Hope Beyond Death

You can have a seat. I want to welcome you here in the auditorium and watching on venue or watching on Facebook live. We've been beta testing having all of our services live on Facebook Saturday night and the two Sunday morning services. We've had ton of people join us for that too. So wherever you are joining us it is great to have you here.

My name is René and I'm one of the pastors here at Twin Lakes Church and you know it's funny people ask me sometimes what is it like being a pastor? Do you ever get nervous when you preach? What's it like to speak? And one of the things that always surprises people about preaching is how often we pastors look out while we're preaching and we see people asleep. It literally happens to me every single weekend without fail. And it doesn't bother me honestly I think it may be used to when I was younger but now I just figured these people needed a rest and this is that nap as God's gift to them and I'm glad to somehow be facilitating that with my monotone voice or whatever it is that's making that happen right?

But what happens is sometimes just to make light of it we pastors kind of compare notes like how many people fell asleep on you today in your sermon and it's gotten to the point where we have a lot of different ways that people fall asleep. Different terms for different methods people used to fall asleep kind of like Eskimos have like 75 different words for snow because they see so much of it we see so much of it we make distinctions. For example I'm not making this up my friend Rich Henderson at San Jose was a pastor there he and I use these terms to describe you people.

This is what we call the donut when people are just looking at us and you can tell there is nothing actually going on in the brain and the eyes aren't really focused on the same spot and they kind of look like this. Why do we call it the donut? Because all we're getting is the glazed look get it donut glazed. Then there's a bunch of others this is the Big Dipper. I love to see that this is the around the world. What's funny every time somebody does the around the world two weeks ago I saw somebody do this right over here in this section a regular attender I won't say your name out loud Dick Jordan but when people when people do the around the world they always look around like did anybody notice they go and they think okay nobody noticed everyone notices everyone behind you is pointing at you.

Just so just want to let you know and then this is the baby bird and sometimes you get a combination it moves from one to the other like donut around the world baby bird you know you kind of get that action happening here and sometimes it's so obvious that people are snoring and as a pastor you don't know should I point it out because it's starting to distract people. You know this actually happened to me one time when I was a much younger pastor at a church up at Lake Tahoe a friend of mine Mark Vamerila was right around the third or the fourth row and he was doing the major baby bird just snoring like this and everybody in the church was starting to look over there and point to him and laugh and they really were being distracted for the sermon.

So I figured I would point it out everybody would laugh mark would wake up and we move on so I said yes yes mark van merleau is solidly asleep on my riveting sermon in the fourth row and everybody laughed and mark didn't wake up he kept sleeping so now what I was I supposed to do right? So I thought okay here's what I'm gonna do and I this is I'm not making this up this is what I told everybody I said this was summer in Tahoe so everybody was dressed very casually I said okay everybody just slip out of the flip-flops or the sandals or shoes that you came in and just leave them in your pews wherever you sat and then what I want us to do is I want us all to tiptoe quietly out of the building while mark is sleeping and I'm gonna keep my handheld microphone with me and just outside the door when we're all out I'm gonna make the sound of a trumpet and I'm gonna go mark van merleau you've been left behind.

Unfortunately when I made that suggestion everybody laughed and then mark woke up and so we couldn't actually do that prank but what I'm saying is be on your guard because it could happen to you this morning don't think I won't do it. But have you ever honestly goodness have you ever gone into your house or gone into your place of work or something and nobody's there you were expecting people to be there and you walk in and it's all empty and just for split second you thought the rapture happened everyone's gone but me? That's happened to me many times well maybe once or twice in my life and you feel that quick sense of alarm because the idea of rapture the idea of the Lord's coming back and he's going to take everybody to be with him that's kind of ingrained not only into our Christian culture but our culture at large.

I was just thinking about the movies about the return of Christ and the judgment day does anybody remember Thief in the Night that was around when I was in high school? How about Left Behind the Kirk Cameron version or Left Behind the Nicholas Cage version? How about the Demi Moore classic The Seventh Sign or remember that movie The Omega Code or The Apocalypse or The Happening or This is the End or End of Days? Those are all films about the end of days, the Judgment Day, and then what about all the movies about our personal Judgment Day when we die and we face the Lord? What happens after death? Well there's movies like Ghost, What Dreams May Come, Miracles from Heaven, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Heaven is for Real. We could go on and on.

