2026.4.5 TFHC – A Living Hope | 1 Peter 1:3-4

April 5, 2026, Message by P. Kevin Clancey Transcribed by Beluga AI. So John 20. “But Thomas (called “Twin”) was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were telling him, ‘We’ve seen the Lord.'” I love that. We’ve seen the Lord. Listen, don’t believe this progressive yuck nonsense. Oh, Easter, winter… Every year, winter turns to spring and your garden regrows and caterpillars turn into butterflies. No, no, no. A dead guy got up and He was seen. More than seen, as we’ll read here. “So the disciples said, ‘We’ve seen the Lord.’ But then Thomas said to them, ‘If I don’t see the mark of nails in His hands, and then more than that, put my finger into the mark of the nails and put my hand into His side, I will never believe.’ A week later, His disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ “Then He said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless. Don’t be faithless. Believe.’ “And Thomas responded to him, ‘My Lord and my God.'” 24 But Thomas (called “Twin”) one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples were telling him, “We’ve seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “If I don’t see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26 A week later his disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless, but believe.” 28 Thomas responded to him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:24-28, CSB) At least Thomas wasn’t halfway. “I don’t believe.” And his response to believing was worship. That’s what “My Lord and my God” is. It’s an acknowledgment. It’s an act of worship. It’s acknowledging that you’re God and I’m not. You’re smarter than me. You’re bigger than me; you’re better than me. And so, he proclaims, “You’re Lord and my God.” And then Jesus said, “Listen, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are the Millers, the Johnsons, and the Kagawas, because they have not seen and yet believed.” 29 Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” (John 20:29, CSB) That’s the new Poulsbo Firehouse Version translation of the Bible, 2026. Yeah. Blessed are you who haven’t seen. One another, you’re blessed because you have believed. The evidence, as Jamie showed us so well last week, is compelling. But you have come to the same conclusion that Thomas did. And right now we’re going to sing songs. And in those songs, we’re going to proclaim, “My Lord and my God,” the risen Jesus. “And Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not even written in this book. But these are written”—why? John’s consistent. “So that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name.” 30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31, CSB) So, yay, good for you. You believe. So, let’s proclaim our love, our allegiance, our devotion, and by the way, our wonder. Never lose the wonder of Easter. Never lose the wonder of Jesus Christ and the resurrection. For a day, be a new Christian again. Be a baby Christian. Be a 4-year-old walking through the gates of Disneyland for the first time. So let’s worship. We praise you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We praise you tonight. We have seen enough to believe, so we lay our lives into your hands and we trust you. Lord, we don’t understand it all. Much confusion, much grief, much struggle. But like Peter said, where else am I going to go? You have the words of eternal life. There is no one but Jesus. There’s no place else to put our hope and trust and love. We thank you for a great salvation. We thank you that every year we gather together and we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. But actually, every Sunday we gather together and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ—changed everything. We thank you tonight in Jesus’ Name, Amen. All right, we’re going to be in 1 Peter 1:3-4 tonight. Before I get there, tell you a story about a grandpa and his grandsons. This is not autobiography, autobiographical, but this Grandpa was a preacher, and his family was visiting from out of town Easter Sunday. He called all the kids forward to do a little Easter kid sermon. He got them up and said, “Anybody know what this week that came before Easter is called?” Nobody raised their hand. Finally, his little grandson raised his hand, and he said, “Yeah, Timmy, what’s this mean?” Timmy said, “It’s the Passover week where Jesus came to Jerusalem before He died.” Grandfather was so proud. “Yes, yes. Does anybody know what happened on what we call Good Friday?” Nobody raised their hands. Little Timmy raises his hand. Says, “All right, Timmy, what’s what?” “That’s when Jesus died on the cross for our sins.” Grandpa was so proud. So proud. “Sunday morning, here we are on Sunday. Why are we in church today? Anybody know what happened on Sunday morning?” Timmy was, you know, he wanted to wait and see if somebody else