1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,420
Well, it's, it's football season
and, uh, so hope shines bright for

2
00:00:03,420 --> 00:00:05,640
NFL fan bases all across America.

3
00:00:06,344 --> 00:00:07,424
Unless you're a Cowboys fan.

4
00:00:08,744 --> 00:00:13,634
If you're a Cowboys fan like I am,
uh, your owner slash GM thought it

5
00:00:13,634 --> 00:00:17,174
was the best move for the team to
trade your best defensive player

6
00:00:17,505 --> 00:00:19,545
for, uh, a bag of, of potatoes.

7
00:00:19,545 --> 00:00:23,115
Basically, at the end of the day, couple
of picks and a, a defensive tackle.

8
00:00:23,850 --> 00:00:26,850
Listen, I, I've been a, a fan
of the, the Dallas Cowboys for

9
00:00:26,850 --> 00:00:28,890
as long as I can remember, and
I don't plan on jumping ship.

10
00:00:28,890 --> 00:00:32,610
And in fact, I'm, I'm thankful for the
Cowboys because the Cowboys remi remind

11
00:00:32,610 --> 00:00:37,650
me every single year that my hope is not
here and now, but it's then and there.

12
00:00:38,519 --> 00:00:43,230
I learned very early on in my life not
to trust Jerry, but to trust Jesus.

13
00:00:44,849 --> 00:00:48,539
You don't need the, the Cowboys to
be reminded that it's difficult to

14
00:00:48,539 --> 00:00:49,675
find hope in this world sometimes.

15
00:00:50,895 --> 00:00:57,375
You don't need the Cowboys to be reminded
that our earthly hopes are fragile hopes.

16
00:00:58,305 --> 00:01:00,585
Hope in general is such a a fragile thing.

17
00:01:00,585 --> 00:01:04,425
We love it when we have it, but at the
same time, even when we have hope, we

18
00:01:04,425 --> 00:01:08,414
sit there concerned that at any minute
our hopes might be dashed and we might

19
00:01:08,414 --> 00:01:10,005
be left to pick up the pieces once again.

20
00:01:12,195 --> 00:01:16,125
What we've been learning so far in one
Peter is that there is a better hope.

21
00:01:16,980 --> 00:01:19,710
As Peter called it in first
Peter chapter one, verse three.

22
00:01:19,710 --> 00:01:26,370
There is a living hope that will never
be dashed, that will never let us down.

23
00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:28,470
It's a certain hope.

24
00:01:28,470 --> 00:01:32,310
It's a sure hope more than any other
hope that you could have in this life.

25
00:01:32,310 --> 00:01:37,440
And this morning, we're gonna learn what
matters most in our battle for that hope.

26
00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:42,000
And it's not your circumstances,
it's not your brain, it's not

27
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,009
your body, it's not your friends.

28
00:01:44,009 --> 00:01:45,000
It's not your family.

29
00:01:46,500 --> 00:01:49,560
What matters most in your
battle for hope is your mind.

30
00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:55,289
What matters most, more than anything
else in your battle to hold onto

31
00:01:55,289 --> 00:01:56,759
and hold fast to your living.

32
00:01:56,759 --> 00:01:58,949
Hope is your mind.

33
00:02:00,030 --> 00:02:02,910
Take your Bibles first,
Peter chapter one, verse 13.

34
00:02:02,910 --> 00:02:03,699
That's our text this morning.

35
00:02:04,845 --> 00:02:06,015
One Peter one 13 says this.

36
00:02:06,015 --> 00:02:09,945
Therefore, preparing your minds
for action and being sober minded,

37
00:02:10,155 --> 00:02:13,995
set your hope fully on the grace
that will be brought to you at the

38
00:02:13,995 --> 00:02:20,595
revelation of Jesus Christ, he begins
this verse with the word, therefore.

39
00:02:21,345 --> 00:02:26,355
Therefore, therefore is put there to draw
a connection to what has come before it.

40
00:02:26,805 --> 00:02:31,425
And what has come before it is, is 12
verses of what we would call indicatives,

41
00:02:31,755 --> 00:02:36,315
that are statements of facts or truths
about Jesus and our relationship with him.

42
00:02:36,645 --> 00:02:39,405
Truths like the fact that we've been
born again to a living hope that

43
00:02:39,405 --> 00:02:40,515
we have been brought from death.

44
00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:44,400
To life truths about our
status as elect exiles.

45
00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:48,750
Truths about our, our status as
those that are secure by God's power.

46
00:02:48,750 --> 00:02:51,060
Were being guarded through
faith for that salvation.

47
00:02:51,450 --> 00:02:54,240
These truths about the
reality of our inheritance.

48
00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,760
That's imperishable and undefiled, and
unfading being kept in heaven for us.

49
00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:03,230
These truths about the, the, the, the
love and faith that we can have in

50
00:03:03,230 --> 00:03:05,450
Jesus, even though we don't yet see him.

51
00:03:05,690 --> 00:03:10,160
The truths about the inexpressible
joy that we have over being with Jesus

52
00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,700
that we talked about last week, or
the privileged position that we have,

53
00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,150
that we understand something that even
the angels in the very presence of God

54
00:03:17,150 --> 00:03:19,700
stand in awe of through the gospel.

55
00:03:20,475 --> 00:03:23,655
And so this is more than just a,
a grammatical note from Peter,

56
00:03:23,655 --> 00:03:26,204
even though it is that he's making
a transition in his argument.

57
00:03:26,505 --> 00:03:29,625
This is so key to our understanding
of everything that's going to

58
00:03:29,625 --> 00:03:31,524
follow from here, because if, if.

59
00:03:32,115 --> 00:03:34,335
First Peter was to start with verse 13.

60
00:03:34,575 --> 00:03:36,945
It might feel soul crushing to us.

61
00:03:37,845 --> 00:03:39,945
It might feel like, how do I do that?

62
00:03:40,155 --> 00:03:43,905
How can I prepare my mind and be
sober minded and set my hope fully

63
00:03:44,085 --> 00:03:46,695
on the grace that's through me mind
at the revelation of Jesus Christ

64
00:03:46,845 --> 00:03:49,845
when I live in a world where it's so
hard to hope in anything at times.

65
00:03:51,540 --> 00:03:55,800
The first 12 verses are so crucial
to our understanding of how we can

66
00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:59,519
read verse 13 and think to ourselves,
okay, yeah, that makes sense.

67
00:03:59,519 --> 00:04:00,450
I want to do that.

68
00:04:00,450 --> 00:04:03,420
And I feel like through the
spirit's power, I can do that.

69
00:04:05,070 --> 00:04:08,550
In this verse, the the first imperative,
as I said, it's transitioning from the

70
00:04:08,550 --> 00:04:11,160
indicatives to the imperatives, and
that's gonna be the command section,

71
00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,340
and that's starting now and it's
gonna keep going through the epistle.

72
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:19,440
But the first imperative that we find here
in verse 13 is actually at the, the end

73
00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:24,240
of the verse when he says, set your hope
fully on the grace that will be brought

74
00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,090
to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

75
00:04:28,140 --> 00:04:30,090
Preparing your minds for
action and being sober minded.

76
00:04:30,090 --> 00:04:34,260
Those are two disciples in the original
language, and, and they modify the,

77
00:04:34,260 --> 00:04:38,940
the main command, the main command
being set your hope fully on the grace.

78
00:04:38,940 --> 00:04:42,300
That's to be yours at the
revelation of Jesus Christ.

79
00:04:43,530 --> 00:04:45,150
Hope is dynamic.

80
00:04:45,570 --> 00:04:49,290
Hope is a a moving target,
earthly speaking for us.

81
00:04:49,710 --> 00:04:53,100
Case in point, when you were little,
you grew up hoping that you were

82
00:04:53,100 --> 00:04:56,040
gonna get a good hall for Christmas
or a good hall for your birthday.

83
00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,370
Your hope was in what was underneath
the tree when you woke up in the

84
00:04:59,370 --> 00:05:03,990
morning or maybe in school, you hoped
that you had studied enough to get a

85
00:05:03,990 --> 00:05:07,980
good enough grade on the exam, that
you wouldn't be grounded afterwards.

86
00:05:09,330 --> 00:05:13,050
In college, maybe you hoped that the
girl that you asked out would say

87
00:05:13,050 --> 00:05:16,770
yes, maybe as a young married couple.

88
00:05:16,770 --> 00:05:20,550
You hope that that pregnancy test
comes back and reads positive.

89
00:05:22,140 --> 00:05:26,415
As parents, you hope your children
will be safe as empty nesters.

90
00:05:26,415 --> 00:05:28,830
You hope your children will
come back again at Christmas.

91
00:05:30,270 --> 00:05:33,180
As retirees, you hope that the vacation
that you have planned is gonna be

92
00:05:33,180 --> 00:05:34,500
as fulfilling as it was last year.

93
00:05:36,270 --> 00:05:39,090
As those that progress closer and
closer to death, you hope that you

94
00:05:39,090 --> 00:05:40,710
will have another day of health.

95
00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,849
See, hope is, is a moving target
from the world's point of view.

96
00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:47,520
We hope in different
things as we get older.

97
00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:49,200
From the time that we're
born, we find ourselves moving

98
00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:51,000
from one hope to the next.

99
00:05:51,900 --> 00:05:54,539
And part of the reason for that
is because number one, no earthly

100
00:05:54,539 --> 00:05:56,159
hope can fully satisfy us.

101
00:05:57,539 --> 00:06:01,320
CS Lewis was the the one to say, look, if,
if we find in ourselves desires that can't

102
00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:03,299
be satisfied by anything on this earth.

103
00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:08,550
Or in this world, shouldn't that
imply and, and tell us that perhaps

104
00:06:08,550 --> 00:06:13,230
we were made for a different sort of
a world, a different sort of a future

105
00:06:13,980 --> 00:06:15,720
earthly hopes can't fully satisfy us.

106
00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:19,320
And then the second reason why we, we move
from hope to hope is because earthly hopes

107
00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:21,450
come with a large measure of uncertainty.

108
00:06:22,965 --> 00:06:28,080
When we talk about hope, as those
that are are here, we, we think about

109
00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:32,610
hope and we think to ourselves, well,
I, I, I hope for white Christmas.

110
00:06:33,674 --> 00:06:33,945
Okay.

111
00:06:33,945 --> 00:06:35,625
Probability is that's not gonna happen.

112
00:06:36,525 --> 00:06:39,825
You have hope, but the reality
is, you know that it's unlikely.

113
00:06:41,234 --> 00:06:44,025
The hope that we have in Christ, the
living hope, that we have the hope in

114
00:06:44,025 --> 00:06:47,234
the future of the the grace that to be
ours, of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

115
00:06:47,534 --> 00:06:49,335
That is a different kind of hope.

116
00:06:50,174 --> 00:06:52,933
That is a hope that Peter has
described as a living hope.

117
00:06:53,294 --> 00:06:53,804
That's a hope.

118
00:06:53,804 --> 00:06:54,645
That's the inheritance.

119
00:06:54,645 --> 00:06:56,625
That's imperishable and
undefiled and unfading.

120
00:06:56,835 --> 00:06:59,294
That's the hope that's ready to
be revealed in the last time.

121
00:06:59,505 --> 00:07:02,234
That's the hope that gives us
a joy that's inexpressible.

