October 6, 2025 • 30 mins
When life tilts—whether toward loss or success—where does your hope actually rest? We open our October theme on hope by drawing a clear line between fragile wishes and the rugged assurance Scripture describes. With Jarvis Brennan joining us, we explore why biblical hope is not a “maybe,” but a confident expectation rooted in God’s character and promises—and how that changes the way we suffer, celebrate, and make everyday choices.
We unpack Hebrews 11’s vision of faith as the substance of what we hope for and the evidence of what we can’t yet see. From Romans 8’s future glory to James 1’s refining trials, we show how an eternal perspective can hold steady under a diagnosis, a strained marriage, financial pressure, or the ache of grief. Hope doesn’t erase tears; it gives them direction. It refuses denial and instead reframes pain inside a bigger, truer story where God’s presence, purpose, and promise have the final say.
We also talk about the quieter danger—good times. Drawing from Philippians 4, we look at how abundance can shift our trust into work, wealth, or relationships, and how subtle idols overpromise and underdeliver. Jarvis shares practical steps to re-anchor your heart: assess your reality honestly, name who God is in it, restate what He’s promised, and respond with faithful next steps. Along the way, we revisit Abraham’s story, contrast works-based religion with the finished work of Christ, and remember that hope has an object—and His name is Jesus.
If this conversation helps you steady your gaze, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review so others can find it. Where is your hope anchored today?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:15):
What's up, Life Talk family?
Welcome back to the Life Talkpodcast.
We are getting the month ofOctober started, and I am joined
by a very and maybe the mostspecial guest we've had.
Drumroll, Jarvis Brennan.
Jarvis is here.
What's going on, man?
SPEAKER_00 (00:34):
What's up, man?
I don't know what the mostspecial.
Uh, but I'm had to set you up.
SPEAKER_01 (00:38):
Yeah, had to set the bar really high for this
episode.
Get people in engaged.
That'll be the title.
Most special guest.
Most special guest.
So you get special guest stats.
SPEAKER_00 (00:48):
Oh no, it's a it's a joy to be on this side.
Uh it's been a while.
I know.
SPEAKER_01 (00:53):
So we give you a hard time, but for those who
don't know, Jarvis does wear alot of hats around here.
So uh we are always excited tohave him on the podcast.
Uh when his schedule allowsthese days.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, you'rekilling it.
So keep it up, and yeah, youkill it.
But we love getting with theaudience every week and excited
to have you.
Like we said, we're kicking offOctober, so our theme this month
(01:14):
is going to be we hope.
So we finished investing inSeptember, a lot of good uh
topics on that, but we'relooking at hope this month, and
I think and something we miss alot of times, and and really
just all about hope we have.
And so you got an opportunity topreach awesome Sunday, and and
bring in the message to justkind of reflect, you know, on
(01:37):
you've been studying hope,preparing on this for a long
time.
So, what should we really knowabout about hoping and Christian
walk being faithfully different?
SPEAKER_00 (01:45):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's that's one of the
biggest things about um the thefaith and really us being
faithfully different is the factthat we hope, right?
Uh we're it's not this.
Uh I think it's good to startwith what it's not, right?
Hope is not just this wishfulthinking, right?
Thinking that, oh man, I hopethat it rains so my crops can be
watered, or I hope that we havepizza for dinner, or I hope my
(02:07):
team wins the Super Bowl, or youknow, different things like
that, where we're uncertainabout the outcome, right?
Where we're we're wondering whatwill be the finality of this
situation, right?
Or I hope that it's true.
We're not wondering if it's ifit's true or if it's something
that we can rely on, but reallyhope is a confident expectation
or assurance based on a surefoundation for which we wait
(02:29):
with joy and full confidence.
So it's knowing, it'sunderstanding, it's being sure
that God has promised something,and that promise will come to
pass, right?
That it's true, that it, thatit's not uh, it's there's no way
fallible uh in it.
There's nothing about it thatthat is.
And so um, as you think abouthope, right?
That that's one of the biggestthings, right?
When we have a sure hope, we'reconfident in the fact that, man,
(02:53):
the things of this life, theymay, you know, be trials, they
may be hard, they may bewhatever, but in the end, we
know we know the end, right?
And we know that the hope thatwe have today, you know, I think
it's super important.
SPEAKER_01 (03:05):
I know we'll get to love at the end of the year.
Sometimes the English languagedoesn't do us justice.
And I think, like you wellpointed out, there can be a lot
of misconceptions of what weview hope culturally as, as you
said, just as wishful thinking,maybe, maybe not.
Most of the time we equate hopeas you know, just wanting, maybe
(03:26):
desiring something, but nothaving a guarantee.
But that's not what the Bibletells us.
100%, not at all.
A lot of times we miss what theBible says about hope so often.
SPEAKER_00 (03:34):
Yeah, and and hope has, I mean, just this crazy.
As I'm studying, I never really,I guess, recognized, but as I've
been studying, hope is really asynonym for so many words,
right?
Like hope is often tied in withfaith, right?
Things that are in the future,things that we're looking to in
the future, in faith for, we'rehoped.
Like they're they're they'rebased in hope or assurance,
(03:56):
right?
We can be assured in hopebecause we know that God is
true.
And so when he says that oursalvation is sure, we can have
that same hope that it's true,right?
Not a again, not a wishfulthinking uh in any way.
And so it's very interesting tothink about scripture and where
it kind of ties in, uh, right,Hebrews uh 11.1 talks about
(04:19):
faith and the things that inthat you hoped for.
Like it's this dichotomy of theboth and you know what I mean,
like an already, but a not yet.
And so um, yeah, it's a veryinteresting thing that I didn't
really think about in thefullness because of the way that
our our English you know uhlanguage uses hope.
I use hope so many times, right?
And like in a lot of the waysthat I that I said, I hope this
(04:39):
happens, or um, but I think andI don't think that's wrong.
SPEAKER_01 (04:43):
I don't make that true.
Like I say, I very much see itlike love.
Yeah, and my thought wentexactly to Hebrews 11 as well,
the hall of faith, but like yousay, so much the things hoped
for, the things unseen.
SPEAKER_00 (04:55):
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (04:56):
You know, a hope is really based on that promise
that that God gives us.
And so, like you say, it's notwrong.
We shouldn't, you know, foranybody out there, we're not
beating you up if you say hopein terms of like I hope the, you
know, whoever your football teamis wins, or you know, whatever
sport, or you, you know, there'snot wrong to use it in that
context, but but when we'retalking biblically, when we're
(05:18):
talking about our faith, whenwe're talking about the Bible,
we should definitely understandit differently.
SPEAKER_00 (05:23):
And and really those things change right our
perspective are two differentcategories ultimately, right?
Like hope in I hope this happensand man, I have hope are totally
different, right?
They're they're differentcircumstances.
Yeah.
I can think of the situation.
Uh I'm a Patriots fan.
We talked a little bityesterday, Nate.
We're gonna get lots of uh hatemail now.
SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
I was trying to not say teams, but you had to go and
bring it up, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (05:51):
Um but I think it was 2018, uh, and they were
playing the Atlanta Falcons.
Um, I mean, I'm watching it.
I'm the only uh one of the onlyPatriots fans.
I think there was another guythere, and uh possibly in the
state of Delaware.
For real.
I mean, really, and like uh theguy's house that I was at was
actually at the Falcon SuperBowl.
Um, and I was at his house withhis brother and and stuff like
(06:11):
that.
And so the rest were let's go,Falcons.
They're two in me the wholegame.
I mean, we're down 21, nothingand a half.
You get into the third quarter,it's 28-3.
Um, and in my mind, right, I'mhoping that they come back,
right?
I'm hoping that it's this, okay,Tom Brady's gonna clutch up.
