Then they call the next person, so and so.

Please come up to the front.

Now everybody's like, oh no, here we go again.

And they walk up there.

Three people got kicked off the plane, even though they had bought a ticket, secured the reservation, checked in, letting the airline know, however, when they needed it the most, the reservation was not secure.

I want you to know that whenever you get to heaven, based upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you will not get up there and they will tell you that you've been bumped.

You're not gonna get there and realize that when you needed it the most, it's not available.

We can't find your reservation.

Instead, I want you to know the Bible tells us that your inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

Ephesians chapter 1 actually says that the Holy Spirit is the seal of your inheritance.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

You have nothing to fear.

There's a book called Deep Survival written by Lawrence Gonzalez, and in that book he tells the story of a 17-year-old girl named uh Julianne Cape.

Julianne, uh, along with her mom and 90 other passengers, were flying on Christmas Eve.

She had they had just attended a church service in 1971, and as they were flying, the plane was struck by lightning, causing massive structural damage to the aircraft.

Julianne says that she woke up in a tree, strapped to her chair, looking down at the Peruvian jungle.

She said the last thing that she remembered was that the trees looked like cauliflower before she blacked out.

A few minutes later, she wakes up and now she is on the jungle floor, still strapped to that chair, and she realized that all she had were a few minor scrapes and bruises and a broken collarbone.

She knew that because of the canopy of the trees, there was really no hope for her survival, and so she unbuckled herself and she began to go make a journey to try to live.

Meanwhile, this is a 17-year-old girl who has no survival skills training, she has no resources to speak of, but she does remember what her dad told her once.

If you're ever in danger, find water.

Water leads to people, people leads to life.

So that's what she did.

She found a stream, she followed that stream to a river, and for 11 straight days she walked alongside of that river until eventually she came upon a hunting cabin where some men were and they rescued her.

Water leads to people, people leads to life.

Interesting is at the very same time that Julianne was making that 11-day journey along the side of the river, there was also another group of people that survived the crash, and it was 11 adults.

These 11 adults happened to all be around the same area, and there was a piece of the aircraft that was also near them that had some basic supplies.

So these 11 decided that they would use what they had in front of them, they would rely on themselves and they would wait for rescue to come, and all of them tragically died.

How do you explain the fact that 11 adults who had limited resources relied on themselves and all died?

While a 17-year-old with no training and no resources ultimately lived.

I believe it's because there are two different strategies.

You see, one strategy from the 11 was I'm gonna sit and I'm gonna use and rely on myself and I'm gonna wait to be rescued, and ultimately they place their hope in something.

It was hopeless when they needed it the most.

Julianne, on the other hand, said, as long as I find water, water leads to people, people leads to life, and her strategy ultimately proved to be the very thing that allowed her to be finding water.

And a living when you follow after the living water of Jesus.

The question I ask you today is you have living.

Because there's moments where you question, there's moments where you worry, there's moments where you wonder, and your thoughts and your your emotions going in the right direction.

When you start looking for God, you find him.

Or he finds you.

Life is hard.

Circumstances are hard.

Family is hard.

You don't have to be going through what we're going through to find God.

I don't think that you have to.

I think suffering is suffering.

I feel like my purpose now is like share hope with other people who are hurting because we have hope.

We get to look at it from a perspective of we're gonna be reunited.

So we get to have that opportunity.

So I get no hope or hope.

I choose hope every time.

It's a constant fixing of your perspective.

Make sure that your eyes aren't focused on what you're going through, but where you're going to.

Living more than existing, more than making it, living, and occupying a span of life.

Living hope sees beyond what is visible.

It believes the unbelievable and it suffers the insufferable.

Your life craves for this, it longs for this, it does everything it can to go and seek and find this.

But let me just tell you something.

There is something much greater than what the world has to offer.

This living hope is different.

This hope will give your soul confidence.

It greets you at the doorway of your mistake, it picks you up when you cannot pick yourself up anymore.

You can depend on this hope, you can trust in this hope, you can succeed and you can suffer in the presence of this hope.

It's not mystical, it's attainable.

It's not faint, it's full and complete.

Do you have living hope?

I want everybody to take their cards out for me, and I want you to hold it up so that I can see it.

Take your cards out and wave it up at me.

I'm gonna see everybody's card.

For some reason you don't have a card, just let us know, we'll get you one.