got the answer, but you know, they couldn’t. He raised his hand. Grandpa says, “What happened?” Says, “Jesus rose from the dead, Grandpa. He got out of the grave.” Grandpa’s like, “Ah, you’re right, you’re right.” Finally, Grandpa says, “And what does that mean for us?” Little Timmy raises his hand. Grandpa says, “What does it mean?” He says, “Well, if He saw His shadow, He was going back in. We’re going to have winter for six more weeks.” Close, so close. I read this testimony this morning from a friend of mine in Kansas City. And now my phone’s wigging out. Oh my gosh. Technology is wonderful, but sometimes it makes a promise that it doesn’t keep, and then it gets frustrating. Here it is. Michael Sullivan, a friend of mine in Kansas City, wrote this this morning, and I read it, and I was touched by it. And it’s not—it’s very subtle. It’s just a great story. And it is concerning the Muslim dreams. And we’ve talked about, I’ve talked about that before, that the last 30 years or so, Muslims all over the world have been having Jesus dreams. And Muslims believe that God reveals Himself—Allah, you know, Allah reveals Himself, they believe, through the Quran and a good imam, a good teacher telling you what the Quran means. So they trust that. But the other thing they believe is that God speaks in dreams. And so dreams are very powerful to Muslims. About 30, 40 years ago, Christians all across the West began to pray for what we call the 10/40 window, which is 10 degrees north of the equator to 40 degrees north of the equator. Throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, this is where the majority of the world’s population lives. These are the huge populations of the world that live in that region. And it’s also the least Christian region of the world. In Northern Africa and the Middle East, Muslim. As you move further to the east, you get into regions that are strongly Hindu. And then a little further, you get into regions that are Buddhist. And those three major world religions, along with other things, Shintoism and others, exist in those regions. Christians began to pray that missionaries would find effectiveness in those areas and that there would be moves of God in those areas. And it’s been happening. One of the ways it’s been happening is throughout that region, these stories just keep coming up time and time again of Muslims having dreams where a man in white, this glorious man in white, appears to them and does something for them or tells them to go somewhere. And it’s Jesus. Jesus is revealing Himself to Muslims in dreams. And so here’s a story. “More than 20 years ago, I traveled to Israel with nine other ministers. During that amazing trip, we were invited into the home of a prominent leader within the Palestinian Authority. “At one point during the visit, he called for his wife and their 12-year-old son to join us. We were seated in a large room, chairs lining three of the four walls, forming a quiet circle of attention. With a gentle smile, he nudged his wife and asked her to share her story. She was radiant, steady, yet carrying something deeper than words. “She began, ‘Over 12 years ago, I was pregnant with my son and facing serious life-threatening complications. One night I had a vivid dream. A holy man dressed in white… He came out of a tomb. He walked toward me, placed His hand on my shoulder, and said, “Everything is going to be all right.”‘ “She paused, her eyes softening as she glanced toward her son. ‘And here we are.’ “Then everything grew still. She looked slowly around the room, making eye contact with each of us. Tears gathered in her eyes. Not of fear, but of recognition—settled knowing. And quietly, almost reverently, she said,”—I love this line—”‘It wasn’t Muhammad who came out of that tomb.'” Dear ones, it wasn’t Muhammad that came out of that tomb. “Her husband beamed with a humble kind of pride, and she and his boy left the room. Happy Easter to you all.” It wasn’t Krishna who came out of that tomb. It wasn’t Buddha who came out of that tomb. It certainly wasn’t the God of scientific naturalism who came out of that tomb. Every world religion, every atheistic religion, which is what scientific naturalism, modern atheism is, it has dogmas, it has creeds, it has—oh my goodness, does it have hard-headed, stiff-necked fundamentalists. Every world religion says basically this: you need to follow that way to get either a good life, to get a ticket to a better afterlife, to avoid being in trouble, whatever—you need to follow that way. Only one man came and said, “I’m the Way.” And okay, why should we believe Him? I’ll tell you. A dead man got up, in history. Now, other people have been raised from the dead in His name. But He got up, as He said, on His own accord. That doesn’t mean He drove out of the tomb in a Honda. He got up; nobody laid hands on Him, nobody said a prayer over