Hopeology, Part 12

Amen. A little clap there. But the reason the soul never forsakes is because of the hope that lies within, the hope of the eternal God.

You know, that 18th century hymn writer, Charles Wesley, wrote over 7,000 different hymns. One of those hymns is a Christmas song, of course, he wrote other Christmas songs as well, entitled, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus. We've sung that here on several occasions.

It's based on Psalm 40 and Psalm 118, a title for the Messiah, the coming one, the expected one. Also, John would refer to him, John the Baptist would refer to him in Luke chapter seven as the expected one, asking his disciples to see if Jesus is that expected one. And so when Charles Wesley wrote this hymn, rich with theological truths, he gave many titles of the Messiah in the hymn.

Sometimes we forget about all that was behind the hymn writer's thinking when he would write hymns rich with theological truths. But in the hymn, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, Wesley says, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, born to set thy people free from our fears and sins, release us. Let us find our rest in thee.

Israel's strength and consolation. That's from the prophet Isaiah. Hope of all the earth thou art.

The hope of Israel. Jeremiah 14, Jeremiah 17, another title for the Messiah. Dear desire of every nation, Haggai 2, verse number seven, joy of every longing heart.

He understood who the Messiah was. He understood what the Old Testament said about the arrival of the Messiah. And there was this anticipation, this expectation that Israel had surrounding the coming of the Messiah.

Charles Wesley tried to put that into a song so we would understand how expectant we should be about the arrival of our Messiah. It's a hymn about the incarnation of the living God, because with him comes the hope and fears of all the years that were truly met in Christ when he arrived. And we're looking at that hope.

We're trying to help you understand the doctrine of hopology. You see, we forget that doctrine is paramount in the church, or should be paramount in the church. Somehow we've missed that today, and other things become more important than what it is the Bible truly says.

Because what the Bible says is all that matters. And we as believers in Christ subject ourselves to the authority of Scripture, because it is the inspired word of the living God. And so we're looking at hope, because it is so important for us to understand what the Bible says concerning the hope of Israel.

And so we've given you nine different points. We're still on point number nine. We have a couple of more yet to give you, and we're going to do this as best as we possibly can to help you understand how it is we live in anticipation of the fulfillment of every promise of God.

That's what hope is. It's living in anticipation. I want you to be so expected, so excited about what God's going to do because of what he said, that nothing can deter you from following the truth of God's holy word.

It's wrapped up in the doctrine of hopology. And so we're looking at point number nine and how it is that the hope of God truly refines our present lifestyle. It does something unique in our lives because it's the living hope given to us by a living God through the living word that makes us living stones.

So everything is active. Something's happening in your life and mine. The hope of God refines our present lifestyle.

And so we looked at the word refine, and we've given you five points up to this point, helping you understand how it is that that hope redirects my affection based on Colossians chapter three. Colossians chapter three, verse number one says, therefore, if you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. In other words, because of who Christ is and what he's done, it redirects my affection.

Once it redirects my affection, then it energizes my attention. Verse number two, set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. There's a reason why we do this, because Christ is coming again. He will be revealed, and when he is, we'll be revealed with him in glory.

So we realize that that hope is refining my life by redirecting my affection. My heart is committed to the things above, not the things below. It energizes my attention, because now my mind is fixed upon the Christ.

And if it does that, it fuels my ambition. And what's my ambition? 2 Corinthians 5, 9. I make it my ambition to please him, who is invisible, right? And so there's something about my desire to please the Lord that is absolutely gassed, because it wants to please God so much that I am motivated in that direction. Paul said, we make it our ambition to please him who is invisible.

That was Paul's ambition. It's ours. But it's not our ambition if our affection and attention is not focused above.

So he redirects our affection. He energizes our attention. He fuels our ambition.

He increases our anticipation. That's what hope does. That's how it purifies my life.