122
00:07:02,700 --> 00:07:05,850
And filled with glory, obtaining
the outcome of our faith,

123
00:07:05,850 --> 00:07:06,690
the salvation of our souls.

124
00:07:06,690 --> 00:07:08,070
That is that we would be with Jesus.

125
00:07:08,430 --> 00:07:11,130
See, the New Testament concept
of hope doesn't possess the

126
00:07:11,130 --> 00:07:13,440
uncertainty of earthly hopes.

127
00:07:14,580 --> 00:07:16,620
The writer of Hebrews illustrates
it for us right here in

128
00:07:16,620 --> 00:07:18,030
Hebrews chapter six, verse 19.

129
00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:23,370
He says, we have this as a sure
and steadfast anchor of the

130
00:07:23,370 --> 00:07:27,510
soul, a hope that enters into the
inner place behind the curtain.

131
00:07:28,185 --> 00:07:31,485
He's talking about Jesus as our
great high priest who is gone as

132
00:07:31,485 --> 00:07:34,275
the Old Testament high priest used
to do into the Holy of Holies.

133
00:07:34,275 --> 00:07:36,045
Well, he's saying Jesus has done that.

134
00:07:36,045 --> 00:07:38,775
He is the, the anchor that is
in the very presence of God.

135
00:07:38,775 --> 00:07:41,115
In the next chapter in Hebrews
chapter seven, he's gonna say, in

136
00:07:41,115 --> 00:07:44,595
that high priest, that anchor is
interceding for us before the Father,

137
00:07:44,595 --> 00:07:47,625
so that we can be confident that
he will save us to the uttermost.

138
00:07:47,625 --> 00:07:49,965
See, the hope in the New
Testament is a, sure.

139
00:07:50,115 --> 00:07:52,965
It's a secure, it's a
hope that we can trust in.

140
00:07:53,235 --> 00:07:53,685
Later on.

141
00:07:53,685 --> 00:07:56,325
The Hebrews, the writer of
Hebrews, says in Hebrews 10 23.

142
00:07:57,179 --> 00:07:58,770
Let us hold fast.

143
00:07:58,890 --> 00:08:06,270
The confession of our hope without
wavering for he who promised is faithful.

144
00:08:06,959 --> 00:08:11,429
See, that's why church, our hope
is sure and certain because it's,

145
00:08:11,429 --> 00:08:14,459
it's anchored not in the changing
circumstances of our world.

146
00:08:14,549 --> 00:08:17,159
It's not anchored in our
physiological makeup.

147
00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:20,850
It's anchored in what God has
promised, and God is faithful.

148
00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:22,679
And so our hope is immovable.

149
00:08:23,039 --> 00:08:23,880
Our hope is sure.

150
00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:24,840
Our hope is steadfast.

151
00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:25,770
Our hope is confident.

152
00:08:26,595 --> 00:08:30,765
And this morning, you can set
your hope fully on the grace.

153
00:08:30,765 --> 00:08:33,075
That's to be yours at the
revelation of Jesus Christ.

154
00:08:33,075 --> 00:08:34,485
But let's even talk
about that for a minute.

155
00:08:35,174 --> 00:08:37,934
Peter uses the word hope,
like Paul uses the word faith.

156
00:08:38,475 --> 00:08:42,585
In other words, Peter's talking about a
hope that won't be fully realized here

157
00:08:42,585 --> 00:08:46,305
and now, but it will be fully realized
then and there when we're with Jesus.

158
00:08:46,860 --> 00:08:49,230
And that's what he means by set your
hopefully on the grace that is to be

159
00:08:49,230 --> 00:08:51,240
yours at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

160
00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:52,650
You might say, well, wait a minute.

161
00:08:52,650 --> 00:08:54,450
Don't we have that grace?

162
00:08:54,540 --> 00:08:58,800
And I would say in part, yes, there's
an already not yet element here.

163
00:08:59,100 --> 00:09:03,510
For by Grace Paul says, you
have been saved past tense.

164
00:09:03,780 --> 00:09:07,140
So in a reality, we talk about
that most often with salvation.

165
00:09:07,140 --> 00:09:08,520
We'll say, when were you saved?

166
00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:09,600
When did you get saved?

167
00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,030
I got saved at this point.

168
00:09:12,540 --> 00:09:16,410
Past tense, and that's true, but
there's another reality that you

169
00:09:16,410 --> 00:09:18,210
are still presently being saved.

170
00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:22,740
Paul talks about that in one
Corinthians chapter 15, that the

171
00:09:22,740 --> 00:09:26,850
message of the gospel is the message
by which we are being saved still.

172
00:09:27,570 --> 00:09:30,840
And all that means is not that there's
a potential that you won't ultimately

173
00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,450
be delivered or that there was
something wrong with your profession

174
00:09:33,450 --> 00:09:36,330
of faith, or that there's something
lacking in your profession of faith.

175
00:09:36,540 --> 00:09:40,315
No, all that means is that you are in the
process as you continue on this earth.

176
00:09:40,915 --> 00:09:45,865
As you continue in these earthly bodies
of, of being saved until finally you

177
00:09:45,865 --> 00:09:49,074
will be saved, when you are delivered
into the very presence of God.

178
00:09:49,314 --> 00:09:50,845
That's the ultimate reality.

179
00:09:50,845 --> 00:09:52,074
That's the ultimate truth.

180
00:09:52,074 --> 00:09:55,824
That's the ultimate realization of
our salvation, is when we are stepping

181
00:09:55,824 --> 00:09:57,085
foot into the presence of God.

182
00:09:57,085 --> 00:10:01,704
When we see our savior face to face,
then we will know the grace that is to be

183
00:10:01,704 --> 00:10:03,835
ours at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

184
00:10:04,255 --> 00:10:05,845
So that's why Peter
says, this is our hope.

185
00:10:06,390 --> 00:10:08,100
Set your hope fully on that day.

186
00:10:08,340 --> 00:10:13,350
Set your hope fully on the time
that you will be with Jesus Y'all.

187
00:10:13,350 --> 00:10:17,340
As we navigate this world, as we
pursue hope in this world, we don't

188
00:10:17,340 --> 00:10:20,610
look for hope the same way that
our neighbors look for hope or even

189
00:10:20,610 --> 00:10:21,960
the same hopes that they look for.

190
00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,370
We seek a different hope because
it's a hope that's guaranteed.

191
00:10:26,370 --> 00:10:28,650
It's a hope that this world can't offer.

192
00:10:28,650 --> 00:10:32,100
It's a hope that's sure and
it's sure not to let us down.

193
00:10:33,630 --> 00:10:36,180
So then the question, I guess
becomes, well, what do we do with

194
00:10:36,180 --> 00:10:37,950
our other hopes that we have in life?

195
00:10:38,610 --> 00:10:41,910
If I'm to set my hope fully on
that grace, does that mean I can't

196
00:10:41,910 --> 00:10:44,550
hope for a promotion at work?

197
00:10:44,550 --> 00:10:47,100
Does that mean I can't hope
that my kids are healthy?

198
00:10:47,130 --> 00:10:50,520
Does that mean that I can't hope
that, uh, my, my diagnosis comes

199
00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:51,570
back clean from the doctor?

200
00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:53,010
No.

201
00:10:53,580 --> 00:10:55,890
But what do we do with those hopes?

202
00:10:56,370 --> 00:10:57,330
We're not stoics.

203
00:10:57,390 --> 00:11:00,630
We're not passionless, we're
not strangers to these hopes.

204
00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:06,930
We just have to use our earthly hopes as
springboards to remember our eternal hope.

205
00:11:07,500 --> 00:11:10,710
Point number one this morning, along
those lines is this, find the eternal

206
00:11:10,710 --> 00:11:12,510
hope beyond the temporal hope.

207
00:11:13,410 --> 00:11:16,050
Find the eternal hope
beyond the temporal hope.

208
00:11:16,260 --> 00:11:18,630
And again, your mind is the most
important thing in your battle for hope.

209
00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:23,340
And so as we have these temporal hopes,
we need to look beyond them to see the

210
00:11:23,340 --> 00:11:26,550
eternal hope that is beyond them, that
that, that they are foreshadowing.

211
00:11:28,590 --> 00:11:32,130
In biblical studies, uh, there is
something called type and anti type.

212
00:11:33,415 --> 00:11:36,630
And, and what that means is
sometimes we will see a type and

213
00:11:36,630 --> 00:11:37,950
often this pertains to Jesus.

214
00:11:38,190 --> 00:11:41,910
We will see a type that is the,
the foreshadowing of the anti

215
00:11:41,910 --> 00:11:43,410
type, which is the greater reality.

216
00:11:43,680 --> 00:11:43,950
Okay?

217
00:11:44,370 --> 00:11:47,035
Paul employs this reasoning in
Romans chapter five with Adam.

218
00:11:48,194 --> 00:11:53,925
In that Adam was a type of Christ in that
Adam was the representative of mankind.

219
00:11:53,954 --> 00:11:56,204
We connect this to the
idea of original sin.

220
00:11:56,564 --> 00:11:58,814
Paul says in Adam, all sinned.

221
00:11:58,844 --> 00:12:03,135
And then he says, so also in Christ
will all be made righteous, right?

222
00:12:03,255 --> 00:12:05,415
Those that put their faith in
Jesus will be made righteous

223
00:12:05,415 --> 00:12:06,704
will receive forgiveness of sin.

224
00:12:06,704 --> 00:12:10,275
So Adam is the type, Jesus
is the better anti type.

225
00:12:11,340 --> 00:12:13,755
Y You could also look at
Moses in the same way.

226
00:12:14,295 --> 00:12:16,605
Moses served as a deliv deliverer.

227
00:12:16,605 --> 00:12:19,155
Moses served as a mediator,
even between God and man.

228
00:12:19,155 --> 00:12:21,735
You remember when God was fed
up with the Israelites and Moses

229
00:12:21,735 --> 00:12:25,125
went before the before Yahweh
and said, don't destroy them.

230
00:12:26,265 --> 00:12:29,805
And so me, Moses was a a,
a type of mediator between

231
00:12:29,805 --> 00:12:31,095
Yahweh and the Israelites.

232
00:12:31,335 --> 00:12:32,595
Jesus is the anti type.

233
00:12:32,595 --> 00:12:34,185
Jesus is the better deliverer.

234
00:12:34,185 --> 00:12:35,925
Jesus is the better mediator.

235
00:12:36,585 --> 00:12:37,485
Between God and man.

236
00:12:38,265 --> 00:12:39,975
And so we have that as
it pertains to Jesus.

237
00:12:39,975 --> 00:12:42,765
And what I'm saying is let's take
that into the realm of the things

238
00:12:42,765 --> 00:12:44,085
that we hope for in this world.

239
00:12:44,835 --> 00:12:49,275
How can I set my hope fully on Jesus
and being with him and yet still

240
00:12:49,275 --> 00:12:50,655
hope for things that are temporal?

241
00:12:51,945 --> 00:12:55,815
Well, that's what I mean by find the
eternal hope beyond your temporal hope.

242
00:12:57,015 --> 00:13:00,675
So maybe your hope is for
your children's wellbeing.

243
00:13:01,620 --> 00:13:03,180
It's a, a hope that
every parent should have.

244
00:13:03,630 --> 00:13:05,160
I hope my parent, my kids are safe.