Him, nobody anointed Him with oil, nobody fasted and prayed for Him. They had all given up hope because they knew what you and I know, right? Dead’s dead. Dead’s dead. No. The book of Acts said they could not hold the Author of life. Death could not hold the Author of life. And He rose. And it is simply the most amazing fact in hhis wild, crazy world universe that we live in, and it has changed everything. All creation is now on the road to healing, redemption, wholeness, and kingdom glory because that day it all got raised with Him. Our resurrection is based upon His resurrection. Our beloved animals’ resurrection is based upon His resurrection. And here’s the amazing theme: seems like Romans says their resurrection through our resurrection. Just as we are drawn up into Christ, so our beloved—so this worldly creation, this world is drawn up into Christ through us. Because God gave Adam and Eve what? Stewardship over this creation. You know what Jesus did for humanity? He took it back. So your beloved pets will be there. I tell my wife. I tell my wife, “Your dogs, your beloved dogs. When you go, they will come. You know the greeting you always loved? They’ll be there to give you that greeting. Of the four dogs we had, three of them will be there.” Poor Barney. Barney the Beagle. I don’t have much hope for Barney the Beagle. But the other three were flawed, but they were Christian dogs. They were saved. If they were redeemed, if they were redeemed in you—if you loved them. Did you love them? Did you love the goldfish, Isaiah? Did you love the hamster? What was the hamster’s name? Sarah. Sarah will be there, buddy. Sarah 1 and Sarah 2. Did Isaiah know it was Sarah II, or did Sarah 1 die and just replaced it real quick? So, yeah, all right. One of my favorite Easter verses is 1 Peter 1:3-4. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. (1 Peter 1:3-4, CSB) May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord God. 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14, CSB) Praise be. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. How can God be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ also be equal with the God and Father? Well, it says He’s the Lord. And that word is reserved for God. And it’s a mystery that God is one. And yet He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the Son, who is fully God, yet also fully human, submits to the Father. Why? He’s modeling to us what humanity is called to do. And yet He’s also modeling to us who God is. And then the Spirit comes, and the Spirit is God. Because the Spirit knows the mind of God, gives us the mind of Christ, the mind of God, and draws us into Christ, who lifts us to the Father. And the Trinity just works and envelops us into this beautiful unity with God. And Jesus says, “Father, I’ll pray that they be one as you and I are one. And they’ll be one in us.” And God is just bringing, reconciling all things to Himself through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so He’s worthy of our praise. Now we praise God because He is worthy of our praise. And you notice we’re created to praise worthy things. I remember my wife and I went one night on our little date night. We went to see the musical Hamilton, and we saw Jamie and Sophia and Riley there. You know, when they were all done with that wonderful performance, that wonderful musical performance, you know, portraying a slice of American history… and it was done well. It was great. It was wonderful. And what did people do? They got on their feet, and they gave honor and praise. And I knew I was taping the Super Bowl, and I was preaching up here and, you know, just as I’m winding up my sermon, I hear fireworks. I really didn’t want to know the end of the game, but if I was going to know the end of the game, I knew those fireworks meant it ended how I wanted it to end. Nobody in the Pacific Northwest was setting off fireworks for the Patriots, so people were celebrating the achievements of young, phenomenal athletes. Now, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with that. It’s an expression of appreciation. However, there’s plenty wrong with making those things idols. I remember I was with some buddies and big Seahawks fans. They said, “Are you going to cancel church if the Seahawks are in the Super Bowl?” It’s like, no. I am a big Seahawk fan, but I am not an idolater. Jesus comes before the Super Bowl all the time. All the time. Now, you know, if Jill interrupts me for the game, I don’t—that’s second. That’s something else. Like, she comes before Him most days of the year, but not in the Super Bowl. It’s like… So praise is befitting to things that are praiseworthy. It’s okay to tell your wife she’s beautiful. It’s more than okay. It’s good. It’s okay to tell your husband he’s wonderful. It’s okay when your children achieve well, to say, “Good job.” It’s