Judgment Day, my point is that Judgment Day and our own future judgment is a subject that kind of corporately fascinates us in our culture and guess what it fascinated the ancient Christians too. This morning we're gonna study what may be the earliest written documentation about what the first followers of Jesus Christ believed about all this. So grab your message notes that look like this and let's explore this fascinating and admittedly kind of weird topic this morning we're gonna talk about hope beyond death in 1 Thessalonians 4 starting in verse 13.

Now if you're just joining us today here at Twin Lakes Church maybe you're on vacation here in the area Hope Agent is the name of our series going verse by verse through the book of 1 Thessalonians in the Bible. Quick review for you to bring you up to speed this little book of 1 Thessalonians was written to some of the very first Christians in Europe in a city called Thessalonika and the Apostle Paul preached there for less than three weeks before an anti-Christian riot forced him out. So maybe a couple of months later he writes this letter to give this baby church some hope because they were going through very tough times.

The Roman government and some of the other ne'er-do-wells in their culture were really beating up on them. So in the first three chapters which we've already covered in the last few weeks Paul gives them some encouragement. He tells him about how much God loves them and that there's hope for them and in the last two chapters he gives them practical instruction for life and for death and that's the part that we're getting to today because remember we covered this in the first week in the Roman world there was no idea no real solid conception of an afterlife. An inscription that archaeologists found on a tomb right there in the city of Thessalonika reads this: after death no reviving after the grave no meeting again.

So thank you for coming to you know Uncle Hal's funeral I bet this they had no hope if a loved one died and this is what the Thessalonians grew up believing about death very hopeless but now they're Christians and remember they had so little teaching from Paul he probably didn't cover a lot of this and so there was a lot of confusion in the Thessalonian church. They wanted to know what do Christians believe? What happens when my loved ones die? What if I die? You know will Jesus ever come back and help us out of this mess that we're in with the Roman government?

Historians tell us the two things were happening there was a group of believers in that church in Thessalonika who had no idea the afterlife because they grew up with that Roman conception and so their loved ones were now dying and they were being overcome with grief because they thought they'd never see them again. And then there was another group that was so enamored of the Christian teaching of the return of Christ that they had quit their jobs and that they were basically wearing robes up on a hill somewhere not contributing to society at all just looking up to heaven waiting for Jesus to come back.

In this letter the Apostle Paul seems to be saying to both of those groups okay you're both sort of off base and so let me help you out on those questions and that's what he's talking about as we start in verse 13 of chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians. He says brothers and sisters we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep so that you do not grieve like those who have no hope. He says we don't want you to be ignorant this was the cause of their grief and of their confusion it was their ignorance about the Christian belief about these things.

He says I don't want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep. Now why does he use the word sleep when he means dead? Why doesn't he just come out and say about those who are dead? Well it's interesting sleep was slowly becoming the uniquely Christian way of referring to death. In fact did you know that our English word cemetery comes from the root word is a Greek word that means sleep? What cemetery literally means is hotel that's literally what it means and it was a Christian word because from a Christian perspective you know really those people are only asleep because they're gonna wake up so it's not really a graveyard it's kind of like a hotel you know it's temporary.

So sleep was the way the Christians talked about death. He says I don't want you to grieve like those who have no hope. Now he's not saying don't grieve right? It's normal to grieve. Grief a release of pain is something that God gave in order to heal us when a loved one passes away that's not what he's saying. Grief is a good thing even Jesus wept when his friend Lazarus died. He's saying grief is fine but don't grieve like those who have no hope. He's saying I don't want your grief to be a dead-end grief.

And let me tell you as a pastor over the years I've done many many funerals and they kind of fall into two categories people who have hope that they're going to see their loved one again and people have no hope and there's no comparison. There's a lot of reasons from my perspective to be a Christian but if the only benefit you got out of being a believer was having hope when a loved one died it would still be worth it because there is such a difference in experience.

Then Paul goes on in the next few verses to give us three facts that make all the difference in times of grief. Now listen Paul doesn't go into theological detail on these subjects here his purpose is not a thorough explanation of the return of Christ or a thorough look at the Christian doctrine of the afterlife. If you do want more detail at the end of your notes I put some resources for you to read up on a couple of great books by Randy Alcorn and N.T. Wright. Before this morning let's just zero in on all Paul thought the Thessalonians needed to know on this subject here are the need to know facts the three building blocks that can give Christians hope in the face of death and this is so relevant to all of us because if you haven't faced it already you will of course face the passing of a loved one and some of you are going through it right this very moment.