We're gonna be, I mean, youknow, we're gonna be good.
James White, kind of JulianEllen, all those guys will do
(06:33):
what they're supposed to do.
They're gonna do their job andthey're gonna get it done.
Um, well, third quarter, I'mgonna beat myself.
Like, what?
Like, I can't watch this game,right?
And so I'm hoping the wholetime.
Um, but it's it's this desire,this hope that this will happen.
I have no clue if it will,right?
And so then we get to the fourthquarter.
I mean, you tie it up, you gointo overtime, uh, and there's a
(06:53):
play we're on the two or threeyard line, uh and it's a toss to
James White.
And I'm this, I'm hoping that hegets into the end zone.
And then he does, right?
And so the thing that I hopedfor obviously created it was a
good outcome for what I wished,but I didn't I had no clue.
But I didn't know in any way,shape, or form.
One, were they gonna beat thedeficit, and then two, were they
(07:14):
gonna win it, right?
I I didn't know.
I was unsure, but I, you know, II wanted that to happen.
I was I was thinking that couldhappen.
But in biblical hope, man, likecontrast that to when you placed
your faith in Christ.
Exactly.
It's totally different, right?
And so uh when I got saved,yeah, there was an aspect of,
okay, now I believed in God, andwhat did God tell me?
(07:36):
And he told me that nothing canpluck me out of his hand.
And so now I have this hope andthis security, this assurance
that nothing can take me fromGod.
So, what does that mean?
Well, when we looked at Romans8, 18 through 25, it talks about
the sufferings that we gothrough right now are not worth
comparing to the glory that willbe re revealed to us, speaking
(07:57):
of the hope of future glory,right?
That one day when God returnsand calls up his saints and the
new heaven and the new earth iscreated, we know that that will
happen.
And so now I have hope, nothoping and wishful thinking, but
I have assurance.
I think assurance is a good, agood word for that.
I have security, I have faiththat that will one day be
(08:18):
revealed, and that I'm thethings I'm going through right
now, they're not worthcomparing.
Like because of the the truththat is found in the end, right?
And so that's what that I thinkthat's what hope is really is I
I'm confident and I'm expectingwhat will happen when the Lord
returns.
That will happen.
I don't have to wonder, I don'thave to guess, I don't have to
(08:38):
see, I don't have to figure out,and my calculations don't have
to be right, but God has saidit, and therefore it will
happen, right?
So you think of Abraham.
Uh we talked about in Galatianslast week, um, the the two
different uh uh illustrations,right?
Paul talks about yeah, Sarah andHagar, and how uh Ishmael was
seed that was not promised, andIsaac was, and how Isaac was
(09:02):
promised.
And because Isaac was promised,guess what happened?
They had Isaac.
You know what I mean?
Like it was it was sure tohappen, but Abraham and Sarah
took it out of their own hands.
They allowed you know Abraham tobe with Hagar, and right, so
they lost sight of the hope thatthey actually had, which was the
word of God, which was thepromise of God, that God would
bless him uh with generationsthat are numbered of the stars,
(09:26):
right?
And so um I think hope is a Ithink it's good to uh understand
and to know that it's a surehope.
It's it's a solid hope.
It's not something that we'rethat wavers uh like often we do,
right?
We often waver and a lot that weeven the things that we talk
about, um we we can have trueconfidence that that God is
where our hope is, right?
(09:47):
Psalm, I think it's 42.5.
He uh I think it's Davidspeaking, and he talks about how
he's basically like brought downand he's like, Why is my soul in
turmoil?
And then the next verse, chapterfive, it says, Hope in God.
Like don't don't hope in theother things, hope in God.
Um, and that's the same callthat I think we have as
believers, right?
And uh it's to hope in God.
SPEAKER_01 (10:09):
And I think we can we'll get to maybe the suffering
part you mentioned, but contrastthat to other world religions,
you know, we say very frequentlyChristianity is about a
relationship, and I think thisis a great example.
What have other religions hopingin?
They're hoping in works, andthat Hera, uh Hagar and Sarah
(10:29):
was the same thing.
They decided to put their hopein, well, we're not gonna trust
God, we're not gonna have ourhope in Him, we're gonna take
care of it.
Yeah, and that's many other youknow, faiths, you know, where
it's really I'm hoping in myworks and that God will honor
what I have done.
We have hope in what Christ hasdone, right?
The finished works, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:47):
And I think it's hard because sometimes I think
we get into that same mindset,right?
That like, man, not saying we'reperfect, right?
Yeah, no, but yeah, but I'm Ithink the reality is we should
have that.
I I pray that people can takethe perspective of their work
and not, I mean, Isaiah talksabout how your works are filthy
rags to the Lord.
And so if we can see thatrightly, knowing that as James
(11:08):
talks about, faith without workis dead, right?
Knowing that work is a goodthing, that God isn't saying uh
don't work and work is bad, butit's not what keeps us secure.
And so I think that's not whatyour hope is.
Exactly.
And so I think we often not abad thing, but don't hope in
that.
And I I think we often sometimesI think fall into the trap uh of
if I just do enough, if I justread my Bible enough, if I just
(11:30):
pray enough, if I just you knowuh give enough, if I just walk
that old lady across the roadenough, like then the thing that
I'm hoping will happen, which iseternity in heaven with God,
like then I that will come tothat will come true.
When scripture says, like, no,that's not true.
That's that's not what we'resaying.
Um we we often take into our ownhands, yeah.
Like you said, and so I thinkfor those listening, like, man,
(11:51):
assess, and I think this is theencouragement at the end as
well, assess where your hope is.
Assess the things that you'reyou're uh trusting in
ultimately.
Trust is another one with hopethat you're trusting in to uh
keep you secure and to give youthose things and uh rightly
place them.
SPEAKER_01 (12:10):
Definitely.
And so, you know, obviously nowthat we're defining it and how
different that is, that allowsus just daily to just walk
differently.
It should give us confidence,like you said, it's it's the
assurance.
So, really how we live our livesshould be different because we
don't have to live in this limbostate of did I do enough?
(12:32):
You know, am I where's mystanding?
You know, kind of like it shouldgive us uh peace, you know, in
in having that hope and thatassurance to walk out daily, so
that's why we should befaithfully different.
Just in how we were able tonavigate, yeah, just generally
the day-to-day.
That's right.
SPEAKER_00 (12:49):
Yeah, and I agree with that a hundred percent.
I mean, I think uh having hope,true hope, biblical hope,
definitely changes yourframework for life, right?
And when when I think that'swhere Romans 8, 18 comes in,
where he says, For I considerthat the sufferings of this
present time, the sufferingsthat you're dealing with right
now, the things that that are athand right now are not worth
(13:10):
comparing with the glory that isto be revealed to us.
Like, okay, so what Paul'ssaying is the things that you're
going through, the suffering,right?
So maybe that's right, let'slist suffering, right?
And I'm not gonna obviouslycatch all of them, but any
diagnoses, right, any marriageproblems, any deaths, any you
know, any other sickness, ormaybe it's finances, you're
struggling financially orrelationally, caught in sin,
(13:32):
right?
Whatever that the sufferings inwhich you experience today,
those are not worth comparing tothe glory that is to be
revealed.
And so when we acknowledge thatto say, man, the things that I'm
going through, or the thingsthat I'm lacking in, or the
things that I'm struggling, youknow, fumbling through, I can
know and have hope that thesearen't these don't even weigh
up, right?
(13:52):
It's like, you know, you put itput it on a scale, you know,
it's like it's far outweighs theglory that is to be revealed far
outweighs any ounce of um uh ofthe suffering in which we uh we
we we feel, right?