245
00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:06,630
I hope my my kids are healthy.

246
00:13:07,350 --> 00:13:12,330
Your eternal hope beyond the
temporal hope is that I trust you.

247
00:13:12,330 --> 00:13:15,480
Hope that your kids will one day be right
with God and spend eternity with Jesus.

248
00:13:16,710 --> 00:13:19,500
So you see, you can hope in the
temporal and, and possess that and

249
00:13:19,500 --> 00:13:23,070
maintain that, and yet realize that the
greater hope beyond that is more than

250
00:13:23,070 --> 00:13:25,440
you hope for their physical wellbeing
and their, their physical health.

251
00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:27,540
You hope for their spiritual
wellbeing and their spiritual health.

252
00:13:29,250 --> 00:13:31,439
Or maybe you hope for a
good review from your boss.

253
00:13:31,439 --> 00:13:34,020
Next time you go in for your
annual review, you're thinking,

254
00:13:34,020 --> 00:13:36,599
man, I, I hope that, that, I
hear that I'm getting a bonus.

255
00:13:36,599 --> 00:13:38,189
I hope that I hear that
I'm getting a raise.

256
00:13:38,849 --> 00:13:39,990
That's a, a temporal hope.

257
00:13:39,990 --> 00:13:40,650
That's fine.

258
00:13:40,650 --> 00:13:41,790
That's a good hope to have.

259
00:13:42,300 --> 00:13:46,530
But as Christians that may forecast
or, or that may cast your mind forward,

260
00:13:46,530 --> 00:13:50,160
I should say, to the eternal hope
that one day you will stand before

261
00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:53,459
Jesus at the beam sea, and your hope
is ultimately to hear from Jesus.

262
00:13:53,550 --> 00:13:55,050
Well done, good and faithful servant.

263
00:13:55,890 --> 00:13:59,430
So your temporal hope can be a
springboard to your eternal hope.

264
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:05,340
Or maybe you hope for your next vacation
to be restful and to, to recharge.

265
00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:08,400
And maybe that is, is
is a hope that you have.

266
00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:09,660
And that, again, that's a good hope.

267
00:14:09,660 --> 00:14:12,960
That's not a bad hope, but I'm saying
as Christians now, we get the freedom

268
00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,750
to have that be a springboard to our
eternal hope that says, man, I know

269
00:14:15,750 --> 00:14:18,810
that there's a day coming where I'm
gonna have my eternal rest with Jesus.

270
00:14:18,810 --> 00:14:22,440
That's gonna be so much sweeter than
anything a vacation might offer.

271
00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:27,300
Or maybe you hope that your boss
is gonna get their act together.

272
00:14:27,750 --> 00:14:30,089
Maybe you've got a difficult
situation at work and you're going,

273
00:14:30,089 --> 00:14:32,490
man, I just hope that my boss
will figure things out already.

274
00:14:34,770 --> 00:14:38,189
Again, that, that's a hope that I, I
understand and I don't think it's wrong

275
00:14:38,189 --> 00:14:43,349
to want to have a, a boss that that
leads well, and yet the springboard

276
00:14:43,349 --> 00:14:45,780
there is to the fact that you are one
day gonna live under the righteous rule

277
00:14:45,780 --> 00:14:48,750
of Jesus, and he's gonna lead perfectly.

278
00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,199
And so church, this is how
we can have temporal hopes.

279
00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:56,490
But still get to set our hope
fully on the graceless to be ours

280
00:14:56,490 --> 00:14:57,750
of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

281
00:14:58,410 --> 00:15:00,720
None of these temporal hopes
should be our ultimate hopes.

282
00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:04,080
In fact, the word there when he
says, set our hope fully on the

283
00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:06,060
grace that will be brought to us
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

284
00:15:06,060 --> 00:15:10,170
The word fully there in the Greek is
the word telio, which means it's the

285
00:15:10,170 --> 00:15:12,270
result, it's the purpose, it's the end.

286
00:15:12,810 --> 00:15:15,960
So he's saying here, the the
ultimate purpose of hope is

287
00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:18,600
to rest on being with Jesus.

288
00:15:19,605 --> 00:15:24,015
And so as we navigate this world,
we employ our minds to look at our

289
00:15:24,015 --> 00:15:27,314
temporal hopes and try to get from our
temporal hopes to our eternal hope.

290
00:15:27,375 --> 00:15:30,735
And the problem is church, so
often we reverse that process.

291
00:15:31,545 --> 00:15:33,314
We think, well, I'm gonna be with Jesus.

292
00:15:33,314 --> 00:15:34,995
That means my marriage
is gonna be perfect.

293
00:15:35,745 --> 00:15:36,824
I'm gonna go be with Jesus.

294
00:15:36,824 --> 00:15:38,535
That means my kids are
gonna be well behaved.

295
00:15:39,465 --> 00:15:40,485
I, I'm with Jesus.

296
00:15:40,485 --> 00:15:42,135
That means my job is gonna be fulfilling.

297
00:15:43,275 --> 00:15:44,025
I'm with Jesus.

298
00:15:44,025 --> 00:15:45,824
That means my life is gonna be great.

299
00:15:47,824 --> 00:15:50,010
And, and, and that's backwards.

300
00:15:50,340 --> 00:15:53,819
Rather, what we need to do is, is these
temporal hopes that we have need to push

301
00:15:53,819 --> 00:15:55,890
us to think, man, I'm gonna be with Jesus.

302
00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:57,569
And that's the best.

303
00:15:58,290 --> 00:15:59,189
That's the best.

304
00:16:00,959 --> 00:16:02,250
It requires hard work.

305
00:16:03,060 --> 00:16:03,689
Hard work.

306
00:16:04,079 --> 00:16:06,150
And, and that's gonna be a
theme in this morning's message.

307
00:16:06,150 --> 00:16:08,040
It's, it's, it's hard work to do this.

308
00:16:08,310 --> 00:16:10,590
But notice this is an active verb.

309
00:16:10,590 --> 00:16:11,730
This is an active command.

310
00:16:11,730 --> 00:16:13,380
This is not passive in the text.

311
00:16:14,055 --> 00:16:18,045
He tells you to set your mind fully
on the grace that's to be yours.

312
00:16:18,165 --> 00:16:22,125
He doesn't say have your mind set
on or let your mind be set on.

313
00:16:22,125 --> 00:16:24,135
That would be in the passive
tense as though someone else

314
00:16:24,135 --> 00:16:25,150
were going to do that for you.

315
00:16:26,505 --> 00:16:29,385
In other words, Peter's acknowledging
and writing to a group of exiles.

316
00:16:29,385 --> 00:16:31,905
He's writing to them saying,
this is going to be hard work.

317
00:16:31,905 --> 00:16:34,065
It's not gonna come naturally to do this.

318
00:16:34,065 --> 00:16:38,504
And so I'm calling on you to actively,
intentionally do the hard work, to set

319
00:16:38,504 --> 00:16:41,385
your hope fully on the graceless to be
yours at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

320
00:16:41,774 --> 00:16:44,385
We talked about how to do that
with our temporal hopes when we

321
00:16:44,385 --> 00:16:46,589
have temporal hope, but what about
when we don't have temporal hope?

322
00:16:47,925 --> 00:16:49,454
What about when we're
walking through the valley?

323
00:16:49,454 --> 00:16:50,774
What about when we're going through it?

324
00:16:50,774 --> 00:16:51,524
What do we do then?

325
00:16:51,524 --> 00:16:53,115
Can we still get to our eternal hope?

326
00:16:53,474 --> 00:16:56,504
Can I still set my hope fully on
the grace that's to be mine at

327
00:16:56,504 --> 00:16:57,825
the revelation of Jesus Christ?

328
00:16:57,825 --> 00:17:00,675
Take for example, the couple that
keeps seeing the negative result

329
00:17:00,675 --> 00:17:03,555
on their fertility tests or on
their pregnancy test every month.

330
00:17:05,385 --> 00:17:06,615
That's crushing.

331
00:17:07,545 --> 00:17:08,415
That's hard.

332
00:17:08,983 --> 00:17:13,395
That's heavy, so you can't get from
that to say, well, heaven's gonna

333
00:17:13,395 --> 00:17:14,503
be crushing and hard and heavy.

334
00:17:16,050 --> 00:17:19,589
But you can get to the opposite from
that when we're disappointed, you

335
00:17:19,589 --> 00:17:22,108
can remember, your eternal hope is
that you're gonna have a savior.

336
00:17:22,348 --> 00:17:25,378
That Revelation 21 says, is one
day gonna dry every tear in your

337
00:17:25,378 --> 00:17:26,520
eyes that you've shed over that?

338
00:17:29,850 --> 00:17:33,540
Or perhaps you're, you're single
and you desire companionship.

339
00:17:33,810 --> 00:17:34,710
You want to be married.

340
00:17:35,699 --> 00:17:37,770
And God has continually put
roadblocks in front of that.

341
00:17:37,770 --> 00:17:39,270
He hasn't answered that prayer.

342
00:17:39,270 --> 00:17:40,830
And so you sit here and you say, okay, I.

343
00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:45,750
I don't have a hope to, to
jump off of, to springboard off

344
00:17:45,750 --> 00:17:47,070
of, to get to my eternal hope.

345
00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:52,740
But even that feeling of, of
disappointment and at times even perhaps

346
00:17:52,740 --> 00:17:57,720
discontent, can be a springboard to remind
you of the fact that your eternal hope

347
00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:02,430
is you have a savior who is betrothed
himself to you as part of his bride.

348
00:18:03,210 --> 00:18:05,939
And the relationship that he has with
you that you will one day step foot

349
00:18:05,939 --> 00:18:10,139
into in full force is so much better
than any other earthly relationship

350
00:18:10,139 --> 00:18:11,159
that God could ever offer you.

351
00:18:13,949 --> 00:18:17,760
Or maybe perhaps you consider
somebody who has been abused.

352
00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:21,210
Take a woman who's been abused
by her husband, her husband's

353
00:18:21,210 --> 00:18:22,800
also been unfaithful to her.

354
00:18:24,629 --> 00:18:25,470
How do you preach to her?

355
00:18:25,470 --> 00:18:28,050
Well just go from your temporal
hope to your eternal hope.

356
00:18:29,010 --> 00:18:31,050
She's saying, I don't feel like
I have much of a temporal hope.

357
00:18:32,804 --> 00:18:36,495
But she does have an eternal hope and a
God who will never be unfaithful to her.

358
00:18:37,544 --> 00:18:39,645
And though she doesn't know
joy the same way she wishes,

359
00:18:39,645 --> 00:18:40,784
she might know joy right now.

360
00:18:40,784 --> 00:18:45,014
She has a future which is guaranteed
to be the fullness of joy when

361
00:18:45,014 --> 00:18:46,514
she steps foot into his presence.

362
00:18:48,855 --> 00:18:51,375
And so getting from our temporal
hope to our eternal hope is not

363
00:18:51,375 --> 00:18:53,445
just about when life is great.

364
00:18:55,245 --> 00:18:58,395
It's also, in fact, maybe, perhaps
even more important for us to

365
00:18:58,395 --> 00:18:59,895
get there when life is hard.

366
00:19:01,139 --> 00:19:04,080
And eternal hope doesn't take away
the sting, the disappointment, the

367
00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:05,699
betrayal, the frustration, the confusion.

