April 12, 2026 - All Of It: Week 13 - Your Hope

What if the most freeing truth isn’t that everything depends on you—but that it doesn’t? "All of It" invites us to rediscover life with God at the center and learn how following Jesus transforms the way we live, steward, and trust Him with everything.

Transcript

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Every person has a choice. You can choose to remain in chaos, fear, and confusion, or you can make the Lord your refuge and shelter. How many of you are gonna hear you can do that and choose not to? How long are you gonna go? Yeah, I've heard I can make him my refuge and shelter, but I'm gonna go build refuge and shelter somewhere else. How long are you gonna do that? But today you could hear if you will make him your shelter and refuge. You cannot, you can be somebody who doesn't fear the arrows that fly during the day, the disease that's out during the night. Welcome in everyone. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the pastors at Highland Christian Church. And on behalf of our team, I just wanted to say thanks for taking some time to journey with us through the scripture. Our hope is that these words would cause you to think carefully about this Jesus we proclaim and that you would choose to trust him in your day-to-day. And as always, if you're in the Asheville area, whether you live here or you're visiting, we'd love for you to come join us at the corner of Livingston and Depot Street in person at the Dr. Wesley Grant Senior Southside Center. Our prayer is that God's words would equip you for every good work that He's prepared for you to do today. As Miss Angie uh pointed out, we are pointing to hope. And uh as Jacob mentioned with our podcast, uh, I don't have time to talk about the 13 weeks of stewardship we've talked about. Like we have gone so far beyond just talking about money. When everybody hears stewardship, they obviously think, oh, it's another teaching on how to handle our money and all of those things, which is very important. But with Jesus, everything changes. And we use that phrase a lot around here, and it's better to be on just talking about abstract pictures, but concrete. And so one of the things that we are talking about as we conclude our series on everything changing is the Christian's perspective of hope. You have been gifted this perspective because of your faith in Christ. And one of the things that that my family does is uh when we re-watch movies, um, especially when my kids were little, this really helped me understand hope. When my kids were little, we would re-watch movies, Star Wars, all the different stories, where there's moments in those films where my kids would be like, I hate this part. I hate this part, I hate that person's question, I hate the, don't they see they're being manipulated? Don't they see something bad is gonna happen? They should know better, right? But our family would suffer through those moments because we knew the end of the story. Right? You you're willing to suffer through movies that you've seen multiple times. You love them so much, you hate the hardship that they go through, but then you know the way the story ends. So you're willing to endure the middle of the movie. That's a lot like Christian hope. Our hope, our eternal perspective isn't about what we might be currently seeing or experiencing right now. Some of you are going through it, some of you are walking through it. Everyone in this room is walking through something, but our hope isn't about what we're in in the midst of right now. It's about what God has said and where he's moving everything. You as a Christian have a unique perspective that is anchored in eternity that the world needs. You have been gifted this perspective because of your faith in Christ. You have been handed this wonderfully encouraging gift. How will you steward your Christian hope? And if it's true that we are to steward this gift, how do we do that today? I mean, Jason, you have seen the news, right? You have seen all the social media posts of just how messed up everything really is. Like, how is that even possible today? Well, I'm glad you're asking that question. Romans 5, starting in verse 1. There's a key word that actually begins here, and I would encourage you in your own personal reading to go home and read Romans chapter 4, because there's a word that kicks it off. Therefore, it's an important word, it's all about the faith, the that you know, it's what Christ has done, it's just this story to understand the scripture, and then you get to, therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus, our Lord, has done for us. Because of our faith, there it is again, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand and we confidently and joyfully. Man, those are two really great words. Look forward to sharing God's glory. So, uh just to recap, and you'll see it on the screen. If your faith is in Christ, this is what is true of you today. By faith, because of your faith, I have been made right with God. You get to say that. Let's all say that together. I have been made right with God. And we say it just like that. I have been made right with God. It's part of the reason we struggle with hope. Because we just don't know how to express what God has done on the inside. So let's say it a little bit peppier. Just a little bit, right? I have been made right with God. Right? Sometimes when you add an accent to it, it's fun. Like you could say it like you're extreme southern or British or whatever, but you add that flavor to it. You just give something to it, you own it. This is true for you in Christ, right? I have peace with God. You get to say it. Right? You do, you do, you have peace with God. You're not making peace with God, you have peace with God. I stand in grace. You get to say it. I stand in grace, not the law, but grace. You have that, you're standing, you are held up, you are held up by grace, and I confidently