And so we're trusting that Godis faithful, we're trusting that
he provides and that uh hispresence is is is worth it
through the circumstances,whether those are good or bad.
(14:14):
Um and so if we have that actualhope, I think it it changes our
our focus, right?
Our eyes are fixed on somethingthat is unchanging, is
unmovable, um, and is alwaysthere.
And so when we when our eyes arefixed there, um we it's hard to
be shaken.
You know what I mean?
Like when our eyes are fixed onthe rock, you know, it gives us
(14:35):
perspective 100%.
SPEAKER_01 (14:36):
That's good, it brings everything into
perspective.
And I think like thosesuffering, and we'll hear some
great stories this month, but itdoesn't discount the hope in
this life because we still havehope.
You know, there is we worship agreat God who can work miracles,
you know, raise his son from thedead.
So we don't discount, we havehope.
And uh, you know, Romans 8 28,we get to things working
(14:58):
together for good, you know, forthose who love him, you know,
and sometimes that can be takena little out of context, or
people who don't love God stillthink it's gonna work out, but
we have that hope in this lifethat you can get through these
things because you have thateternal perspective.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (15:14):
I think it all flows through that that eternity, like
that that what we go throughtoday.
I mean uh James 1, 2 to 3 says,Count it all joys, my brothers,
and when when you meet trials,not if like when, not if like
and he says count it joy.
How do you count something joythat's hard?
How do you count something joythat's terrible, right?
That's that's evil, right?
Like that is that is sufferingbecause of the hope that we
(15:37):
have, right?
Or 1 Peter 1 uh talks about thehope.
We have a living hope, which isin the person of Christ, but
also like it says it's stored upfor you in heaven, right?
It's secure there in heaven, butthen it continues down.
It says when it says the uh whenyou meet trials, also, it's just
so uh similar to James, but itsays uh it purifies your your
(15:58):
faith, right?
It works through the refining ofyour faith, and at the end,
we're produced with a greaterfaith in Christ.
And so all of those aspects ofhope and sanctification play
hand in hand, right?
Our our eyes are fixed oneternity, knowing that as we
walk through today, um, God ischanging our hearts for his
glory, right?
And ultimately to be more likehim, right?
(16:19):
And something that I thought wasinteresting as I was studying
was uh hope is not needed inheaven.
unknown (16:26):
Right?
SPEAKER_00 (16:26):
Hope is something that we have here, right?
Yeah, hope is something that wehave on earth right now, uh,
until whenever we die, becausehope is not needed in heaven
because, like you said, it'srealized.
Right?
Our our faith has become sight,right?
Our hope has been revealed, ithas been seen.
Um, and so that's an interestingthing.
It was like, man, we get toparticipate in something that
we're not gonna be able to do inheaven.
(16:47):
We're gonna just see it, we'regonna live in it, we're gonna
you know, bask in God's glory.
Um, and that's a that's a ablessing, right?
And I think that should kind ofagain shift our mindset.
Like, man, God thought it goodfor us to hope here.
Like he knew what our eyes andwhat our minds and what our our
hearts were to be fixed on forour good and for his glory.
(17:07):
And I think hope is a central, acentral theme of those.
SPEAKER_01 (17:11):
Definitely is.
So kind of maybe bring it downtoo for those who are walking
through suffering, you know,like you said, diagnosis, you
know, job situation, finances,whatever.
How do we now faithfullydifferent kind of live that out?
How do we let that really justimpact our soul, you know, from
(17:32):
your message that you preached?
You know, what are some of thosereal life takeaways that you
want people to really kind ofhear?
Because, and we'll hear somegreat stories of how hope really
changed people and and broughtthrough people tough times, but
you know, I know that's always achallenge.
Like it's easy to say when youknow you don't have the
(17:53):
diagnosis or you know, you youhave to do it so 100%.
SPEAKER_00 (17:57):
Yeah, I mean, it ultimately bring uh brings me
back to the apostle Paul, right?
Paul, if we if we look at thethe life of Paul, right?
Paul was this guy, uh and we'vebeen talking about Galatians, so
it's it's fresh on people'smind, I think.
But Paul was a guy who was a uha guy who persecuted Christians.
I mean, he hated Christianity,he wanted uh Christians to die,
right?
You can read Acts, um, but Godradically changed his heart,
(18:20):
saved him, and then from thereon out, we see an interesting
thing, right?
Paul, before converting toChristianity or the way at that
point, right?
Like he was experiencing goodthings, right?
He he he was living a prettygood life as uh a Jew, and kind
of he says, I'm not sure Jews,right?
He was up, he was up there theresume exactly, and so there was
(18:42):
a switch though that happens infollowing Christ, and that
ultimately is and he suffered somuch more than realistically we
suffer today.
But there's something about Paulthat's different, right?
Paul, uh, you can read it inPhilippians, right?
Philippians 4 13.
We all know that you know I cando all things through Christ who
gives me strength.
The uh the verses that precedethat, right?
(19:04):
I've been brought low, I've beenbrought high, right?
He knows how to work through allthings, and he talks about how
many times he was shipwrecked orbeaten or stoned or all of these
different areas.
But the one thing that Paul didwas he set his eyes on Christ,
which caused him to hope.
Right.
And so then I think about thediagnosis and the uh sicknesses
and the death and the differentthings that we feel.
(19:25):
Um, and and this is not tominimize it at all, because
those are terrible, tragicsituations situations.
And there, and there's many ofthem in our congregation, right?
Uh Pastor Mark often talks abouthow what if you were to look
out, right?
Often when you're looking at thestage, you really only see one
person, right?
I I do, but it maybe if you'resitting in the back, you see a
couple, but like when you'relooking out at the the uh the
(19:48):
congregation, and you can seefaces and people in different
areas, and you can you can knowand you can feel, and there are
so many different areas in whichthese people are are dealing
with harsh and hard things, hardrealities.
Um but the benefit that we getto look through, so I don't want
to minimize that right uh atall.
(20:08):
But the benefit that we get tohave is man, we get to have the
fact that we can see howbelievers before us have
navigated suffering.
So when you look at Paul, therewas one thing about him is he
was secure in his hope, right?
He fixed his eyes not on thepresent time, not on the things
of uh, man, this is happening.
I mean, my my bank account'slow, or my my marriage is bad,
(20:30):
or we don't really have food inour our our pantry, or uh you
know, our car broke down, or Ihave a diagnosis, or this death
happened.
It wasn't necessarily about thethe circumstance, but always was
fixed back to who is my God,right?
Who is the one who has set meapart for eternal glory with
him?
But and so as I think about thethings that we go through, there
(20:52):
are there are areas that I thinkgrief and mourning and and
feeling is okay.
I mean, I don't I don't uh everwant to act like okay, yeah,
just fuck it up, yeah, you know,but do it, figure it out, you
have hope, you know, keeppushing.
Man, there are there arecircumstances, yes, feel them.
And Paul says, grieve.
(21:12):
We do grieve.
He says grieve with hope.
Exactly.
I mean, yeah, you think of of uhFirst Thessalonians where he
says, like, we don't mourn justto mourn.
You don't mourn like the worlddoes, but you mourn with hope,
knowing that there is a greaterthing.
Uh, you think of Ecclesiastes,right?
There is a time uh foreverything, right?
A time to laugh, a time to cry,you know, and he talks about
(21:33):
mourning.
There's a time to mourn.
And so uh mourning and grief area real thing, but I I I think
what happens is we can losesight of the hope that we have
in the midst of those times, inthe midst of grief, in the midst
of mourning, in the midst ofhardship, that we then lose
sight for a longer period oftime than is necessary to fix
our eyes back on Christ.
(21:54):
And so what I typically do,right?
I don't live a perfect life andI don't have a you know 10 out
of 10 day every single day,right?