Everyone who has this hope in him, 1 John 3, purifies himself, even as he is pure. There's this refining process that takes place based on the fact that one day I will see him. When I see him, I'll be like him, for I'll see him as he is.

So there's this refining process that's always taking place. It's active in your life and mine. That increases my anticipation.

That makes you want to pray, thy kingdom come, will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I live expectantly of the return of Christ. My anticipation grows because I am a part of the bride, and the bride can't wait to see the bridegroom, right? So there's this anticipation that comes because my affection is above, my attention is above, and my ambition is to please the one who's invisible.

It only increases, ever increases, my anticipation of the coming Messiah. And then it nullifies worldly affirmation. If everything is focused above, then everything below is irrelevant.

In other words, it begins to negate worldly praise. It begins to negate my selfish lifestyle. Because I come to Christ, and I deny myself, take up my cross, and follow him.

In fact, we read it earlier, or last week, in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. It says, For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. And he died for all, so they who live might no longer live for themselves. Why did Christ die? So you no longer live for yourself.

Because you see, the world lives for themselves. They live to please themselves. They live only for self-love.

But the believer is different. Because Christ died, so we're set free from that self-love. Christ died, so we're set free to love only him, because only the believer loves God.

God is love, right? And he who knows God, loves God, for God is love. You can't love God if you don't know God. But once you know him, you love him.

And the more you know him, the more you love him, the less you love yourself. And so the refining work that's taking place in my life nullifies worldly affirmation. I don't need to be affirmed.

I don't need to be validated by you. Why? Hebrews 6, verse number 10, the writer of Hebrews tells us so clearly, For God is not unjust to us to forget your work and the love which you have shown in his name, in having ministered and are still ministering to the saints. God doesn't forget.

He knows. And so, because I know God never forgets, and God one day will reward me for the treasures I've stored up in heaven, I don't need your affirmation. See, one of the things that we can look at and we can say, well, yeah, I can see my affection and my attention.

I see all that. But when you start talking about nullifying worldly affirmation, that hits home for so many of us, because we live for praise. We live to be validated.

That somehow I am worthy. That somehow I count. That somehow I make a difference.

And as a child of the living God, you do make a difference. As a child of the living God, you now are an ambassador for the kingdom of God. You have a tremendous responsibility.

And God has called you to his kingdom. But for some of us, I dare say most of us, that doesn't satisfy. And so that refining work of the hope of God in my life nullifies worldly affirmation.

Remember what Paul said over in the book of Philippians? Philippians chapter 2, he says, therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourself. Now you think about that.

Regard others as more important than yourself. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. Do you want the mind of Christ or don't you? Do you want to be like Christ or don't you? You have this certain mind.

You have Christ's mind. Paul tells us in Corinthians that we have the mind of Christ. Well, the mind of Christ was a selfless mind.

In fact, he goes on to say and gives illustration of it. And this is so pertinent to today. It's almost as if it was written to today's church.

Paul says in verse 19 of Philippians 2, he says, I hope in the Lord Jesus who sent Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. For I have no one else of kindred spirit who would genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interest, not those of Christ Jesus.

He says, I have one person I can send to you. Only one. Because everybody else is so consumed with their own self-interests.

But Timothy's not. He's genuinely concerned for your welfare. So I'm going to send him because he is going to be the model.

He's going to be the example. He's going to be the kind of testimony I need you to get a hold of because everybody is so into themselves. It's all about their self-interest.

And so he says, I'm going to send Timothy to you because he genuinely is concerned about your welfare. I wonder whose welfare you're genuinely concerned about besides yourself. And then he says this, but you know of his proven worth that he served me in the infirmities of the gospel like a child serving his father.

Therefore, I hope to send him immediately as soon as I see how things go with me. And I trust in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly. But I thought it necessary to send to you Paphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need because he was longing for you all.

And he was distressed because you heard he was sick. He was upset because somehow you got word he was sick because he was longing for you all. For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him and not on him only, but also on me so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.