look forward to sharing his glory. Now, this is something I don't think we completely understand, but we get to say it, all right? So you get to say, I can't wait to share his glory. Ready? Somehow, for some reason, God has chosen not to hog all of the glory for himself in any eternity. He's like, bro, you're gonna get to share it. You're going to share in my glory. Some of you, you're so glory hungry, you've forgotten that you already have all the glory you're gonna need. He gave it to you. Quit fighting to take it from somebody, quit trying to say, well, I gotta take it and earn glory. No, he is sharing what he has with you. That changes things. This is our Christian hope. Peter puts it this way in 1 Peter 1. He says, All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus. It's by his great mercy that we have been born again because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, do you? And we have a priceless inheritance, an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. Why do we struggle with anxiety and worry so much? Change and decay. Peter's saying, you ain't got to worry about that. Everything that is yours is held in a place that no one can get their hands on. Rust can't destroy, moth can't eat it, thieves can't break in and steal it. It is yours and it is held by the promise of God. So our hope is anchored in God's character, who he is. If we don't believe that he's good, it's gonna be real hard for us to walk this way. So there's something that got we have to begin to let God do that surgery in us to begin to cut away these narratives we have of people that have ruined God's image for us. To go, God, please help me, help me see what I don't see because of where I've been. Christ's finished work anchors our hope, our secure standing before God. These are always true of you. Not sometimes, not when life is going well, but they are always true for you. That changes how we walk in this life. That's important because most people define hope as the goofy optimist view, right? The guy whose head is in the sand, ignoring all the things that are wrong in the world. For us, I hope things work out, right? You're speeding, doing 75 miles an hour through a school zone, it's 15, right? And you pass a cop, you get that feeling, and your hands start shaking, you're like, I hope he doesn't pull me over, right? We use that term hope in a very fear-filled way, not in a confident expectation like the scriptures declare. That's not biblical hope. Biblical hope is a confident expectation rooted in the character and the promises of God. But question, if our hope is that secure, then why do hard circumstances still hit so hard? Romans 5 doesn't just stop with peace and promises, though. It continues. Verse 3, we can rejoice too. That too has always interested me because it's like also there's a celebration that's on this side, and then it gets to we can rejoice too. So Paul's about to go. This is not how we normally think. We can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance, and endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. Verse 5, and this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials. Yeah, okay, I'm not sure. But you and I can. Not because they're fun, not because they're easy, but because we know something. When we see a hardship in our life, maybe we need to say to ourselves, I know something you don't know. Right? There was this character on Saturday Night Live that I absolutely loved. And if you, you know, Kristen Wig, one of the best of all time, she played this character named Sue. And anytime Sue learned about a secret or a birthday party or a surprise party, she would lose her mind trying to keep that secret inside. They would start talking about it, or the person who's supposed to be the one they're surprising walks into the room, she loses it. She's like, you know, and she's like, and they're like, please, Sue, don't say anything. But she's like, but I know something, I know something, right? I feel like sometimes we have to approach our trials that way. I know something. I know something that this trial may not be able to tell me. I know something that the people around me may not know, but I know something is true. And here's what I know suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character. Character produces hope. Hope isn't just given, it's formed in us. But we don't want what it takes to have it formed in our lives. This is not just theology. Think about building muscle. When you go and work out, you are not just getting stronger in that moment. Just so you know, the workout you're doing is not actually what's making you stronger. You're actually tearing the muscles. That's a microscopic damage. It's uncomfortable, it's resistance. But over time, including rest, rest is actually where the muscle building is really being done. Those small tears begin to repair. And when they do, the muscle doesn't just go back to what it was, it grows back stronger. That's endurance. And as you stick with it, even when it's hard, the weight might start increasing, even when you don't feel like it, you begin to change. You become more disciplined, more resilient. That's character. And eventually you start to see results. What once felt impossible now feels normal. Strength begins to show up where weakness used to live. You know where you were, and now you know what's possible. That's hope. This means, do you know what this means? It means trials don't destroy hope. Difficulty doesn't destroy hope. They deepen our hope. It's the opposite of how the world works. In the world, when we encounter pressure, it crushes. If we encounter difficulty, it eats away at our confidence. When we endure hardships, it pushes back on our lives and we quit. Because what's the point? But for the believer, pressure refines hope. Difficulty strengthens it. And when you make it through one, you're like, whoa, I'm still alive. I made it. I'm on the other side. I'm here. High five, everybody. And then when the next one comes, I know something you don't know. Right? But it's not how we approach life. Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians, and I this is so hard for us. But in verse 17, he says, For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. If a dude who's in chains and in prison, getting whipped, getting beaten, hiding for his life, says, For our present troubles are small and won't last very long, where are you at in your troubles? They're there. They're real. But Paul has a perspective. He knows something we don't know, right? Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever. So we don't look at the troubles we can see now, rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. This is why when Paul says three things remain faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these is love. Love will always last because it's the defining character, nature of God, right? It will always be. But faith and hope, we aren't gonna need them in eternity. You know why? Because by sight we will experience all that we have prayed and longed for. We won't need to hope for it because we will have it. That's what the scripture teaches. That's why love endures, right? Faith and hope, they're gonna fall off in eternity. But love remains. This is what Paul is trying to help us understand. You're not ignoring reality, you're not living with your head in the sand, you are reinterpreting reality through the lens of eternity. And I think it's been a real strong tactic of the enemy to keep us from thinking about eternity. To be like, well, you know, it's not a big deal. No, it's a very big deal. In fact, it's what caused the church to be as faithful to the mission that she was. We have to have our perspective changed. And when that kind of hope is formed in us, it doesn't stay hidden, it shows up. I heard a basketball coach ask a question one time that has always stuck with me. He said, When you walk into a room, are you a thermometer or a thermostat? If you've never heard this question, it's a great one. It's a very good visual, right? A thermometer reads the temperature, it reflects whatever is happening. All a thermometer can do is tell you what's going on. A thermostat changes the temperature. It sets the environment. There's a difference. Are you a thermometer? Do you walk into a room and you immediately absorb all the anxiety, all the anger, all the frustration, all the negativity, all the gossip, all the hate, all the bad mouthing? Is that you? You're like, yeah, man, I want in on that. Thermometer. You're good at reading the room. Yes, we live in an outraged society. Yes, everybody is mad. Yes, everybody's posting about it. Yes, everybody is venomous in what they're saying about who did this and who did this. No one's taking blame. No one is, everybody's blaming everybody else. I want in on that. Thank you for giving us a correct reading on what's going on. Thermometer. Or a Christian is called to do something different. Your hope doesn't let the room set your perspective. Your hope lets God's promises set the room. Are you setting the room? You setting the hallway? You setting that track, you setting that court, you setting, you setting the room? Or are you letting the room set you? The psalmist gives us a really incredible picture of hope showing up in a difficult time. Psalm 91. Listen to the psalmist. He says these words in verse 1. Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord. He alone is my refuge, my place of safety. He is my God, and I trust him. Two verses. He begins with a confession. This is how you set the room. He confesses, this is how I choose to live. This is the way I'm going to walk. This is what I'm going to do. But then, this is how you set the room with an invitation. Verse 3. Notice his language, it changes, for he says, For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in the darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. The psalmist changes from a personal confession to sharing that God can do this for you too. You might feel pinned in on all sides. You might feel like you're totally alone. You might feel defenseless, but God has made incredible promises to walk with his people. And then listen what he says, verse nine. If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the most high your shelter, no evil will conquer you, no plague will come near your home, for he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. If you he begins with a confession and then he invites people to experience the same thing he knows to be true. Every person has a choice. You can choose to remain in chaos, fear, and confusion, or you can make the Lord your refuge and shelter. How many of you are gonna hear you can do that and choose not to? How long are you gonna go? Yeah, I've heard I can make him my refuge and shelter, but I'm gonna go build refuge and shelter somewhere else. How long are you gonna do that? But today you could hear if you will make him your shelter and refuge. You cannot, you can be somebody who doesn't fear the arrows that fly during the day, the disease that's out during the night. You don't have to fear these things. Are you willing to make the Lord your refuge? Because this is not how the story ends. Do you want in on God's story? This is how you carry hope. And this means you don't just read the room, you help reset the room. That is how important Christian hope is in the world that we live today. I remember years ago in one of our small groups, a tree limb came down, crashed through the back window of our van. We were studying the scripture, and we all the kids were outside, and we hear this. We didn't hear any kids crying or screaming, so that was a good sound, right? So we all go outside. Everybody leaves, comes outside, and we look, and it's clearly a big giant tree limb has crashed through the back of our van window. We were like, Are the kids okay? You guys all right? All