okay even, you know, to say to your dog, “Atta boy.” But God is the One, the creator of all those things. We always, as Christians, we always take our praise from the creation and acknowledge the Creator. Who made those actors gifted? Who made those athletes? Who gave those athletes that muscle memory and that great intelligence so they could perform that way? Who made my wife and gave her to me? Who made my children and gave them to me? And so, we praise God because He’s worthy. We don’t praise God because somehow, He needs it to feel okay about Himself. God’s not up there going, “Oh, man, this holy week was rough. You know, there was Muslim violence and things going on in the world. And oh my gosh. And you know, I don’t know what’s happening here. And trying to get a hold of the President of the United States, but he keeps hitting that send button. It’s like, don’t do it, man. You know, he won’t listen. You know, my Spirit…” Anyway, just… He’s not up there going, “Oh, this is tough.” And then all of a sudden He goes, “Oh, shoot. This morning, Isaiah got up and said, ‘Thank you, Lord, and I praise you.’ I feel much better about myself. I’m so glad Isaiah gave me an attaboy.” No, He doesn’t need that. He likes it when you do it. But here’s another reason we praise: you actually become like that which you worship. You become like that which you focus on. Whatever you put your attention on, you’re drawn to. That’s why when we teach our children to drive, we don’t tell them to look at the big boulder on the side of the road that they don’t want to hit. We don’t tell them to always pay attention to their rearview mirror. Glance at the rearview mirror, glance at the boulder. But what do we tell them to do? In fact, we don’t even tell them to look at the road right in front of you. Right? When you drive like that, you’re going to be driving very erratic, and it’s a little counterintuitive, right, because where am I going? No, if you want to actually take the turn smoothly and get to where you want to go, what do you do? You lift your head and you look down the road. You focus on where you’re going. You focus on the goal, and that gets you there. And so, when you praise God, it is actually a means of becoming like Him. I bet none of you came to church tonight completely self satisfied. “I’m about as good as I can be, you know, I’m about as good as I can be.” No, you know, you’re a work in progress. If I asked each one of you, “Do you want to be a better person?” everybody would raise their hands, you know. Now, you know, some days I feel pretty good about myself. Some nights, some mornings, I wake up and I roll over and I put my arm around Jill and I go, “Lord, she’s so lucky.” I mean, you know. You know I’m talking about, Brian. Yeah. So anyway, but I realize… I realize that I want to be a better person. I pray it all the time. I want to be like Jesus. I say it every couple Sundays; I say it in here. We want to leave this room more like Jesus than when we came in. Praise will get you there. There’s other things that will get you there. Humbly serving others, letting the Spirit… Filling yourself with the Bible so the Spirit can use Scriptures in your life. Having active communion, not only through praise, but through prayer with God. All these things will make you more like Jesus. So, praise be to the triune God. And here it goes. Because of His great mercy. His great mercy. God has great mercy. God has forgiven our sins. And we needed the forgiveness of sins. God has extended mercy not because of anything we did. We didn’t climb mountains. We didn’t swim oceans. We didn’t earn a merit badge. We didn’t do all these accomplishments. We didn’t get an A on the report card. We just came like the thief on the cross. Dear ones, the difference between the goodness of Jesus and our goodness is much greater than the difference between our goodness and the goodness of the thief on the cross. And just like the thief on the cross, we just have to say, “I’ve messed up my life.” How do you know? “Well, hello? But today, will you remember me?” Which was his way of saying what? Mercy. And what did God extend for him? Mercy. God’s great mercy. Jesus Christ died for the forgiveness of sins. Your sins in the Name of Jesus are forgiven. Therefore, repent and believe. Listen, it’s one thing to say, “God, I want you to forgive my sins.” There’s two kinds of sorrow. One’s a fake sorrow; one’s a true sorrow. True sorrow is, I’m sorry. I truly am sorry for what I’ve done. Because I recognize I’ve hurt you. I’ve hurt other people. I’ve hurt myself. What I did was wrong. There’s another kind of sorrow, and it’s fake sorrow. I’m sorry I got caught, right? “Do you know how fast you were going?” And you, precious Christian, you look at that officer without any hesitation at all—you lie. “No, I don’t know how fast I was going. How fast? Oh, golly