And there are sufferings that Iand me and my wife and my kids
go through.
And one of the one of the thingsthat I I think is so necessary
for me as I walk throughhardship is uh is to remind
(22:14):
myself, man, who is the God thatI serve?
Right.
And so as I walk through uhthese feelings of loss or these
feelings of grief or thesefeelings of uh disappointment or
whatever the thing is, thesuffering that I'm that I'm
working through, there has to bea separation in my mind.
And this is what I do.
I mean, I'm just uh maybe youdon't you can't do the same
thing.
I don't know.
(22:34):
This is what I do.
I assess my situation.
Okay, what am I dealing with?
Okay, I'm dealing with you knowuh low income, right?
Uh my my income's tight, right?
Okay, and I'm I'm suffering inthis way, or I'm dealing with
loss, or I'm dealing with a badmarriage, or I'm dealing with uh
a diagnosis, right?
So, what's my income?
Okay, now who is God?
Who is he?
(22:55):
So these are the things that I'mexperiencing, but who is God?
And and so then I can list and Ican think through the names of
who God is and and what he'sdone and what he's said and what
he's promised, and the fact thathe's sovereign and that he is in
control of all things, he is uhprovidential in all ways,
knowing that he, as Romans 8,like we quoted, for those who
love him work all thingstogether for his for good,
(23:18):
right?
And so I can trust that, man,God is working, even in the
situation where it doesn't makesense, God is working this for
good.
I don't know how, I don't knowwhy, but I trust that God is
faithful to his promise.
I trust that he's provider,right?
That he's sustainer, redeemer,uh healer.
And you kind of work throughthat, and then I think it and
then I think we assess likebased on that, what is the
(23:41):
reality?
That's right.
You know what I mean?
Like, so this is what I'mexperiencing, this is who God
is.
Now, what's the reality?
The reality is that in light ofmy circumstance, Romans 8.18, it
is not worth comparing to theglory that will be revealed.
SPEAKER_01 (23:54):
Reminds me uh C.S.
Lewis book he wrote.
It's called A Grief Observed.
If anybody wants to check thatout.
Real short book, you can readit, it's only like four
chapters.
But he wrote that after his wifepassed away.
SPEAKER_02 (24:06):
Wow.
SPEAKER_01 (24:06):
And one of the most impactful lines tying into what
you were saying as he wasassessing, and it's a real raw
book.
So if anybody picks it up, ifyou've lost somebody, it can be
a good read, or if you just knowsomebody, um, it's it can be
helpful, you know, going throughsuffering.
But what he says that was superimpactful is he says, if my
faith folded now, it wasn'treally faith.
SPEAKER_02 (24:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (24:28):
And he said, God knew how strong my faith was, my
hope in our in our conversation.
God knew I didn't.
Yeah.
You know, so it was I needed togo through this to see the true
hope, to have the true strengthof my faith, you know, so it
would be refined and it would besomething that he would realize.
Like, yeah, I have this hope.
(24:49):
Sure, I mourn and I grieve, andI'm not happy that I've lost my
wife.
But like you said, I have thereality of the hope and faith in
Christ that takes you throughversus just, you know, he caught
himself from you know descendinginto that.
SPEAKER_00 (25:04):
Because it's it's easy.
I mean, it is it is easy.
Um, and I know that.
And so I I definitely don't wantit to not feel like, oh man, he
doesn't think it's easy, oh,it's easy.
No, I don't I don't want peopleto think that, but I want people
to see the beauty of Christ andknow that and the the the thing
that he does for you, one insalvation, but also just in
sustaining and in providing andin just leading and guiding in
(25:27):
all of those areas, like thatpropels us to think about our
hope.
Like that propels us to workthrough those things.
Um, and so really like we'rehoping, we're expecting, but
we're also hope has an object.
That object is Jesus.
So we can know and we can besure and we can have security,
like I've said, not in anythingthat we do, not in anything that
(25:49):
we are, not in uh in all ofthose aspects, but in Jesus,
right?
And often I think we tend toplace uh our hope in again,
possessions, money,relationships.
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
I was gonna say, touch on going back all the way
to Philippians, because a lot ofpeople miss yeah, I know how to
be a base, but I know how toabound.
SPEAKER_00 (26:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (26:06):
Because sometimes, I think that's where you were kind
of going with that.
Sometimes things are good and welose sight and we start to put
our hope somewhere else, youknow, like, oh, my job's going
really well.
Let me just shift and put myhope in my career, or man,
family life is awesome.
You know, I've heard that fromsome atheists.
Why don't you believe?
Well, things are so great forme.
Why do I need I don't need thathope?
I have plenty now.
(26:27):
So maybe you just comment ondon't lose your hope even I
think that's good in the goodtimes.
SPEAKER_00 (26:32):
I mean, like like we talk about Philippians uh four,
it talks about like you know,out of bound, you know, I've
been brought low.
But I think, like you said, somany people will come to Christ
in a a season of of hardship,right?
Like they have nowhere to turn.
And I I I he is our only hope,right?
And so that's a good thing.
But then often, like you said,uh it's you know, it's easier
(26:53):
for a camel to fit to the eye ofa needle than it is for a rich
man to inherit the kingdom ofheaven, right?
Jesus says, and so I think thathappens.
And so when we lose focus on whoour hope is in light of our
circumstance, and it's easy toidolize so many things, right?
And so I think, right, how howelse does someone work a million
(27:15):
hours a week other than inwithout the with other than in
the hope of that work?
That's right, right?
Like how do you overwork and youyou sacrifice time with your
family and you you know allthose areas other than idolizing
and hoping in work?
Right, or how how does someonebuy things unnecessarily other
than idolizing and hoping inthat thing, right?
(27:36):
And so I think um we often uhdeviate to uh a relationship or
health or circumstance orpossession or money uh to to be
that object of hope and it losessight of of who Jesus is.
But Psalm, I think it's 115talks about those idols, they
can't hear, they can't talk,they can't uh there's no hope in
that yeah, they can't walk,there's they can't feel.
(27:57):
But what he contrasts is there'shope in there's hope in the
coming Messiah, there's hope inGod.
And so um, I think that's thereality is like you have to I
would encourage people assess,assess, assess, assess.
Where are you and what are youactually hoping in?
Um that hope fixed.
Yeah, and that's what it is.
Like it's it's set on eternity,it's set on the end, it's set on
(28:18):
knowing that the promise istrue, not will be like in the
aspect of like I I think it willbe, but it is.
And so um, yeah, I I thinkthere's so many instances,
right?
When our health is good, whenour relationships are good, when
our you know, uh our bankaccounts look good.
It's easy.
And and two, I think it's easyto kind of quote unquote hope in
God.
Like, oh yeah, God's providingfor me.
(28:40):
I'm good.
That's right.
Right, I feel good.
Like, look at this.
Like, I yeah, I love you, God.
And then prosperity, gospelexactly to creep in.
SPEAKER_01 (28:46):
And then when it doesn't go well, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:49):
And so I think lost our hope.
Quote unquote.
Yeah, yeah.
And so I think what what I thinkwhat is what is important to
remember, right, is that thatbiblical hope is the sure and
confident expectation ofreceiving what God has promised
us in the future, right?
It's the expectation, and so um,it's confident, you're you're
assured, you know, and you cando it with joy and full
(29:10):
confidence.
SPEAKER_01 (29:11):
Yep.
So bottom line, and again greatbringing the word.
So excited that Jarvis preachedhere at uh Lifehouse Church,
first time on Sunday.
So uh awesome experience, andthanks for joining us for some
overtime here on the podcast.
Big blessing.
Hopefully you'll come back andsee us, right?
Yeah, I'm sure the audience willbe.
I don't know.