right, let's go back in. So we went back in and we started opening the scripture again. We were studying, and one person in our small group, she raises her hand, she's like, uh, can we talk about why you guys aren't freaking out right now? And it was such this like, I and I don't toot toot my own horn because I got way more failure stories than I do good stories. Stories, but there was a moment, and we were like, huh. Now, it didn't mean that I was going to have to not go through the nightmare of dealing with my insurance, telling me no, that if I had actually taken a baseball bat to my windshield, they would have covered it. But because it was a tree limb, I wasn't covered. I went through that. But in that moment, we were able to just go, all right, everybody's cool. Let's get back to it. It wasn't ultimate. And I think that's where we go. That's what hope does. People may not see your hope directly, but it affects the room. It affects them. They feel its effects. In the darkest days of Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, right? The Lord commands Jeremiah, I want you to buy some property. But that doesn't make sense, right? They are about to be led into captivity. They are about to be led into exile. But the Lord tells Jeremiah, I want you to buy some property, because in 70 years, y'all are coming back here. It made zero sense for Jeremiah to do what he did. But there were people who knew what Jeremiah did. And they knew that the Lord had made a promise. They were coming home in 70 years. And so that land was this visible evidence that God was going to carry through what he promised. God didn't just make a promise, he sealed it, he guaranteed it. And today in Christ, he fulfills it. So the question isn't whether God's going to come through. The question is, will you let him hold you through it? That's the question. Verse 19 of Hebrews 6. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary. Throughout history, sailors have often tattooed themselves with anchors. Those anchors were symbolic of both hope and safety, their hope of returning home and to signify that they safely crossed the Atlantic. Even in early Christianity, the anchor was often used as a hidden symbol for the cross to signify faith and salvation. Anchors aren't meant to move a boat forward, they're meant to keep that boat from drifting. Calm water, choppy water, reality is life pulls at you. Circumstances pull at you, fear tries to drag you, and we don't drift all at once. We typically drift very slowly, quietly, almost without notice. But when an anchor drops deep enough, when the wind blows and the waves hit the boat, stays put. That's what hope in Christ does. It doesn't remove the storm, it keeps your soul from drifting in that storm. That is your hope. And as the band comes, let me close our time. Hope does not make us passive. Can I just say this to you? You are going to be going through storms. You are going to have hope in those storms. And a lot of people would like to say, well, once my storm is passed, then, right, I'll take care of things. This hope does not make us passive. It does not pull us out of the world. It sends us into the world with purpose. Hoping on the Lord isn't doing nothing, right? It's doing what he's already said while trusting him with what we do not have revealed yet. There's nothing the enemy would want more than to see a bunch of believers sitting on their couches at home telling everybody, I'm waiting on the Lord. You and I have an active hope. So while you wait, obey. Do the things that God has already revealed in his will until his hidden will is revealed. Several years ago, we had a medical emergency happen in here in this space. And as one of the people who reached out to help the person who was having the medical emergency keep from falling to the ground, he made that move, helped them after the service, came up to me and said, Jason, I got to tell you this story. I'm like, okay. He said, as this medical emergency was unfolding, all I could think of was this dude's about to hit the floor. But my back was in so much pain that I just, I, I couldn't, I can't do anything. I couldn't reach. I was like, should I? I'm gonna be in a lot of pain. This reaching out is gonna cost me. And he said, he couldn't help but reach to keep from this man hitting the floor. He reached out, caught him, instantly his back was healed. I said, bro, do you understand the lesson the Lord just taught you in that? That in your suffering, he will meet you and you will be hope to someone else? I'm like, this is huge. The Lord did something for you in a moment that so many people would love to have happen. But he took him in his weakness and he didn't, he didn't just go, oh, oh God, you gotta heal me before I do all this stuff. God, you gotta get me out of this storm before I do all this stuff. He just said, I just did, I just reached. And the Lord healed him up. I was like, bro, that's incredibly encouraging to hear. That is strengthening my faith as we speak. That really is like re-watching a movie you already know the ending to. The world is watching scenes they don't understand. They react in real time. But we've been told how the story ends. If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the most high your shelter, you still feel the hardship, you still walk through moments that do not make sense, but you endure differently now. Because you know how the story ends. This I declare about the Lord, He alone is my refuge, my place of safety. He is my God, and I trust him. So wherever you go this week, don't just read the room. Ask God to help you reset it. Let's pray. We just wanted to say thank you for listening to the Highland Christian Church podcast today. And if you ever want to connect with us, send prayer requests, ask questions, or for any other reason, you can visit our website, www.highlandchristian.com, or you can send us an email at info at highlandchristian.com. God bless you guys.