But I want to make sure everybody's got a card.

Grab your pins if you would.

I've got just a few more instructions for you.

I'm gonna ask for a hundred percent participation.

I know whether you've been here a member for 50 years or this is your very first time, either one.

If you need a card, by the way, just kind of raise your hand and we'll get them to you.

We got some right here.

Uh Sean's walking around to get you some and pen, anything you might need.

Uh well, we're asking some of you just, I know this may be a little uncomfortable, but I'm telling you, this has the potential for some of you to radically change your life.

What I'm about to do.

On the front, we've asked you to give us some basic information.

If you've got a next step for the church, you can let us know that.

As we mentioned before, we want to get some information from you to help us so that we can know how to best apply some of the principles that God's Word teaches to you and what you're going through.

But if you we'll take it around on the back, and I want you to see at the top it says A, B, C, D.

I want to ask that you would take a spiritual survey today.

What I'm gonna ask is every single person, 100% participation, that you would check off one of these four boxes today.

Let me walk you through what they are.

First of all, it's A.

This sense for I've already a Christian.

I already know Jesus, I already have a relationship with him, I've I've received the living water.

Uh, I know what it means to have living hope.

And man, I'm here for that reason.

I'm here to celebrate that.

I'm here to be able to come and to celebrate the fact that Jesus is not only alive and he rose from the dead, but he's alive in me.

I'm walking with him, I'm experiencing a relationship with him, and I absolutely love it.

Praise God for you.

Praise God, this is your story.

If that is your testimony today, would you just check that box A there?

Second group of people is B.

This stands for I want to begin a relationship with Christ today.

Maybe you would say, you know, I could pass a quiz about Jesus and some basic ideas and facts about him, but I don't have a relationship with him.

I can assure you, I don't have anything like the Sievers have.

Whenever the time they needed it the most, they can have that kind of hope.

That's not my life.

But I want that.

And preach God for you.

Maybe you would say, you know, I want to cross the line of faith.

I've been near it and I've been around it, but I want to actually step over it and I want to begin a relationship with Jesus.

I want you to know this.

We've already had this weekend 197 people who've checked that box B right there.

So you're not gonna be alone.

So I just want to encourage you, if that's you, man, that praise God for you, you just check the box B.

Some of you, you need to check this box C, which means this.

Man, I'm still considering it.

I need a little bit more time.

You would say I'm interested, you would say I'm intrigued, I just maybe have some questions.

First of all, I want you to know this United City Church is the perfect church for you to be a part of.

Because we're not gonna judge you or say that you have to have it all figured out before you come.

We actually will let you belong before you believe what we believe.

We promise that we'll take a Bible, we'll open it up, and we'll answer your questions.

But know this this is a safe place for you to have your questions.

We're not scared of those.

In fact, we would love nothing more than to be able to talk with you, but you would say, you know, I'm interested, I'm intrigued, but I'm I still need some time to consider it.

D, the last one there is you would simply say this, man.

I I don't ever intend to do this.

I don't really, I don't really intend to do this at all.

And I would tell you, man, I heart my heart hurts to hear that.

But you might say, you know, I'm just kind of here for the Easter thing.

This is just kind of what we do, and so I'm just basically here.

Uh, but I would tell you this, man, I appreciate the honesty.

I would much rather you be honest with me than you simply tell me what you think I want to hear.

And so if that's you today and you would say, D, I'm just, I don't ever intend to do this, you just let us know by checking that box.

So just check one of the four boxes, 100% participation.

Let us know where you stand in your relationship with Jesus.

This time, what I'm gonna ask is that I I know some of you, what you've been doing is you felt this the whole service.

You felt it from the beginning of that video, you felt it from the worship team when they were up here.

You just are like, Man, I don't know what these people have, but I want that.

I want to experience living hope.

I want the Seaver situation to where, even in the midst of tragedy, they can say, We still have hope.

I want something that will be safe and secure when I need it the most.

And so you would say, Man, I'm ready to cross that line of faith.

In fact, just a moment ago, you checked that B box just a second ago.

And so, what I want to ask is every single person to but bow their heads and close their eyes.

If you check the box B just a moment ago, you say you're ready to begin a relationship with Jesus, I want to invite you to pray a simple prayer with me.

Just right where you're seated, just pray these words.

Dear God, I want hope.