368
00:19:05,699 --> 00:19:06,870
It doesn't take those things away.

369
00:19:06,870 --> 00:19:13,530
It doesn't fix the situations, but it's
rooted in a certain future that we have

370
00:19:13,530 --> 00:19:16,469
with Jesus, which enables us to get
up tomorrow to put one foot in front

371
00:19:16,469 --> 00:19:19,739
of the other, because this world isn't
all there is for us to find hope in.

372
00:19:22,500 --> 00:19:24,959
When your earthly hopes do come
through, remember they are but a

373
00:19:24,959 --> 00:19:26,250
foreshadowing of your living hope.

374
00:19:26,909 --> 00:19:28,050
They're not the ultimate hope.

375
00:19:29,055 --> 00:19:31,605
The foreshadowing of the much
greater certain future hope that

376
00:19:31,605 --> 00:19:35,115
you have that will be yours at
the revelation of Jesus Christ.

377
00:19:35,700 --> 00:19:37,860
Find the eternal hope
beyond the temporal hope.

378
00:19:38,130 --> 00:19:40,200
And again, it's, it's not easy to do that.

379
00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:42,090
It requires discipline.

380
00:19:42,090 --> 00:19:44,700
And Peter's about to tell us
that it requires discipline

381
00:19:44,700 --> 00:19:46,380
that begins with the mind.

382
00:19:46,740 --> 00:19:49,740
Again, the mind is the most important
part of our battle for hope, and that's

383
00:19:49,740 --> 00:19:52,590
where we go back to the beginning of
our verse, these two parles, which help

384
00:19:52,590 --> 00:19:55,530
us understand what it looks like for
us to set our hope fully on the grace.

385
00:19:55,530 --> 00:19:57,480
This would be ours of the
revelation of Jesus Christ.

386
00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:02,730
He says, therefore, preparing your
minds for action and being sober minded.

387
00:20:03,495 --> 00:20:06,315
Preparing your minds for
action and being sober minded.

388
00:20:06,495 --> 00:20:09,615
We're gonna begin with this first,
uh, this first part of simple

389
00:20:09,615 --> 00:20:12,795
here in this second point, to
prepare our minds for action.

390
00:20:12,915 --> 00:20:16,095
Literally in the Greek, it's to
gird up the loins of your minds.

391
00:20:16,665 --> 00:20:20,085
This is what was done to prepare
for battle or to prepare for work.

392
00:20:20,475 --> 00:20:23,180
Uh, remember when we studied John's
gospel, if you were with us when

393
00:20:23,185 --> 00:20:26,955
Jesus was on the shore and Peter
saw Jesus on the shore, Peter

394
00:20:27,075 --> 00:20:30,225
girded up his loins and jumped in
the water to swim to get to Jesus.

395
00:20:30,230 --> 00:20:34,010
S it's something that they would do
because they wore the long clothes.

396
00:20:34,010 --> 00:20:37,670
They didn't want them impeding them in
their, their action, impeding them in

397
00:20:37,670 --> 00:20:39,380
their labor, impeding them in their work.

398
00:20:39,410 --> 00:20:43,070
And so Peter, knowing that to set our
whole Foley on the graces to be ours,

399
00:20:43,070 --> 00:20:47,060
that the revelation of Jesus Christ
is going to entail work, he tells us.

400
00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:50,840
Gge, your minds, the loins
of your minds for action.

401
00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:52,670
Prepare your minds for action.

402
00:20:52,820 --> 00:20:53,900
Get ready for work.

403
00:20:53,900 --> 00:20:55,040
Get ready for battle.

404
00:20:55,130 --> 00:20:59,150
Both I think of those elements are
in view here in one Peter one 13.

405
00:20:59,690 --> 00:21:03,260
But before we continue, let's talk
about the mind for just a second.

406
00:21:03,500 --> 00:21:04,850
What is the mind?

407
00:21:05,690 --> 00:21:06,740
What is the mind?

408
00:21:06,740 --> 00:21:09,105
Well, the mind is not the
same thing as the brain.

409
00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:12,000
I think we, we can all agree with that.

410
00:21:12,420 --> 00:21:16,410
The, the brain is the physical
organ that is in our cranium.

411
00:21:16,650 --> 00:21:21,390
The, the brain receives and processes
sensory information, cognitive

412
00:21:21,390 --> 00:21:23,100
information, emotional data.

413
00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:24,990
The, the, the brain is the input source.

414
00:21:25,110 --> 00:21:28,920
The mind then takes the data
that's received and produces the

415
00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:32,610
thoughts and the memories and
the emotions that we experience.

416
00:21:33,210 --> 00:21:34,260
You could look at it this way.

417
00:21:34,260 --> 00:21:37,500
The, the mind is the immaterial
to the brain's material.

418
00:21:38,775 --> 00:21:42,405
So, lemme give you an example when you
smell your favorite Christmas scent.

419
00:21:42,585 --> 00:21:45,405
My wife and I went with a fake
Christmas tree for the first time in

420
00:21:45,405 --> 00:21:49,125
our marriage last year, and it was a
big decision because I grew up with

421
00:21:49,125 --> 00:21:53,265
real trees and yet it's, it's, we've,
we've gone the fake route and so we've

422
00:21:53,265 --> 00:21:57,465
joined the rest of the imposters in
the room and, uh, and it's great.

423
00:21:57,540 --> 00:21:59,055
I, I, I love so much about it.

424
00:21:59,055 --> 00:22:00,135
I love that I don't have to water it.

425
00:22:00,395 --> 00:22:01,055
I love that.

426
00:22:01,055 --> 00:22:03,095
I don't have to worry
about it burning down.

427
00:22:03,095 --> 00:22:05,795
I love that, uh, that it
gets stored away upstairs.

428
00:22:05,795 --> 00:22:09,635
I love that I don't have to spend
money on a, on a tree that's gonna die.

429
00:22:09,635 --> 00:22:11,795
That that is, that is gonna
be thrown out afterwards.

430
00:22:11,795 --> 00:22:13,865
That's gonna be, uh, in my living room.

431
00:22:13,895 --> 00:22:14,555
It, it's great.

432
00:22:14,555 --> 00:22:15,514
There's so many good things about it.

433
00:22:15,514 --> 00:22:18,875
You know what I, I miss though,
is the smell of a real tree.

434
00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:24,120
I don't miss the smell of a real
tree because I, I like pine.

435
00:22:24,150 --> 00:22:26,730
I could just pour some pine
salt in a bucket and, and

436
00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:27,840
enjoy some things that way.

437
00:22:28,050 --> 00:22:28,920
Don't do that, by the way.

438
00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:30,420
That's horrible to do.

439
00:22:30,450 --> 00:22:31,770
Don't, that's not being sober minded.

440
00:22:31,770 --> 00:22:32,700
We'll talk about that in 0.3.

441
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:36,390
It's not the smell of
pine in and of itself.

442
00:22:36,420 --> 00:22:38,100
It's everything that that does.

443
00:22:38,490 --> 00:22:41,880
So the brain receives the
scent and I think back to what

444
00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:42,880
Christmas has meant to me.

445
00:22:43,605 --> 00:22:46,665
The memories that I have, the emotions
that come with that, the relationships

446
00:22:46,665 --> 00:22:50,775
that represent there, that's how the mind
and the brain can work together, right?

447
00:22:51,345 --> 00:22:54,075
The immaterial mind can influence
our material bodies, and

448
00:22:54,075 --> 00:22:58,065
likewise, our material bodies can
influence our immaterial minds.

449
00:22:58,155 --> 00:23:01,545
And Peter says here that the mind has
a lot to do with how we set our hope

450
00:23:01,545 --> 00:23:04,545
fully on the grace that will be ours
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

451
00:23:06,105 --> 00:23:08,805
Or as I put it this morning, the mind
matters most in our battle for hope.

452
00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:13,500
As human beings we're com comprised
primarily of, of two parts.

453
00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:15,180
We are body and spirit.

454
00:23:15,180 --> 00:23:16,200
Body and soul.

455
00:23:17,550 --> 00:23:20,700
Again, the material and the immaterial
and the mind being part of the immaterial.

456
00:23:20,850 --> 00:23:25,290
Uh, Peter says, what the, what we do
with the immaterial part impacts us.

457
00:23:25,740 --> 00:23:29,255
It, it impacts our, our personhood
and impacts our our hope and how

458
00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:31,530
we set our minds on this hope that
we're gonna have in the future.

459
00:23:31,530 --> 00:23:35,250
So what are we expected
to do with our minds?

460
00:23:36,210 --> 00:23:39,750
To gird, gird up the loins of our
minds where to prepare our minds.

461
00:23:40,290 --> 00:23:43,680
Nobody prepares your mind
to take a nap, right?

462
00:23:43,980 --> 00:23:48,120
Nobody prepares their
mind to go on vacation.

463
00:23:48,149 --> 00:23:51,750
Mentally, you, you prepare
your mind for action.

464
00:23:52,889 --> 00:23:55,770
Back in Exodus chapter 12, before the
Israelites were going to leave the

465
00:23:55,770 --> 00:23:59,430
promised land, after the Passover,
Moses told them to git up their loins

466
00:23:59,430 --> 00:24:03,090
and to to eat their meal with their
shoes on so that they were ready to go.

467
00:24:04,655 --> 00:24:09,195
In Luke chapter 12, Jesus told the
parable of saying, we need to be

468
00:24:09,195 --> 00:24:12,645
ready for his return, and said that
we need to be dressed for action.

469
00:24:12,675 --> 00:24:13,635
It's the same concept there.

470
00:24:13,635 --> 00:24:14,115
Same word.

471
00:24:15,780 --> 00:24:20,070
So to, to prepare our minds for
action is something that's gonna

472
00:24:20,070 --> 00:24:24,270
mean that, that we have to be ready
to, to be active with our minds.

473
00:24:24,270 --> 00:24:27,660
In a world that finds it so easy for
us to, to just kick back and, and

474
00:24:27,660 --> 00:24:30,390
not have to fight because we can be
satisfied with the cheap invitations

475
00:24:30,390 --> 00:24:31,920
of hope that the world offers us.

476
00:24:32,070 --> 00:24:33,780
And so we have to fight for hope.

477
00:24:33,780 --> 00:24:34,710
We have to battle for hope.

478
00:24:34,710 --> 00:24:37,770
And that was easy for Peter's
original audience, or at least easier.

479
00:24:38,475 --> 00:24:38,955
Because why?

480
00:24:38,955 --> 00:24:40,515
They were elect exiles.

481
00:24:40,515 --> 00:24:41,625
They were literal exiles.

482
00:24:41,625 --> 00:24:45,345
You and I have to embrace our reality
as spiritual exiles, as the exiled

483
00:24:45,345 --> 00:24:48,585
church, not the vacationing church, so
that we can think about what it looks

484
00:24:48,585 --> 00:24:51,885
like for us to have to fight with our
minds, to hold onto our future hope.

485
00:24:52,125 --> 00:24:55,425
See, our living hope that we have
in Jesus is not gonna be naturally

486
00:24:55,425 --> 00:24:56,985
incubated by the world in which we live.

487
00:24:58,335 --> 00:25:01,395
The living hope that you have is
not gonna be nurtured by this world.