gee.” And what are you thinking all the time? Dang. Wish I’d seen him. Not dang, I wish I was a better driver. Sorry we got caught. That’s not real sorrow. That’s not repentance. I got caught one time for smoking marijuana. Don’t worry. Since last week, I’ve given it up. I was a teenager, and I was with a friend, and we were up in the car parked out in the woods. And this cop comes up, and he busts us. He goes, “Here’s how I knew what you guys were doing.” He said, “Sitting down the hill, I’m looking up, I wonder what that car’s doing. And I kept seeing these little lights go on, like, oh, I know what they’re doing.” So he came up, and it was my marijuana, not my friend’s. So actually, I didn’t get busted for smoking marijuana. I got busted for possessing marijuana. And so I went before the judge, and he said, “Well, okay, you know, you got, you know, this will go on your record. You got to pay a fine, or you can go to, you know, six Wednesday night classes of drug education, and this would be completely wiped off your record.” I’m down, I’m down. So I went to six Wednesday night classes of drug education. And what they taught us in there—it was actually a very good class. They taught us what all the different drugs do to you, which is very helpful. It’s like, okay, you know, they educated us. And then they said, “How many of you got caught for weed?” Raised my hand. This poor little old lady was in there. Her brat son was growing weed in her backyard. So she got busted, not him. “Well, you know, I didn’t know what it is. I thought he was growing a flower, you know.” So anyway… You knew marijuana was on the way to legalization. You knew they didn’t take it that seriously because the lady said, “All right, how many of you got caught because you were sitting in a car smoking outside? Don’t do that. Cops will see that all the time. Here’s how not to get busted. Smoke at home.” Well, then my parents will bust me, but okay. But, you know, and she basically didn’t tell us marijuana was bad and we shouldn’t do it. Just said, “Here’s how not to get in the system, you know, smoke at home.” And I wasn’t sorry for my habit at that time. I was sorry for it later. In fact, the teacher emphatically said, because the classes were three hours long, we got like a 20, 30 minute break, you know, halfway through. And she said, “Listen, nobody go out to your car and get high during the break.” I did every time, because, I mean, it’s a three-hour class. How are you going to endure that without a buzz? You’re thinking, “That’s my pastor?” That’s your pastor. That’s a new story. I know. And you’ve been all these years. All these years. So I could tell you how not to get caught. So go home, you and your mom got out the back porch, enjoy some Maui Wowie. So, no. Repent and believe. Later in my life, and you’ve heard that story, I repented. I said no. I want Jesus, not addiction. So, Jesus is Lord God. In His great mercy through Jesus our Lord. He is fully God and fully man. He conquered sin, He conquered death, He conquered the devil. And so repenting and believing is believing in Jesus our Lord. Thomas said, “My Lord and my God.” He is not a modern evangelical in this sense. He did not say, “My Savior. And maybe someday my Lord.” Never said, “My Savior.” Do not disconnect Savior and Lord as some people do. There’s actually theological movements that do this. Do not disconnect Savior and Lord in the Bible. Jesus is your Lord. He is your King. You align yourself with His kingdom. I mean, He’s your Master. You’re going to have to serve somebody. Serve Jesus. Serve the One who conquered sin, conquered death, conquered Satan, and who loves you enough to die for you. We used to go out on high school campuses with Young Life, and one of our credos was “Earn the right to be heard.” In other words, go out there and don’t just start shouting the gospel. Go out there and love these kids, develop relationships. And then when they trust you, you’ve earned the right to tell that. You know, “Why you do this, man?” Because of Jesus. You’ve earned the right to be heard. Your kids, you know? My dad used to say, “Do what I say, not what I do.” You know, he said it kind of humorously, but that’s—but it doesn’t work, right? And so Jesus earned the right to be heard. He earned the right to be heard. And all creation then, praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy, He gave us a new birth. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3, CSB) All creation gets to be born again. So mercy is the forgiveness of sins. Grace is the new birth. Grace now is a new life that has come inside of us. It is the power to live a new life. It is Holy Ghost now living inside of us and making us like we all said earlier, we want to be more like Jesus. How do we get to be more like Jesus? I gave, you know, worship God, receive the Holy Spirit, step one. You know, one of the most popular phrases today when people choose sexually deviant lifestyles is, “Hey, be your authentic self.” I’ve seen Kevin’s authentic self. Let me tell you what Kevin’s authentic self is: selfish, greedy, manipulative, mean, sarcastic, insecure, addicted. I used to tell people, they say, “What have you been addicted to?” I said, “I think everything but gambling, workaholism, and compulsive exercise.” You know, I just… I mean, Stevin, sorry to say, I’ve never seen a smiling jogger. Never seen a smiling bike rider either, especially going uphill. I see grimaces. So I pass them in my car, pass them in my Camaro. Look at my rearview mirror. Oh, that must be rough. But really, really, I mean, it’s like, what haven’t I been addicted to? What haven’t I? You know, I got that—I don’t know what that is about some people… if a little bit is good, right? A lot is better. And it doesn’t work that way. A lot enslaves you. And so I don’t want to be my authentic self. But when you’re born again by the Spirit, you get—to use today’s parlance—a new authentic self. And you know who that authentic self is? Jesus. Because the Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. Now I want to be my authentic born again self. And in fact, the Bible says we are seated with Him in the heavenlies. So let me tell you, once you come to Jesus, what the rest of your life is going to be: becoming who you already are. Because that’s what it says. This inheritance is in heaven for you. It’s imperishable, unfading, unblemished, and it’s kept in heaven for you. You are already—you know, the Bible says you will become like Him. But in God’s mind, in God’s view of time and history, that is such a sure thing. He doesn’t wait. You have already entered the kingdom. And your inheritance is sure in Him. It is sure in Him. You have an inheritance. You know, when I was a kid, I always coveted my friends who were richer than me because I didn’t know that most of the world was poorer than me. And so, you know, my friends who had more toys—I told you the story about my daughter, right? You know, she got concerned, she finally kind of reached that realization that, hey, mom and dad could die. And her aunt and uncle, my sister and brother-in-law, lived in town. And we were both middle class, but they were a notch—they had more toys than us. They had a boat. They had a trampoline. They had a swimming pool. They had a big screen TV. We had none of those things. We didn’t need any of those things. They had them. You don’t want a boat. You want friends with a boat. You don’t want a pool. You want friends with a pool. We’re the smart ones. But anyway, you know, Katelyn was all… she was crying, you know, and she’s like, “Well, Mommy, what if Daddy dies?” And you know, just like, “Well, Mommy will be here. She’ll take care of you. And it’s highly unlikely that until you’re, you know, really old, Daddy’s gonna die.” “Well, Mommy, what if you die?” “Well, Daddy will be here.” And then it dawned on her. She says, “Oh, my gosh, what if you both die? What’s going to happen?” And Jill’s like, “Honey, that’s so unlikely, you know. You don’t have to worry. Don’t worry about that. But if it did, you would go and live with Uncle Barry and Aunt Colleen.” “Really?” “Yeah. It’s written down.” “Yes!” Now we have to watch our back. Now we have to watch our back. Now we’re talking. So, you got a rich daddy. You lose out on nothing. You lose out on nothing. How many horses you want? You know? How many bike trails you want to ride, Brian? You lose out on nothing. What do you want to see? How many debates you want to get into, Jamie? What do you want to see? Dear ones… all creation gets to be born again. The Spirit makes us like Jesus in character and like Jesus in power. That’s our new authentic self. That’s our new nature. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Well said. We want to be more like Jesus. It’s happening. But not only do we get to be more like Jesus in character, we get to be more like Jesus in power. Heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead, prophesy, speak in new languages, administrate, show mercy, love. We can operate in the power of God. One of my heroes of the faith, John Wimber. I’ve told the story before, but John Wimber became a Christian. He was a rock musician and producer way back in the early days. He was helping produce the Righteous Brothers, if anybody remembers them. But his life was miserable, right? He’s living in the music scene, the Hollywood scene. He’s drinking, he’s smoking, his marriage is on the rocks. He’s got four little kids at home. He’s spending all his time away from home because, I mean, the guy’s not stupid. He’s got four little kids at home. But, you know, his wife’s miserable, and she’s unhappy in the marriage, and she’s telling him, “I want a divorce.” And that just makes him sadder. And so he