You've either recently lost a loved one or you're anticipating that it will happen quickly and so for many people in this room this is dramatically personally relevant. So three quick points and then let's look at some additional notes that Paul makes about these three points. Number one jot this down I need to reflect on the ultimate reunion. There will be a reunion. My mother, my father, my stepfather I will see them again. I will be able to hug and touch them again. Maybe for you that child or that beloved wife or husband or your mom or your dad or daughter or friend there will be a reunion.

Verse 14 for we believe that Jesus died and rose again that that is the cornerstone of everything that follows right with the Christian belief of the afterlife. Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep or died in him. Now if you've got your notes out and a pen or a pencil circle with Jesus and in him. Here's what he's saying those who die trusting in Christ are with him right now their spirits are present with the Lord big big comfort there they're with him now and they are coming with Christ their spirits are coming with Christ when he returns.

And then we're gonna get to verses 15 and 16 but let's just kind of skip over them and look at verse 17 where Paul says and so we will be with the Lord forever. Again he's not going into precise detail about the timing here his point is we will all be with the Lord together forever those who have died in Christ trusting in Christ. This makes such a big difference when you believe this one of the most requested videos I've ever shown here was a few years ago when I introduced you to a little boy named Garvin Byrne because of some genetic syndrome that he had Garvin was about 12 years old but he was in the body of a three-year-old because of this rare genetic disease.

About two weeks before he died because of complications relating to his syndrome a British film crew interviewed him because he lived over there in England. Now he was a believer in Jesus and he totally takes the chance in this interview to talk about what he is looking forward to. Watch this: that's just as Joe God says to shut your eyes and that and you just go to sleep and then the next minute you open your eyes and you'll find you're in a lovely place just so beautiful that you want to stay there and be with Jesus forever and to and all my friends with some most of my friends who I knew down on this earth that's how I believe have gone to God and when I and I hope that when my time will come I shall see them and go up and say hello to whoever I lost like I never saw my grandma and my daughter and I hope to see her in heaven and my grandpa and my some my aunties and my uncle Christie who I used to know down here very well and I'll meet all those people back up there.

Don't you want to go to heaven just so you can pick him up and hug him? I mean he's just adorable right? And is it bad that I think it's amusing that he says all my friends with most of my friends will be there you know but I want you to look at who he says he is most excited about meeting. Watch this: well feel sort of almost as if I want to go there because I believe that there's a life after death. What do you believe that life is like? I believe that life to be joyful, happy, no pain, complete suffering over and done with just complete joy and happiness and I believe in a Christ the loving Jesus and this loving Jesus who I love and who I think to be a very special person to me he's a special friend to me and he's always got his arms outstretched. I always believe he has his arms outstretched to me whenever I'm in trouble.

I just love that he is most excited about meeting Jesus and that's what Paul talks about next. He says number two I need to renew my hope in Christ's return. Renew my hope in Christ's return. Now the return of Christ was a subject that enthralled the Thessalonians you might remember we talked about this on the first week but one of the earliest church buildings in the world was this building in Thessalonica. You can still go visit it today this was built in the Roman Empire era and it was meant to be the tomb of a Caesar who viciously persecuted the Christians. He built it himself to be his mausoleum but after he died nobody wanted to remember him so the building stayed empty and the Christians bought it at a discount and turned it into one of the first kind of you could say mega church buildings ever.

Art historians kind of went nuts a few years ago when they discovered under ancient wood and plaster the very first decorations that the Christians put up on the walls of their church building and all of the paintings and mosaics in this building from the Thessalonians are of one subject: the return of Christ. I don't know if you can make it out there these are very ancient but that's Jesus coming down from heaven surrounded by his archangels and there's men and women from the Thessalonian church with their arms up like yay Jesus is back and this is the subject for all of their art in their church.

You can imagine how when they're under the brutal oppression of the Romans and they're never sure when that's going to return how this idea of Christ coming back and setting to right all injustice and evil was so compelling for them. So what does this mean biblically the return of Christ? For some of us this has been a part of our faith for so long that it's almost nostalgic now. Does anybody ever remember here with me the book The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey? Do you remember that it was huge bestseller in the 70s and 80s or how about that Larry Norman song about the rapture I wish we'd all been ready? Right? But by now if you grew up with that it feels like there's been so many predictions that Jesus would come back on this date or that date you probably feel like kind of almost embarrassed sometimes about that part of Christian doctrine like is it real does the Bible even really teach it?