488
00:25:01,815 --> 00:25:04,215
In fact, that's the last thing
that the world wants you to

489
00:25:04,215 --> 00:25:06,705
entertain is your future with Jesus.

490
00:25:07,649 --> 00:25:11,489
We're strangers and foreigners and aliens
in this world, and that the hope that we

491
00:25:11,489 --> 00:25:13,169
have is foreign to this world as well.

492
00:25:13,439 --> 00:25:16,379
In fact, John says in one John two
15, he tells us, do not love the

493
00:25:16,379 --> 00:25:19,020
world or the things in the world
because they are not from God.

494
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:24,540
It's, it's, it's opposed to God, the
lust of the eyes, the lust of the

495
00:25:24,540 --> 00:25:25,830
flesh, and the boastful pride of life.

496
00:25:26,100 --> 00:25:29,399
And those three categories, think
about how those envelop so many of

497
00:25:29,399 --> 00:25:30,780
the earthly hopes that we can have.

498
00:25:33,345 --> 00:25:35,895
So that means what I've already said a
couple times so far this morning, our,

499
00:25:35,895 --> 00:25:39,615
our task is not gonna be an easy one if
the world is, is opposed to our task.

500
00:25:40,515 --> 00:25:43,845
If the world is gonna do everything
to distract you from the hope that you

501
00:25:43,845 --> 00:25:48,105
should have in Christ, it means that
your task is going to be difficult.

502
00:25:50,565 --> 00:25:53,865
As Christians, we're not the only ones
fighting for hope in this world, but as

503
00:25:53,865 --> 00:25:55,455
Christians, we have to fight differently.

504
00:25:57,585 --> 00:26:00,585
Ours isn't just a battle with
our bodies or our circumstances.

505
00:26:02,310 --> 00:26:05,520
Ours is a battle that involves preparing
our minds for action to set our hope

506
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:08,100
fully on the grace that will be ours
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

507
00:26:08,100 --> 00:26:10,590
Along those lines, point number
two this morning is this enlist

508
00:26:10,590 --> 00:26:12,360
your mind to fight daily for hope.

509
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,140
Enlist your mind to fight daily.

510
00:26:16,530 --> 00:26:19,410
For hope for what?

511
00:26:19,410 --> 00:26:20,790
Hope for your living.

512
00:26:20,850 --> 00:26:24,180
Hope for the hope that's to be yours
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

513
00:26:24,390 --> 00:26:27,750
This broken world makes it so
hard to maintain that hope for

514
00:26:27,750 --> 00:26:29,160
anyone, Christians included.

515
00:26:30,780 --> 00:26:35,520
And so often our, our world's response to
struggles for hope is, is a naturalistic

516
00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:41,070
response, meaning the primary focus is
often more on the physical side of things

517
00:26:41,070 --> 00:26:42,540
than on the spiritual side of things.

518
00:26:44,700 --> 00:26:47,910
To understand what it means to enlist
our minds, to fight for hope, or

519
00:26:47,910 --> 00:26:51,660
to prepare our minds for action,
we have to understand what's known

520
00:26:51,660 --> 00:26:53,280
as the concept of a worldview.

521
00:26:54,870 --> 00:26:58,620
A worldview is this, A worldview is the
lens through which we interpret reality.

522
00:26:59,685 --> 00:27:03,165
And so a person's worldview has a lot to
say about what their hope is actually in,

523
00:27:05,235 --> 00:27:05,840
for example, a.

524
00:27:05,845 --> 00:27:08,955
A Muslim's hope is going to be
informed by their worldview about a

525
00:27:08,955 --> 00:27:11,055
future in what they term as paradise.

526
00:27:12,045 --> 00:27:15,945
A Hindu is gonna have hope in
nirvana or moksha in breaking

527
00:27:15,945 --> 00:27:17,265
free from the cycle of rebirth.

528
00:27:17,265 --> 00:27:20,595
That's their hope, informed
by their worldview.

529
00:27:21,645 --> 00:27:23,745
An atheist is gonna hope for a good life.

530
00:27:25,125 --> 00:27:27,885
And to get as much outta their life
as they possibly can before they die.

531
00:27:27,885 --> 00:27:28,605
That's their hope.

532
00:27:28,605 --> 00:27:30,495
That's informed by their worldview.

533
00:27:31,665 --> 00:27:35,055
Christians we're called to have a hope
that's informed by a biblical worldview.

534
00:27:35,505 --> 00:27:38,685
Our reality, in other words, that which we
see in the way we interpret it has to be

535
00:27:38,685 --> 00:27:40,335
informed through the lens of God's word.

536
00:27:40,335 --> 00:27:45,675
Paul says in Romans 12 that we need to
be transformed by the renewal of our mind

537
00:27:46,965 --> 00:27:48,885
to think biblically about what happens.

538
00:27:50,355 --> 00:27:52,995
And so here's the thing, as we look
at a world where it's difficult

539
00:27:52,995 --> 00:27:57,135
to find hope, it, it's not that a
secular worldview can't recognize

540
00:27:57,255 --> 00:27:59,985
that there are times we have to
fight for hope in the world they do.

541
00:28:00,075 --> 00:28:00,435
Right?

542
00:28:01,185 --> 00:28:03,795
This world understands what
it is to have a crisis of not

543
00:28:03,795 --> 00:28:04,935
being able to hope in something.

544
00:28:05,595 --> 00:28:09,045
It's not that the, the observation
is wrong, but the interpretation

545
00:28:09,045 --> 00:28:12,345
and the conclusions are gonna
be what we take issue with.

546
00:28:14,445 --> 00:28:17,655
It's more than the solutions offered
up by them in their response.

547
00:28:18,550 --> 00:28:21,375
And, and even when the
naturalistic world tries to

548
00:28:21,375 --> 00:28:22,875
engage the immaterial mind, right?

549
00:28:23,025 --> 00:28:25,785
For example, one of the leading forms of
therapy out there today is what's known

550
00:28:25,785 --> 00:28:30,525
as cognitive behavioral therapy, which
suggests that if you change your mind

551
00:28:30,525 --> 00:28:34,035
about your circumstances, right, the mind,
the immaterial, if you change your mind

552
00:28:34,035 --> 00:28:40,095
about your circumstances and your behavior
in re as a response of that, then, then

553
00:28:40,095 --> 00:28:43,215
you can change the way that you feel
about the circumstances that you're in.

554
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:47,640
Even the world understands, man,
we, we've gotta try to get after the

555
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:50,160
mind in, in addressing hopelessness.

556
00:28:50,940 --> 00:28:55,770
But the problem is cognitive behavioral
therapy and, and there are other solutions

557
00:28:55,830 --> 00:28:58,980
are simply going to be band-aids because
they're not dealing with the ultimate

558
00:28:58,980 --> 00:29:02,550
vacuum of hope in the person's life,
which is that we need a hope in Jesus.

559
00:29:04,470 --> 00:29:08,790
And so CBT might get you from one crisis
to the next crisis, to the next crisis,

560
00:29:09,030 --> 00:29:11,850
but it's never gonna be something
that at the end of the day you say, I

561
00:29:11,850 --> 00:29:15,340
have an abiding hope that I never am
going to have shatter underneath me.

562
00:29:18,225 --> 00:29:21,165
Without understanding y'all, that
we are spiritual beings created in

563
00:29:21,165 --> 00:29:23,955
the image of God and a hope that
transcends that the here and now.

564
00:29:24,225 --> 00:29:27,584
That's not altered or lessened
by our circumstances or enhanced

565
00:29:27,584 --> 00:29:28,635
or improved by them either.

566
00:29:28,784 --> 00:29:32,475
We're left to cobble together a framework
that will provide some semblance of

567
00:29:32,475 --> 00:29:34,544
hope as we move through our lives.

568
00:29:36,314 --> 00:29:38,205
And so what I want us to see
in this point here y'all, is

569
00:29:38,205 --> 00:29:40,155
that the world does the best.

570
00:29:40,155 --> 00:29:43,844
It knows how, but the best it
knows how isn't always what's best.

571
00:29:45,525 --> 00:29:47,175
Especially for believers.

572
00:29:48,405 --> 00:29:49,245
Lemme give you an example.

573
00:29:50,835 --> 00:29:53,835
You may walk in for a, a, a routine
checkup with your primary care

574
00:29:53,835 --> 00:29:58,065
physician, and you're just there
because you need a physical.

575
00:29:58,965 --> 00:30:01,035
And so you go in, you meet with
your primary care physician,

576
00:30:01,035 --> 00:30:02,115
they're checking everything.

577
00:30:02,115 --> 00:30:03,675
Your ECG comes back, okay?

578
00:30:03,675 --> 00:30:05,445
They're listening to your heart,
they're checking your breathing,

579
00:30:05,445 --> 00:30:07,995
everything seems fine, and then your
doc sits down with you and says, well,

580
00:30:07,995 --> 00:30:09,345
how have you been sleeping recently?

581
00:30:10,670 --> 00:30:11,810
I'm okay, I guess.

582
00:30:12,870 --> 00:30:14,070
Six outta 10.

583
00:30:14,820 --> 00:30:15,210
Oh, okay.

584
00:30:15,210 --> 00:30:16,980
Well, let's talk about
that a little bit more.

585
00:30:16,980 --> 00:30:20,010
Are you, are there some stress
points in your life right now?

586
00:30:20,010 --> 00:30:22,440
Are you battling anything you,
you're, you're anxious about?

587
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:27,030
Worried about, and because you're a
human being, you answer, well, actually,

588
00:30:27,030 --> 00:30:28,080
now that you mentioned it, yeah.

589
00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:29,880
There are some stress
points in my life right now.

590
00:30:31,530 --> 00:30:34,200
Maybe you're having some marital
conflict at home, or maybe you're

591
00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:35,820
having a difficulty with your kids.

592
00:30:36,510 --> 00:30:38,940
Maybe you've got a concern at work
with your relationship with your

593
00:30:38,940 --> 00:30:41,975
boss, and that's causing you to
feel anxious about that situation.

594
00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:45,600
Next thing you know, your,
your doc says, you know what?

595
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:47,430
I, I could, I could help in that.

596
00:30:47,430 --> 00:30:50,370
And, and there's, there's medications
that actually can help with that.

597
00:30:52,139 --> 00:30:54,450
And before you know it, you, you're
walking out of your doctor's office

598
00:30:54,450 --> 00:30:57,180
with a prescription for anti-anxiety
medication and an assurance from your

599
00:30:57,180 --> 00:31:01,080
doctor that that's gonna hope that,
that you can hope in this medication

600
00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:04,800
to help your marriage and help your
parenting and help your work situation.

601
00:31:07,875 --> 00:31:11,625
See what's happened here in this example
is that the spiritual component of who

602
00:31:11,625 --> 00:31:14,865
we are as those created in God's image
has been bypassed by the physical.

603
00:31:17,535 --> 00:31:20,655
And let me just say, I know I'm
preaching through a minefield on this.

604
00:31:22,395 --> 00:31:23,475
I readily admit that.

605
00:31:26,115 --> 00:31:28,725
I also know I'm not a
doctor, not a real one.

606
00:31:28,725 --> 00:31:31,815
At least I tell my wife I am.

607
00:31:31,875 --> 00:31:32,985
But that's a different kind of doctor.