Now that you're a Pat's fan, wemight uh our ravings might go
(29:32):
down.
Maybe, yeah.
It's awesome.
Bottom line, uh Life TalkFamily, uh, hope in Christ.
That is the solid hope.
And stick with us this month.
You'll hear a lot more greatstories just of people who found
their hope in Christ and how itnavigated them through some
tough times.
Awesome.
Thanks, man.
All right, thanks, Jar.
Life Talk Family.
We'll see you next time.
(29:53):
Thanks for tuning in to the LifeTalk Podcast.
If this episode encouraged you,please be sure to like, comment,
subscribe.
Subscribe and leave a review soothers can find this content as
well.
And we'll look forward to seeingyou next Monday for another
great episode.
What's up, Life Talk family?
Welcome back to the Life Talkpodcast.
We are getting the month ofOctober started, and I am joined
by a very and maybe the mostspecial guest we've had.
Drumroll, Jarvis Brennan.
Jarvis is here.
What's going on, man?
SPEAKER_00 (00:34):
What's up, man?
I don't know what the mostspecial.
Uh, but I'm had to set you up.
SPEAKER_01 (00:38):
Yeah, had to set the bar really high for this
episode.
Get people in engaged.
That'll be the title.
Most special guest.
Most special guest.
So you get special guest stats.
SPEAKER_00 (00:48):
Oh no, it's a it's a joy to be on this side.
Uh it's been a while.
I know.
SPEAKER_01 (00:53):
So we give you a hard time, but for those who
don't know, Jarvis does wear alot of hats around here.
So uh we are always excited tohave him on the podcast.
Uh when his schedule allowsthese days.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, you'rekilling it.
So keep it up, and yeah, youkill it.
But we love getting with theaudience every week and excited
to have you.
Like we said, we're kicking offOctober, so our theme this month
(01:14):
is going to be we hope.
So we finished investing inSeptember, a lot of good uh
topics on that, but we'relooking at hope this month, and
I think and something we miss alot of times, and and really
just all about hope we have.
And so you got an opportunity topreach awesome Sunday, and and
bring in the message to justkind of reflect, you know, on
(01:37):
you've been studying hope,preparing on this for a long
time.
So, what should we really knowabout about hoping and Christian
walk being faithfully different?
SPEAKER_00 (01:45):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's that's one of the
biggest things about um the thefaith and really us being
faithfully different is the factthat we hope, right?
Uh we're it's not this.
Uh I think it's good to startwith what it's not, right?
Hope is not just this wishfulthinking, right?
Thinking that, oh man, I hopethat it rains so my crops can be
watered, or I hope that we havepizza for dinner, or I hope my
(02:07):
team wins the Super Bowl, or youknow, different things like
that, where we're uncertainabout the outcome, right?
Where we're we're wondering whatwill be the finality of this
situation, right?
Or I hope that it's true.
We're not wondering if it's ifit's true or if it's something
that we can rely on, but reallyhope is a confident expectation
or assurance based on a surefoundation for which we wait
(02:29):
with joy and full confidence.
So it's knowing, it'sunderstanding, it's being sure
that God has promised something,and that promise will come to
pass, right?
That it's true, that it, thatit's not uh, it's there's no way
fallible uh in it.
There's nothing about it thatthat is.
And so um, as you think abouthope, right?
That that's one of the biggestthings, right?
When we have a sure hope, we'reconfident in the fact that, man,
(02:53):
the things of this life, theymay, you know, be trials, they
may be hard, they may bewhatever, but in the end, we
know we know the end, right?
And we know that the hope thatwe have today, you know, I think
it's super important.
SPEAKER_01 (03:05):
I know we'll get to love at the end of the year.
Sometimes the English languagedoesn't do us justice.
And I think, like you wellpointed out, there can be a lot
of misconceptions of what weview hope culturally as, as you
said, just as wishful thinking,maybe, maybe not.
Most of the time we equate hopeas you know, just wanting, maybe
(03:26):
desiring something, but nothaving a guarantee.
But that's not what the Bibletells us.
100%, not at all.
A lot of times we miss what theBible says about hope so often.
SPEAKER_00 (03:34):
Yeah, and and hope has, I mean, just this crazy.
As I'm studying, I never really,I guess, recognized, but as I've
been studying, hope is really asynonym for so many words,
right?
Like hope is often tied in withfaith, right?
Things that are in the future,things that we're looking to in
the future, in faith for, we'rehoped.
Like they're they're they'rebased in hope or assurance,
(03:56):
right?
We can be assured in hopebecause we know that God is
true.
And so when he says that oursalvation is sure, we can have
that same hope that it's true,right?
Not a again, not a wishfulthinking uh in any way.
And so it's very interesting tothink about scripture and where
it kind of ties in, uh, right,Hebrews uh 11.1 talks about
(04:19):
faith and the things that inthat you hoped for.
Like it's this dichotomy of theboth and you know what I mean,
like an already, but a not yet.
And so um, yeah, it's a veryinteresting thing that I didn't
really think about in thefullness because of the way that
our our English you know uhlanguage uses hope.
I use hope so many times, right?
And like in a lot of the waysthat I that I said, I hope this
(04:39):
happens, or um, but I think andI don't think that's wrong.
SPEAKER_01 (04:43):
I don't make that true.
Like I say, I very much see itlike love.
Yeah, and my thought wentexactly to Hebrews 11 as well,
the hall of faith, but like yousay, so much the things hoped
for, the things unseen.
SPEAKER_00 (04:55):
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (04:56):
You know, a hope is really based on that promise
that that God gives us.
And so, like you say, it's notwrong.
We shouldn't, you know, foranybody out there, we're not
beating you up if you say hopein terms of like I hope the, you
know, whoever your football teamis wins, or you know, whatever
sport, or you, you know, there'snot wrong to use it in that
context, but but when we'retalking biblically, when we're
(05:18):
talking about our faith, whenwe're talking about the Bible,
we should definitely understandit differently.
SPEAKER_00 (05:23):
And and really those things change right our
perspective are two differentcategories ultimately, right?
Like hope in I hope this happensand man, I have hope are totally
different, right?
They're they're differentcircumstances.
Yeah.
I can think of the situation.
Uh I'm a Patriots fan.
We talked a little bityesterday, Nate.
We're gonna get lots of uh hatemail now.
SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
I was trying to not say teams, but you had to go and
bring it up, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (05:51):
Um but I think it was 2018, uh, and they were
playing the Atlanta Falcons.
Um, I mean, I'm watching it.
I'm the only uh one of the onlyPatriots fans.
I think there was another guythere, and uh possibly in the
state of Delaware.
For real.
I mean, really, and like uh theguy's house that I was at was
actually at the Falcon SuperBowl.
Um, and I was at his house withhis brother and and stuff like
(06:11):
that.
And so the rest were let's go,Falcons.
They're two in me the wholegame.
I mean, we're down 21, nothingand a half.
You get into the third quarter,it's 28-3.
Um, and in my mind, right, I'mhoping that they come back,
right?
I'm hoping that it's this, okay,Tom Brady's gonna clutch up.
We're gonna be, I mean, youknow, we're gonna be good.
James White, kind of JulianEllen, all those guys will do
(06:33):
what they're supposed to do.
They're gonna do their job andthey're gonna get it done.
Um, well, third quarter, I'mgonna beat myself.
Like, what?
Like, I can't watch this game,right?
And so I'm hoping the wholetime.
Um, but it's it's this desire,this hope that this will happen.
I have no clue if it will,right?
And so then we get to the fourthquarter.
I mean, you tie it up, you gointo overtime, uh, and there's a
(06:53):
play we're on the two or threeyard line, uh and it's a toss to
James White.
And I'm this, I'm hoping that hegets into the end zone.