drinks more. It gets worse. One day, he’s out walking and wondering what he’s going to do with his life, and he sees a guy wearing a sandwich board sign. And the sandwich board sign on the front says, “I’m a fool for Christ.” And Wimber said, “Yeah, I looked at that and I thought, you sure are, man.” He says, “But then the guy walked by me on the backside. It said this: Whose fool are you?” He goes, “Huh.” Well, his wife, in her desperation, started to go to a neighbor’s house who was a Christian, and he had a home Bible study. And she was drawn to Jesus. And Wimber said, “She changed. She was no longer bitter, no longer angry, even though I was still the same guy. She was loving, she was kind.” And he goes, “What’s going on?” And she said, “Well, come with me to this Bible study.” “I don’t want none of that.” “Well, come.” And he came, and he met a man by the name of Gunner Payne. And Gunner Payne was this gentle Christian neighbor, Not ordained, but just a godly man. And through Wimber, going to that Bible study led him to Christ, and he became a Christian. So he started going to Gunner Payne’s church. And it was a Quaker church, a Friends church. And they were cessationists, you know, and they were—early ’60s, suit and tie, organ music, church. Wimber would go, and he said, and this is back in the early 60s, so you have to understand different culture, right? He’d go to church, and the first Sunday he went to church, he goes, “Where are the ashtrays?” You know, he was hanging out in bars and nightclubs, and everywhere he went, there were ashtrays. He had not smoked for an hour and a half for a long time. And then he’s a professional musician. Now he’s listening to some lady play the organ like she had mittens on and playing these, you know, 1600s songs. And he’s like, “Oh, I guess. I guess, you know…” And he had picked up an old King James Bible, and he thought, “Well, the Bible says you got to suffer. I guess that’s what this is, you know.” And every Sunday, you know, he’d have his big King James Bible. He was reading it, and the Bible was impacting his life. Not even the stuff Gunner Payne was teaching him, you know, and he was reading the Gospels, and he’s reading about these miracles. And he was like, “Oh, my goodness, what’s happening here?” And so he’s outside, and he’s smoking a cigarette. Because he was smoking a cigarette, nobody would ever talk to him. And now here at the Firehouse, if we see you smoking, I’ll invite you over to my house on Monday night. You know, come, you know, have a cigar with us. But anyway, nobody would talk to him. Finally, this one elder came up to talk to him. He said, “That’s not right.” So, he comes up and he talks to him, and he says, “Brother, have you been washed in the blood of the lamb?” Good Christianese. And he thought, “Well, that sounded gross. Is that what they do here? Is that what I got to do next?” He said, “Well, I don’t know. I don’t even know what that means.” The guy told him, “Well, it means your sins have been forgiven by Jesus.” “Oh, I wish you had just said that. Yeah. Yeah, that’s happened. Yeah.” Then Wimber asked his question, and he said, “When do we get to do the stuff?” That became kind of a Vineyard statement—doing the stuff. “When do we get to do this stuff?” And the guy said, “What stuff?” He said, “The stuff in your book.” And he says, you know, “Like, be good people?” “Yeah, that. But the other stuff.” “Well, what do you mean, the other stuff?” “You know, lay hands on the sick, raise the dead, all that. When do we get to do the stuff?” And the guy said, “Oh, we don’t do that anymore.” And I love this line. Just always thought this was the greatest line. Nobody else thinks it’s funny, but I thought it was funny maybe because of my past. Wimber just looks at him, he goes—he points to the church—he goes, “You mean, for that I gave up drugs?” But anyway, eventually he started the Vineyard full of signs and wonders and miracles. They got to do the stuff. That’s what it means. That’s what grace means. That’s what it means to be born again, like Jesus in character, like Jesus in power. And now we have a living hope. What does that mean? Our hope starts now. It’s hope for a better me, as we’ve already talked about. It’s hope that we grow into our authentic selves. It’s hope for our dear ones, that though they are lost and though they are struggling, they’ll be found. And even if they aren’t lost, we know that they struggle. And we know that the same hope that I have, they have. The same Jesus who rose for me, rose for them. And it’s hope for the world. And if you think the world is getting worse, you’re wrong. You look at all the chaos. People always look—people are just prisoners of the moment. There’s a lot of chaos going on in the world. I don’t deny that. People look at that and go, “Oh, my gosh, I long for the good old days.” No, you don’t. I’m old