608
00:31:34,935 --> 00:31:35,775
I'm not a medical doctor.

609
00:31:36,645 --> 00:31:42,765
I do know enough about God's word
that maybe the reason you are anxious

610
00:31:42,765 --> 00:31:45,495
and struggling with your sleep
is you've got areas of your life

611
00:31:45,495 --> 00:31:46,785
that you're not trusting God with.

612
00:31:48,645 --> 00:31:50,895
That's a spiritual problem,
not a physical problem.

613
00:31:52,845 --> 00:31:56,175
That's something for you to go to the
mat and wrestle with God over, not for

614
00:31:56,175 --> 00:31:58,845
you to go to the Rx counter to pick up
an over the over-the-counter prescription

615
00:31:58,845 --> 00:32:02,415
or a or a doctor's note prescription for
you to be able to sleep better at night.

616
00:32:07,620 --> 00:32:10,110
Our world wants us to think
therapeutically, medicinally, and

617
00:32:10,110 --> 00:32:13,620
naturalistically in our search for hope,
because that's the best they can offer

618
00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:17,100
you.

619
00:32:17,100 --> 00:32:18,120
The Bible has more.

620
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:21,780
The Bible has better.

621
00:32:23,970 --> 00:32:26,910
We have a living hope that we
can set our minds on fully.

622
00:32:29,430 --> 00:32:32,850
God's word says in Second Peter one,
three, that his divine power has granted

623
00:32:32,850 --> 00:32:36,150
to us all things that pertain to life and
godliness through the knowledge of him who

624
00:32:36,150 --> 00:32:38,700
called us to his own glory and excellence.

625
00:32:42,030 --> 00:32:44,940
I understand that that verse can
be a cliche bandaid that we throw

626
00:32:44,940 --> 00:32:46,020
out when people are hurting.

627
00:32:47,895 --> 00:32:50,880
Man, I'm so sorry that you're, you're
feeling depressed right now, but hey,

628
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:53,820
God's word sufficient for all things
necessary for life and godliness.

629
00:32:53,820 --> 00:32:54,715
So go be warm, be filled.

630
00:32:57,315 --> 00:33:00,105
Listen, that that's not okay when
we do that church, but neither is

631
00:33:00,105 --> 00:33:03,225
it okay for us to take the baby and
throw it out with the bath water.

632
00:33:04,845 --> 00:33:06,375
This verse is true.

633
00:33:07,845 --> 00:33:12,585
God's word is sufficient for all things
that pertain to life and godliness.

634
00:33:13,785 --> 00:33:16,755
There are some areas of a life where it's
harder for us to find that, and that's

635
00:33:16,755 --> 00:33:19,665
why I'm saying that we have to enlist
our minds daily in the battle for hope.

636
00:33:19,665 --> 00:33:22,005
That's why Peter is saying we have
to prepare our minds for action.

637
00:33:22,245 --> 00:33:24,465
There are gonna be times where you
have to mind the word of God to say,

638
00:33:24,465 --> 00:33:27,915
God, I need to understand how I'm
struggling with depression right now,

639
00:33:27,915 --> 00:33:29,385
and your word has an answer for me.

640
00:33:29,535 --> 00:33:32,295
I need to understand how I'm
struggling to sleep at night right now.

641
00:33:32,415 --> 00:33:33,645
And your word has an answer.

642
00:33:33,765 --> 00:33:37,965
For me, and yet we have to confess that it
does because the Bible says that it does.

643
00:33:37,995 --> 00:33:41,445
And we as a church need to not just own
that for ourselves, but for one another

644
00:33:41,445 --> 00:33:44,475
and be willing to get into the trenches
with our brothers and sisters in Christ

645
00:33:44,475 --> 00:33:49,035
to help them see where the, the Bible,
where God's word can offer them hope and

646
00:33:49,035 --> 00:33:52,095
can help them as they're going through
the valley of the shadow of death.

647
00:33:54,375 --> 00:33:57,585
And so let's say you have someone
who's struggling to sleep.

648
00:33:58,605 --> 00:34:00,345
And they may hear from their
doctor, well, you know what?

649
00:34:00,345 --> 00:34:03,855
You, you can just take some sleep
aids and yeah, maybe those are

650
00:34:03,855 --> 00:34:04,995
gonna help them get to sleep.

651
00:34:04,995 --> 00:34:07,425
But, but what about what's
going on spiritually, perhaps

652
00:34:07,425 --> 00:34:08,534
in that person's life?

653
00:34:09,225 --> 00:34:11,114
What if God's keeping them
up at night because he's

654
00:34:11,114 --> 00:34:12,585
trying to get their attention?

655
00:34:13,245 --> 00:34:16,485
What if they need to know what David
knew in Psalm three, five when David

656
00:34:16,485 --> 00:34:20,235
said, I lay down and slept and I
awoke for the Lord sustained me.

657
00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:26,639
Maybe that's the truth that needs to be
brought into their life in that moment.

658
00:34:26,639 --> 00:34:31,560
Or maybe they need Philippians four,
eight, whatever's true and right, and

659
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,710
honorable and noble and worthy of praise
and excellent and commendable that these

660
00:34:34,710 --> 00:34:35,760
are the things you need to think about.

661
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,850
Because maybe what's keeping them
up at night is their anxieties over

662
00:34:38,850 --> 00:34:41,880
everything else and all the what ifs
and all the if onlys that are flooding

663
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,400
their mind when they're laying there in
their bed at night and unable to sleep.

664
00:34:46,590 --> 00:34:47,790
And the world says, don't worry about it.

665
00:34:48,420 --> 00:34:49,560
You don't need to fight through that.

666
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:52,380
We've got a pill for that.

667
00:34:55,920 --> 00:35:00,090
The person battling severe depression
may need medical intervention

668
00:35:00,090 --> 00:35:04,710
for a time, although we would
still provide a a caveat to that.

669
00:35:04,710 --> 00:35:08,370
And if you just want to know my blunt
and honest opinion, and I sent an email

670
00:35:08,370 --> 00:35:11,610
out with my loom to everybody in the
church, so why not just tell you anyways?

671
00:35:12,810 --> 00:35:14,640
By the way, if you got that,
that goes to our community group

672
00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:15,569
leaders on a regular basis.

673
00:35:15,569 --> 00:35:16,440
You can watch the video.

674
00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:18,029
There's nothing in there that
it wouldn't say in front of you.

675
00:35:18,029 --> 00:35:18,990
Hence what I'm about to say.

676
00:35:20,145 --> 00:35:22,815
If you want to know where we stand as
a church, if you were to come to us and

677
00:35:22,815 --> 00:35:25,395
say, Hey, pastor, my doc recommended
that I get on antidepressants, we're

678
00:35:25,395 --> 00:35:26,565
gonna counsel you against that.

679
00:35:28,694 --> 00:35:29,865
And there's reasons behind that.

680
00:35:31,095 --> 00:35:33,765
Pastor OT is actually pursuing
his, his doctorate in biblical

681
00:35:33,765 --> 00:35:35,444
counseling right now, so punt to him.

682
00:35:35,475 --> 00:35:35,595
Okay.

683
00:35:35,595 --> 00:35:36,134
You got questions?

684
00:35:36,134 --> 00:35:36,585
Go talk to him.

685
00:35:36,915 --> 00:35:37,395
No, I'm just kidding.

686
00:35:37,785 --> 00:35:40,185
He is, and, and he's very
knowledgeable, more knowledgeable

687
00:35:40,185 --> 00:35:42,795
than I am on this front, but still
he's, he's helped me even this week

688
00:35:42,795 --> 00:35:43,755
think about some of these things.

689
00:35:44,450 --> 00:35:48,045
The, the studies are, are inconclusive
at best on the long-term effects of

690
00:35:48,045 --> 00:35:49,154
antidepressants in people's lives.

691
00:35:50,535 --> 00:35:54,015
There are studies that have shown that
placebo groups are showing improvement in,

692
00:35:54,075 --> 00:35:58,875
in their depression just as much as those
on antidepressant medications, plus the

693
00:35:58,875 --> 00:36:00,375
dangers of getting on these medications.

694
00:36:00,375 --> 00:36:02,865
Suicidal ideations are high
when you get on them and high

695
00:36:02,865 --> 00:36:03,765
when you try to get off them.

696
00:36:06,375 --> 00:36:08,415
And so church, we, we
want to walk with you.

697
00:36:08,714 --> 00:36:10,845
We want to be with you,
we want to help you.

698
00:36:10,935 --> 00:36:12,345
We want to get in the trenches with you.

699
00:36:12,705 --> 00:36:15,075
We're not just gonna throw a
platitude at you and walk away.

700
00:36:16,875 --> 00:36:19,515
And because of all that we're gonna
say to you, if you're gonna ask our

701
00:36:19,515 --> 00:36:22,365
opinion, we're gonna say, I wouldn't
get on them in the first place.

702
00:36:23,654 --> 00:36:26,625
Hear me also say this, if you are
on them, and I trust in a room like

703
00:36:26,625 --> 00:36:29,805
this, there are are those that are,
I'm not a medical doctor and I'm

704
00:36:29,805 --> 00:36:30,855
not telling you to get off them.

705
00:36:32,115 --> 00:36:34,455
That's a conversation
that can be had offline.

706
00:36:34,455 --> 00:36:37,365
That's a conversation that needs to be
had with your medical doctors as well.

707
00:36:37,605 --> 00:36:38,654
We can talk through that.

708
00:36:40,515 --> 00:36:41,685
Here's my point in all this, y'all.

709
00:36:43,410 --> 00:36:46,140
My concern is that we are medicating

710
00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:50,970
what God is is trying to
accomplish in our lives.

711
00:36:52,725 --> 00:36:55,380
That that, that we're not
preparing our minds for action.

712
00:36:55,620 --> 00:37:00,390
We're not doing the hard work to fight for
hope when it seems hard to fight for hope.

713
00:37:00,390 --> 00:37:05,610
And instead we're going to the world that
hates Jesus and doesn't want us to set

714
00:37:05,610 --> 00:37:08,220
our minds on the hope that's fully to,
to come the, the grace that's gonna be

715
00:37:08,220 --> 00:37:09,600
ours of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

716
00:37:10,334 --> 00:37:13,904
This world doesn't want you to be
sustained through the dark times by

717
00:37:13,904 --> 00:37:17,205
trusting in Jesus 'cause the prince of
the power, the air of this world doesn't

718
00:37:17,205 --> 00:37:18,734
want you to be confident in Jesus.

719
00:37:18,944 --> 00:37:22,604
So this world is more than happy
to cause you to not have to work

720
00:37:22,604 --> 00:37:25,035
to find that hope, but instead to
medicate you so you don't have to.

721
00:37:29,910 --> 00:37:34,154
And I'm just saying at, at
minimum we have to understand that

722
00:37:34,154 --> 00:37:35,589
it's, it's more than physical.

723
00:37:37,290 --> 00:37:42,690
And we have to, and cannot neglect, we
cannot neglect the spiritual side of

724
00:37:42,690 --> 00:37:48,510
things when we're battling things like
depression, anxiety, struggling to sleep.

725
00:37:49,470 --> 00:37:50,610
Anything else that's out there?

726
00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:55,650
This is the extreme, but, but let
me give you the extreme because

727
00:37:55,650 --> 00:37:57,120
I think it'll, it will help here.