And then he does, right?
And so the thing that I hopedfor obviously created it was a
good outcome for what I wished,but I didn't I had no clue.
But I didn't know in any way,shape, or form.
One, were they gonna beat thedeficit, and then two, were they
(07:14):
gonna win it, right?
I I didn't know.
I was unsure, but I, you know, II wanted that to happen.
I was I was thinking that couldhappen.
But in biblical hope, man, likecontrast that to when you placed
your faith in Christ.
Exactly.
It's totally different, right?
And so uh when I got saved,yeah, there was an aspect of,
okay, now I believed in God, andwhat did God tell me?
(07:36):
And he told me that nothing canpluck me out of his hand.
And so now I have this hope andthis security, this assurance
that nothing can take me fromGod.
So, what does that mean?
Well, when we looked at Romans8, 18 through 25, it talks about
the sufferings that we gothrough right now are not worth
comparing to the glory that willbe re revealed to us, speaking
(07:57):
of the hope of future glory,right?
That one day when God returnsand calls up his saints and the
new heaven and the new earth iscreated, we know that that will
happen.
And so now I have hope, nothoping and wishful thinking, but
I have assurance.
I think assurance is a good, agood word for that.
I have security, I have faiththat that will one day be
(08:18):
revealed, and that I'm thethings I'm going through right
now, they're not worthcomparing.
Like because of the the truththat is found in the end, right?
And so that's what that I thinkthat's what hope is really is I
I'm confident and I'm expectingwhat will happen when the Lord
returns.
That will happen.
I don't have to wonder, I don'thave to guess, I don't have to
(08:38):
see, I don't have to figure out,and my calculations don't have
to be right, but God has saidit, and therefore it will
happen, right?
So you think of Abraham.
Uh we talked about in Galatianslast week, um, the the two
different uh uh illustrations,right?
Paul talks about yeah, Sarah andHagar, and how uh Ishmael was
seed that was not promised, andIsaac was, and how Isaac was
(09:02):
promised.
And because Isaac was promised,guess what happened?
They had Isaac.
You know what I mean?
Like it was it was sure tohappen, but Abraham and Sarah
took it out of their own hands.
They allowed you know Abraham tobe with Hagar, and right, so
they lost sight of the hope thatthey actually had, which was the
word of God, which was thepromise of God, that God would
bless him uh with generationsthat are numbered of the stars,
(09:26):
right?
And so um I think hope is a Ithink it's good to uh understand
and to know that it's a surehope.
It's it's a solid hope.
It's not something that we'rethat wavers uh like often we do,
right?
We often waver and a lot that weeven the things that we talk
about, um we we can have trueconfidence that that God is
where our hope is, right?
(09:47):
Psalm, I think it's 42.5.
He uh I think it's Davidspeaking, and he talks about how
he's basically like brought downand he's like, Why is my soul in
turmoil?
And then the next verse, chapterfive, it says, Hope in God.
Like don't don't hope in theother things, hope in God.
Um, and that's the same callthat I think we have as
believers, right?
And uh it's to hope in God.
SPEAKER_01 (10:09):
And I think we can we'll get to maybe the suffering
part you mentioned, but contrastthat to other world religions,
you know, we say very frequentlyChristianity is about a
relationship, and I think thisis a great example.
What have other religions hopingin?
They're hoping in works, andthat Hera, uh Hagar and Sarah
(10:29):
was the same thing.
They decided to put their hopein, well, we're not gonna trust
God, we're not gonna have ourhope in Him, we're gonna take
care of it.
Yeah, and that's many other youknow, faiths, you know, where
it's really I'm hoping in myworks and that God will honor
what I have done.
We have hope in what Christ hasdone, right?
The finished works, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:47):
And I think it's hard because sometimes I think
we get into that same mindset,right?
That like, man, not saying we'reperfect, right?
Yeah, no, but yeah, but I'm Ithink the reality is we should
have that.
I I pray that people can takethe perspective of their work
and not, I mean, Isaiah talksabout how your works are filthy
rags to the Lord.
And so if we can see thatrightly, knowing that as James
(11:08):
talks about, faith without workis dead, right?
Knowing that work is a goodthing, that God isn't saying uh
don't work and work is bad, butit's not what keeps us secure.
And so I think that's not whatyour hope is.
Exactly.
And so I think we often not abad thing, but don't hope in
that.
And I I think we often sometimesI think fall into the trap uh of
if I just do enough, if I justread my Bible enough, if I just
(11:30):
pray enough, if I just you knowuh give enough, if I just walk
that old lady across the roadenough, like then the thing that
I'm hoping will happen, which iseternity in heaven with God,
like then I that will come tothat will come true.
When scripture says, like, no,that's not true.
That's that's not what we'resaying.
Um we we often take into our ownhands, yeah.
Like you said, and so I thinkfor those listening, like, man,
(11:51):
assess, and I think this is theencouragement at the end as
well, assess where your hope is.
Assess the things that you'reyou're uh trusting in
ultimately.
Trust is another one with hopethat you're trusting in to uh
keep you secure and to give youthose things and uh rightly
place them.
SPEAKER_01 (12:10):
Definitely.
And so, you know, obviously nowthat we're defining it and how
different that is, that allowsus just daily to just walk
differently.
It should give us confidence,like you said, it's it's the
assurance.
So, really how we live our livesshould be different because we
don't have to live in this limbostate of did I do enough?
(12:32):
You know, am I where's mystanding?
You know, kind of like it shouldgive us uh peace, you know, in
in having that hope and thatassurance to walk out daily, so
that's why we should befaithfully different.
Just in how we were able tonavigate, yeah, just generally
the day-to-day.
That's right.
SPEAKER_00 (12:49):
Yeah, and I agree with that a hundred percent.
I mean, I think uh having hope,true hope, biblical hope,
definitely changes yourframework for life, right?
And when when I think that'swhere Romans 8, 18 comes in,
where he says, For I considerthat the sufferings of this
present time, the sufferingsthat you're dealing with right
now, the things that that are athand right now are not worth
(13:10):
comparing with the glory that isto be revealed to us.
Like, okay, so what Paul'ssaying is the things that you're
going through, the suffering,right?
So maybe that's right, let'slist suffering, right?
And I'm not gonna obviouslycatch all of them, but any
diagnoses, right, any marriageproblems, any deaths, any you
know, any other sickness, ormaybe it's finances, you're
struggling financially orrelationally, caught in sin,
(13:32):
right?
Whatever that the sufferings inwhich you experience today,
those are not worth comparing tothe glory that is to be
revealed.
And so when we acknowledge thatto say, man, the things that I'm
going through, or the thingsthat I'm lacking in, or the
things that I'm struggling, youknow, fumbling through, I can
know and have hope that thesearen't these don't even weigh
up, right?
(13:52):
It's like, you know, you put itput it on a scale, you know,
it's like it's far outweighs theglory that is to be revealed far
outweighs any ounce of um uh ofthe suffering in which we uh we
we we feel, right?
And so we're trusting that Godis faithful, we're trusting that
he provides and that uh hispresence is is is worth it
through the circumstances,whether those are good or bad.
(14:14):
Um and so if we have that actualhope, I think it it changes our
our focus, right?
Our eyes are fixed on somethingthat is unchanging, is
unmovable, um, and is alwaysthere.
And so when we when our eyes arefixed there, um we it's hard to
be shaken.
You know what I mean?
Like when our eyes are fixed onthe rock, you know, it gives us
(14:35):
perspective 100%.
SPEAKER_01 (14:36):
That's good, it brings everything into
perspective.
And I think like thosesuffering, and we'll hear some
great stories this month, but itdoesn't discount the hope in
this life because we still havehope.