Therefore, I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again, you may rejoice that I may be less concerned about you. Receive him then in the Lord with all joy and hold men like him in high regard because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me. Hold this guy in high regard.

What kind of people do you hold in high regard in the church? The people who are concerned that somehow you heard they were sick, so sick that they almost died. You hold them in high regard because you see they're not interested in self. You see, we read that, we realize that Paphroditus was distressed because they had heard that he was sick and almost died.

You turn that around in today's evangelical church, we almost die if no one hears that we are sick. Is it not true? Someone, you got to know I'm sick. You got to know my situation.

You got to know where I'm at because we are so consumed with ourselves. We have to let others know. It's one thing to let others know.

It's another thing to have to let others know, the need to let others know. You see, we have this hope in us that purifies the soul, refines the soul, so much so that it rids of all the impurities of self-interest. It rids ourselves of all the impurities.

Look at me, look at me. Well, we live in an age where social validation is like a drug. We get this quick little buzz with that social validation or social affirmation, and that quick little buzz goes away as quickly as it came, so much so that I'm in such need of it that I wake up every morning with this new fix that I have to have of someone's affirmation of my lifestyle, my leadership, my parenting, my coaching, my playing.

I need to have someone recognize me for who I am, and it just brings us lower and lower, and Paul never said hold those people in high regard in the church, but he did say hold the people in high regard who don't want you to know they are sick, who don't want you to know they almost died. That's how sick they were. Because they're so concerned about you and your life that they want to be freed up to minister to you without any, any barrier between you and them.

They want to serve, and that's why, that's why Paul would say in Romans 12, these words, you know them well, how he says, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your body as a living sacrifice, right? Holy, acceptable unto God, which is a reasonable service. Why do you present your body a living sacrifice? Because you've already died to self. You've already died to self.

He says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, right? And then he says, so you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Now, how do you know you presented your body living sacrifice? Verse three, for through the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment as God has allowed it to each a measure of faith. He puts this warning out there to make sure that you don't think of yourself too highly because we tend to do that, don't we? But if you presented your body a living sacrifice, who cares what anybody else thinks except what God thinks.

And so we said last week, what Charles Spurgeon said, when he wrote on first John three verses one to three, he said very simply, no man can be a holy man who is concerned about what others say above what Christ says. You just can't. There's no way you can be a holy man and be concerned what others say about you, because inevitably you will succumb to that and you will seek to please man rather than God.

And Galatians 1 10 says that if you seek the pleasure of man, you forfeit the pleasure of God. So important for us to understand this. And so when Paul says, Christ came, he died, he rose again, that you may live no longer for yourself, but for the one who died for you.

Do you live for Christ or do you live for others? Do you want to please Christ or do you want to please others? Like I said last week, there's nothing wrong with people affirming you or validating you, but when you need to have that, when you long for that, that's a selfish interest. It's all about you then. If that's the case, you will always compromise the word of truth in your life.

You will. And so the Spirit of God, who's given us this hope, refines us by redirecting all affection above. That's a great thing.

Removing all of our affection from below to above. It doesn't mean I won't love others, because if you love God, you love others, right? But my affection's above. It energizes my attention.

It fuels my ambition. I am so motivated to please God. So much so, I can't wait for him to come again.

It increases my anticipation. And because it increases my anticipation, it's going to then nullify all worldly affirmation. Jesus is coming.

Who cares what happens around me? Who cares what people say about me? I want to live for Christ, honor Christ, because he's coming again. It nullifies worldly affirmation. Affirmation.

And then, point number six, it escalates my action. It escalates my action. Now I'm driven to serve.

Now I'm driven to honor God. Now I'm driven to not just please God, but to make sure I'm involved in the service of my God. For instance, Paul says over in 2 Timothy chapter 4, before I read that, Titus 2, Paul says this, For the grace of God has appeared, verse 11, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds, excited about good deeds, on fire about good deeds.