I want to begin a relationship with you.

I believe that you died on a cross.

I believe that you rose from the dead, and right now I invite you to come into my life, to give me hope, to forgive me of all of my sins, to come and to live inside of me.

It's in Jesus' name that I pray.

Amen.

I want you to look up here, and here's what I'm gonna ask you to do.

If you just pray that prayer of faith with me, I'm gonna count to three.

And then whenever I count to three, what I'm gonna ask you to do is I want you to go public by raising your hand.

I know some of you are like, whoa, you didn't tell me that.

Here's what I would tell you the enemy wants nothing more than for you to take what you just did and keep it to yourself.

But the Bible says this that there is actually a party going on in heaven right now because you just prayed that prayer and gave your life to Jesus.

And we want in on the party selfishly.

And so here's the church, what we're gonna do is I'm gonna count down to three.

I'm gonna count up to three, and then whenever I say three, I want you to lift up your hand in church, we're gonna go nuts.

Alright?

Are you ready?

One, just real quick.

I know some of you, here's what you're gonna do.

I'm not talking about a little bitty hand, alright?

I'm talking full extension, elbows locked, all the way up, proud and loud, alright?

That's what I want you to do.

Two, Jesus loves you, and the church does too.

All right, there's no reason to be ashamed, there's no reason to be hesitant.

One, two, three.

Raise your hand if you just prayed that prayer of Jesus.

Praise God for you, man.

Praise God for you guys, praise God for you.

Come on, church.

I see you back there.

Let's go.

Let's go, let's go.

Praise God, praise God for you guys.

Hey, yes.

Praise God for you.

He continues to move always, always, always.

Last thing, I need your card, alright?

That was the deal.

Here's what I'm gonna ask you to do, right?

Everybody get your cards, wave them up at me.

You filled out the front, you filled out the back, top portion of the back.

Some of our team is here, and what you're gonna do is you're gonna pass it to my left, to your right, this way.

Everybody pass their cards this direction, and we're gonna gather those up at this time.

Just pass them down.

Don't be looking.

But we wanna get this information from you.

Hey, if you would, while you're passing those down, give me just a few quick seconds for some announcements.

Next Sunday morning, we're gonna be back here at 9:30 and 11 o'clock.

We're starting a brand new sermon series called Wedlocked Till Death Do Us Part.

We're gonna be looking for five weeks at the topic of marriage and relationships.

You are gonna love it.

I wanna encourage you to be a part of this.

We got some great special guests that are gonna be with us on this series.

We're gonna be looking at what marriage is.

We're gonna be talking about sex, we're gonna be talking about uh communication and conflict.

It is gonna be a great series.

I encourage you to be a part of that men's and women's roles.

Come be a part of this starting next Sunday.

Mark your calendars.

May 4th.

May 4th, we are having a marriage night here at United City.

Uh, the comedian Michael Jr.

is going to be here.

These are tickets that you can scan to go ahead and get available to purchase those tickets.

Uh, this is an unbelievably fun night.

We're gonna talk about communication and conflict.

Uh, we have some early bird tickets available for you as members of United City that you can get.

Uh, Hillary and I went and did this a couple of weeks ago or a couple months ago.

I'm telling you, it is one of the funniest, good, incredible nights and investment in your marriage that you will have.

So make sure that you come May 4th, Saturday night is when that event is going to take place.

If you don't know who Michael Jr.

is, go home today, look him up.

He's a clean comedian, he's a believer, he is absolutely hysterical.

And this is pretty cool.

The next morning on May 5th, he's actually gonna be preaching here at United City in our services.

So that's gonna be a great opportunity for us to be able just to laugh and to celebrate our marriages together.

Last thing, guys, we got all the cards.

Are we good?

No.

Can we get one right here?

Anyone else got a card we need to get?

You're right there?

We'll get your card.

Anybody?

Don't leave just yet.

I got one last thing to do.

I want to pray over you.

Right over here, we got a card?

Perfect?

All right, sweet.

We got one right there.

Perfect.

I want everybody to bow their heads.

I want to pray a prayer blessing over you as you leave.

And now may the God of peace, who brought the Lord Jesus back again from the dead, equip you with all that you need for doing his will.

May He produce in you through the power of Jesus Christ all that is pleasing to him.

To him be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Happy Easter and you guys have a great Sunday.