You know, there is we worship agreat God who can work miracles,
you know, raise his son from thedead.
So we don't discount, we havehope.
And uh, you know, Romans 8 28,we get to things working
(14:58):
together for good, you know, forthose who love him, you know,
and sometimes that can be takena little out of context, or
people who don't love God stillthink it's gonna work out, but
we have that hope in this lifethat you can get through these
things because you have thateternal perspective.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (15:14):
I think it all flows through that that eternity, like
that that what we go throughtoday.
I mean uh James 1, 2 to 3 says,Count it all joys, my brothers,
and when when you meet trials,not if like when, not if like
and he says count it joy.
How do you count something joythat's hard?
How do you count something joythat's terrible, right?
That's that's evil, right?
Like that is that is sufferingbecause of the hope that we
(15:37):
have, right?
Or 1 Peter 1 uh talks about thehope.
We have a living hope, which isin the person of Christ, but
also like it says it's stored upfor you in heaven, right?
It's secure there in heaven, butthen it continues down.
It says when it says the uh whenyou meet trials, also, it's just
so uh similar to James, but itsays uh it purifies your your
(15:58):
faith, right?
It works through the refining ofyour faith, and at the end,
we're produced with a greaterfaith in Christ.
And so all of those aspects ofhope and sanctification play
hand in hand, right?
Our our eyes are fixed oneternity, knowing that as we
walk through today, um, God ischanging our hearts for his
glory, right?
And ultimately to be more likehim, right?
(16:19):
And something that I thought wasinteresting as I was studying
was uh hope is not needed inheaven.
unknown (16:26):
Right?
SPEAKER_00 (16:26):
Hope is something that we have here, right?
Yeah, hope is something that wehave on earth right now, uh,
until whenever we die, becausehope is not needed in heaven
because, like you said, it'srealized.
Right?
Our our faith has become sight,right?
Our hope has been revealed, ithas been seen.
Um, and so that's an interestingthing.
It was like, man, we get toparticipate in something that
we're not gonna be able to do inheaven.
(16:47):
We're gonna just see it, we'regonna live in it, we're gonna
you know, bask in God's glory.
Um, and that's a that's a ablessing, right?
And I think that should kind ofagain shift our mindset.
Like, man, God thought it goodfor us to hope here.
Like he knew what our eyes andwhat our minds and what our our
hearts were to be fixed on forour good and for his glory.
(17:07):
And I think hope is a central, acentral theme of those.
SPEAKER_01 (17:11):
Definitely is.
So kind of maybe bring it downtoo for those who are walking
through suffering, you know,like you said, diagnosis, you
know, job situation, finances,whatever.
How do we now faithfullydifferent kind of live that out?
How do we let that really justimpact our soul, you know, from
(17:32):
your message that you preached?
You know, what are some of thosereal life takeaways that you
want people to really kind ofhear?
Because, and we'll hear somegreat stories of how hope really
changed people and and broughtthrough people tough times, but
you know, I know that's always achallenge.
Like it's easy to say when youknow you don't have the
(17:53):
diagnosis or you know, you youhave to do it so 100%.
SPEAKER_00 (17:57):
Yeah, I mean, it ultimately bring uh brings me
back to the apostle Paul, right?
Paul, if we if we look at thethe life of Paul, right?
Paul was this guy, uh and we'vebeen talking about Galatians, so
it's it's fresh on people'smind, I think.
But Paul was a guy who was a uha guy who persecuted Christians.
I mean, he hated Christianity,he wanted uh Christians to die,
right?
You can read Acts, um, but Godradically changed his heart,
(18:20):
saved him, and then from thereon out, we see an interesting
thing, right?
Paul, before converting toChristianity or the way at that
point, right?
Like he was experiencing goodthings, right?
He he he was living a prettygood life as uh a Jew, and kind
of he says, I'm not sure Jews,right?
He was up, he was up there theresume exactly, and so there was
(18:42):
a switch though that happens infollowing Christ, and that
ultimately is and he suffered somuch more than realistically we
suffer today.
But there's something about Paulthat's different, right?
Paul, uh, you can read it inPhilippians, right?
Philippians 4 13.
We all know that you know I cando all things through Christ who
gives me strength.
The uh the verses that precedethat, right?
(19:04):
I've been brought low, I've beenbrought high, right?
He knows how to work through allthings, and he talks about how
many times he was shipwrecked orbeaten or stoned or all of these
different areas.
But the one thing that Paul didwas he set his eyes on Christ,
which caused him to hope.
Right.
And so then I think about thediagnosis and the uh sicknesses
and the death and the differentthings that we feel.
(19:25):
Um, and and this is not tominimize it at all, because
those are terrible, tragicsituations situations.
And there, and there's many ofthem in our congregation, right?
Uh Pastor Mark often talks abouthow what if you were to look
out, right?
Often when you're looking at thestage, you really only see one
person, right?
I I do, but it maybe if you'resitting in the back, you see a
couple, but like when you'relooking out at the the uh the
(19:48):
congregation, and you can seefaces and people in different
areas, and you can you can knowand you can feel, and there are
so many different areas in whichthese people are are dealing
with harsh and hard things, hardrealities.
Um but the benefit that we getto look through, so I don't want
to minimize that right uh atall.
(20:08):
But the benefit that we get tohave is man, we get to have the
fact that we can see howbelievers before us have
navigated suffering.
So when you look at Paul, therewas one thing about him is he
was secure in his hope, right?
He fixed his eyes not on thepresent time, not on the things
of uh, man, this is happening.
I mean, my my bank account'slow, or my my marriage is bad,
(20:30):
or we don't really have food inour our our pantry, or uh you
know, our car broke down, or Ihave a diagnosis, or this death
happened.
It wasn't necessarily about thethe circumstance, but always was
fixed back to who is my God,right?
Who is the one who has set meapart for eternal glory with
him?
But and so as I think about thethings that we go through, there
(20:52):
are there are areas that I thinkgrief and mourning and and
feeling is okay.
I mean, I don't I don't uh everwant to act like okay, yeah,
just fuck it up, yeah, you know,but do it, figure it out, you
have hope, you know, keeppushing.
Man, there are there arecircumstances, yes, feel them.
And Paul says, grieve.
(21:12):
We do grieve.
He says grieve with hope.
Exactly.
I mean, yeah, you think of of uhFirst Thessalonians where he
says, like, we don't mourn justto mourn.
You don't mourn like the worlddoes, but you mourn with hope,
knowing that there is a greaterthing.
Uh, you think of Ecclesiastes,right?
There is a time uh foreverything, right?
A time to laugh, a time to cry,you know, and he talks about
(21:33):
mourning.
There's a time to mourn.
And so uh mourning and grief area real thing, but I I I think
what happens is we can losesight of the hope that we have
in the midst of those times, inthe midst of grief, in the midst
of mourning, in the midst ofhardship, that we then lose
sight for a longer period oftime than is necessary to fix
our eyes back on Christ.
(21:54):
And so what I typically do,right?
I don't live a perfect life andI don't have a you know 10 out
of 10 day every single day,right?
And there are sufferings that Iand me and my wife and my kids
go through.
And one of the one of the thingsthat I I think is so necessary
for me as I walk throughhardship is uh is to remind
(22:14):
myself, man, who is the God thatI serve?
Right.
And so as I walk through uhthese feelings of loss or these
feelings of grief or thesefeelings of uh disappointment or
whatever the thing is, thesuffering that I'm that I'm
working through, there has to bea separation in my mind.
And this is what I do.
I mean, I'm just uh maybe youdon't you can't do the same
thing.
I don't know.
(22:34):
This is what I do.
I assess my situation.
Okay, what am I dealing with?
Okay, I'm dealing with you knowuh low income, right?
Uh my my income's tight, right?