enough to remember the ’60s. You know what we were doing in the ’60s? Building bomb shelters because the Russians were going to nuke us. You know what we were doing in the late ’70s and the early ’80s? Experiencing housing rates at 18% interest rates because inflation was out of control, and gasoline lines. And you look back at the ’60s and go, “The ’60s were good.” Oh, really? How many political assassinations happened then? “Well, the ’50s were good.” Yeah, KKK were still heroes. “What about the greatest generation? My parents’ generation?” Oh, you mean the generation that endured two world wars and the Great Depression? Great times. “Yeah, but the people in the early 1900s, they could look back on the good old days.” Yeah, the Civil War. No, people who think everything’s terrible now and was great in the past just have bad memories or know nothing of history. I’ve used this example before. You think now is bad and the past was great. Good. Transport yourself back 300 years, have a toothache, and go to the dentist. Then come back and tell me about that experience. “Well, I had a bad toothache, and I went to the local blacksmith. He had no anesthesia, but he had a bottle of whiskey. And then he had a pair of pliers. And then I got an infection that almost killed me. And there were no antibiotics, but I barely made it. It was great. It was, man, the good old days.” No, ever since the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, the world’s been getting better. You do not want to live in the Roman Empire, or the Greek world, or anywhere in the East during that time, and certainly not in the jungles. Jesus Christ changed history. All science, all culture, all medicine, all civility that we have in this fallen world, I say, is because of Him. He changed history. So we have hope. And we have a hope that is forever. It is a hope that is imperishable, undefiled, unspoiled. It is an inheritance that will never end. This isn’t the real game. It’s real in this sense: This game determines the next one. I’ve been watching the Final Four in college, and here’s the deal. You lose, you’re out. You win, you go further. But we’re playing a game we cannot lose because we’re with the One who rose from the dead. And this inheritance is kept for us by Jesus Christ Himself. Dear ones, you have entered the kingdom of God, and one day you will inherit it. One day you will die, but you will not die. Jesus says that so clearly. It’s like one of those statements that seems confusing, but it’s so clear: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will never die.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. (John 11:25, CSB) And then He says, “But though they die, yet they live.” And the testimony of many people, after many people, is this: “I never lost my consciousness. I went from laying in that hospital bed,” or “I went from that mangled car,” or “I went from that fire. And all I knew is I’d never felt better. And then it got better from there.” Because what? That man who came out of the tomb for that woman I spoke of at the beginning, He came out of the tomb for you. And He’s going to walk up and He’s going to come to your face. You say, how can He do that with everybody? It’s not a problem for Him. And He’s going to walk up and He’s going to come to your face. And because you repented, because you were like, you were better than Thomas, you hadn’t seen but you believed, He’s going to say, “Blessed are you, my son. Blessed are you, my daughter. Well done, good and faithful servant. Now enter the inheritance that I won for you, that the Spirit guided you to, and that my Father has prepared for you.” World without end. Christians used to say that. World without end, life without death, pain, suffering, sorrow or grief. The pains of this world are a certain path to the glory of this world and the glory of the next. And they are inseparable. You’ve got to go through the pain, but they are also incomparable. No grief you’ve ever experienced, no dark place you’ve ever been to, is in any way comparable to the glorious light that will bathe you forever. So, dear ones, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy, He’s given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that’s imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. (1 Peter 1:3-4, CSB) Appetizer time. One day we will sit down at the feast with our King, as He’ll marry us all as one unit, not polygamy, as one bride. And we’ll be at His table. And that will be a glorious feast. This is a foretaste of heaven. It’s an announcement that your sins have been forgiven. It is filling of the Holy Spirit, filling of that power to live that new life. And it’s a foretaste of heaven. And so come and eat the food of God for the people of God. The post 2026.4.5 TFHC – A Living Hope | 1 Peter 1:3-4 appeared first on The Firehouse Church in Bremerton, WA.