He redeemed himself a people for his own possession. You are possessed by God. You are owned by God.

He bought you with a price, so that not only would you live for him and no longer live for yourself, but you'd be so fired up about doing what God has asked you to do, you cannot be deterred for that action. That's why the soul that has this hope in him refines himself even as he is pure, because his action now escalates beyond all measure. So, it causes me to preach the Word, right? 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy 4, verse number 1, Paul says, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the Word.

Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.

By wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. Paul says, Jesus is coming. When he comes, he's going to bring his kingdom with him.

Therefore, Timothy, preach the Word, unlike you've ever preached before. Time is running short. Therefore, Timothy's action was to escalate all the more by preaching the Word of God.

Not only that, but persevering in my work for God. Before he goes on to say this, but you be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. In other words, you've got to endure hardship.

It's not going to be easy, but the Lord is coming again, and if you had this hope in you, it will purify your soul. So much so that it begins to rid itself of all that sinful dross that's there. How does it do that? By escalating our action, moving us to do what God wants us to do, so that we truly would preach the Word.

Not only would we just preach the Word, but we'd persevere in our ministry. We'd pray for the kingdom of God to come, because Matthew 6.13 says, or Matthew 6.10, that we pray for God's kingdom to come to earth. Not only that, but we will put off the old man and put on the new man, as it says over in the book of Colossians, the third chapter, after he talks about the fact that Christ, who is our life, is revealed, we will also be revealed with Him in glory.

Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. And in them you also once walked when you were living in them, but now you also put them all aside.

Anger, wrath, malice, slander, abuse of speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you laid aside the old self with his evil practices and have put on the new self, who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him. My action escalates.

I want to put off the old man. I want to put on the new. I want to put away malice and slander and abuse of speech.

I want to put off immorality and idolatry, and I want to put on the holiness of God, the love of God, the service of God. Why? Because there's this refining process that takes place in my life. So I put off the old man, put on the new.

I pray for God's kingdom to come to earth. I preach the word. I make sure that I persevere.

I praise my God every single day more and more. Why? Because as we talked about on Wednesday nights, Isaiah 43, 21, that the people I have formed for myself, they will declare my praise. Psalm 50, verse number 23, whoso offers praise glorifies me.

I want to praise my God. My action in praise, my action in preaching, my action in putting off and putting on, my action in prayer just is zealous. It goes through the roof because I want to serve God.

Listen, the cure for apathy and lethargy in the church is the realization that Jesus could come at any moment. The reason we're so lethargic, so apathetic, is because we're a lot like Israel. Israel was lethargic and apathetic when Christ came the first time.

They had lost all hope. It's been 400 years since a prophet has spoken, 400 years since God had given a word, they had lost all hope. It's been 2,000 years since Jesus left this earth and promised he was going to come again.

And the church can become very lethargic unless it believes in what God's word says concerning the return of the Messiah at any moment. Because when he redeemed the He redeemed us as a people of his own possession, that we might be zealous for good deeds. You know, it increases my participation in the assembly of the church.

I want to participate in getting together because as you see the day drawing near, Hebrews 10, 24 and 25, you never forsake the assembly of yourselves together, right? Why is it we miss church? You ever know why we miss church? Because we don't believe that Jesus would come back at any moment. We really don't. If we knew that Jesus would come back at any moment, we'd never want to miss the assembly of ourselves together because God inhabits the praises of his people.

And we want to be with the people of like precious faith. That's why the writer of Hebrews 10, 24, 25 talks about the fact that we don't forsake the assembly of ourselves together because we know that the day draws near. What day is that? The day of his coming again.

Knowing that, listen, why is it, why is it in the church, we can never get enough people to serve in the church? You want to know why? Because the people that aren't serving don't really believe that Jesus would come back at any moment. Because if they did, they'd serve their fellow man. How do we know that? First Peter 4. First Peter chapter 4, Peter says these words, such a beautiful portion of scripture.