Okay, and I'm I'm suffering inthis way, or I'm dealing with
loss, or I'm dealing with a badmarriage, or I'm dealing with uh
a diagnosis, right?
So, what's my income?
Okay, now who is God?
Who is he?
(22:55):
So these are the things that I'mexperiencing, but who is God?
And and so then I can list and Ican think through the names of
who God is and and what he'sdone and what he's said and what
he's promised, and the fact thathe's sovereign and that he is in
control of all things, he is uhprovidential in all ways,
knowing that he, as Romans 8,like we quoted, for those who
love him work all thingstogether for his for good,
(23:18):
right?
And so I can trust that, man,God is working, even in the
situation where it doesn't makesense, God is working this for
good.
I don't know how, I don't knowwhy, but I trust that God is
faithful to his promise.
I trust that he's provider,right?
That he's sustainer, redeemer,uh healer.
And you kind of work throughthat, and then I think it and
then I think we assess likebased on that, what is the
(23:41):
reality?
That's right.
You know what I mean?
Like, so this is what I'mexperiencing, this is who God
is.
Now, what's the reality?
The reality is that in light ofmy circumstance, Romans 8.18, it
is not worth comparing to theglory that will be revealed.
SPEAKER_01 (23:54):
Reminds me uh C.S.
Lewis book he wrote.
It's called A Grief Observed.
If anybody wants to check thatout.
Real short book, you can readit, it's only like four
chapters.
But he wrote that after his wifepassed away.
SPEAKER_02 (24:06):
Wow.
SPEAKER_01 (24:06):
And one of the most impactful lines tying into what
you were saying as he wasassessing, and it's a real raw
book.
So if anybody picks it up, ifyou've lost somebody, it can be
a good read, or if you just knowsomebody, um, it's it can be
helpful, you know, going throughsuffering.
But what he says that was superimpactful is he says, if my
faith folded now, it wasn'treally faith.
SPEAKER_02 (24:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (24:28):
And he said, God knew how strong my faith was, my
hope in our in our conversation.
God knew I didn't.
Yeah.
You know, so it was I needed togo through this to see the true
hope, to have the true strengthof my faith, you know, so it
would be refined and it would besomething that he would realize.
Like, yeah, I have this hope.
(24:49):
Sure, I mourn and I grieve, andI'm not happy that I've lost my
wife.
But like you said, I have thereality of the hope and faith in
Christ that takes you throughversus just, you know, he caught
himself from you know descendinginto that.
SPEAKER_00 (25:04):
Because it's it's easy.
I mean, it is it is easy.
Um, and I know that.
And so I I definitely don't wantit to not feel like, oh man, he
doesn't think it's easy, oh,it's easy.
No, I don't I don't want peopleto think that, but I want people
to see the beauty of Christ andknow that and the the the thing
that he does for you, one insalvation, but also just in
sustaining and in providing andin just leading and guiding in
(25:27):
all of those areas, like thatpropels us to think about our
hope.
Like that propels us to workthrough those things.
Um, and so really like we'rehoping, we're expecting, but
we're also hope has an object.
That object is Jesus.
So we can know and we can besure and we can have security,
like I've said, not in anythingthat we do, not in anything that
(25:49):
we are, not in uh in all ofthose aspects, but in Jesus,
right?
And often I think we tend toplace uh our hope in again,
possessions, money,relationships.
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
I was gonna say, touch on going back all the way
to Philippians, because a lot ofpeople miss yeah, I know how to
be a base, but I know how toabound.
SPEAKER_00 (26:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (26:06):
Because sometimes, I think that's where you were kind
of going with that.
Sometimes things are good and welose sight and we start to put
our hope somewhere else, youknow, like, oh, my job's going
really well.
Let me just shift and put myhope in my career, or man,
family life is awesome.
You know, I've heard that fromsome atheists.
Why don't you believe?
Well, things are so great forme.
Why do I need I don't need thathope?
I have plenty now.
(26:27):
So maybe you just comment ondon't lose your hope even I
think that's good in the goodtimes.
SPEAKER_00 (26:32):
I mean, like like we talk about Philippians uh four,
it talks about like you know,out of bound, you know, I've
been brought low.
But I think, like you said, somany people will come to Christ
in a a season of of hardship,right?
Like they have nowhere to turn.
And I I I he is our only hope,right?
And so that's a good thing.
But then often, like you said,uh it's you know, it's easier
(26:53):
for a camel to fit to the eye ofa needle than it is for a rich
man to inherit the kingdom ofheaven, right?
Jesus says, and so I think thathappens.
And so when we lose focus on whoour hope is in light of our
circumstance, and it's easy toidolize so many things, right?
And so I think, right, how howelse does someone work a million
(27:15):
hours a week other than inwithout the with other than in
the hope of that work?
That's right, right?
Like how do you overwork and youyou sacrifice time with your
family and you you know allthose areas other than idolizing
and hoping in work?
Right, or how how does someonebuy things unnecessarily other
than idolizing and hoping inthat thing, right?
(27:36):
And so I think um we often uhdeviate to uh a relationship or
health or circumstance orpossession or money uh to to be
that object of hope and it losessight of of who Jesus is.
But Psalm, I think it's 115talks about those idols, they
can't hear, they can't talk,they can't uh there's no hope in
that yeah, they can't walk,there's they can't feel.
(27:57):
But what he contrasts is there'shope in there's hope in the
coming Messiah, there's hope inGod.
And so um, I think that's thereality is like you have to I
would encourage people assess,assess, assess, assess.
Where are you and what are youactually hoping in?
Um that hope fixed.
Yeah, and that's what it is.
Like it's it's set on eternity,it's set on the end, it's set on
(28:18):
knowing that the promise istrue, not will be like in the
aspect of like I I think it willbe, but it is.
And so um, yeah, I I thinkthere's so many instances,
right?
When our health is good, whenour relationships are good, when
our you know, uh our bankaccounts look good.
It's easy.
And and two, I think it's easyto kind of quote unquote hope in
God.
Like, oh yeah, God's providingfor me.
(28:40):
I'm good.
That's right.
Right, I feel good.
Like, look at this.
Like, I yeah, I love you, God.
And then prosperity, gospelexactly to creep in.
SPEAKER_01 (28:46):
And then when it doesn't go well, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:49):
And so I think lost our hope.
Quote unquote.
Yeah, yeah.
And so I think what what I thinkwhat is what is important to
remember, right, is that thatbiblical hope is the sure and
confident expectation ofreceiving what God has promised
us in the future, right?
It's the expectation, and so um,it's confident, you're you're
assured, you know, and you cando it with joy and full
(29:10):
confidence.
SPEAKER_01 (29:11):
Yep.
So bottom line, and again greatbringing the word.
So excited that Jarvis preachedhere at uh Lifehouse Church,
first time on Sunday.
So uh awesome experience, andthanks for joining us for some
overtime here on the podcast.
Big blessing.
Hopefully you'll come back andsee us, right?
Yeah, I'm sure the audience willbe.
I don't know.
Now that you're a Pat's fan, wemight uh our ravings might go
(29:32):
down.
Maybe, yeah.
It's awesome.
Bottom line, uh Life TalkFamily, uh, hope in Christ.
That is the solid hope.
And stick with us this month.
You'll hear a lot more greatstories just of people who found
their hope in Christ and how itnavigated them through some
tough times.
Awesome.
Thanks, man.
All right, thanks, Jar.
Life Talk Family.
We'll see you next time.
(29:53):
Thanks for tuning in to the LifeTalk Podcast.
If this episode encouraged you,please be sure to like, comment,
subscribe.
Subscribe and leave a review soothers can find this content as
well.
And we'll look forward to seeingyou next Monday for another
great episode.
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