And maybe for others here you didn't grow up with that and this whole idea of the return of Christ this is something you only know about through those kind of weird movies that we talked about earlier but this is a consistent teaching of the Christian Church. Jesus will one day return and will wipe away every tear and destroy all evil. Every major Christian denomination believes this. I mean I'm talking Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant whether you know conservative Protestant or Pentecostal every denomination believes in the return of Christ. Why? Well it's very biblical. One scholar estimated that there are 318 references to the Second Coming of Christ in the New Testament an amazing one out of every 30 verses in the New Testament deals with the Second Coming of Christ. Twenty-three of the twenty-seven New Testament books refer to it and every single chapter in 1 Thessalonians closes with a reference to it.

So what? So this it's no mere curiosity it's a hugely important doctrine. The problem is it seems like people either get kind of hysterical about it and obsess on it too much or they ignore it and act like it's not in the Bible at all and that's why it's super important for us as a church family to be reminded about what the Bible actually teaches about this. So let's look at what Paul says first he says it's really gonna happen. Chapter 4 verse 15 according to the Lord's Word we tell you that we who are still alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God. Now circle the phrase loud command. The word literally means a great shout. There's a writer named Max Lucado who has a great little paragraph about this he says ever wonder what that shout is going to be? It'll be the inaugural word from heaven. It'll be the first word most people ever hear directly from Jesus and he says I think I know what that shout will be. I could be wrong but I think it will be no more. Every person alive and every person dead and raised to life will hear no more, no more death, no more tears, no more sadness, no more crying, no more discouragement, no more injustice. No more, he says finally all those prayers will be answered.

But why is this important to know? Listen you and I tend to base our expectations of our future on our past. So if you've been mistreated or rejected or broken up with you expect more of the same but Jesus says no your future is good your future is secure evil does not win that's the point. Don't be distracted by controversies over details the point is Jesus returns one day to permanently and perfectly establish his kingdom and the next Paul makes this doctrine very very personal about what's gonna happen to you.

Number three I need to realize I will be resurrected. I will be resurrected he says picking up in the middle of verse 16 when Jesus returns the dead in Christ will rise first. Circle the word rise. Paul is not talking about some zombie kind of just reanimated corpses he's talking about the Christian idea of resurrection. He's correct listen he's correcting an idea that some Christians had then and some Christians have today that the afterlife is only about our disembodied spirits float around somewhere in a heaven that looks like bright lights and dry ice and we play harps on clouds. Who actually wants that in heaven? Nobody right? Paul is saying God's long-term plan for the world is the redemption of the spiritual and the physical.

One day all of earth including your bodies your body's part of earth is redeemed and restored and recreated and we are going to be in this place that's like the Garden of Eden revisited in our resurrected bodies. Our spirits which in the interim had gone to be with Jesus will be restored with our resurrected bodies and we exist together forever in this perfect spiritual and physical world. Now again why is this so important to believe? Dr. Martin Luther King closed an Easter sermon with this he said sometimes it looks dark and sometimes people come to feel that the universe seems to say amen to the forces of injustice and oh it looked dark centuries ago but thank God the crucifixion was not the last act.

The resurrection affirms that what stops us does not stop God. Death is not the end life is not doomed to frustration and futility but can end up in fulfillment in the life and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The resurrection means evil does not win. Amen? That see that's the point here and after that Paul says after the resurrection we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. That doesn't mean we live in the clouds forever because remember Jesus is coming to earth to restore the earth. That term caught up together is the Greek term rapto from which we get the word rapture and it just means caught up taken away sudden rescue.

And then when we're with Jesus we come we're now we're in our resurrected bodies too even though we hadn't died those who are left are now everybody's in a glorified resurrected body and we all come with Jesus to live in this perfectly restored heaven and earth reunited existence. Now listen different Christian groups understand the timing details a little bit differently and it is fascinating to investigate all the tantalizing little clues in scripture to try to piece all the details together and that's perfectly fine but be careful not to get distracted from a big idea.