He says, the end of all things is near, or better translation, the end of all things is next. That is, what's next on the horizon? The coming of the Messiah. Therefore be of sound judgment, sober spirit, for the purpose of prayer.

Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers them both through their sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint, as each one has received a special gift. Employ in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God. Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Isn't that great? Because the end of all things is next. Be hospitable to one another. Be fervent in your love for one another.

As each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another. You see, if we as a church, collectively, corporately, were all united in the fact that Jesus could come at any moment to serve, none of us, none of us would say, I will not serve. All of us would say, I can't wait to serve.

I can't wait to be used by God, to be hospitable, to be a lover of strangers, to be fervent in my love to pray for one another, to serve one another. We'd be saying, where can I serve? Where can I be involved in the ministry of the church? How can I do this? I want to be used by God. I am so zealous for good deeds.

I can't, I can't escape the opportunity to serve God. I am so being refined in my soul. I can't wait to be used by God in the life of somebody else.

That's the way we'd be. Because whoever has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he himself is pure. There is this refining work in my soul that's cleansing away all the selfish dross that's there, all the sinful dross that's there, that I might be ready for when Christ comes.

Because I have this hope. I live in anticipation of the promise of God. And as I'm living in anticipation, I can't wait to be used in the life of those that God has redeemed.

It escalates my action. And lastly, it solidifies my adoration. It solidifies my adoration.

I adore only my God, nothing else. I adore my God. I live to lift Him.

Paul says in Philippians chapter three, verse number three, as he gives a definition of a Christian, the best definition of a Christian in the scriptures is Philippians three, verse number three, where it says, we are the circumcision. We are the marked ones. We've been marked out by God, who worship Him in spirit, who glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Those are the marked ones. We worship Him in spirit. We revere our God.

We adore our God. We glory in Christ Jesus. We don't glory in myself because we're so into adoring Him, we can't even see ourselves.

And we put no confidence in what I can do, but all confidence in what God can do. That's a Christian. He lives the life of adoration and worship.

So let me ask you a question. Do you adore God? Ask yourself in your mind, do I adore God? And what would be the defining characteristics that you would give someone that you truly adored God? How would they know that you adore God above everything else and everyone else, that you live a life of worship, that you glory in Christ Jesus, that you put no confidence in the flesh. How would anybody else know that? Well, in the seven minutes that I have left, I'll give you seven principles.

And you can judge your life based on what God's word says, whether or not you adore Him or not. Very first principle is this. If you adore Christ, there is an excitation to be with Him.

You are so excited. Excitation, that's a word. I know you're looking at me like it's not a word.

It's a word. Write it down. Excitation.

You know, the beach boys sing about an excitation, remember that? All right. But there's this overwhelming excitement to be with Him. Remember the story of the incarnation, the night that Christ was born? The disciples, when they heard there's good news of great joy, what do they do? It says they went in haste to see this word that was spoken to them.

They couldn't wait to see the Christ child. They couldn't wait to be there. There was this overwhelming excitation.

And when you adore Christ, He excites you more than anything else does. He is the measure by which you are able to regulate the joy of your heart. There's an excitation to be with Him.

The Bible says in Psalm 119 verse number 20, my soul is crushed with longing after thine ordinances at all times. Wow. The Bible says in Psalm 73, 25, besides thee, I desire nothing on earth.

Can you say that? Is there this excitation to be with Him that overwhelms you? Isaiah 26, 9. At night, my soul longs for thee. Are you excited to be here today? Are you excited to read the word of God each day? Are you excited to know what God has for you every single day? Are you excited to talk to God, to pray to God every single day? Do you have an excitation to be with Him? Number two, if there's an excitation to be with Him, there'll always be a proclamation about Him. That is, when the shepherds went to the grotto that night or that day, whatever it was, probably a night, they made known the statement in Luke to Mary and Joseph.