728
00:37:58,380 --> 00:38:00,870
And it's appropriate given what
happened this last weekend or

729
00:38:00,870 --> 00:38:02,130
this last week on Wednesday.

730
00:38:03,150 --> 00:38:04,470
We live in a world where.

731
00:38:05,625 --> 00:38:08,415
A child can go into their school
counselor, and the school counselor

732
00:38:08,415 --> 00:38:10,785
is not only gonna ask them
questions, but leading questions.

733
00:38:12,944 --> 00:38:15,314
And when that child says,
well, I'm, I'm not happy.

734
00:38:16,004 --> 00:38:18,285
We live in a world where the school
counselor's gonna suggest that

735
00:38:18,285 --> 00:38:22,095
maybe their gender is different
than their biological sex.

736
00:38:23,504 --> 00:38:26,654
And then that counselor is going to let
the parents know that unless you provide

737
00:38:26,654 --> 00:38:30,194
puberty blockers and hormone therapy, that
this child is going to take their life

738
00:38:30,404 --> 00:38:31,754
and you're gonna be responsible for that.

739
00:38:33,525 --> 00:38:37,125
And so we have parents that are
putting their children through things

740
00:38:37,125 --> 00:38:40,965
as, as the, the book by Abigail
Schreyer is titled Irreversible

741
00:38:40,965 --> 00:38:42,735
Damage in a lot of these situations.

742
00:38:44,145 --> 00:38:44,865
For what?

743
00:38:45,555 --> 00:38:48,885
For the offer of hope that they're gonna
be happy once they go through this.

744
00:38:49,545 --> 00:38:52,245
Y'all, this last week, somebody
went into a church and shot up a

745
00:38:52,245 --> 00:38:54,675
bunch of kids because they went
through it and realized it didn't

746
00:38:54,675 --> 00:38:57,705
satisfy them, and they were crushed.

747
00:39:00,045 --> 00:39:02,505
I understand that's
different than taking Prozac,

748
00:39:04,635 --> 00:39:09,705
but there's some parts of the, the,
the heart of it that are the same issue

749
00:39:11,775 --> 00:39:13,335
we're trying to treat spiritually.

750
00:39:15,165 --> 00:39:18,735
We're trying to treat physically rather,
something that is inherently spiritual.

751
00:39:20,085 --> 00:39:25,035
Your fight, your battle, your quest for
hope is about your future with Christ.

752
00:39:26,205 --> 00:39:29,355
And it's going to inquire or
require you to enlist your mind

753
00:39:29,444 --> 00:39:31,964
daily to fight for that, that hope.

754
00:39:35,654 --> 00:39:44,145
Listen, I, I, I, I love you guys and I, I
hope I'm not coming across as pejorative

755
00:39:44,174 --> 00:39:45,515
towards anybody in, in the room on this.

756
00:39:47,145 --> 00:39:49,395
I told Kelly earlier this week,
my admin, I said, I'm gonna

757
00:39:49,395 --> 00:39:50,564
offend everybody this weekend.

758
00:39:50,564 --> 00:39:52,095
I just need to do so gently.

759
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:58,350
We, we love you and, and my concern more
than anything else, no matter where you

760
00:39:58,350 --> 00:40:03,420
are on this equation, is that you are
doing what Peter's calling you to do, that

761
00:40:03,420 --> 00:40:05,040
you're preparing for your mind for action.

762
00:40:05,940 --> 00:40:08,880
That you're thinking, how do I fight
today for the hope of being with Jesus?

763
00:40:09,510 --> 00:40:10,920
What does that look like for me today?

764
00:40:12,330 --> 00:40:14,520
I speak to these other issues
because they're evergreen issues.

765
00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:15,450
They're things that are important.

766
00:40:15,450 --> 00:40:18,450
There are things that that come up
in our society on a regular basis.

767
00:40:20,115 --> 00:40:23,115
We have to be preparing our
minds for action and, and the way

768
00:40:23,115 --> 00:40:24,255
that we do that is where we go.

769
00:40:24,255 --> 00:40:29,685
Finally here, by being sober minded,
by being sober minded, the text says,

770
00:40:29,685 --> 00:40:32,715
and being sober minded, but there are
other translations like the net Bible

771
00:40:32,715 --> 00:40:36,495
that says, therefore, get your minds
ready for action by being fully sober.

772
00:40:37,529 --> 00:40:40,230
Or the Lex English Bible, which says,
therefore, when you have prepared your

773
00:40:40,230 --> 00:40:42,690
minds for action by being self-controlled.

774
00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:46,230
So in other words, we set our
hope fully on the graceless to be

775
00:40:46,230 --> 00:40:50,610
ours by preparing our minds for
action, by being sober minded.

776
00:40:51,270 --> 00:40:54,629
So all of these things in one Peter one
13, they, they build upon one another.

777
00:40:55,049 --> 00:40:57,419
And so we come to this and we think,
well, if I'm going to prepare my

778
00:40:57,419 --> 00:41:00,330
mind for action, certainly that
means that I need to be sober minded.

779
00:41:00,330 --> 00:41:06,540
My mind isn't ready for action if it's not
in my control, if it's not sober minded.

780
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:08,490
What is sober minded?

781
00:41:08,879 --> 00:41:12,089
This Greek lexicon said it's a,
a broader range of soberness or

782
00:41:12,089 --> 00:41:16,080
sobriety, namely, restraint and
moderation, which avoids excess

783
00:41:16,259 --> 00:41:19,859
impassion in rashness and in confusion.

784
00:41:21,345 --> 00:41:25,455
In, in passion, meaning the the
things that happen to us in life,

785
00:41:25,455 --> 00:41:27,825
our highs aren't gonna be too high,
and our lows aren't gonna be too low.

786
00:41:28,845 --> 00:41:31,995
We have a steadfast, abiding
hope in Jesus Christ.

787
00:41:32,774 --> 00:41:34,575
Our joy is fixated on that.

788
00:41:34,575 --> 00:41:38,415
It's not tossed to and fro by the waves
of everything that happens to us in life.

789
00:41:39,464 --> 00:41:42,495
It's not an excess in, in rashness.

790
00:41:43,214 --> 00:41:46,065
In other words, we have such a confidence
in Jesus and our future with him that

791
00:41:46,065 --> 00:41:49,004
when something happens to us in life,
we're not prone to be impulsive in

792
00:41:49,004 --> 00:41:52,605
our decision making to do something
that's going to end up being something

793
00:41:52,605 --> 00:41:54,674
damaging to us or damaging to others.

794
00:41:54,674 --> 00:41:59,325
As a result, it's also not
given to an excess of confusion.

795
00:42:00,509 --> 00:42:02,970
Meaning that when we are struggling,
perhaps to find hope, we're not gonna

796
00:42:02,970 --> 00:42:05,399
open ourselves up to every single
voice that's out there about how we

797
00:42:05,399 --> 00:42:09,089
can find hope, but we are gonna fixate
our, our minds and set our minds on

798
00:42:09,089 --> 00:42:11,040
the word of God, the, the word of God.

799
00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:14,279
That is such a, a vital component to
our biblical worldview of how we look

800
00:42:14,279 --> 00:42:15,779
at interpret and understand reality.

801
00:42:17,010 --> 00:42:18,690
This is what it is to be sober minded.

802
00:42:18,690 --> 00:42:20,550
And Peter's gonna call for this
later on in the book as well.

803
00:42:20,550 --> 00:42:24,360
He is gonna be, he's gonna say in
one Peter five, be sober minded

804
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:26,250
and be watchful for your adversary.

805
00:42:26,250 --> 00:42:30,060
The devil prowls around like a roaring
lion seeking someone to devour.

806
00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:36,330
And a lot of of his activity is he's
devouring our hope on a regular basis.

807
00:42:38,100 --> 00:42:39,990
So we need to be sober minded.

808
00:42:40,875 --> 00:42:43,185
The application of this third
point is pretty straightforward.

809
00:42:43,815 --> 00:42:47,475
There's no hidden meaning here behind
Peter's words in our battle for hope

810
00:42:47,475 --> 00:42:50,565
in the future, grace that's gonna be
ours at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

811
00:42:50,745 --> 00:42:54,645
We cannot allow ourselves to be
derailed by counterfeit offers of

812
00:42:54,645 --> 00:42:58,875
mental or physical, or whatever
intoxication that are so readily

813
00:42:58,875 --> 00:43:00,585
accessible to us in this world.

814
00:43:00,585 --> 00:43:04,245
Our final point this morning is
this, defend your mind at all costs.

815
00:43:04,455 --> 00:43:08,625
If the mind matters most in our battle for
hope, then we need to defend our minds.

816
00:43:08,955 --> 00:43:09,645
At all costs.

817
00:43:09,645 --> 00:43:14,805
This is what it is to be sober minded
and there are the, the big ticket items

818
00:43:14,805 --> 00:43:16,245
to defend our minds against, right?

819
00:43:16,515 --> 00:43:19,154
You think about alcoholism, you think
about drugs, you think about other

820
00:43:19,154 --> 00:43:22,815
things that are, are, we can give our
thoughts to, we can numb ourselves.

821
00:43:22,815 --> 00:43:25,904
We can escape from reality by pursuing
these things, even maybe binge

822
00:43:25,904 --> 00:43:27,705
watching Netflix for hours on end.

823
00:43:29,010 --> 00:43:29,850
We're struggling with hope.

824
00:43:29,850 --> 00:43:32,100
We think, well, I'm just
gonna turn my, my mind off.

825
00:43:32,100 --> 00:43:33,480
I, I don't wanna think about this.

826
00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:37,170
And there's things that we can
literally be intoxicated by and, and

827
00:43:37,170 --> 00:43:41,100
even metaphorically intoxicated by
that allow us to escape reality that

828
00:43:41,100 --> 00:43:44,970
is, is not an option for a Christian,
because that is not being sober minded.

829
00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:46,980
We understand this.

830
00:43:46,980 --> 00:43:48,180
This is evident, this is clear.

831
00:43:48,180 --> 00:43:50,940
And then there should be a certain
fear that we have about those things

832
00:43:50,940 --> 00:43:54,870
because we don't wanna do anything that
when Christ returns would cause us, as

833
00:43:54,870 --> 00:43:58,260
John talks about in one John 2 28, to
shrink from him in shame at his coming.

834
00:43:59,250 --> 00:44:01,380
We wanna be sober minded
when Jesus comes back.

835
00:44:01,380 --> 00:44:03,600
We wanna be dressed for
action when Jesus comes back.

836
00:44:04,530 --> 00:44:06,900
Paul's gonna talk about that in
First Thessalonians chapter five.

837
00:44:06,900 --> 00:44:08,850
He's gonna say, you're not
children of darkness to walk as

838
00:44:08,850 --> 00:44:09,930
they do, you're children of light.

839
00:44:10,770 --> 00:44:12,750
So walk in the light and be sober minded.

840
00:44:12,750 --> 00:44:13,320
He's gonna say.

841
00:44:15,120 --> 00:44:18,990
Those are the obvious ones, but Christian,
there's also some less obvious ones

842
00:44:18,990 --> 00:44:20,310
that we have to guard our minds against.

843
00:44:21,780 --> 00:44:25,110
You may say, well, I, I don't give
myself over to those big ticket items,

844
00:44:25,110 --> 00:44:26,940
and so I'm, I'm, I'm sober minded.