The big idea that brings hope is that in a moment everyone who has trusted in Christ will be transformed into a glorified body just like the glorified body of Jesus Christ and we live together in a world where evil and death and corruption and decay is vanquished forever. Okay so how do I respond to all this? That's really the question right? Because the whole idea about the return of Christ and the rapture and so on that really does tempt people to go a little nuts doesn't it? I found this headline from a couple of years back a newspaper this was in the New York Times it reported Korean sect stunned as rapture doesn't come. Thousands of true believers emerged today from what they believed was an appointment with doom baffled by the failure of their prediction that they would all be raptured at midnight.

Tearful devotees filed in stunned silence from the Dami missionary church some facing an uncertain future after selling their homes and quitting their jobs. An angry congregant said God lied to us. I don't think it was God because here's what God says through the Apostle Paul he says first don't panic don't panic. Verse 18 therefore he says encourage one another with these words encourage one another with this idea not freak out one another right? And listen in my opinion the biggest thing that causes panic and distracts from the encouraging nature of the return of Christ is when people set specific dates and then treat that deductive prediction as if it were gospel truth.

You know there have been literally hundreds of predictions detailing the exact time of Christ return over the last 2,000 years and I was tempted in this message to kind of show you some of the kooky ones right that we could all kind of laugh at but I was worried that we would all kind of feel superior and that wouldn't be a good place for us to go. So instead what I want to do is show you how this idea has fascinated some of the greatest geniuses of history and there's a long list but let me just show you three of these.

The painter and sculptor Botticelli total genius revolutionized art painting and sculpture he believed Christ would return in 1504. Michael Stifle may not be a familiar name to you but he was a genius German mathematician who invented the ways of writing equations that we still use today revolutionized math and he believed Christ would return 8 a.m. October 19th 1533 very mathematical about it. Sir Isaac Newton the famous scientist predicted that Christ would return in 2000 and he wrote a book about it and even one of the presidents of Yale University got caught up in this and predicted Christ returned back in 2000.

So my point is this this idea has transfixed not just sort of the gullible it's transfixed very smart people for a very long time and every single one of those super smart people was wrong. Why? Because the Bible is wrong? No because they weren't careful enough to follow Paul's words here in 1 Thessalonians. Look at chapter 5 verses 1 & 2 now brothers and sisters can you hear the tone that comes out of here kind of like now let's all calm down here now brothers and sisters about times and dates we don't need to write to you for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

In other words Paul says I'm not going to write about times and dates there's no need to get into times and dates it's irrelevant to the point. In fact he says it's gonna be like a thief in the middle of the night when Christ returns does a thief text you I'll be there at 2 a.m.? Of course not he's saying nobody knows when it's going to happen not even Jesus knew when he was in his earthly ministry in the Gospel of Mark there's an interesting conversation the disciples asked Jesus what will be the day and the hour of your return and Jesus apparently not having read the late great planet earth replies I don't know only the Father knows that and I'm not going to presume to know something that Jesus said he didn't know.

Now listen I know that there are people who always claim to have worked it all out. In fact I googled return of Christ predictions this week and I got over 11 million hits. This is riveting for people but Paul says I won't write about times and dates. If Paul had an internet website blog he would not post about times and dates right? So if he's not going to write about times and dates then what's his point? What should we do? He says do prepare.

So he says I'm not going to write about times and dates but he says that doesn't mean I'm not taking this seriously you should prepare for it. He says here's the thing either by death or by rapture you and I are at the most about 80 years or so from seeing Jesus face-to-face right because we're all gonna die right? We're either going to be those who are asleep in Christ or those who are still alive when he comes so who would not prepare for what is undeniably inevitable one way or another we're going to meet Jesus.

Paul says while people are saying peace and safety destruction will come on them suddenly as labor pains on a pregnant woman. What's that mean labor pains? I had the huge blessing of being with my wife for the births of our three children. Jonathan our very first Laurie was in labor with him for really for days and finally there was an emergency c-section because that little guy just was not entering the world after two days of labor. So when Elizabeth our second child is pending to be born I thought I knew the drill right births take forever she might say she's in labor but it's gonna be forever.

So Laurie says I'm in labor we leave our house we're living at Tahoe we drive down to the hospital in Carson City which is where we had to go it's about 45 minute drive down the hill. Laurie's in labor in the backseat doing her breathing but I know it's never it's not gonna happen you know I've been through this before so I took the drive nice and slow and I wish I could say I'm kidding but I stopped to pick up a hitchhiker. I rolled down the window hey where are you headed friend jump on in. Laurie was furious with me she can be so unreasonable honestly but I thought I knew babies take forever you know it takes hours before anything happens.