They would proclaim. They became earth's first evangelists, shepherds, because they made a proclamation. They made an announcement about the announcement that came to them.

So if there is an adoration in my life for God that is solidified, there is such an excitement to be with Him. I can't wait to speak to others about Him. So there's an excitation to be with Him.

There's a proclamation about Him. And number three, there is a meditation upon Him. Because Luke chapter 2, same chapter, Mary pondered, treasured all these things up in her heart.

She was overwhelmed as a 13-year-old girl. It's not just the fact that she was a virgin who gave birth to the Christ child, but that the shepherds came in haste, running up to the grotto, proclaiming to them all the good news that brought them great joy. So that Mary could understand and Joseph could grasp the magnitude of that night as if they hadn't already grasped it.

But she would treasure all these things up in her heart. There was this meditation upon Him. Oh how I love thy law.

It is my meditation all the day. Can you say that? That's how you know you adore the Christ. There's an excitation to be with Him.

There is a proclamation about Him. There's a meditation upon Him. And then there is a satisfaction only with Him.

That's Simeon, all about the Christmas story. Simeon, remember Simeon? He was given word by the Spirit of God that he would not die until he saw the Lord's Christ, right? And so when he finally saw Him and he held Him in his arms and he would talk about Israel's Redeemer is finally here, he could say, well now I can die because now I'm satisfied. I've lived a life anticipating this moment and now that I have the Christ child in my arms, now I can finally die because there's nothing else to live for.

See? There's a complete satisfaction only with Him. Simeon was a devout man. He was a righteous man, the scriptures tell us.

They longed for the consolation of Israel. He had hope. See the shepherds, Mary and Joseph, Zacharias, Elizabeth, the wise men, Simeon, had hope.

See? They lived in hope. That refined their soul, that solidified their adoration because there was a excitation to be with Him, a proclamation about Him, a meditation upon Him, a satisfaction only with Him. Number four, there was a celebration of Him.

Read Mary's Magnificat. My soul exalts and magnifies my Savior. There's always a celebration because it's good news that brings great joy, so there's always a celebration surrounding the Messiah.

Not only that, if you adore Christ, there's always a presentation to Him. The Magi, Matthew 2, verses 10 and 11, when they finally found Him after years of wandering, following the star, when they finally saw Him, what did they do? They presented to Him, they bowed down and presented to Him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold symbolizing His royalty because He was the king, frankincense symbolizing His deity, and myrrh symbolizing His humanity.

But they worshipped, they gave of their substance. See that? When you adore Christ, you can't wait to give Him your best, not your leftovers, but your best. When you gave today of your praise, was it your best? When you gave today of your substance, was it your best? When you give today of your time in the service of the king, is it your best? Or is it all second best, third hand, fourth best? If you adore Christ, there is a presentation, you bow before Him, you withhold nothing from Him, you give of your best.

Psalm 116, verse number two, what shall I render to the Lord for all of His benefits toward me? If I adore Christ, there is simply an excitation to be with Him. There is a proclamation about Him, a meditation upon Him, a satisfaction only with Him. There is a celebration of Him, a presentation to Him.

And lastly, number seven, and I'm ending right on time, an appreciation for Him. 2 Corinthians 9, 15, thanks be unto God for His indescribable, unspeakable, unfathomable gift. I appreciate Him so much that all I want to do is honor His glorious name.

He who has this hope in Him, refines Himself, purifies Himself, even as He Himself is pure. That refining process takes place that way. Is that you? Is that what's happening in your life? I would trust that that's the case.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for today, the opportunity you've given us to serve you. Our prayer, Lord, is that this would not just be another sermon in a long line of sermons, but it would be the sermon that would change my life forever.

Because, Lord, you have spoken to us through your word. You have challenged us through your spirit. May you change us to glorify your name.

Thank you, Lord, for all that you do. Thank you for all who are here this day. Bless them immensely because they want to serve only Jesus and adore you.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.