845
00:44:28,590 --> 00:44:32,130
But there are other threats to being
sober minded, other threats to our

846
00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:35,640
battle for hope that we have to guard
ourselves against threats like the

847
00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:38,130
excusing and rationalization of sin.

848
00:44:39,780 --> 00:44:42,480
You're having a bad season, a bad stretch.

849
00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:45,060
You're at work and your boss is
just making your life miserable.

850
00:44:45,060 --> 00:44:48,270
So you come home and you blow up at your
kids and your wife and your family, and

851
00:44:48,270 --> 00:44:51,840
you excuse it, and you rationalize it
by saying, well, if I didn't have this

852
00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:55,290
thing going on over here, I wouldn't
be so upset and so angry over here.

853
00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:57,060
That's not being sober minded.

854
00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:05,160
We also have to guard against laziness
not being willing to put in the work.

855
00:45:06,270 --> 00:45:08,070
To set our minds fully on the
hope that's to be ours of the

856
00:45:08,070 --> 00:45:09,210
revelation of Jesus Christ.

857
00:45:10,350 --> 00:45:12,480
We have to be willing to do the
hard work of putting off sin and

858
00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:13,710
putting on Christ's likeness.

859
00:45:14,550 --> 00:45:16,080
So we need to guard against laziness.

860
00:45:17,310 --> 00:45:19,830
We need to get guard against
wrong thinking and defeatism.

861
00:45:21,690 --> 00:45:24,990
Maybe you've got something in your life,
you've got a, a, a sin in your life, or

862
00:45:24,990 --> 00:45:27,810
you have anxiety in your life, or you have
a doubt in your life and, and you've got a

863
00:45:27,810 --> 00:45:31,050
defeatist mentality that denies the power
of the spirit to transform your life.

864
00:45:31,050 --> 00:45:34,170
That says, this is just who
I am and how I'll always be.

865
00:45:35,655 --> 00:45:36,975
That's not being sober minded.

866
00:45:38,475 --> 00:45:40,665
We also have to guard our minds
against the lies that there's

867
00:45:40,665 --> 00:45:43,125
no hope or that it's too late.

868
00:45:44,745 --> 00:45:47,205
Again, that denies the reality
of the power of the spirit within

869
00:45:47,205 --> 00:45:48,555
you to make you more like Jesus.

870
00:45:52,095 --> 00:45:55,240
We have to guard against shallow and
surface contemplation of things in life.

871
00:45:57,315 --> 00:46:00,765
We have to allow ourselves to plumb the
depths of our circumstances, the depths

872
00:46:00,765 --> 00:46:02,175
of how we think about things in life.

873
00:46:03,839 --> 00:46:07,920
And take those thoughts captive before
the Lord, and we have to guard against

874
00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:10,620
the opiate of the next dopamine rush.

875
00:46:11,430 --> 00:46:16,650
Whether that's pulling out your food,
scrolling or your food, scrolling.

876
00:46:17,250 --> 00:46:18,180
You scroll your food.

877
00:46:18,270 --> 00:46:18,630
Great.

878
00:46:18,690 --> 00:46:19,170
Awesome.

879
00:46:19,380 --> 00:46:20,220
Let's talk afterwards.

880
00:46:20,460 --> 00:46:24,930
Your phones and scrolling food though also
is another way that we do this for me.

881
00:46:24,930 --> 00:46:25,859
You, you wanna know what it is?

882
00:46:25,950 --> 00:46:27,690
Double stuffed Oreos and
a glass of milk at night.

883
00:46:28,845 --> 00:46:29,625
It is my go-to.

884
00:46:30,075 --> 00:46:33,525
You will never disappoint me with
a bag of devil stuff, Oreos, ever.

885
00:46:34,695 --> 00:46:38,235
So if you need something from me
front, load it with a bag of devil

886
00:46:38,235 --> 00:46:40,275
stuff, Oreos, and we'll be friends.

887
00:46:41,415 --> 00:46:45,465
No, but, but we can even escape
into the, the, the food or the, the

888
00:46:46,515 --> 00:46:49,725
Tillamook chocolate peanut butter ice
cream tub with a spoon on the couch.

889
00:46:50,985 --> 00:46:51,435
You've been there.

890
00:46:51,435 --> 00:46:51,915
Don't judge.

891
00:46:53,865 --> 00:46:56,265
And, and, and we just want to,
to not have to think about it.

892
00:46:56,415 --> 00:46:56,715
Right.

893
00:46:57,645 --> 00:47:00,135
So maybe it's not the big ticket items
or the drugs and alcohol, but we're,

894
00:47:00,135 --> 00:47:03,195
we're really accomplishing the same
thing with Instagram and the Oreos.

895
00:47:07,035 --> 00:47:12,465
Listen, y'all, again, the word of God
is, is sufficient for life and godliness.

896
00:47:13,395 --> 00:47:15,855
The word of God is sufficient
to help us get through.

897
00:47:16,725 --> 00:47:19,245
The overwhelm, the stress of
the start of a new school year.

898
00:47:19,245 --> 00:47:20,384
You don't know what's going on.

899
00:47:20,384 --> 00:47:22,694
Your family feels like it's being
pulled in 10 different directions.

900
00:47:22,694 --> 00:47:26,084
You've got sports practices, you've
got adventure club on Wednesday nights.

901
00:47:26,084 --> 00:47:30,015
You've got community group you're
involved in in your, your local PTA.

902
00:47:30,015 --> 00:47:31,424
You've been asked by your, your.

903
00:47:31,445 --> 00:47:34,565
Neighborhood to be on
the board of the the HOA.

904
00:47:34,655 --> 00:47:36,035
Your work is ramping up.

905
00:47:36,035 --> 00:47:38,315
You've got all these things
and you're just paralyzed,

906
00:47:38,435 --> 00:47:39,485
and you're overwhelmed by it.

907
00:47:39,485 --> 00:47:41,975
And rather than doing the hard work
to think through it, you're tempted

908
00:47:41,975 --> 00:47:45,035
to pick up the remote and escape back
into the world Netflix for the night

909
00:47:45,035 --> 00:47:47,435
only to wake up tomorrow and find
that all those things are still there.

910
00:47:47,710 --> 00:47:48,130
Listen,

911
00:47:50,825 --> 00:47:53,165
y'all being sober reminded, and that
situation looks like doing the hard

912
00:47:53,165 --> 00:47:56,885
work of sitting down, evaluating
your priorities, priorities that

913
00:47:56,885 --> 00:47:59,675
you have for your family and for
your kids, and for your marriage.

914
00:48:00,495 --> 00:48:03,345
And saying, okay, what of those
priorities align with what God

915
00:48:03,345 --> 00:48:04,575
wants me to be doing right now?

916
00:48:05,444 --> 00:48:06,855
All these things demanding my time.

917
00:48:07,755 --> 00:48:09,825
I need to think sober
mindedly about these things.

918
00:48:10,214 --> 00:48:12,355
I can't do it all, so
what do I need to do?

919
00:48:15,075 --> 00:48:17,745
Maybe you find you've been
struggling with sleep at night.

920
00:48:17,745 --> 00:48:20,355
You're waking up tired, struggling to
get through your day, crawling into bed,

921
00:48:20,355 --> 00:48:23,385
tired only to force and face another
restless night of tossing and turning.

922
00:48:23,745 --> 00:48:26,445
You've been short, you've been angry
with your coworkers and your family.

923
00:48:26,445 --> 00:48:29,715
You've out outburst of anger
on the road, but you excuse it

924
00:48:29,715 --> 00:48:31,305
because of just, I'm just tired.

925
00:48:31,305 --> 00:48:32,295
I'm just not sleeping well.

926
00:48:32,295 --> 00:48:34,455
So I'm sorry that I'm the
way I am, but I'm just tired.

927
00:48:35,745 --> 00:48:39,495
Being sober reminded looks like doing the
hard work of confessing that anger is sin.

928
00:48:40,485 --> 00:48:41,745
Repenting from that.

929
00:48:43,245 --> 00:48:46,905
Seeking a trusted brother or sister in
Christ that can hold you accountable to

930
00:48:46,905 --> 00:48:50,865
those things looks like remembering that
your physical exhaustion isn't a get

931
00:48:50,865 --> 00:48:52,695
outta jail free card for sinful behavior.

932
00:48:54,105 --> 00:48:56,895
Being so reminded looks like doing what
you can do physically to say, okay,

933
00:48:56,895 --> 00:48:58,305
I'm gonna try to get to bed early.

934
00:48:58,305 --> 00:49:00,795
I'm gonna try to give myself
the best chance, best shot

935
00:49:00,795 --> 00:49:01,935
at a good night's rest here.

936
00:49:02,805 --> 00:49:04,335
Looks like praying and asking, God.

937
00:49:04,335 --> 00:49:06,915
God, will you reveal if there's
anything happening spiritually that

938
00:49:06,915 --> 00:49:08,565
might be causing this leading to this?

939
00:49:08,565 --> 00:49:10,125
Is there something that you're
trying to get my attention over?

940
00:49:11,145 --> 00:49:13,334
It looks like praying
and asking him for rest.

941
00:49:13,334 --> 00:49:15,104
Say, God, please give me rest.

942
00:49:16,154 --> 00:49:18,615
Patience with others and grace
beyond what might come naturally.

943
00:49:20,115 --> 00:49:23,955
That's a way to stay sober minded and
fight through things like that 'cause Why?

944
00:49:23,955 --> 00:49:27,524
'cause we have an enemy, y'all who
is prowling around roaring and like

945
00:49:27,524 --> 00:49:31,154
a roaring lion seeking someone to
devour and he's coming after you, and

946
00:49:31,154 --> 00:49:33,404
he's coming after your hope, and he's
going to do that through your mind.

947
00:49:34,395 --> 00:49:37,604
The mind is the most important
thing in your battle for hope.

948
00:49:38,715 --> 00:49:40,335
The mind matters most
in your battle for hope.

949
00:49:40,335 --> 00:49:42,225
That's why we have to
defend it at all costs.

950
00:49:42,735 --> 00:49:45,975
In the coming weeks, we're gonna unpack
more of what it means to respond to our

951
00:49:45,975 --> 00:49:51,015
living hope, but we can't respond to
something that we don't have, and so

952
00:49:51,015 --> 00:49:52,665
Peter writes what he does in verse 13.

953
00:49:54,465 --> 00:49:57,975
He says, preparing your minds for action
and being sober minded, set your hope

954
00:49:57,975 --> 00:50:00,705
fully on the graceless to be yours
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

955
00:50:02,085 --> 00:50:04,365
When it comes to earthly hopes,
again, hope is such a fragile thing.

956
00:50:04,695 --> 00:50:05,685
We love it when we have it.

957
00:50:06,495 --> 00:50:09,885
But we also are terrified that it's
gonna shatter underneath us, and

958
00:50:09,885 --> 00:50:11,145
we'll be left to pick up the pieces.

959
00:50:12,195 --> 00:50:16,635
Jesus never breaks your hope
in Christ will never let you

960
00:50:16,635 --> 00:50:17,865
down and never disappoint.

961
00:50:18,975 --> 00:50:21,885
It's a battle for that hope this week,
will you stand with me and let's pray.