Two hours after our arrival at the hospital Elizabeth is in our arms Laurie practically had her in the car the hitchhiker was almost our midwife I kid you not. And Paul sang here kind of the same thing with the return of Christ because of all these predictions and stuff people are going to be saying yeah we've heard it all before it never happens and then one day it will. So what are we supposed to do about that? Freak out? No the exact opposite but you brothers and sisters are not in darkness so that the state should surprise you like a thief. That doesn't mean you'll know the day it means live each day as if that could be the day.

Excuse me he says you are all children of light and children of the day we don't belong to the night or to the darkness. He's saying just keep doing the right thing. So then let us not be like others who were asleep but let us be awake and sober clearly a warning against falling asleep in church Dick Jordan. For those who sleep sleep at night and those who get drunk get drunk at night but since we belong to the day let us be sober putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

I want to focus in on a crucial phrase there the hope of salvation because here's where we're going with the rest of this service in the last few minutes we're going to focus on the hope of salvation because that's the answer to your worries about this. If you're worried your hope is in the salvation of Jesus he already paid the price for our sins you are saved if you simply put your trust in that. So I invite you maybe for the first time or maybe you're a veteran Christian but put on the hope of your salvation as a helmet. That's a great metaphor because it covers your head your brain your thought life and it protects it from all kinds of fears and worries and myths about the second coming of Christ.

He's saying if you put on the hope of salvation what Jesus accomplished for you on the cross he saved you that means he paid the penalty for your sin that means he accepts you. You put that hope on as a helmet then you're not going to be freaking out you're not going to be worried. In just a few minutes we're gonna take communion and that's gonna be a moment for you to put on that helmet to remind yourself I don't have to be afraid not in this life or the next because I've got salvation as a helmet. I know what Jesus accomplished on the cross and when you've put on this helmet of salvation you can do the final thing do stay positive.

The future plans of Jesus for us are meant to bring comfort not fear. Look at this 5 verse 9 for God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that whether we're awake or asleep alive or dead we can live together with him. Do you see how Paul always backs up from the details to show the big picture right to show the point he died for us so that whether we're awake or asleep whether we live or die we can live with him therefore encourage one another and build each other up as in fact you are doing.

Not therefore argue with one another over the exact timing of the rapture encourage one another and build each other up knowing Jesus is coming back in power and glory is like knowing the last chapter of the ultimate novel about life. We know the good guys are going to win evil is not going to have the last word. He's saying Christians ought to be the most optimistic people on earth so live prepared live a life with eternity's values in view where you're thinking whether I die or Christ comes back I know I am doing I'm living the kind of life where I'm living with that in mind with eternity's values in view with faith hope and love as my practice.

Let me close with this. I heard a story recently that illustrates exactly what I think Paul is getting at in these verses. While on his famous South Pole expedition this man British Explorer Ernest Shackleton found that his ship the Endurance was trapped by sea ice and so he and four other men had to leave almost the entire crew on Elephant Island because there was no room for all of them to go through the little crack in the sea ice. But he promised them he said I will return and he braved a journey of hundreds of miles in this tiny boat to get back to civilization and get help.

But later when he tried to go back and rescue all of his men huge icebergs completely blocked the way for several months and he was going crazy because he had no idea if his men were alive or if they were dead. And then finally an avenue opens in the ice and Shackleton is able to sneak through before the ice freezes up again and you know what he found after trying to get to his men for months? His men were all ready and waiting not a single life had been lost and they all literally had their sleeping bags rolled up and the tents packed. This is an actual photo that they took when they saw Shackleton's boat returning and they quickly scrambled aboard his boats and they were saved.

On the rescue boats Shackleton said to some of his men it was a good thing you were all packed and ready to go because we had a very limited window but how in the world did you know that I was coming today? Did you have lookouts somewhere scouting for me? And this was their reply: we never gave up hope. Every single morning we rolled up our sleeping bags and reminded each other the boss may come today. I want to live like that because when you live like that you radiate hope and you become a hope agent to others.

Heavenly Father thank you for such a promise such a hope and God I pray for anybody who feels like they have no hope. We look at death as a blind alley. God bring them peace this morning as they put on the helmet of salvation during our communion time simply put their trust in Jesus who conquered death who died and rose again. May they say simply something like this prayer Jesus I don't understand it all but I like what I hear so count me in. God for all of us may we all hope for Jesus return and live in light of that hope with faith and love in Jesus name. Amen.